Josh Needs Help

For all of you married couples (and singles) who read our normal blog, click on the "Jesus and Josh" link in our blogs section. I need your input on my premarital counseling material. Get on the other blog, see what you think, and let me know. Thanks!

We're Back

Sorry for the lack of blogging this summer. We don't really have an excuse. Here's 6 new posts from Hilty happenings in July and August.

Prep for 14 Extra People Living in Your Basement

I think the title says it all. The fact that I'm writing almost two months afterward tells you it can be done. It was a joy to fit 16 people through one shower all week. It's part of the mission trip experience. Our Sunday School class has been going through Keith Drury's "There's No I in Church" for the past month or so. The theme is how God uses the church as a body to sanctify us, to make us more like Him. One of the questions He asks is, "Why can't churches be more like mission trips in regard to koinonia, or fellowship?" And the answer is simple: Mission trips provide a group of people an extended period of uninterrupted community. Sleeping in a basement on an air mattress 6 inches from the kid you normally see a few hours a week at church makes it almost impossible for bonding not to take place. Standing in a church basement on a chair with paint in your hair and on your shirt, breathing in paint fumes, isn't something that normally happens on Sunday morning or Wednesday night.

Jamie and I were excited to have the team from Brookhaven here. And we were just as excited to prepare our basement for them to sleep in it. Here are some pics from prep time.

That little black thing is a bug. The wall and floor meet but there's a bit of a crevice between them where these goobers come through. Jamie was washing the wall and they just started popping out. I couldn't spray them fast enough, so this was option 2. Remember the game where the gophers come out of the holes and you hit them on the head? Same thing. Gross! Oh, I killed about 30 that day.

Jamie and I both washed the floor. What a difference scrubbing the floor and walls made to the smell. When we moved in, the entire basement was full of church clutter which create a less-than-pleasant smell. Now it's a liveable space. Can anyone say "TLC"?

We also cleaned the panels for our lights. No more dead bugs up there.

Brookhaven Team

Have you ever had a project you wanted to tackle but knew you couldn't do it on your own? Our recent projects were painting the church basement, weeding around the outside of the church and putting on a VBS. We know that without God providing 14 extra helping hands we couldn't have done any of it.

To those of you from the BWC team who came and helped, thank you so much. Our congregation loves the basement and we still see Ryan. We're getting ready to add some landscaping to the church next month.

The team arrived Monday July 30th. We showed them the church, set up shower and meal prep arrangements, had devos and went to bed. Then the fun began. Tuesday morning we started taping and painting the church basement. Some of the guys worked outside to weed around the building and did a great job. That night we held a youth service for a few of the teens that come to the church. This was their first experience with a youth group and hopefully is a taste of what we'll have (someday). Pastor Tony preached a great message about God's unconditional love with a little help from Rob Bell (Lump).

Wednesday through Friday days were the same as Tuesday: paint and weed. Those nights we held a VBS. We had one boy show up each night, a 6 yr old named Ryan who lives 2 houses down. He had a blast with kickball and enjoyed learning the memory verses each night. While we were disappointed to have so many volunteers and only one kid, we know Ryan loved it. Plus it's given Jamie and I a connection with his parents.

Saturday Jamie took the team to Devil's Lake even though it rained. They had fun hiking the trails and warming up back at the house.

Sunday the team presented our VBS songs and verses and stories for the congregation using Powerpoint slides and a guitar and worship DVDs. These are all things our church has had little or no experience with, so we're glad we could use the VBS as an "excuse" to introduce them. That afternoon we went to Noah's Ark, the largest outdoor waterpark in the US. It's 15 minutes north of us in Wisconsin Dells. Think of Cedar Point with lots of water.

Monday August 6th was farewell. We were sad to see them go. Here are pictures of our week together.

Haley cleaning the women's bathroom prior to painting. Let's just say it's not good to touch or breathe in mold.

How many teens can you fit on a couch?

Before #1

Before #2

Our cousin Crystal and Jessie removing old curtain rods.

Allie working her tail off to rinse paint rollers and brushes. When you use 9 different colors this becomes a difficult task :)

Jewel, Jessie and Haley painting the back wall of the basement.

Jewel starting to paint "the squares." You would not believe how many times we taped and retaped so we could paint this correctly. You can only paint in every other square, both horizontally and vertically. Then pull out the hair dryers to help the dry time, pull off the old tape (in places) and put up new tape. Repeat process. It took us to Saturday morning just before family members showed up for a memorial service to finish this wall.

After #1. Yes that's me jumping like an idiot.

After #2

Ryan, our VBS kid and neighbor.

Mollie

Jamie's friend Mollie Bozarth came to visit in late July. She was on her way up to Minnesota and we had lunch together. It's been nice to see friends and family quite a bit this summer. A team of four people from Main Street Wesleyan Church (Jonesboro, IN) is coming in September to help out at the church, including pastor and friend Stephen Mowat. We thank God for great friends no matter how far apart we are.

Family Time

Jamie's family came to visit us in the beginning of July. We camped at Devil's Lake State Park for about a week. Some of these pictures were taken from on top of the West Bluff that surrounds Devil's Lake. We hiked along the lake one way, then went to the top on the way back.

They brought corn hole, the game where you toss bean bags onto wooden boards. Simple yet addicting.

These two just had to go together. Yes, they're related.

A Sad Day for Maddie

Today we took Maddie to the vet for spaying and de-clawing. It was like dropping your child off to kindergarten on the first day of school. If you think about it, how many times are you really away from your pet? And how many of those times is it crying in the back seat of your car, looking at you with the "puppy dog" face? Maybe I'm pathetic, but it was hard to leave her.

BUT...praise God she won't have any little, white, mutilating, blood-producing front claws when she returns! We pick her up tomorrow at 11:00, complete with recycled newspaper litter and incomplete without claws and, well...

These pics were taken a month ago. She actually slept on hte couch with Jamie like this, butt in the air, head on the couch. Owee!!!! She loves getting into our laundry baskets. We have tall ones and we throw her toys into them. She jumps in after them and tries to jump out. She can do it, but not without the basket falling down after her. This time she's trying to use those blood-producing things to get Josh.

Rain!

Here's how the back page of my newspaper reads:

Precipitation Month to Date: 14.70"
Normal Month to Date: 3.67"
Year to Date: 34.11"
Normal Year to Date: 23.06"

The front page article is titled, "Residents can get federal help." That's right. We've had enough rain to be considered a federal emergency. All summer long, especially in July, we had no rain. The grass was dead. It hurt to walk outside barefoot. All of a sudden August comes and we have water gushing through into the church basement and a small puddle in ours. Okay, maybe gushing is a strong word. But it did take about 10 towels to sop it all up one Sunday morning. Now our grass is far from dead and we're sick of the rain. Today we woke up to thunder and lightning. Hopefully God decides its time to quit and shares it with areas down south. We'll see.