The long awaited update

Hi!

I want to start by apologizing to anyone who regularly was checking our blog. I'm sure you aren't anymore with the way that we are keeping this updated. For our defense, it's been a pretty crazy time since our last post. Not that our lives are so full that we can't take the 30 minutes to blog every once in a while, it just more slips our mind than anything else.

Well, the Hope and Mersea have sailed off. They left May 2nd. Already they have done about a week of medical mission in Haiti. I thought that when they left that i'd sort of be free to work on my own projects. Boy was i wrong. Instead, Mary put me in charge of all the new male crewmembers. These are guys who may have been involved with Friend Ships for like 2 weeks or less before the ships sailed. So they had no idea where things are, how we work, the rules, etc. I became the mentor or babysitter, depending on how you look at it. At first it was pretty bad. I'd have to walk around showing them where things were, where to park, what to burn in the burn pile, not to drive trucks on the grass, how to show up on time for work, etc., etc. They pretty much have the routine down by now which is nice. But i've been keeping them so busy with work that i don't really have a whole lot of my own work to do.

Don't get me wrong, i'm extremely grateful for the help that these four men have been here around the property. We wouldn't be getting any work done without them. I just am having a hard time being a supervisor because they are spread out everywhere and i can't really get too hands on with the work they are doing. It leaves me feeling defensive because i'm not feeling like i'm accomplishing much, but i'm expecting a lot from these guys. I guess if i'm going to be a supervisor, i'd prefer to be more hands on and not have such a large spectrum to oversee. Because since the ships left, i've been made responsible for two more departments specifically and a whole lot of other stuff indirectly. I like being able to help out with the "leadership load" but i also like to get things done myself.

Okay on to another topic all together. This will be a quick side note because i don't have much to say about it, i just want to comment on it. The other day i went to Wal-Mart. At the front entrance there were two men sitting behind little tables asking for money. The men were dressed pretty nice in button up shirts with ties. The strange thing to me is that they were asking people going into and out of Wal-Mart for money for their church. Since being in the South, i've learned that tithing and money are important matters to the churches down here. Most new people to the South will comment that they don't like how they preach on tithes so much. It is a pretty different world down here when it comes to how pastors will try to coerce money out of their congregation. It's not too often that you'll hear about how we should be giving with a joyful heart. At some churches they even give a mini-message on tithing each time they take up offering. This can be a 5-10 minute ordeal which is led by one of the elders, deacons or ministers. I have a quote from my friend Matt who attended one of these churches. The elder stood before the congregation and said "You've got to give up the GREEN... not that stuff that jingles in yo' pockets... you've got to give the GREEN!!!" While saying this he took out a beautiful $50 bill and stuffed it into the offering basket. It just wouldn't fly in the North.

Back to life passing us by. Well, we got to go to Galveston Island for the weekend two weeks ago. That was a nice day, just sunning ourselves, playing mini-golf, book shopping and relaxing. It's pretty unusual that we get a long weekend, but Friend Ships gave us a day off after all the long hours we spent getting Hope and Mersea ready. It was a huge blessing. We've also been spending our weekends in an apartment off the ship. That's been nice. Central air, kitchen, bath tub, our own frig, leather lazy boys and lots of other wonderful treats. Dess was wonderful enough to do all the cooking. She made up spaghetti sauce from fresh vegetables. She's got skills.

It's been a busy month or so since we've last written. I hope you can forgive us for taking so long to write. I hope you'll continue to check our blog. We'd also love to hear you comment from time to time. Well, that's all i got for now.