Just wanted to let you know that the problem we were having with not being able to reply to other peoples’ comments has been fixed. So knock yourself out, commenting peeps! It makes my heart happy to have the Smithellaneous family interacting in the comments area.
was our last not-in-the-building Sunday service. We decided to hold it outside this time, rather than do the pre-recording in our living room.
Sarah was on hand to help me take photos of the goings-on.
The morning was extra special because it was the first time the DeHart Sisters sang in public with Hope playing the guitar. Steve’s only been giving Hope lessons for three months and she has made incredible progress.
Next Sunday, we will be meeting in our building, fulling utilizing CDC measures. After ten weeks away, it will be beyond wonderful to be back in our space together.
our church has been doing its best to reach out to the neighborhood around us. Last week we did a food drive which netted 400 pounds of groceries for our local food bank.
We also did a free community drive-thru, preparing 270 meals of pork chops on the grill with green beans and potatoes.
here is the final product of Steve’s long and ongoing colored blocks project for the upstairs children’s area. Pretty cool, huh?
You may remember that a few months ago, I posted about someone accidentally driving their car into the side of our building?
Well, in order to do the repair, an entire wall had to be erected on the inside of the sanctuary in order to allow the workers to dismantle and rebuild the brick wall on the outside.
Whoever would have thought it would be this much of a big deal? I will be glad to have that done.
Along with you, we have heartbroken by the injustice done to George Floyd. So much pain, grief, unfairness, anger, and loss.
Our youth group at our church is largely made up of minority students and many of them told our youth pastor, Clinton Rogers, that they are dealing with a lot of fear in light of what is going on.
In response to those conversations, Clinton is opening the youth house Tuesday night for conversation. In his words, “We want to hear what you guys have to say about racism and events going on. We want to listen and hear each others’ story, frustration, and learn how to grow together.”
Yesterday in our service, we asked two of our board members (one of them in law enforcement) to share their hearts about the situation and to lead in prayer.
It was a healing and powerful moment to hear their words and feel their prayers.
I wanted to close with a lovely, peaceful photo by Dan Waters. It’s Bodie Island Lighthouse, which is about 20 minutes from our house. I love that he named the photo Bodie Double. (Since the local pronunciation of Bodie is “body.”)
So thankful that there is still beauty to be found in our world.
What about you?
What events have you participated in to help others during COVID-19?
What have you got going on this week? Is life slowly getting back to normal where you are?
I am here in Massachusets where we shut down pretty hard. We had quite an outbreak here and are still just improving. I returned to the office on 5/26 but we are only at 25% capacity. Been venturing out more and more which feels so weird considering we were completely locked down for 9 weeks. We are required to wear masks up here, which has turned out to be rather political, sadly. Lots of strife around different opinions on Covid. Feels like it’s gotten opinion-based rather than science-based … I don’t know. Has lead to a lot of anxiety as we all seem to approach reopening (and Covid itself) so differently .
Paige,
Yes, it’s amazing how a health crisis can create such division, isn’t it? It’s certainly been a crazy few months.
And now in our part of the country, we are just starting hurricane season. Hoping it will be a mild one.
I agree wholeheartedly that it’s weird to venture out after being locked down. I remember going to Charotte to see Steve’s dad after 8 weeks of just going between home and work. It was a huge adjustment to be back out in the world and to see how all the changes there.
Hoping Massachusett’s numbers continue to fall and looking for better days ahead.
So glad to get the notifications back. I guess with last Monday being the start of school being out for the summer (weird transition this year) I completely forgot that I didn’t get a notification to read your blog. I’m glad we will be able to reply to comments now. In the past there were things I read that I “replied to in my head” but couldn’t in the comments. I’m glad y’all are going to be back meeting in your sanctuary for church. Even though it might look a little different while under construction, it’s still standing. Now I get to go read another post – yay me!
Sue Ellen,
I will be SO happy to see readers get to reply to each other now. That will add a wonderful dimension to an already wonderful comments area.
The last time my church had in person services was March 8th until this past Sunday. So we had 12 Sundays of livestream or Facebook Live. We started with Zoom Sunday School on March 29th and will continue that until July 5. I did not go to church Sunday as I had to have a COVID test on Saturday and then quarantine until my foot surgery tomorrow. When we do go back to in person Sunday School, our women’s class is being split. This class is just a little over 3 years old. We have had to change rooms already because we outgrew our old room. At the beginning of this church year, last September, we created two care teams to avoid splitting then. Sadly, the social distancing is requiring us to split the class. I will miss being in class with many of the younger ladies.
