3 Year Anniversary!

So today is mine and Tracy's 3 year anniversary! It's funny because almost on every other blog I read, when it comes to celebrating a wedding anniversary you always see a picture of them then and now. So to keep up with the tradition of then and now's here is a picture of Tracy and I three years ago when we got married.



Now if you're wondering, "wow you guys still look the same" it's because WE DO. Maybe a lil heavier around the edges but hopefully we can stop that before next year. So instead I thought it would be neat to see what we would look like if we were transformed into some celebrity and see what kinda couple we would make.

I'd have to say Brooke Burns (supermodel and former Baywatch girl) and Colin Farrell (actor) would make one good looking couple. Too bad Trace and I got em beat! So here's to my amazing wife for 3 awesome years and look forward to many more to come!

I love you babe!

D.C. - Recap (Stephen Smith)

First of all I would like to thank all of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and everyone else that helped make this trip possible for all of us. I know that this trip had a huge impact on all of us, so thank you.

Starting Sunday morning when we were packing the vans in front of church I don’t think that any of us really expected anything about the next week. Just driving into DC and seeing some of the neighborhoods was an instant shock to me, seeing the way some people had to live. The first morning we woke up, and were all tired. We drove to a brick building, and as soon as we walked in the first thing we were told to do was to go upstairs and make the beds. As we all worked together I saw how close our group was going to get. We hardly knew each other, but, by later that day when we were shucking corn you’d have thought we were all best friends.

The Boys and Girls Club was my favorite part of the trip. Each day, except Wednesday, we visited the B&G club to just help in any way we could. Our time was spent either playing games with the kids, or helping in the gym, or helping in one of the classrooms. I was mainly in the 7-8 year old room, which was insane. The kids were really loud, but when it came time to work, they would ask for our help and work through it, usually without problem.

Other places we went were Food and Friends, were we packed or delivered food to people with life threatening illness. It was cool to be able to see how some of the people lived, and it was also cool to be able to pack all of the food.

One day we went to “Downtown Cluster” which is a geriatric center. We talked to and sang for the elderly. It was very, very interesting. As soon as we got there I could have sworn I heard a cat. Every 2 or 3 minutes “MMEEOOOW!” I had no idea where it was coming from, until right before we left. I looked at this very old woman, who looked me straight in the eyes and let out a meow. I tried so hard not to laugh.

The rest of the time was either eating at different ethnic restaurants, which was always fun, or just hanging out and getting to know each other. We all got really close and I made a lot of strong friendships from this trip. I am very happy that I went on this trip and I know the experiences that I gained will lead me for years to come. I got closer to God, and he helped me realize that even though it may be hard work, its important to get to know the people that I am walking with, on my walk with God.

So, again I’d like to thank everyone for the opportunity to go on this trip. I hope I get to go on more trips like this in the future.

- Stephen

Urban Plunge

Flexibility is key to any mission trip and Day 5 our scheduled changed and was a replica of Day 3. Check out Sarah Finch's blog post of Day 3 to see what we did on Day 5, it was the same exact thing. So instead of having a student blog for Day 5, I have asked a few students share their experience of what took place during the afternoon/evening of Day 4, Urban Plunge.

Urban Plunge is an activity that CSM puts together for their groups to challenge the students to get outside of their comfort zone and get a first hand experience with a homeless person. Our group of 15 was split into three groups of five.

Group 1 (Franklin Square) - Rick, Jordan Parker, Sam Loomis, Bailey Donoghue, Toni Trager
Group 2 (McPherson Square) - Kris S., Kris L., Sammi Smith, Sarah Finch, Richard Yount
Group 3 (DuPont Circle) - Eddie, Merry Moore, Stephen Smith, Jenna Kohles, Breanna Rhode

Each group was given $31.75 total to feed their entire group, provide a meal for a homeless person, and pay for their transportation to and from their destinations (which were 3.5miles away). This was definitely one of the highlights of the week and one that will make an impact in the lives of these students.

