Thursday, March 24, 2011

And now for something completely different........

For years now, I've had a weird fascination with "knockoffs"- cheaper versions of a more expensive or mainstream item. One of my favorites is store brand Dr. Pepper wannabes. The thing I like about them is the names they give them. It's not like the name "Dr. Pepper" has anyhing to do with suggesting satisfying cola flavor, but it has become synonymous with the drink. The knockoffs use the medical degree to let you know right away which drink they are trying to imitate.
Over time I've made it a point to check out places when I travel to see if they have new knockoff "Dr." drinks I havent seen. I actually have a list I keep. I was up to 26.
THEN.... I found a site that shares my fascination! It has found 52 and counting! My limited time on the west coast is hurting me. Anyway, check it out   http://postmyportfolio.com/Generic_Dr_Pepper.htm.  My favorite of the ones I've actually seen is Dr. Perky.  Gotta keep my eye out for Doc Holiday.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Might put a better title here later

LONDON / SHAUN / EMILY / TARA / BROOK / GABBY / EMILY / SCOTT / BAILEY / CHANCE / ELAINE / LAUREN / LINDSAY / BRYANNA / STEVE / TWIG / ANNA / BRIEN / DON / MITCH / HAMPTON / CHUCK / CHARLES / DAVE / JENNa / ALAINA / J.BOGGS / TYLER / DENNIS / 



MENU
BAKED POTATO BAR
BREADSTICKS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER

The past couple of years the New Hanover High School Beta Club has picked a night and made lunch bags for us to pass out. It counts as a service project for them and they always do a great job. They did it again last night. They put PB&J sandwiches in the bags, which is good because we don't make PB&J as much as we do other sandwiches. Donna Livingstone, a math teacher at NHHS and a member of First Baptist, organizes the whole process. We appreciate it very much.
Liking the first stop so much better now that it is staying lighter later in the day. It makes things easier, too, I believe.

Getting ready to go to NY in a couple of weeks on our first Spring Break Homeless Ministry Mission Trip. Looking forward to it. Kinda thinking about trying to figure out a way to see the Spider-Man musical but it looks like it's about to implode before it even gets on Broadway and would be a waste of ticket money.

Baked potatoes were, and always are, a big favorite. There's a ton of stuff to top them with and we cook a bunch, so everyone gets as much as they want.

Plus, in the GOD PROVIDES MORE THAN WE COULD EVER EXPECT file, Dennis Pittman, a member of the church and employee of Smithfield Pork, brought us 5 styrofoam coolers full of mini ham sandwiches, wrapped and ready to hand out. They were made from the King's Hawaiian bread rolls and Smithfield Select ham. We added about 3 of those to each of the lunch bags the Beta Club brought. 
AND......somebody made and brought us a big batch of Banana Pudding, which probably is in a tie with Chocolate Cake for the favorite Dessert with our friends. When there's a Banana Pudding, nobody asks for any of the other desserts until the BP is gone.  

We'll be having a NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL GAME party in a couple of Mondays. It's a little more subdued and scaled back than the SUPER BOWL PARTY, because of it starting later and being a Monday night, but still a good time.

Friday, March 18, 2011

What do you think?

Did a quick little turnaround from a St Pat's Day green to a NCAA Tournament Bracket theme. Wish the picture was smaller so you could see more of the ball and the brackets, but it still works.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

...that's never stopped me from doing things in the past.

