Productive Day!!

Today was one of the most productive days that I have had in a long time, thank goodness!! Actually, most of my days are "productive" in a work sense, but it seems that things in my life have fallen by the wayside as I work more and more. My basement has been a disaster since my church left at the end of July and I have just closed the doors and not touched anything since then. (I did straighten up the main room so it looked livable, but that really just meant all the crap was behind closed doors). A lot of my kitchen stuff had been moved to the basement during my kitchen remodel and I still hadn't gone down to get it!! Tonight, that all changed!! Let me start with the beginning of my day though...

Saturday is usually my day off, but for the second week in a row I didn't take it. I'm not complaining (yet, haha) because it was a good day (as was last Saturday). I won't get next Saturday off either since my church will be here, but that's okay because right after that I will head home for Thanksgiving for 5 days!!! Anyway, today was the Reload Conference held in Philly. Its a one day conference for urban youth workers that I had never been too but was pretty excited about. 6 of us from Cornerstone went and had a pretty good time. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a waste of time either, and we all had fun together...so over all it was pretty good. We had the opportunity to go to 2 different break out sessions and I apparently chose the same one twice. They had different titles and different speakers, but it was basically the same thing. Maybe God really wanted me to pay attention!! The seminar I went to was about gangs, which I didn't think we really had in Philly...I was WRONG!! I did learn a ton that has really opened my eyes to even more about what is going on in our neighborhood and especially the pressures our kids are facing.

I was a little bummed because the second session I went to was with a police officer in the city and I had hoped it would be about how churches can partner with law enforcement to help better our community (that's what the description of the talk said it would be). It ended up being more about gangs, oh well. I really did learn a lot though. I was also really encouraged because a pastor in the session talked about how his church is reaching out to law enforcement as well. As the daughter of a police officer I know all too well how difficult that job can be, especially on someone who really cares about the people and the community he/she serves. Last year alone there were over 450 suicides by police officers in the US. We need to be praying for these men and women!!!

I got home around 4:00 from Reload and invited Shera and Joy over for dinner. We had fun cooking, talking and eating. I told them that I wanted to clean my basement tonight and Joy immediately offered to help. Shera has been pretty sick , so she couldn't help much, but she provided some much appreciated laughter and fun. The whole process took me and Joy about 4 hours!!! But, it was SO worth it!! I moved Bonita and Linda's room to the basement and set up a full size bed in their old room. So, now I have a for real guest bed room!! (That also doubles as my office). I'm so grown up!! :)

The girls' room in the basement is bigger and cuter than their old one. They each now have their own dresser (although one drawer in each dresser must be given to Monique or Tasha since they are now regulars at my house as well). The also have a computer in their room (not hooked up to the internet) that they can play games on. The rest of the basement is set up as their own space with a TV and everything! (It works but isn't hooked up to anything...I will hopefully get a DVD or VCR soon so they can watch movies). I figure they are old enough now to have their own space...I hope they like it. I love it!! You can see for your self:

My new guest room! I don't have sheets or anything for the bed yet...that is coming soon! (My desk is to the right of the shelves...I couldn't get the whole room in one pic).The wood leaning against the wall on the left is a bookshelf that I need to put together...isn't this a great area for kids to hang out?!? Thank you Jesus!!How cute is their bedroom now?!? (Except for the exposed pipes in the middle...I have a curtain to cover that...I will hang it soon). There is a computer and another dresser on the right that you can't see. Now I just have to figure out how to get them to not be scared to sleep in the basement. Oh well...I have a guest room for them too!

My church is coming in a week and will be doing some work on my house and the church. I am working on getting my house spotless before they come so after they leave I only have to clean up their mess and not my own as well. The basement and guest room were the biggest projects; they involved moving furniture, storing stuff (Frankie still has A LOT of things at my house) and throwing a ton of stuff away. The rest of the house is just some major cleaning. I think I can get that done throughout the week. My house needs SO MUCH work, but its finally at the point where I'm not embarrassed to have people over...and that feels so good!! :)