Franklin Square (Jordan Parker)
My urban plunge experience was nothing less than amazing. My group went to Franklin Square Park to find a homeless man to take out to dinner and get to know him. When we first got to the park I was extremely nervous. There were homeless people everywhere and I had no idea what to say to them, or who to pick. But then we saw this woman sitting on a bench all alone with some luggage. I knew right away she needed our help. Our group walked over to her and asked her nicely if she would allow us to buy her dinner and let us get to know her. After that things did not go as I expected. Diane politely said no she didn’t want to come because she had already had a piece of bologna earlier that day and was not hungry, and that she was too shy. I was shocked. I expected her to jump up at the first chance she got for a free meal, but instead she turned us down and only wanted us to give her money. After this I felt rejected and it was very hard for me to ask anyone else to come to dinner with us. But then there was a man sitting alone smoking and he waved us over. There seemed to be something wrong with him but I couldn’t be quite sure. We asked him out to dinner with us and we got the response that was expected. He seemed really excited and told us a lot about himself. It turns out he had schizophrenia and had some problems talking but we did our best to understand him. After dinner he was so thankful. I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful this made me feel. I was on an emotional high for the rest of the night. Just having dinner for one night with one man really mad a difference in my life and in his. Urban plunge was truly a life changing experience.



McPherson Square (Sammi Smith)
For my urban plunge we had gone to McPherson Square. We had a really hard time to find someone that not only wanted a sandwich, but also wanted to eat it with us! We got there and we sat on a bench and prayed about finding the right person that needed it. As soon as we lifted our heads some man was standing above us and he kept asking for white socks. We all looked at each other and we had thought that we had found the right person but then he walked away. So we looked and looked again and we had got rejected four different times. They all just either didn’t want the sandwich or they wanted the sandwich and did not want to eat it with us. We had bought three foot-long subs from Subway and we cut them in half. In the end we only had two halves left to eat between the five of us! So we just sat there and ate what was left. Then a sandwich truck came and gave the homeless sandwiches so we left that area. On our way back to meet our group we stopped at a person who was running in a city election. We had asked him how he was going to help the homeless population. After that we left and only had $5 remaining to eat dinner. We stopped at Taco Bell and got .89 cent beef burritos. We were happy with the way everything had ended, even though we never got to meet someone and get their story!



DuPont Circle (Merry Moore)
Well, for urban plunge my group was Stephen, Breanna, Jenna, and Eddie. We came up with the team name “Public Urination”, but it was recently changed to “Sleeping Panda” due to various complaints. Our group was given DuPont Circle. We decided we were going to walk there and take the bus back, because it was only 3 ½ miles. It took us a little over an hour to walk. Once we got there it was a little after 4 o’clock, so we had 3 hours to find someone to share a meal with until we had to be back at the church. I don’t know about my other team members, but I thought this was going to be cake. So, we started to walk around, looking for people who looked like they needed some help. It was so hard to differ from the people who were homeless or not. We found a couple people that needed help and started asking. Well, I think we all were surprise when we had people say no to free food. And after 3 rejections, we all didn’t feel very confident. So, we went back to where Eddie had sat down and saw a man that we hadn’t asked yet. Breanna, Stephen, Jenna, and I went up to him and offered to buy him dinner. He gladly accepted. But he had luggage with him, so we walked over to Subway and got our group, and Warren, our homeless man, a sandwich. He told us that he used to be in the Air Force, and that job took him all over the world. He also said he used to be a truck driver, and that took him to ever state in the United States except for 5. He said he was waiting on a VA check from a near by hospital. When we asked him what he wanted to do with the money, he said that he wanted to find a cheap houseboat, because he wanted to get back on the water (He used to work at a marina before coming to D.C.) Despite his sad suggestion, sleeping on a park bench and keeping all of his belongings with him at all times, he still seemed genuinely happy. He had such a big smile on, and he just seemed so thankful that we wanted to help him out. So my urban plunge experience was wonderful, and I’m so thankful I got the chance to do it.

