This and That Over the Last Week

 Last Monday, we did a food insecurity simulation for our 3rd-5th grade students. Each table was assigned a "family" and they were given a dossier (for lack of a better word) describing their family. They were told how many people were in the family, the ages of those folks, any special needs, whether or not the family had a reliable car, and they were told the occupation of the parent(s) and the monthly income of said parent(s). Included in the packet was "monopoly" money. Around the perimeter of the room, we had a benefits office where families with low incomes could apply for assistance. We had a food pantry, two grocery stores, two restaurants, and several bus stops. One grocery was considered discount while the other was higher end. We named our grocery "Whole Foods" and the other group chose "Aldi" as their name. One restaurant was fast food and one was a nicer restaurant. The food pantry was only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The buses, benefits office, and food pantry was closed on Sundays. The families had to figure out how to feed their family every day for 7 days. Two of the families were below poverty level; two were high income; the remainder of the families fell in between. It was quite interesting to watch the kids and it was really interesting to hear their comments afterwards. It was a meaningful experience. I was able to slip away from my "real" job to participate. I love that we are encouraged to collaborate with each other on our church staff. By the way, one of our staff people is a social worker by education and former work experience. She heads up our Outreach ministries. She had heard of a similar simulation but it cost $3,000. She wrote her own program for us to use and she did an amazing job.

Our grocery items at "Whole Foods" included
organic fruits and vegetables, yogurt,
cheese, milk, meat, bread, prepared
meals, etc.

The electricians started hanging our new light fixtures. I think we made some great choices.

The room below is the family room/living room/whatever we call it these days. We had a ceiling fan in this room and neither of us like ceiling fans so we replaced it with a cool light fixture.

There is a layer of dust on the floor but I grabbed a snapshot of the bedroom right before the workman put the paper down to protect it.

On Friday, we had Granddaughter #1 for most of the day. She and I went for pedicures. She actually had a pedi and mani!

She wanted us to have matching toes so we did!

After lunch, Pops took her to Highpoint Climbing. She climbed the adult walls - the tallest was 55 feet high. I made a couple of screenshots from Mark's phone. He recorded both climbs and he is so funny in the background cheering her on.

On Friday night, we headed over to Mark's sister's house. Her oldest and youngest sons were in town and we ate dinner with them and hung out on their porch. It was a nice night.

Saturday morning, we headed back over to the house to see what else they had done. Our son built the bar table below several years ago. The workman laying/staining the hardwood floors asked Mark about the table and actually offered to buy it! He said it was really well made. Mark told him that our son made it and it wasn't for sale. The man refinished it as a surprise for us. It has been sitting on our porch this last year and was looking kind of sad. It looks gorgeous now. What a nice surprise!!

More progress is below. Our new island is in and they put the granite back on. I'm very pleased!

Mark really wanted a piece of Alabama marble and we were able to get it for the new bar top and backsplash. We actually went to the "stone store" and picked out the slab we wanted and Mark picked out the two sections he wanted. There is a line in the backsplash that mirrors the line on the countertop. It is beautiful.

Below is another fun surprise. Both of our upstairs showers have these

tiny glass shelves in the corner. They are so cute!

Mark had to stay at his mom's on Saturday night and I worked this morning. We did get together with his siblings and his momma for lunch today after church. We've had a quiet afternoon at home. It is hot as heck here today so I stayed in. I'm studying for my summer mid-term plus I've been putting some boxes together to pack. I can't believe we finally have a move-in date!! July 12 . . .I'm holding my breath!!