LONDON / SHAUN / MARK / TYLER / J.BOGGS / LINDSAY / BRYANNA / LEFTY /  KILLER / DAVE / BARBARA / MYRA / TOM / TERESA / STEVE / TWIG / WAYNE / DAVID / JENNA / ALAINA / MARISSA / MARY / SAM / McCALL / ELAINE / SHELBY / STEPHANIE / KELSEY / MEGAN / MEREDITH / CHANCE / MORGZILLA / CREEEEECH ! / ALEXANDRA / CECELIA / MERRITT / HOLLAND / CHARLES / CHUCK / DAVE


MENU
MEATLOAF
MASHED POTATOES
GREEN BEANS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER


LUNCH BAGS:
PBJ or BALONEY AND CHEESE
CHIPS
BAG OF CASHEWS/ALMONDS


  • This week Sam Gates was home on Spring Break from Stevens College in New Jersey and brought some of her friends home with her. She brought 2 of them (MARISSA, MARY) with her Tuesday night.
  • Merritt Hunt came with her friend HOLLAND.
  • Elaine had 3 friends with her - SHELBY, KELSEY,  and STEPHANIE.
  • CHUCK brought DAVE.
  • Lauren and Lindsay Powell have been bringing their friend BRYANNA
Why am I telling you this?
Because I think it's a great thing. I'm glad they want to share it with their friends. I'm glad they feel enough ownership in the ministry to try and plug others into it. I think it's a good way for them to share their faith with their friends through actions instead of words. Sometimes kids are reluctant to invite friends to a church service and this can be an alternative
I talk to them a lot about Andrew, and how, after meeting Jesus, he immediately went and got his brother Peter and brought him to meet him. I let them know one of the best things they can do is invite someone to come join them when they serve God and others.


Towards the end of the 2nd stop, we ran out of plates. We brought 90, a couple of people at 2nd stop threw theirs away before getting seconds, and we probably used a couple for other reasons, so what that means is we probably fed close to 85-90 folks. We were serving in cups and empty pie pans at the end. Seeing that many this time of the year is a pretty good indicator that we'll the summer numbers will probably be over 100 each week.
No worries. God is faithful and generous. He has yet to fail us.


Glad to see Daylight Savings time get here. My mood improves when it stays light outside longer. Always has.


'Bout ready to do hot dogs and cheesesburgers soon.


We're going to do FISHFRY soon and I was wondering how our crowd would react if we took butcher's paper and rolled it up like a cone and served the fish and hushpuppies in that. No reason other than just to do something different, although they could walk away with it and eat as they went. Which is kinda cool. You can use newspaper but some of them would probably not go for that. I could see the whole thing being a big fiasco, although,.....

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The weather and the meal were the same last night

So it was one of those weeks where we could cook whatever we wanted. I didn't have anything sitting in the fridge I had to use before it went bad, nobody was bringing thing I needed to be a good steward of.....nothing


So Twig and I had a meeting of the minds and the first thing he suggested was Chili and grilled cheese.
Fine with me.


MENU
CHILI
GRILLED CHEESE
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER


We had grated cheese, sour cream, crackers and TEXAS PETE to garnish the chili with. I had some ham we sliced up and put on some of the sandwiches.
We also passed out Blow-Pops and individual sized bags of cashews and mixed nuts.


Got a friend named Joy who has a Bible Study that came down once in the summer and helped out when I was out town. She brought them down this week to help. It was nice for them to come and join us. Half of them were able to stay for the 2nd stop.


The temperature was pretty low last night. Keep thinking that's behind us now, but I continue to be wrong every week. If you walk up, I'm easy to spot. I'm the one in short sleeves among a crowd of people wearing hoodies and coats. But it's ok. Working for the Eckerd camps toughened me up.


NY Spring Break Feeding Ministry Trip is getting closer!


JOY / ANNA / EMMA / LAURA / PETE / COACH ZEBOR / DAVE / MIKE / MERRITT / MADELYNE / ELLYN / ZUPON! / SAVANNA / ELAINE / MS. POTTER / T.J. / J.BOGGS / CHRISTIAN / KILLER / LAUREN / LINDSAY / BRIANNA / PEYTON / JAMIE / TWIG / BRIEN / WAYNE / ANNA / STEVE / BLAKE  / MORGZILLA / ALEXANDRA / CREEEEEECH! / ASHLEY / LANE / CHRIS / ISAAC / CHANCE /  were the hands and feet and smile of God last night.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

