We’re home, but there’s still a story or two left to tell. 

Today was Christmas craft day.  We had stations of flower pens, picture frames, and gift bags set up in the Hyaets house.  As the kids came through they made their craft to give to a family member and shared some fun and smiles along the way too.  We also had some help from a local church who joined us for these projects as well.  By the end, we were tired, but grateful for the time we had together.

A few concluding thoughts to wrap up our four days.  Tonight, we settle into our own homes.  For us, home is a place of comfort, a place of safety, a place where we’re loved, and a place to relax and be ourselves.  For our friends in Enderly Park, the Hyaets ministry embodies these characteristics.  It’s a place of comfort, safety, genuineness, and love.  When kids and adults alike walk through those doors, they feel at home.

John 14:23 says, “Jesus answered him [Judas], ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’”  If our hearts are focused on God, God will indeed make a home there.  Out of the overflow of God’s love dwelling in us, we share that love with others and open doors for them to be at home in the vast and abundant kingdom of God whether we are in Charlotte, Richmond, or wherever God leads us. 

Thanks be to God for the ways we’ve witnessed God at work in our lives and in the Hyaets community!

Until next time…oh, and in the meantime, we hope you’ll continue to join us on mission in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the Ends of the Earth!

Another very good day spent on the move.

The day started with devotions at the Jarrells house.  Then we proceeded to the Tuck house to clean the porch, organize the laundry room, defrost the freezer (again), and some odds and ends.

The afternoon was spent shopping for supplies and food for the Christmas craft time tomorrow.  We came back and walked the neighborhood inviting folks to the community meal tonight.  (Planned community meals happens twice a month.)  We rested for a bit on the porch before cutting out some crafts to get ready for tomorrow.  Before we knew it, there was a house full of people.  Another church provided dinner.  Who knew that brunswick stew, mac & cheese, sweet potatoes, etc. could multiply like loaves and fishes?!  Even though we had no idea how many to expect, the portions worked out perfectly.  Altogether, probably 50 people shared a meal together.  Check out the picture on the web site to see that we only had empty plates left but everyone went home full.

This may be the dish-washing-est crew ever!  We’ve washed dishes almost non-stop for the last 3 days and today was no exception.

We’re ready for some rest now.  Tomorrow, we will get our craft supplies together and head over to the house.  We’ll be joined by a GA and Acteen group here to help with our Christmas craft party.  We’ll serve lunch, make picture frames, make flower pens and Christmas bags and cards. 

Pray that we will have energy and excitement tomorrow to share with the neighbors at the Christmas craft time.  Pray that we will take the time to share God’s love in practical ways with these good friends!

We travel home tomorrow, so we will give a final update on our return!

Busy.  When our group was asked to sum up today, that’s the word we used.

Cleaning, cooking, scrubbing, dusting, raking leaves, and organizing.  Those were the tasks of the day.

We began bright and early finishing cooking sausage biscuits for the neighborhood kids before school.  We searched and walked to find kids at the bus stop, and when we couldn’t find as many kids as we expected, we gave them to adults.  Everyone was very appreciative, and it was a good start to all of our days.  It was neat to join the Jarrells in interacting with the kids and giving them a good encouraging start to their days.

Next, we returned to the house and cleaned out and organized the pantry – no small feat!  We also started some breakfast casseroles and bread pudding – and yes, you can make them with hot dog buns!  Don’t ask for the recipes because you won’t find one from Betty Crocker or the Huguenot Road ladies!  We also made some cinammon roll things (sorry, we don’t have an official name) and a spice cake.  Don’t worry, we didn’t make that with hot dog buns.  We moved on to the chandelier and it sparkled beautifully at the end.  Matthew, the dog, supervised all of the above projects.

We also did some yard work; although, you wouldn’t know since the leaves were falling as fast as we were bagging them.  We also got some neighborly advice along the way on how to bag leaves.

Of course, we had some good John Tyson time too.  We also got to play a little football with one of the neighborhood kids after school.  At the end of our projects we mopped the floor, and headed over to the other house to check on the “While You Were Out” nursery project for Jason and Joanie.  The nursery was adorable!  We pick up there tomorrow with some cleaning and organizing.

We’ll spare you the stories of our ailments but suffice it to say that we are all safe but very tired from a long day’s work!  Is 8pm too early to go to bed?

What a great, fun start to our time here in Hyaets!  We arrived to find our friend Greg, feeding the adorable John Tyson.  He led us on a walk around the neighborhood to invite kids to “devos” (devotionals) tonight.  We met several neighborhood kids playing outside.

As we returned back to the house, dinner prep got underway.  We made some tuna salad for the 4 of us plus the Jarrells.  As we sat down to eat, there was a knock at the door.  After it was all said and done, the 6 of us at dinner turned into 13 of us sitting down to eat.  Just like fish and loaves, God provided and we had a fun time together. 

After dinner, we cleaned up and sat down for devotionals.  After another knock at the door, we had 6 young boys join us for devotionals.  We played a silly game together and then told some stories about those who mentor us and are important to us.  We tied that into the story of Samuel and Eli and the importance of having people always pointing us back to God.  After devotionals together, several of the boys hadn’t had dinner so we reheated some leftovers from earlier in the week and we gathered for another meal.  (Don’t worry, we didn’t eat twice!)  By the end of the night, close to 20 people had shared dinner at the house.

Some reflections from the day:

- wow, it’s amazing their house is so open to all those knocks at the door!

- It’s amazing how God provides!

- Playing with kids of all ages is great fun!

Tomorrow morning, we kick off the day very early with breakfast cooking at 7am.  We’re meeting the elementary school kids at the bus stop with sausage biscuits!  Then it’s busy with a day full of cleaning, cooking, and organizing.  Don’t worry about us, we won’t run out of things to do!

Good night from Charlotte!  Oh, and we finally have some pics up, so check our photo album often:  http://www.hrbcrichmond.org/mod/gallery/view-gallery.php?gallery_id=268

It’s Wednesday afternoon and we’ve arrived in Charlotte!  We’re getting ready to spend some time with our ministry partners getting acquainted with our projects for the weekend.  Tonight we will get organized and share a devotion with some neighborhood youth.  Check back later to follow our mission and see our pictures!

This team of ladies might possibly do just that for some kids this very weekend! 

Dotty, Lorene, Nell and Melissa are on their way to Hyaets in Charlotte, NC.  They will be sharing devotions, cooking meals, serving Breakfast at the Bus Stop and providing a Christmas craft party for the children of the neighborhood.

Please return to this blog site to read about their time spent with the folks at Hyaets.