Finally it looks like the weather may clear up today and the rain has gone away! The rain this week caused us some problems because some of the guys who wanted to work, couldn't. Since most of them are doing odd jobs at the moment until we can figure out how to get them photo cards and also get use to waking up for work at 7 am, the rain kept them 'job-less' this whole week. I know that will cause somewhat of a set back. But that's ok, they have such a desire to work, they make strong efforts to get back up to speed. And even though Emily, who comes once a week to catch my housework up, is typically inside working, our power went out a few minutes after we got back to our house. So she did what she could in the dark with little water left in the pipes. That also kept us from doing any reading lessons for others. The guys are eager to get the flower beds finished and start on a small garden. I had approached them earlier last week about helping me with a small veggie garden, especially since I have never planted one before. They liked the idea. Of course I wanted to know why, to see what would be their motivation. Many of them had gardens when they had places to live, whether it was with their Mothers or Ex-Wives. Also it gives them a chance to work physically on their well-being, the self pride of the end product and some even stated "being closer with what God created." But the biggest reason...THEY LOVE VEGGIES! OK good enough for me.

We still have a couple of other activities in the making. The guys want to go fishing and ask me at least once a week when we are going. So we have been trying to get this planned. I figure a boat would be needed instead of sitting out on a pier. Last night my husband came back from an hour of relaxing on the dock with a pole and squid; carrying a bucket filled with Croaker (yuk, I don't like fish, but I enjoy fishing.) He took them up to one of our neighbors who is a sweet Asian woman and her husband. We met them at another neighbor's 89th birthday party last week. Sadly the 2 women sit around during the day with very few visitors. We both promised we would stop in each week for a visit. But our Asian lady friend loves to fish and eat fish so that is another fishing trip we need to plan. While my husband was there visiting, the couple offered to sell us their boat (which could easily hold 6 people)and trailer for a very very reasonable price. Now we just need to see if they will do it on a few payments. So God again provides a solution so we can spend some fun quality time with the guys.

Also, we are planning a cookout. Not just any cookout with games and fellowship. But one of the main reasons many of the people on the street remain here is because they have kids that live with the other parent. One of the guys hasn’t been able to spend time with his kids in years. He knows they want to see him, the parent is willing to let him, but he has nowhere to take them for some quality time. So we are in the process of calling the custodial parents and schedule a day when we can get everyone together for some food, fun and re-connection. This will take some time to get several families schedules pinpointed to one day and volunteers to make driving arrangements for the kids. Also it is important for the custodial parent to trust us enough to make this happen.