Mission Trip to Houston

We had a very chill, quiet week.  It started with the 4th of July and for the first time since we moved here, none of our immediate neighbors shot off fireworks.  The distant ones did not seem to bother Benson, so it was a good night for all.  The kids stayed up late watching them from the windows.  

The following day, we got up early and dropped Josiah off at church for his mission trip.  The 6th-8th graders were driving into Houston for the week.  They were staying at the University of Houston dorms and had many projects to do within the city.  When we picked him up Friday morning, we got to hear a bit of what they did.  His group worked at the Houston Food Bank each morning.  He said that he sorted oranges - the good from the bad - and then bagged up the good ones into 5 lb. bags.  He said he never wanted to see another orange for a while.  In the afternoons his group worked at Star of Hope ministries.  They are an organization that started out (in 1907) as a homeless shelter for men, but broadened out their services over the years.  There, he just did odds and ends - he never did give many specifics.  They are a very good organization, though, and are very dedicated to helping the homeless.  (sohmission.org) 

There was a bit of fun packed between the working.  Josiah drove in Van 4 through the week and every time they got on the road they raced Van 3 to the next location.  Josiah said his van always won.  Someone had a lead foot.  He slept in a suite at the Univ. of Houston.  Four to a dorm.  After the first night, there was a baby powder incident in his room.  It was used to coat clothing, beds, and shoes.  Josiah and his roommate were tasked to find the culprits.  Fortunately in all their questioning, no one accused or suspected Josiah.  That made me happy.  The boys who made the mess were eventually found out and relocated.  

He told us about the cafeteria, as well.  There were two lines.  One line served the vegan/vegetarian/vegetable eating students.  The other line was hamburgers and chicken nuggets.  You can only guess how long the hamburger line was with 150 6th-8th graders.  As the days passed, Josiah developed the reputation for getting himself a coffee mug of chocolate milk to sip while he waited in the food line.  

To celebrate Josiah's homecoming, we made him a strawberry cake.  Josiah originally wanted to make it for Henry and Caroline on their return from camp, but Henry's stomach bug had put that on hold.   We've enjoyed it all weekend.  

While Josiah was out serving the community, I decided to clean the boys' bathroom.  It felt like I could have it stay fairly clean for four days which was quite the motivation.  It was particularly gross and after completing the scrub down, I wrote out a new cleaning schedule.  I don't think the last one was being followed very well.  This is a trash can.  You put your trash in it.  Not next to it.  Not on the sink waiting for that distant day when you decide to throw it away.  The best part was their shower.  Zero soap in it.  There wasn't even a residue of soap.  That's how many showers they had taken without a bar of soap being present.  Apparently they had been washing themselves with shampoo.  So we reintroduced bar soap into their lives.

There has been a lot of down time this week, too.  Henry and Caroline have been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books series.  There has been a lot of reading time this week.  Henry typically would read a few a day.  He always does that with book series.  Once he gets into them, he reads a ridiculous amount and then they're done.  Then he's bored until we can find a new series.

The kids have built forts out of the couch sections.  They each had their own areas inside and Benson visited them regularly.  

We had a busy weekend, but capped it off with some sprinkler time.  We have had drought conditions and it's been pretty bad.  All the dirt is pulling away from the sides of the house and sidewalks.   We have to keep watering the lawn to protect our foundation.  Today it was 104° with a heat index of 114°.  It is hot.  We have to limit Benson's time outside, too.  The upside of no rain is no mosquitoes.  We can actually sit outside in our sauna without being eaten alive.  

Caroline starts swim this week, so we'll have busier days again.