My Summer Home: San Antonio

Texas has been the only thing on my mind for about two months now. And here I finally am! I already feel so blessed to be working with such an amazing group of people! DeeDee Sedgewick, our director, is an angel. She is such a sweet, sweet woman! Our two assistant directors, Dwight and Sarah, are also amazing individuals. Doug, our construction and facilities director, will essentially be my mentor this summer as I learn about construction and lead teams in doing it. Doug has a wonderful wife, Colby, who made me feel so welcome before I even came, and I have yet to meet her in real life yet. The other interns,  Karen, Bryan, and Andrew are also so great! We are all bringing different gifts and talents to the table and I can't wait to see how well we all work together this summer. The other intern who has not yet come is Reed who is currently in Africa with his mom and cousin (cool right). Clearly, he will have a great perspective to bring to our hodgepodge group! I am so excited, as our Blueprint family, we will be doing a book study on Radical by David Platt which I have been wanting to read. We will eat lunch together every Wednesday to discuss what we have read! Another awesome aspect of Blueprint Ministries is the willingness of family members and friends to volunteer their time, service, money, homes, and prayers to help meet the goals of Blueprint. You can tell that the organization is greatly loved by such an enormous group of people.

Our facility is a renovated 3 story United Methodist church. It is a beautiful building equipped with living areas, eating space, a  sanctuary, bathrooms and showers, and places to hang out and play both inside and outside of the building. It provides a perfect home for youth groups and other organizations as the come for a week or weekend at a time.

So far, we have gone through a lot of our facility procedures as well as begun to meet our homeowners who we will be working with this summer. One amazing thing about Blueprint Ministries is not only are they impacting the homeowners through their work to give them a livable home, but also providing them with love and support. The homeowners will receive a scrapbook made by the team at the end of every week so they can remember the kids who worked on their house. Additionally, they are invited to each dinner with us every Wednesday! 

Also, today Doug taught Andrew, Bryan, and I how to lay flooring. Not only were we able to finish the flooring in a sweet man's home, but also were blessed with playing with his grandchildren, a little boy and girl. They assisted us by pulling the paper off the bottom of the tiles we were laying. It was neat seeing such desire to help in such small children. 

On a funny note, I had no idea what an HEB was until Monday. My fellow Blueprinters were in hysterics, especially Andrew, over the fact that I asked, knowing that it was going to be a question to be mocked, "What is HEB?" HEB for all you non-Texans is basically Walmart but much nicer and only in Texas. It is basically the go-to place for all your needs except for clothing, unless you go to HEB Plus, which I did! I am now entering the world of HEB. Here I come.

As far as my living situation goes, Karen and I are staying with a magnificent couple, Jeff and Jana Galt. They are hosting us until we move into the facility next Wednesday and also on the weekends. I am enjoying coming home after our day of work to two dogs welcoming me with kisses at the door and the smell of food in the kitchen. Could I have asked for anywhere better to live? I have yet to meet Jeff because he has been gone for work, but Jana is a beautiful woman inside and out! She radiates joy and hospitality. They live in a beautiful neighborhood on the Northern side of San Antonio (Blueprint is on the southern side so it has been a hike everyday.)

Speaking of going to and from Blueprint, San Antonio interstates blow my mind. The organized chaos is astounding as people switch across five lanes of traffic to exit off only onto an interstate running parallel to the interstate they just left. It is going to take me another few weeks to really understand how to navigate myself around our big city!

Anyways to wrap up my long entry, I am just so excited and so blessed to be here this summer. I pray that I grow in more ways than I even know and also encourage others to grow in their walk with Christ.