We kept working on the fence all morning, we were getting closer and closer to getting it finished. We did as much as we could before lunch. Then we met with the girls again. They were playing basketball outside during their recreation time. Then we played them in a game of softball. We weren't trying to hit the ball over the fence or anything, but we gave them some good competition. They were making their own rules up too. One time I was running from first to second base and one of the girls grabbed hold of me (she was a big girl too) and said "You're not going to second!" So then I was tagged out. It was funny. After the game I went up to her, shook her hand and told her it was a good play even though I don't think they would allow that in a real game. It was good to get out and be active with them rather than doing arts and crafts with them all day. After dinner we went back to the fence one more time and we finally finished it!
And it made the cows happy.
Day 6 ~ Water Balloons!
We had a big surprise for the girls on Friday. We had water balloons and squirt guns. It took us hours to fill up hundreds of water balloons and they were all gone in less than ten minutes.
But there was plenty of water to keep refilling the squirt guns. The girls had a blast with it. Most of these girls probably never got to play with squirt guns or throw a water balloon at somebody before. I was glad we were able to give them that experience. Then there were those who had buckets and coolers full of water dumped on them. I think it was probably the most fun some of them had ever had. I was glad to be a part of it. We had to say goodbye to the girls after that. A lot of them were really sad we had to go. We were all sad we had to leave soon. That evening we built a campfire and sat around it. We had some S'mores.
Day 7 ~ Departure
It seems that every time our church has a mission trip something bad happens to one of the vans. Fortunately for this trip the only thing that happened was one of the vans had to be jump started before we left. Even though we were all tired and sore from the week, we didn't want to leave. It's hard to go, to get back into the normal routine of life after an experience like that. I worked on a slideshow most of the way home that would be shown in church the following week. We stopped at a Ponderosa to eat on the way home, it was alright. The trip home didn't seem as long as the trip there, but even the trip there didn't seem that long. I hope I can go back again next year.
I'd like to talk about the mission trip I went on a couple weeks ago to the Hope Hill School in Hope, Kentucky. I might take the next 2 or 3 days to talk about it since there is so much to talk about. I'll section it off into the 7 days we were there. I'll tell you a little bit about the school first. Hope Hill is a school for teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who have been abandoned, abused, or may have been into drugs and alcohol. Many of the girls have behaviors and can lash out violently or verbally. I've never seen it in the two years I've gone there, they're usually well behaved when work camps come, especially if the work camp is there to spend some time with the girls and do activities with them. The goal of Hope Hill is to give these girls a second chance at life, to try to turn them around so the don't end up dead or in jail. The program is Christ centered. There is a chapel at the school and the girls are encouraged to attend, but not forced. About 85% of the students attend. There is also a Bible study during the week and about 50% of the girls go to that.
Day 1 ~ The Arrival
We packed up our two church vans with supplies and luggage and started out around 7am. It's a 7 hour trip. I spent most of the time in a sleeping bag in the back seat because the air conditioning was blasting. I spent the time getting to know my teammates better, working on my laptop, reading my Bible and Relevant Magazine, and messing around with my cell phone. When we arrived we got unpacked, pictured above is the bunk house we stayed in. Some of the team members wanted to walk around the campus. I was there the year before so I gave them a tour. I told them about all the different buildings on campus and showed them the horses. They have a horse therapy program at the school.
After the tour we went back to the bunk house and just unwound from the long trip. We played some board games and read from some journals that people who have stayed in the bunk house have written in. There were some funny entries left in there, mostly by some teenage kids. One entry said: "Dear Journal, These last few days have been very weird. First yesterday Hillary got run over by a van and went to the hospital but nothing was broken, and I'm really glad nothing was because me and her were best friend for six years until middle school, but were still good friends. Then after that, the second bathroom in ours got flooded and then leaked through the wall into our room and got all over our stuff. That was bad plus today we looked at horses and one of them bit Rachel on the arm. And now its bruised. Plus its been raining pretty much everyday, all day. But I think God does everything for a reason and I'm glad that I got to come here. It should be all uphill from here. I feel that God brought us here for a reason and is doing his work. This is a very blessed place. I hope to come back next year. Bye." I think my favorite part is where she said "It should all be uphill from here." That's hilarious.
