A Quick Blog While Nobody's Looking

I have failed to keep you all up-to-date on this weeks events in a timely manner; for that I am sorry. It has been an incredibly busy week for myself and our project management group. I think last I left off, we were heading across the line on Monday. That day went very well and then on Tuesday we did door-to-door screenings. At the moment I'm blanking on specific details, but I'm sure they'll come back to me at some point. Wednesday was our last clinic day; bitter sweet in a way. Glad to be done, but also sureal that SMI is really over.

Looking back, the week is a blur. Every year there is a Thanksgiving Ceremony to honor the five groups that partner with us each year: local churches, translators, Valley Baptist residency, Friends of Jesus Inc (guides), and housing staff. Our project management group was responsible for coordinating the entire evening for around 120 people. Not an easy task, especially when we have one day off and two hours of designated project management time a week. I'll also mention the fact that we were in South Padre for the weekend before. So we all were feeling a little stressed this week. In years past the night was split into two sections more or less. The actual thank you ceremony was in the chapel - very boring from what I've been told - and then people were asked to migrate to the cafeteria where a pinata and t-shirts waited. Our group decided to buck whatever convention there was and combine the two ceremonies in the cafeteria and make it more like a banquet. The initial reaction of a lot of people was reluctance, but they said we were in charge and could do what we liked. One of the biggest obstacles to our plan was decorations, because the cafeteria looks like... well.... a cafeteria. All the credit goes to my group for coming up with great ideas and executing them.

Fast forward to last night; the place looked great. Linens for table cloths, center pieces, candles, white lights, ballons, window coverings... the works. We had cheese, crackers, and fruit on the tables with two different kinds of party punches. We also had a dessert table with cake and a sundae bar. A huge complaint from years past was the length of the ceremony... lasting up to 2hrs. From start to finish we came in at 70 mins. Needless to say, everyone was pleased. After the ceremony we had 2 pinatas and salsa dancing lessons to go along with our theme of Lets Dance! The credit for the evening goes to all the guys and girls in our project management group, they all worked really hard. Everyone had a really great time. I will say, I unfortunately missed the ceremony because I had to make a last minute Wal-Mart run to get ingredients for punch - it was so good, we ran out before the ceremony even started.

This morning, all the guys dressed up and made breakfast for the women. Not really sure the reason why - obviously God calls us to serve each other - but my theory has something to do with the nickname for SMI... Summer Marriage Institute. We sang "For the Longest Time" as entertainment while they were eating... great fun. Some of the more gifted singers were going on and on about our key and octave during rehearsal this morning, but I have no idea what that is so I didnt pay attention. I only know how to sing two ways... hight and low... and I don't do either very well. We have it all on video, so I looked forward to seeing how it looked. The girls appreciated our efforts. Today is mostly for cleaning... the dorms, office, etc and tonight is the 'coffee house' where we all do skits, say thank, byes and what not.

Gotta run cus I gots stuff to do. I'm flying into philly tomorrow night, but will be heading to DE till mid-week to spent time with the fam. Excited to see you all again!