rise and shine...

...and give God the glory glory.

(lesser known 2nd verse) rise and shine and give lea a venti awake tea from starbucks with splenda and cream...

get right on that now and perhaps this post will have less misspelled words and grammer gaffes.

most likely not. and most likely none of you are heading out to starbucks to grab that for me... but erin might be. all pause for a moment of thanksgiving prayer to erin.

i love God so much better in the morning after i have had a cuppa tea.

we had a nice little sleep in until 7:30 this morning (and by "we" i mean those of us who are young and CAN sleep in. yours truly was up at 6.)

which gave me lots of photo editing time. so i am sure that those of you who were praying for more photos had your prayers answered by the Holy Spirit waking me up that early - and STOP IT. 

i like to name all my photos so i will tell you the names for the above photos in the order that they appear (if i was more computer savvy OR if erin would hurry back from that starbucks run i could do this right after each photo... but alas neither of those things is happening this morning).

#1: boys holding hands and skipping. 

one of those boys, the red headed one, is the same boy that portrayed col. sanders so nicely in a previous day's posting. and i am exacting my revenge on him for his greeting me at the retirement home as if i lived there. so this photo is PART of my revenge. 

#2 and #3: the unibomber's parole status

if you hear rumors that the unibomber is out on parole and is serving community service hours touring with a youth choir... don't believe it for a minute. believe it for 30 seconds though while you look at those photos.

#4: head and shoulders above the rest

oh josh palm, you are the reason we didn't set up risers in our previous venue because your head would have hit the ceiling. and your kindness exceeds your height by MILES.

#5: mrs. pam talks to the window

she may have lost it. we may have helped her lose it. OR there might be some people inside that window. i am betting on all three choices.

#6: new shoes

extra points if you can identify all those feet.

#7: warehouse boys

those guys worked HARD yesterday lugging boxes of food, rice, and supplies to everyone. and they looked good doing it.

# 8 and #9: packed with love

just one of the boxes that were packed yesterday. it has the date on it. it will be opened and people will be fed. and to God be the glory, GREAT things He has done.

#10: see i worked to feed starving children

not that taking all those photos isn't work. but it doesn't feel starving children.

#11: ferris wheel

did you know that this very site (navy pier) was where the FIRST ferris wheel ever stood? it was during the chicago's world fair in 1893 and it was twice as tall as this one (this one is 150 feet tall) and i would NOT have taken a ride on it with some 6th grade boys... but i did ride on this one with them...

#12 chicago at night

beautiful and COLD. but mostly beautiful. i have a GREAT view of the sears tower right outside my window at moody too. it is so great to go to sleep to the sound of big city traffic. it is not so great to wake up a couple of times at night to big city police sirens racing down the street. but you take the good with the bad.

#13: the cutest kids at the fireworks show

which could also be named "the most embarrassed kids at the fireworks show" when i started dancing. and there are NO photos of that. sometimes wisdom prevails.

today we are off for two concerts. first at pacific garden mission. we will also do a tour of that mission which is the oldest homeless mission in the country. then grab a chicago hot dog at portillo's hot dogs for lunch. and onto united cerebral palsy for a worship service. then tonight is giordano's stuffed pizza to make us stuffed. and tonight we go to comedysportz for a FAMILY FRIENDLY improv show. they told me 6 times it was FAMILY FRIENDLY when i called to check it out. it might not be so FAMILY FRIENDLY if some of our group volunteers to participate...

i am sure there will be pictures. and stories. so stay tuned....