Day 2 ~ The Work Begins
We met the groundskeeper, Andy, to find out what jobs he had for us to do. The first job he had for us was to scrape the old paint off a fence and then repaint it. He told us we should have it done by noon. Here's the fence:
Noon? Oh, he must have meant noon next Thursday. I just want to say we were not done by noon. By the way, there are about 5 or 6 more sections of the fence that go out of frame to the right. But we did finish it before the trip was over as well as many other jobs I'll talk about later. We worked on the fence for a few hours and then went back to the bunk house for lunch. Then we met up with the girls at the school in the cafeteria. There were 45 girls attending the school at the time. One of our team members told her story about her life, it was pretty heart-wrenching. At one time her 10 year old daughter who came with us got up and gave her a hug while she was talking. All the girls at the school gave a big "Awwwwww." It was so sweet. That little 10 year old girl was the heart and soul of the trip, she got along with the girls at the school very well and she made a lot of friends. After the talk we did an art project with the girls, we tie-dyed bandannas. I wish we could have spent more time with the girls at the school but we only had limited time each day. We worked on the fence a little while longer and then went back to the bunk house to eat dinner and play some games and talk for awhile before going to bed.
I don't consider myself to be an animal rights activist. I like animals and I don't want them to get hurt, but I also don't go around spray-painting fur coats or adopting every stray cat I see. But there is one thing I saw over at Jason Boyett's blog last December about airbrushing poodles. I decided to research the strange things people do to their pets and I found myself in a deep dark place of animal costumes, strange animal fur-dos (hair-dos? fur-dos?), disgruntled cats, and people that just really need to get a life. I'm going to give you a look now at some of these disturbing images.
I admit that when I was a kid my stepsister and I would put a bib on our cat. The bib said "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" and we thought it was the funniest thing in the world when the cat would walk around the house looking humiliated while wearing it. Seriously, I think cats are the only animals that get embarrassed. So the next thing we'll look at are some pet costumes.
Did his owner think that dressing him up as a giraffe would make him feel taller and more confident? I don't think it's working.
I said I wanted to just "be" myself for Halloween but you obviously didn't understand what I meant!
On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.
I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but I think Cookie Monster ate a pug.
I know it's not really a costume but apparently this must be an angry dog who doesn't want to be pet. Maybe he's angry because he has to wear a stupid sign that says "Do Not Pet Me".
Dr. Zaius?
Ah yes, the perfect costume for your three-legged best friend. (Actually, the hook is a paper tube that the dog's paw goes into. It's been Photoshopped to look like a real hook, so don't get all sad and weepy, he has all four of his legs. How do I know? I'm the one who Photoshopped it. Click here for the original picture.)
Shalom. Hey, is that weiner kosher?
Um, wow.....just.....wow.
One night I was at a friend's house and hey had a cat that had most of its fur shaved off except for the fur on it's head, paws, and tip of its tail. It's called a "lion cut". The poor cat looked miserable. Here's a few that I found.
I think cats with the lion cut are in a constant state of being pissed off.
This one is so angry, he's about to destroy his owners with his laser beams.
Lastly we'll look at another thing people are doing to cats, painting them.
Aztec cat says, "The world may not end until 2012, but my owners are about to meet their end right now!"
This is what happens to cats when their owners' get drunk at Mardi Gras. Friends don't let friends paint drunk.
You'd think cats would get annoyed by getting painted all over their fur but this one seems pretty happy about it.
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! That is so WRONG!
But...
...it's not as wrong as this...
Honestly, what was the thought process behind this. "Hmm, when I look at my cat's back side it kind of reminds me of Charlie Chaplin dressed up like a clown. I'm gonna go and get it painted like that!"
Maybe I should start calling Friday's WTFFF (What The Freakin' Funny Friday). I don't know why people would want to do these kinds of things to their pets. Maybe it's boredom, punishment, or maybe they need a med check, but I think one day the pets will finally have their revenge.
