Look out!

It’s true, LBH Week 3 is coming to a close and we must look out to the road ahead. Before doing so, however, let’s mosey back to our last couple days...and as we do, may I suggest you keep a look out for slug bugs, talking gnomes, small signs exchanged in circles, and water gun donning stealth shooting high schoolers…

Surprising enough with all this looking out, Wednesday morning began (as do all mornings of LBH) with a time of looking in…at our ability to see Christ in others and to serve Him by serving them. After a healthy helping of our Lord’s grace in prayer – and Gina and Dave’s flapjacks in the kitchen – we were off to do just that…serve Christ through our service to others. A number of crew members headed into Madison to continue work on the classrooms at St. James School. Second coats of paint and a few kosher donuts later, the team made their way to the Bishop O’Connor Center (BOCC). There, they met up with the other members of the LBH crew who spent their day delivering meals (and smiles) to the homebound and chattin it up with the seniors at the Mt. Horeb Senior Center.

BOCC pool time is always a blast, especially when you’re on the lookout for airborne inner tubes, flying footballs worth points, and Olympic-esque races between worthy opponents (Better luck next time, Blaine! Love, Gina). Pita pizzas provided a tasty dinner follow-up, but not nearly as scrumptious as what followed…

Confession time with Fr. Rick…man, it feels great to look out on life with a new pair of eyes and a clean soul. Thank you Jesus for forgiveness and grace…and the gift of strawberries – in shortcake form – it’s only appropriate to celebrate feelin’ good after the Sacrament, right!?! The ladies tasted some additional sweetness later when they found a way to get four on a couch before heading to bed.

Good morning blog readers, it’s Thursday on our journey back in time and the LBH crew is up for a last day of prayer and action. After some time of prayer and Toaster Strudel, we scattered one last time to finish beginning love (in the formal sense) in the Madison area. One crew did final touch-ups at St. James School. Look out SJS middle schoolers - Mother Theresa’s inspiration is etched in your walls (literally)! A second crew delivered meals to homebound and finished up some yard work that was begun earlier in the week and a final crew did yard work and window cleaning at another home (Upon completion, they were serenaded with ice cream bars and brownies as a thank you – it was debatable who was more thankful when all was said and done…Dorothy, your brownies are to die for!). All teams rendezvoused at the Senior Center for a final card playing hurrah with our new senior friends.

With our work complete, we headed for the Mt. Horeb community pool where elbows were flying in what could possibly have been the most epic game of water basketball this town has ever seen. For those that didn’t get enough competition in the pool, Cherry Cherry commenced on the playground…but all that fruit talk made us hungry, so we headed back home for the most delightful leftover / made-to-order-bar dinner of all time. Speaking of that which nourishes us, Christ’s presence in the Eucharist was our source of reflection for the close of the night. How very blessed we are to have this gift. May it continue to strengthen us as we leave from this place…

Look out world, here we come!