My new project

For better or for worse, my basement is my next big projects since it flooded out last month. We're totally remodeling it (and I say we, I mean we are primarily helping alongside generous and talented friends and family) beginning with new egress windows which we began to dig out this past weekend. Check out the rock that I excavated- not dug out- but excavated!

Links

Some links to pass along:

• Jessi gives a better insight as to what's happening at Hillcrest's powerhouse tutoring center
• I know several and work with some truly creative and talented 20 somethings, but for those who have yet to find their niche in life, Don Miller poses some thoughts here.
• Tarina's and my friend MK blogs here about taking her kids to see medical students practicing to be doctors- our family did this too and had a similar series of events!
• Another friend of ours, Cindy, blogs here and is a hoot to read.

I miss these days . . .

Smells so good!

Jessi and the powerhouse team started last week and it's been going so well! There's been between 6- 8 middle school students coming each day and they've been hanging out for a bit, getting a snack, and working on homework.

When I was there last week, one of the boys came in, took his shoes off (so impressive!), and said "wow! It smells so good in here! And there's computers!". The kid hadn't even seen the downstairs yet!

We'll have more stories and pictures in the days and weeks to come . . .

I meant to . . .

We were fortunate to have Karmyn Marchand from LSS' school-based mentoring join us yesterday for services and share with Hillcresters the importance of mentoring. They just released a great promo video which you can see here.

A cup of coffee on us

Last Wednesday some Hillcresters, as part of Wednesday Night Service, wrote cards to Cleveland Elementary's staff as an encouragement for their first week of school. A bonus- each card had a gift card to Dunn Bros Coffee.

Extreme Makeover

Today the Powerhouse Tutoring Center officially begins! It's been quite a summer with all of the remodel work, planning, building relationships with students and families, but we're pretty much ready to go! Jessi has done a great job this summer on the program side of things building relationships, recruiting volunteers, planning curriculum and will do an excellent job with the 11- yes 11!- students on the roster. Brian (not me!) has done a great job overseeing the remodel, working with all of the subs, and pushing this thing to completion.

Hard to believe, but Powerhouse opens Monday!

Single Parents are Superheroes

A couple weeks ago Tarina visited her sister in Spokane, WA, and so thus it was six days and five sleeps of 'daddy day care'. Throw in the aformentioned basement flooding which occurred while Tarina was gone and you now have Noah's Ark + Daddy Day Care. Needless to say, we were so glad when mom came home and order was restored, but it got me thinking about single parents do it. Hillcrest has several single parent homes, and several who also got water in their basements, and I wondered how they do it? After a few days of a single parent experience, I have some questions:

• when does a single parent find time to exercise? I normally go to the gym in the mornings while T is at home with kids. No exercise for me while she was gone, unless you count numerous trips up and down stairs with sopping wet carpet.
• how does a single parent find a missing dog when the kids are sleeping? My dog loves to run away- not sure if it's a grass is greener kind of thing, but late one night my dog ran away and the kids were all asleep. Now I love my pet, but not enough to disturb 4 sleeping children for! Needless to say, Pepper came home, but I'm not going to type out how!
• how does a single parent cook (or do laundry, or mow the lawn, or any other household chore)? Fortunately, I had multiple offers of meals and people who had us over and I of course took the kids out several times- but with everything else going on that week, I had a hard time doing the things that needed to get done around the house without the help of my spouse.

I have other questions too, but I have a much greater appreciation for those who are single parents- they really are super heroes. The scriptures talk quite a bit about widows. We typically think of widows as those whose spouse has passed away, but I think a more contemporary version of a widow is the single parent, and the scriptures are clear on the role those who follow Christ are to play in the lives of the widows.

Lunch with the Teachers

This past Wednesday Hillcrest again bought lunch for the teachers and staff of Cleveland Elementary. A few of us were able to join the staff for the lunch and I think it's one of the neater things we do. The first time we did this four summers ago neither the staff nor us knew what to think or expect, but now it's a really casual and fun time to catch up with them and looking forward to working together for another year.

Remodel . . . Act 2

Earlier this year Hillcrest undertook the remodel of an old parsonage for our Powerhouse Tutoring Program that starts this Monday- more on that later! But as we undertook this remodel job, I had no idea that I'd be involved with a second remodel- my own basement! Sioux Falls had the wettest July (and August already, apparently) on record and so my basement, along with so many others in the Sioux Falls area, filled with water. We have sinced thrown out everything- carpet, paneling, sheetrock, drop ceiling, and are in the midst of one long project!

Neighborhood Appreciation

Each August Hillcrest likes to thank the neighborhood for well, being our neighbors. For years, we did a big ol' block party and it was a blast, but the last few years we've handed out $10 HyVee cards to each of our neighbors and invited them to a drive in movie on our parking lot. This year, we're showing Up on Saturday, August 21st at 8:30 PM. Last night we had a couple of groups battle the heat and deliver the cards- good times.