ERIC / BRIANNA / ALEXIS / TIFFANY / MISSY / ISAAC / SCOTT / MARY ANNE / SARAH / CHRIS /  EMILY  /  LONDON  / MADELYNE  /  MERRITT /  ANNA / SAVANNAH / BLAKE  / LAUREN / LINDSAY / BRIANNA  / MORGAN / MEREDITH // MARK / T.J. / ELAINE / PATRICK  /  ANDY / DON  / ASHLEY /  BRIEN / ANNA / DAVID / JENNA / ALAINA / CHARLES / STEVE  /


Had a large High School turn out this week.
New Hanover kids are in black and orange.
Ashley in maroon and gold.
Laney in blue and yellow.
Hoggard in blue and white.
Andy's name is in UNCW"s colors, sort of.


Had as much help as I did food this week.


The Menu:
BAKED SPAGHETTI
SALAD
BREAD! BREAD! BREAD! BREAD!
DESSERT 
SWEET TEA / WATER
and...
BAG LUNCHES  to take with them for the next day.

This past Sunday we had The Follies, which is a spaghetti dinner/fundraiser for the Youth Mission Trip. There's always spaghetti sauce left over which they generously donate to us. After trying to figure out a use for it other than spaghetti, I gave in and figured we'd just have baked spaghetti, which would be good for at least two reasons. One, our guys like it and it was going to be chilly so a hot dish would be good. Secondly, baked spaghetti is the kind of dish you construct, which is good for getting kids involved and engaged. 
Had bread coming out of our ears this week. Had breadsticks, sourdough sliced, sourdough loaves and whole wheat rounds.
Several members of the New Hanover Honor Society came out this week to help. Most of them had been before. All the kids that came out this week did a great job. They always do. 

It was a lot of fun in the kitchen tonight, but then it always is.

One of the guys at the Mercy House told me he might be moving and getting his own place to stay.
I said That's great.
The look on his face didn't agree.
I said That's a good thing, right?
He said I guess. I'm going to miss getting fed though.

About 2 years ago, a couple of kids starting showing up at the Mercy House every week to eat with us. It was a 8th grade boy and his 3rd grade sister. They lived a couple of blocks away. The mom and dad came down occasionally and the 2 kids became regulars. One of our kids went to school with the boy and he started bringing him to Youth Group. Before long, they were simply a part of us.
 Dad had some trouble and wasn't in the home anymore. Mom felt she was going to lose the kids to DSS so she took them (the boy, now a sophomore in high school, the girl , now a 5th grader and 2 younger daughters) and fled to New York City. Word got back to us that they were (and still are) staying in a Homeless shelter. It breaks my heart to think of them in that situation.
We're going to NYC over Spring Break with kids to do Homeless ministry. We figured we would try to find the mom and her family while we were there to see them and see how they were doing. Some of the kids in Youth Group have kept up with the boy through texting. Now that they've told him we're going to be up there, his texts have become pleas to take him back to Wilmington with us when we leave. Kidnap him. Get him out.  
As good as it will be to see them, it's going to be very hard to see them, too. It will be difficult to interact with them, then say goodbye, leaving them in a shelter. Especially if the boy is pleading for us to take him with us.
Pray for them and their situation, and pray for us as we head up to see them. Pray for grace and peace, for wisdom and discernment and for God's presence to be felt the whole time.

It's going to be tough.
ANNA / MEREDITH / SAVANNAH / BLAKE / STEVE / DAVE / ALAINA / JENNA / CHARLES / BRIEN / MERRITT / PEYSON / ELAINE / ALEXANDRA / CREEEEEECH! / MORGZILLA / EMILY / JERRY / TERESA / TOM / KATHLYNN / TWIG / WAYNE / ELLYN / MADDY / ISAAC / TYLER /

PANCAKES
GRITS 'n SAUSAGE
BISCUITS WITH FRUIT
DESSERT
HOT CHOCOLATE / WATER

L

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