Spring is in the air

Good morning,

So the spring break season of servant event trips has ended, and now we have a break from groups until the busy summer season begins around the end of May. The weather here has been fairly good, today looks like it will be fantastic, about 85 degrees, however, apparantely we are in the "windy" season, so we have had some days with wind warnings, like over 50 miles per hour, and I guess it supposed to be like that today. I have to admit, I am kind of over the wind.


So, I bet you are asking yourself if there is any work for us to do when there are no groups? Well, the is answer is BOY!!! There is always something we can be doing. Erin and I are actually going to take our own "spring break" and go to Colorado for a few days. She has been to Colorado before, but hasn't really had a chance to see much, so we thought we would get some much needed R&R of our own and head up there for Easter. We are going to take in a couple Rockies games, go to the mountains, and see some of the other touristy type Denver stuff. It should be a nice break.

In the meantime, (and probably even when in Colorado), it is time to tackle the to do lists in the office. I am currently working on 3 different grants, one for a Pastoral Renewal Program (sabattical), one for the hot meal program, and one for planting a new mission in Sparks. I have identified a couple other foundations for different programs and will be working on those once I finish a couple of the other ones, so my mind doesn't get too confused and I start putting the wrong info into the proposals. Even though the economy is bad, we are still in need of funds, and luckily there are still foundations out there posting their RFP's. Erin has a little bit of downtime in her daily work of preparing for groups, so she has been awesome in helping me research foundations and even fill out some stuff on the proposals. She leaves the fun stuff to me though, like the budgets, and narratives, but that's ok, I am very grateful for her help.

She is also helping with the Join Hands Day, which I don't know too much about, but I guess it is a national program where communities join together to distribute items to the people. We are going to be doing school supplies and food baskets here on May 2nd. Please check out http://www.joinhandsday.org/ for information on how you can get involved. We are in need of backpacks or handbags to fill with the school supplies and of non perishable food items for our distribution, so if you can help us, please do.

In addition to the grants, I will be working on some other fundraising things for YLM, scouting projects for the summer and preparing a special sheet that shows what supplies are needed, time frame for the projects, etc. Also, as I said in the previous post, I am going to finish that house. It is almost done, but there are a few things that I want to tighten up. Still need to install the sink in the bathroom, tile the bathroom, another coat of paint inside, and to brace one more section of floor in the back hallway. These thing should keep me busy for at least a couple days. :)

Sorry, no new pictures for this post, but maybe I will have some of the Denver trip for you.

Oh, I almost forgot, so the LCMS World Relief and Human Care is putting together a website of their RSO's (Recognized Service Organizations) and one time I talked to a Deaconess there about something or other, I think it was for a mini grant opportunity or something, but we got to talking about how I came to Ysleta, and I guess she really liked my story, because a few weeks ago she contacted me and asked if they could feature me and my story for the initial lauch of this website. So that is kind of cool. I don't really know the time frame, but I think it is close because I have sent my story in, and then they asked for some photos, so I think it could be pretty soon. I'll post a link once it is up.

Hope you have a fantastic Easter. He is risen!!!