Love in the Shadows

This has been one of the hardest, and most exhilarating two weeks I've had in a long time. This will be a short post but I wanted to get on here and let you know I'm still around.

This post will be about the exhilarating part ~

We hosted a pastors conference last week and I was on my feet non-stop for 3 days. Pastors came from all over the country to be fed spiritually, to be pampered and just have time to rest. We had over 500 pastors attend! It was powerful! 

We hosted a dinner for them the first night they arrived

 We served over 620 box lunches each day of the conference

(For the pastors and volunteers)

There were a lot of volunteers, they prayed throughout the day and worked so hard to make sure everything went smoothly.

The Sanctuary was full for every day and evening session

 

It was so good to be able to bless these hard working men and women. When we were setting up and preparing for it all, I was helping my team with the tables and chairs in the Commons (gym) and something happened that I have never seen before. I've attended this church for more than 30 years, have eaten a whole lot of food here but last week for the first time:

Love appeared in the shadows.

It was a sign to me that the Lord knew exactly what I needed at exactly the moment I needed it. More on that next time.

Thanksgiving, Double Digits and Julie Andrews

Thanksgiving kicked my butt this year. 

These are pictures from last year (I didn't have time to take many this year) to give you an idea of what the Thanksgiving Outreach at our church looks like.

This is our gym, we call it The Commons, ready for our guests

 The first seating. 
When they're done we clean and re-set the tables and do it again. And then again.

In years past I've lead the Buser and Server teams, overseeing the Commons. Or the Condiment team, putting the rolls, black olives and pickles on all the tables then bringing out the pumpkin pie after dinner. But now that I'm the Custodial Supervisor at church, I lead the Custodial team this year.

I went into it thinking, "So we empty trash for a few hours. How hard can this be?" Oh my word, I had no idea just how MUCH trash we'd need to empty. And if we didn't get to it soon enough how heavy it would be to lift out of the can. And how much heavier it would get as we carried it out of the building and out to the parking lot. And how it would be even heavier as we tried to toss it up and into the dumpster! (I eventually got smart and went downstairs to grab our big rolling trash bin so we could fill it and didn't have to carry them out of the building.)

And the trash in the Commons would fill up within seconds. Not exaggerating!! Plus there were trash cans in the Reception area at the other end of the building. And in the childcare area downstairs. Plus cleaning and restocking the bathrooms. I'd clean one sink, move to another and someone would come in and immediately use the sink I just cleaned. I can't tell you how many times I'd be in the middle of cleaning and 15 people would walk in.

I had a few volunteers help in the morning but for the most part it was just me and Beth. She would go into our Women's Cry Room whenever there would be a break and it didn't take her long to fall asleep! It was a very long and exhausting day!

  

 

And when we got home... no wonder my feet hurt!

Last month I ended up buying Julie Andrews new book and I'm loving it! It's funny and surprising... I'm only about a third of the way through it but I highly recommend it!

Today we celebrated Allie's 10th birthday! Sharaya always does a phenomenal job on decorating and themes... she's really gifted in this area! It was a Winter Wonderland theme and there were so many fun elements to it. All the kids got to make gingerbread houses, there were snowflakes and snow and nutcrackers, it was amazing!

And look at this cake! Her friend Jen from Tasty Spoons Bakery made it and all of her cakes are stunning!

Happy Birthday Allie!

It's Worth It

We have our first Leaders Meeting in August. 

We begin contacting last years volunteers.

We start sign ups the first of October.

But the Monday before Thanksgiving is when all the hard work really begins.

The kitchen begins prep work to feed more than 1200 people.

 

 The decorations go up all throughout the building

The dining room is filled with tables and it's my job to make sure they're spaced well enough for the servers to get through. Plus there has to be room for the giant food carts to get through, and people in wheel chairs, and service animals...

Once that's done we put all the chairs around and volunteers come in to decorate all the tables. 

 Then there's all the little details like making sure each serving station has brooms and gloves, water pitchers, serving utensils, rolling trashcans and anything they might need throughout the day.

When Thursday morning arrives everything kicks into high gear.

The teams of volunteers begin to arrive -

The Transportation Team shuttles people to and from the church and Beth rides along with Chuck as a greeter

This is the pastor who oversees the entire event and his wife who does all the work. 😁 During the Thanksgiving season she's known as 'Mumsy Pumpkin'. One of these days I'll have to find out how she got that name! They both give so much and they make you feel truly loved. Sincerely two of the best people I know.

This is the third year I've been in charge of the Busers and Servers which means I oversee the entire dining room.

Room set up

Serving stations

Section leaders 

All 120 Busers and Servers

Delivery of the food 

The guests

Just some of the Busers and Servers

Once all the teams are in place, we open the doors and the guests start pouring in!

Then the food is brought out on 4 large carts, one for each section. We deliver it to the tables and the table host serves everyone family-style.

 

 Mumsy always gets an incredible speaker who does puppets and balloon animals and entertains the kids while sharing the gospel. We had over 80 people raise their hands for prayer on Thursday.

After everyone leaves, we clean the tables and do it all again!

And again!

 We have three seatings every year and boy are we exhausted by the end of the day! Then the clean up crew shows up and before you know it, everything is put away and it's time to go home.

Being my first year as head of the custodial department (my day job) I had to stay until the very last person left. I made sure all the doors were locked and the lights turned out and then I set the alarm and headed to my car. I locked the parking lot gates and headed home. 

(I will admit, I'm glad it's over!)

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

17,716

According to my fitbit, that's how many steps I took on Thanksgiving Day.

Chuck drives one of the shuttles that picks people up from around the community and Beth rode along as a Greeter on the bus.

I lead the Busser and Server teams and for that reason, I also oversee the dining room.

Five days before Thanksgiving, our kitchen team began cooking the 28 turkeys (our church has a commercial kitchen) so they'd have time to cool before they carve them and put them on serving trays.

Three days before, we set up and place all the tables, trying to make sure there is enough room for the servers to get around, enough room to get the food carts in and out, access for wheelchairs, emergency exits... It's harder than it sounds and it took me hours to finish!

Thanksgiving day began early with the kitchen team preparing mashed potatoes, corn, yams, gravy and stuffing.

We have a Translator team who assists those who are deaf or English is their second language or even if they don't speak English at all! There are 14 teams I think: those who take the family photos, Reception Team, Table Hosts, Parking lot, Decorators...

 And it's all completely free.

 

Some of the servers preparing for the day.

The Table Hosts ready to welcome their guests

 Dinner is served!

After everyone had finished eating and was gone, we cleaned all the tables, re-set them and did it all again!

And then we did it a third time. Three different seatings where we serve a total of 1200 people. It's amazing to see the Lord work - how our feet don't hurt as much as you'd expect, how our backs remain strong even while lifting chairs and moving tables, how our spirits are joyful despite the controlled chaos! :)

At around 7:00 I headed out to the far parking lot to head home. I'll admit I was a little relieved that it was over but I couldn't get the smile off my face.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!