many missions accomplished!

Okay...so there are a few more things crossed off my house/spring cleaning to-do list.  Thanks to many volunteers at church today.  And that, my friends, is where the risen Christ in my midst was this day.

From gutted Sunday School classrooms, to a deeply cleaned church kitchen, to sorting out board games, and figuring out what to do with all those boxes of Good News Bibles, to spreading fresh soil for new landscaping alongside of the church, to pulling out old shrubs and bushes with axes and saws, to putting up small fences around air conditioning units, to painting church doors to using a super crazy drill to dig holes for fence posts.  Our community and building received a super spring cleaning today.  Not to mention the crew that was there early to prepare breakfast which began at 7am.  I did not grace the church grounds until after 8am  :)

In the midst of touching base with a multitude of volunteers, I tackled the rest of my porch chairs.

Before:

During:

And after (with the backdrop of the newly cleaned porch!)

It was fun to paint and take breaks when some of the adults and kids came by for a chat-break during the clean-up.  Good times.

So, I know that parsonage living is not the choice for everyone...but there are moments that are grace-filled.  And so many of those moments have come to me through incredible generosity of parishioners.

This morning, there was nothing outside my side door.  (Well, except for the recycle can, the trash can and the grill.)  Then the hole diggers arrived....and there were posts and levels and many folks measuring and working to get things just right.  Well the basics were there as the work day/morning drew to a close.  My neighbors, members and on the property board took some time to work in their own yard, but the time I headed to worship this evening at 3:30, they were back in my yard.  When I came home from worship, they were still working.  I offered them food.  While I originally offered pizza, I then realized that I had planned on tacos for dinner...so I asked if that was okay and they said sure.  (They accepted my meager offering of homemade tacos, but only after they were finished.)  So around 7:30, we dined.  It was a simple meal, but we broke 'tortillas' and supped together.  I'm so thankful for folks who work hard and see a project to completion.

Now the side of my house looks like this:

 

And now, Marley and I curl up and sleep well tonight.
Me, from a long day.
Marley, from a long day of spectating and/or supervising and wishing she was outside.

Until the next time . . .