I have stayed pretty close to home since March 13th when I came back from being at my parents for a few days. So I haven’t done much COVID helping. Our church did have a blood drive about a month ago and is having another one tomorrow.
Last week I had a dentist appointment and follow up appointment with the dietician. Very different than the last ones I had – checked my temperature as soon as I walked in the door, made sure I had a mask on, etc.
My church is hosting a livestream Thursday evening – A Family Conversation about Race. This is the description:
We’ll listen as four black men in our church answer questions about the black experience in America, the black experience at Blue Valley, and how our church family can come alongside these men, their families, and the black community.
The lighthouse picture is beautiful.
Phyllis,
Sounds like your church has stayed busy during this COVID time; so great to be involved in an active church.
It’s always a good thing when Sunday School classes have to split because of growing! (Even though it is a little sad when you’ve grown close to people.)
I wondered why you were not writing your weekly blog and of course thought the worse! Steve’s block designs are amazing. He is very talented. Up here in MN we are just starting to open things up to half capacity. Our church service will be in the church this Sunday, am I going? Not sure yet. It scares me a bit and with Daycare kids plus being high risk from having a heart valve replaced, I try to be a bit careful. We are soooo saddened and sickened by George Floyds death up here. There have been so many “peaceful” protests, and if they are peaceful I would hate to see what an unpeaceful one was like. They have burned down so many buildings and even homes. So awful.
Wendy,
Yes, the George Floyd situation is unspeakably awful. I went to a peaceful demonstration tonight where there were 8 minutes and 48 seconds of silence to honor his memory. Such a sobering experience to be a part of a group that was gathering and remembering that scar on our souls.
I wondered why I hadn’t gotten an email notification of your new post. Must be because of the blog change-up. I re-checked the box to be notified so all should be good now.
The block project is awesome! I really admire Steve’s patience. 🙂
Our in-person worship is suspended through June 28th. I do hope and pray that we can go back after that. I really, really miss everything about going to church.
Otherwise, we got to finally start our golf leagues this week, the bars and restaurants are opening back up and we got to go see all of our grandtreasures this last weekend!! That was EXACTLY what my heart and my soul needed!!
Feeling so sad over the situation in Minnesota. My heart and prayers go out to his family.
LeeAnne,
I know, it really is so difficult to be out of church. You don’t realize how much you love it until you don’t have it!
So happy you finally got to see all your grandtreasures. Isn’t that the greatest feeling ever?
And yes, so much sadness connected with the Floyd case. Prayers are definitely needed in its aftermath.
It is so odd for me to hear about you getting ready to go back into your church to meet and here in the Seattle area (one of the first hotspots), we are still pretty much shut down in our county (many other counties in the state have been allowed to start opening some stuff as part of our 4 phase plan). Last week, the Governor did start allowing churches to meet outdoors, in groups of no more than 100.
Apparently, our county is about to apply with the state for the next phase of opening up some stuff.
Nicole,
This has been a long, hard road for you and your fellow Seattleites. Glad there’s a chance some more things may be opening up soon.
I don’t think I’ve been in a sitdown restaurant in three months, at least. Even though we don’t eat out a lot, it’s still nice to know we can do that if we want to!
Stay safe.
I love the pictures of you and Sarah that you took of each other =)
So glad that we are able to worship in church again. I missed all my church family.
The block project that Steve did is amazing! It’s so fun!
Nothing going on here; just keep on keeping on…
God Bless!
Krista
Krista,
Thanks for stopping by! Glad you liked the Sarah/Mom shot. It was fun to do. 🙂
Happy to hear your church is meeting again. I think ND was pretty low in COVID cases, wasn’t it? One of many good reasons to live in a more sparsely populated state.
You’re right. We weren’t hit too hard. But our governor was smart and closed the state anyway for awhile. We started phase 1 on May 1. We are on phase 2 now and I’m not sure when phase 3 starts.
So proud of you guys and the great ways you are reaching into your community. And so I’m very happy you can meet in your building again soon!
Love Steve’s color block designs–changes that blank place into happy space! 🙂
Love, Deb
Deb,
Good to hear from you!
And life needs more happy spaces, doesn’t it? 🙂