D.C. - Day 4 (Breanna Rhode)

Today was definitely full of new experiences. I think today out of all days something everyone was not exactly comfortable with. We woke a little later than the past couple of days, but I was in a rush because I also had to take a shower. The first stop of the day was at The Downtown Clusters (which is a geriatric daycare center). It was definitely a new experience for me because you never know what to expect with the elderly. We got up on the stage and sang worship songs to them and got a chance to talk to them. When we sang you could definitely tell they really enjoyed listening to us. Getting to see them smile from ear to ear made me smile.







After going to The Downtown Clusters we had lunch in a small park in the middle of the city. The talk of the day was wondering what the “Urban Plunge” meant. The leaders wouldn’t tell us what we were doing other than we would be doing a lot of walking and might be in uncomfortable situations.

After lunch we went to the National Cathedral. It is one of the prettiest churches I have ever seen. Being inside that was amazing. We went on a guided tour, which I will admit I had no interest in. History isn’t exactly my favorite subject, but still being inside the church was breathtaking.






Now it was time for the “unknown” part of the day. Everyone had their own speculations but once they told us everyone was pretty excited, or at least I know I was. Basically we were split into three groups with one adult. Within each group we had 30 dollars. Each group was assigned to a different section of D.C. With the money we had we had to find a homeless person and ask them if they wanted a meal with us. It was so hard because we didn’t know what to say to the person when we approached. We got rejected three times until we finally went up to a guy and offered him some Subway. He asked for a salad, but couldn’t come with us because his stuff was too heavy. We went to Subway and came back and asked him if we could eat with. It was really fun to get to know him and see how he was trying to get back on his feet and try. The whole experience was emotionally draining, but at the same time it was so much fun.

Each night we do a thing called debriefing where we talk about the day and just wind down the day. So tonight we went the World War II Memorial and then it started raining, pretty much down pouring. So we had to run from the World War II Memorial to the World War I Memorial. While we were at the World War I Memorial we did our debriefing. It was fun to hear about everyone’s experience. So to wrap up the day I would say it was overall an amazing day and I learned so much about the Nation’s capital and I would love to come back.

- Breanna

Darth Vader and Jesus?

So for those of you looking for student blog Day 4, it will be coming tomorrow provided by Ms. Breanna Rhode. In the mean time I found this to be EXTREMELY interesting. Today for lunch we toured the famous "National Cathedral" in D.C. This enormous building is incredibly beautiful inside and out. Every single brick and piece of wood in this Cathedral was hand carved with the most detail. The Cathedral started being built in 1903 and was finished in 1990. We learned on our tour that while it was being built they would like to add a piece of American History to it as they years went by. They had this magnificent stained glass window of the US moon landing with a piece of moon rock right in the center and a 3 piece stained glass set commemorating all of our fallen US soldiers in war.

But the coolest piece of history that I am surprised that I did not know of already, was that apparently Star Wars made such an impact in our Nation's History and with Jesus that they made a Darth Vader Grotesque that sits on the northeast side of one of the towers at the National Cathedral.... I'm not lying. It was up so high that we could not get a good picture of it, but here are some pictures of what it looks like up close. Enjoy!

God Bless America and may the Force be with her!

D.C. - Day 3 (Sarah Finch)

So how to start off the day… I think I could start with one word, EARLY! Okay. So it wasn’t that early, but compared to the 10 and 11 o’clock that I have been getting up this summer, 7:30 was pretty early. After getting up off the floor, (I’m the only one that is without a cot because they were all broken.) I changed into my clothes and ate my super-nutritious breakfast of cookies and cream poptarts. :] We all packed in the van and headed off to Food and Friends.

Food and Friends is a non-profit organization that makes and delivers food everyday to people with life-threatening illnesses such as AIDS and cancer. After our orientation from Adam, Eddie told us to play rock, paper, scissors for who got to go with him and Sarah (CSM Host) on the delivery route. I beat Breanna, and got to go along with Dick, Merry and Stephen in the air-conditioned van to deliver food. Dick and I were team Alpha and Stephen and Merry were team Bravo. We took turns getting out of the van to knock on doors and give out meals. Right as it started to rain, we pulled up to one guy’s apartment. Sarah called to see if he was home and when he answered he told us that he was out of town. That excited us because we knew that if any bags could not be delivered, we got to eat them. When we went through the bag, the only thing worth eating was the cake, which Eddie took, even though he shared and gave us all a bite. At about 11am we were done and we headed back to Food and Friends. We still had an hour until we went to lunch, so we helped trace, cut, and color bicycles for their fundraiser this weekend.






