Cherished Outreach - August

Is it already Friday morning? I feel like this week and yesterday flew by while I was standing still. The outreach last night went really well, and it was so great to see what God will do and has done for this ministry.

This month we made chocolate chip cookies for the bouncers/bartender/dj and "Rolo Pretzel Bites" for the girls, wrapped in bags and tied with ribbon. We also took a note that said "You are Loved! Enjoy a treat!" to put on the mirror by the extra treats for girls that hadn't come into work yet. Andi Moore (those of you from VCCR know her as the girl who does the signing on Sunday mornings) went in with me for her first visit, and she did great. Everyone was comfortable with her and clearly knew she genuinely cared about them. We went in at 6:15, but there were only 2 dancers and 1 waitress there. We chatted with the guys (staff) for a few minutes and gave them their cookies, and I was able to invite the bouncer's wife to do a potential playdate soon! He acted like she would be very interested, so I'm excited about that possibility.

The 2 dancers there, "C" and "P", are two girls that I met almost 2 years ago when we first started going to the club. They've both been gone for different, not good reasons and are back now. They were happy to see us though, and we talked about how their kids are doing. P said that the night she got back she was asking the girls when the "church girls" had been there last. :-) At the end of our conversation we invited them to church and they seemed open to it. At the very least, they weren't put off by the invitation. I'm so happy to feel like we've reached a point where I can invite them to church/church events without making them feel that something might get shoved down their throats. With most of them, I think we're past any suspicion about our intentions. I'm so thankful God has opened their eyes to our - and His! - genuine love for them. Please keep them in your prayers, especially as school starts. The girls seem to have mixed feelings, not looking forward to college guys (who don't tip well or treat them well, as a group) but obviously wanting more business. One of the girls said her boyfriend didn't want her dancing, but she couldn't find a job, so I let them know of places I knew were hiring. Continue to pray for their dissatisfaction with working there, and a longing for God and a different life. Pray that they take us up on our invitation and come to church.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support of this ministry. It is vital, and so encouraging.

I think I overuse commas.

Yesterday started out great. Aunt Beth sent me the picture above on Pinterest, and it totally made my morning. Of course, Dynamite was then in my head for the entire day. :-)

The first bummer of my day came when the brand new breast pump I had been given (after a friend found out that mine had broken) didn't work. Maybe I wasn't doing something right. I've never used the 2-at-a-time kind, so I'm going to try again, but it was a major disappointment. Siah is convinced that it is an airplane, but I think that it looks more like the Starship Enterprise - at least until you attach the bottles and horn things. Breast pumps in general are kind of creepy and strange. Oh well. The freedom for a few hours is worth it. After finally giving up on that, I decided to attempt the t-shirt scarf craft project I had pinned online. We started out well. I found a cute green t-shirt that I will never fit in again, unless I can magically turn 12, and started cutting. The problem came when it was time to make it ruffle by changing the tension and stitch length on my sewing machine. It just wasn't ruffling as much as I had expected. So I started to make the ruffles in the traditional way, which takes a lot more time. Then my bobbin ran out of thread. UGH. So I had to halt my project, rip out the line I had just sewn, re-thread the bobbin, and then put it in the machine again. For some reason, I could not get the stupid thread from the bobbin to raise. I was seriously about to start crying, I was so frustrated. Which only made me more mad, because bobbin is not a good reason to cry. Thank God, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, changed my playlist to something a little more happy, and was on my way again. I decided to quit trying to do traditional ruffles, finish the project the way it is online, and be done. Of course, in the midst of all this sewing angst I have a toddler demanding more Mickey Mouse and Oso (a bear with apparently no skills whatsoever, but he learns how to do things like stand in line and pet dogs), and a baby that decided to have a fussy morning. Such a princess. But do I make things easier on myself and decide to finish tomorrow? Absolutely not. The project finally ended with a rather sad, limp (yet ruffly!) t-shirt scarf with TERRIBLE lines of stitches that could have been pretty if I had waited until I had green thread and taken the time to make sure they lined up well. My mom was super encouraging though, telling me to see it as a learning experience on how to deal with a very difficult fabric (thin stretchy knit). For someone who can be very insecure about a lot of things, I always think that I can sew anything quickly and beautifully, no matter what the project or fabric. Wrong. But I'm glad for the practice, and a new, very cute dust rag.

After getting my house picked up, some laundry done, naptime and a shower, my mood improved considerably. And today was gone much better. Stella's asleep, and I'm going to take Josiah outside for some "mow the lawn" time.