Solomon - Today I got to sleep in until about eight thirty. After my morning routine, I stayed down in the computer lab for awhile because only the adults were up in the cafeteria. After breakfast, I played some basketball in the gym for awhile. My team did pretty well but after two games I was tired and headed to the cafeteria to hang out for awhile. Around two o'' clock, it was FINALLY time for some meandering around downtown Ashville. We started with some delicious pizza at the Mellow Mushroom followed by a brief period in an antiques shop. Then we somehow managed to find a record shop. We briefly stopped in a cool local shop where I bought a black and green braided bracelet. Then it was time for shindig on the green. I mostly listened to the music and played cards. I learned a new card game, had some delicious ice cream, and had a brief nap. All in all, it was a pretty good day.
James - Today was an entertaining day packed full of wonderful experiences, to elaborate on them all would be too much writing so I'll give y'all an overview. My morning started with the words "Hey James, Tom is making eggs to order and there's pancakes, sausage, and there might be bacon". Almost immediately I was up and running to the serving station because I thought I had overslept for breakfast, to my surprise, since I had awoken earlier due to my deflated mattress and slept on a couch in a room next to the community life room (where we eat and ish), the eggs were an extra perk and I found myself eating with the adults, only moments before the rest of the youth actually stumbled their way down to breakfast. After breakfast I rode with PK to Kmart to get my secret servant a lil somethin' somethin' and search for a bisfree. It didn't take long to get off task and start riding around the store on a ripstick, greatly increasing the speed and productivity of my shopping of course. I ended up swapping vans, which turned out great because I was able to get Taco Bell and we drove around just havein fun for a while, instead of the original stop at Kmart for 15 minutes. We went to downtown Ashville at 3 to eat, check out all the sweet shops, and enjoy the music and culture being shared at the "Shindig on the Green". Our first stop was food, of course, and my small posse stopped in at a fancy pants Italian restaurant to eat, but we quickly realized a large pizza to share would be the most economical decision. Once we were finished I asked the waitress where the closest wizard shop was, the look on her face was priceless. I wanted a staff and hat to go with my robe I purchased at goodwill last week which I later found on a chance occurrence when i went to cut through a store to go to a music shop, but saw the perfect staff the moment I walked into the door, it only took a moment to find a hat to go along with it. I was inspecting my awesome wizard/madhatter hat when I discovered the top of the hat contained a bunny. That made my day, I impressed a 3yr old later by pulling it out when he was staring at me in my funny outfit, he seemed like a good kid so i gave him the bunny, it was awesome to actually see him smile instead of stare in fear (don't worry his mother was right there and watched the whole thing, I swear it wasn't creepy). anyway Ima end this record length post righhhhttttt here -----> DONE!
JT - Alrighty today was a very good day!!!! I mean it was very boring because they wouldn’t let me work today haha. We got a free day today. Like we were allowed to sleep in and then hang out with friends for the day until we went to the Shin-dig on the green. Which was a blast because James and I were allowed to go into the city with our peeps and go to this fancy restaurant place. Then we went wizard hat and staff searching, which was very successful by the way! Even one of the Pastors here got a staff!!!! Success! Lol well I am going to go pass out! Peace out
Crystal - Today, we had great adventures. We were granted the chance to sleep in today! I even slept in an extra fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, I didn’t even sleep talk last night which was probably because of how exhausted I was from the whole week before. After I got up we enjoyed fellowship with our friends by playing volleyball and talking. Later on we went to downtown Asheville, which was a very exciting opportunity to experience urban life without the congested atmosphere. The arts and sites in Asheville were amazing and consisted of an art museum, craft stores, and art sculptures throughout the way. Aubrey, Matt, Robert, and I went to The Mellow Mushroom Pizza place and had left over pizza to spare. Not wanting to waste it, we decided we would write a note on the box and leave it on a park bench for this homeless man we saw earlier. Hopefully he saw it, because when we got back after the shin dig it was gone. Our note on the box read, “We hope you enjoy this pizza and may God Bless you.” We thought it was a nice gesture though there might be a few variables in the situation. Later on, we came back for worship and sang Amazing Grace. I decide that tomorrow I would be one of the nine people to give a testimonial during church, so wish me luck!
Trish
A wonderful relaxing day today. We were able to sleep in after a week of
getting up by 6am and ready to hit the door at 7am. We didn’t have to be awake until 10am this
morning and really, you didn’t even need to be awake then, it was only if you
wanted to eat breakfast. Most everyone
was pretty much up by 9:30. I am so glad
we put those trash bags up by our outside window, what a difference that made
to be able to sleep in this morning without the morning sun waking us up. I think I even slept till about 8 myself,
although I didn’t get to bed till about 1.
Still, I got my 7 hours and I was happy.
It did feel very strange to not have to pack it up and head to the site
though.
Today I know for myself I had a chance to actually read the
book I brought, figure out how to add a couple games to my Kindle and actually
play them. I even dozed off for about 2
minutes before PK woke me for the adult meeting. We headed out to Asheville for dinner and
Shindig in the Park which was pretty cool.
Some of us adults were able to separate from the kids and we ended up in
a really nice little restaurant called Packs Tavern. It was a nice little break to be able to
separate from the kids for an hour and just have adult conversation.
Tomorrow we will be at early service together to worship,
along with singing Amazing Grace-My Chains are Broken (The Chris Tomlin
version) as a group for the congregation.
Nine kids from our group will give testimonials about this week to the
congregation for the three services. We
so thank Emmanuel for putting up with us for a week and spoiling us with all
the wonderful breakfast, lunches, and dinner meals.
After lunch tomorrow we hit the rapids. I can’t wait to try that. I have never been white water rafting and am
looking forward to a great time doing it.
Nikki - It was nice to have a free morning today. I was able to get all the forms sorted and ready for rafting (with a little help - thanks Matt Q!) before most of the kids were up. I took care of a few other things and then was able to spend some time visiting. One of the things that struck me today was the importance of balance. Certainly, that applies to many things. Specifically I was thinking about how nice it is to get some 'adult time' in the midst of a 12 day long event, yet I also thoroughly enjoy spending time with the youth and enjoy watching them with each other. It can be difficult to find the right balance, as in so much of life. When you stop to spend time with the other adults, you will most certainly miss something that is going on with the youth. If you don't, you inevitably (at least I do) get cranky eventually. One thing that I have been learning this past year is to allow myself some 'me' time. An opportunity for coffee with friend, even in the middle of work day, is worth taking even when there is work to do. The work will still be there when I get back. This is how we build relationships and become Knit Together in Love - this year's ASE theme. God created us to be in relationship with others. So today in Asheville I took advantage of the opportunity for lunch with 'the big kids', which gave us the chance to get to know each other better. I enjoyed the great company and good food. We shopped around town a little, running into and mingling with other Servant Event groups. When we all met at the greene for Shin Dig, I mostly hung out with the kids. That was fun too! I thank God for the chance to be here at ASE again and to experience with it with both of my boys. Amazing things happen here.