At noon, we packed up and went to the Basilica for lunch. After we ate we got to walk around. Of course we were all tired from waking up early and Sarah had the idea to take a nap by the fountain before we had to leave to go to the boys and girls club. So about 8 of us went down and laid by the fountain to take a small power nap.





When we went to the boys and girls club, I went up to work with the 7 and 8 year olds. They were learning coins. I never thought that teaching a 7 year old money could be so difficult. When they switched classes and the new class came in, I went down to visit Bailey and Jordan in the art room. They had just finished making clay volcano’s and were playing with the extra clay.



At the end of the day we got in the van again and went to dinner. Eddie had made it this far without having to parallel park, but that luck came to an end today. We must have been in the car watching him attempt and re-attempt to park the van for 20 minutes. We finally gave up and circled the block and parked somewhere else. When we got to the Indian resturaunt, I was skeptical on what to try, but Rick told me that I had to try everything. Now for those of you that know me, I’m the pickiest eater ever. But I did try everything, and most of it wasn’t bad. We went to Baskin Robins across the street after dinner, and I couldn’t decide what to eat, so I got 3 scoops. Surprisingly I ate every single bit! We went to a park for de-brief and are going to do worship tonight as a group at 10:30pm at the church!

- Sarah

D.C. - Day 2 (Jenna Kohles)

It’s only the second day, and already, we’ve experienced so much. From shucking corn and cutting cantaloupe to remembering how to borrow in subtraction, we’ve definitely had a full day. We started the day at Central Union Mission, a men’s shelter. We helped make beds and prepare food for lunch. We all loved getting to shuck corn! We also met several men with some amazing stories. We all felt it was really neat how these men were so willing to just open up to us and share their story. It’s amazing how much they can teach us with all they’ve been through.







For lunch we headed over to Anacostia Park to eat our packed lunches and skate in the outdoor pavilion.



Next we went to the Boys and Girls Club to help some kids with their schoolwork. Some of us had to second guess ourselves with second grade math! But we had a lot of fun just listening to the kids and what they had to say and seeing their smiling faces.







We ended the day at the Jefferson Memorial just as the sun was setting. We sat together and reflected on our favorite moments and how we saw God in ourselves and others. Some said they saw him in the men at the shelter with their willingness to share with us. Others saw him in the patience of the teachers working at the Boys and Girls Club.




All and all we had a great day and a great start to what I expect to be an awesome week!

- Jenna

Washington D.C.

Wow these past couple weeks have flown by in the world of Eddie. I'm the idiot who scheduled his summer student ministry trips: Ciy, week break, KY, week break, Washington D.C., 5 day break, Haiti. But I love spending the quality time with my students!

So I am on the Washington D.C. part of my summer and today was the start of what's going to be an amazing week. We arrived in the D.C. area around 12:30pm and stopped at the Potomac Mills Mall.... can you say Ikea? Well we didn't stop there but we ate some righteous food court food and bought some incredibly cheap shirts at Steve & Barry's.

After our quick stop we drove around the National Mall area for like 30 mins trying to find a parking spot, try parallel parking a 15 passenger van... not cool. After finding parking we headed over to the Einstein Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.





We then met our CSM team host, Sarah Rodriguez and she took us to our first ethnic restaurant, Wok N' Roll!



We had some Chinese goodness in the same building where over 100 years ago the plan to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln was made. Who knew history would evolve into Sesame Chicken and Lo Mien?




After dinner we started our first big project of the week, a prayer tour of the city. We began at the Washington Monument & White House praying for the leaders of our nation and ending at the National Cathedral praying for the city of D.C., Crosspointe, and for God to open hearts and eyes to what He will be teaching us this week. I can't wait to see how God will move in our students and how this will stretch them past life in Cary, NC.




Student bloggers start tomorrow!