IHN Tuesday 3/30/2010

Things are going well. We have added a third guest family, so that our guests are now:

• Clay and Brandy, with daughter Nevaeh (2)
• Jessica, with twin daughters Jemyah and Jekyah (4 1/2) and son Jo'zeric (2 1/2)
• Brittany, with son Zaire (10 months)

Tonight's dinner was provided by Jeanie and Roger Burbage, and everyone was sitting down to enjoy it when I left.

The only excitement was caused by a carpet company's truck that caused a traffic jam in the (currently tiny) church parking lot, requiring the IHN van and various cars to back out. This sort of problem will go away when the new building is finished and the parking structure is set up properly for parking.

I've invited our guests to join us for the Maundy Thursday service after Thursday's dinner, but I don't know if any of them will accept the offer. On Saturday, they are all going to the famous Easter Egg Hunt at Tom and Doris Granum's house.

Uneventful days are just what we want.

IHN Monday 3/29/2010

Two photos, not of IHN but of our new Fellowship Hall, still under construction. I took these on Palm Sunday. I think the timber-framed arched trusses are striking.

[The photos are links; click them to see larger photos.]


The first night went smoothly, and everyone was delivered to the proper places in the morning. The families came back this evening to dinner furnished by Leita Cobb and Kitty Donnan. Clay is doing some carpentry at a restaurant, and he went to work after dinner because the restaurant would prefer not to have construction noise while filled with customers.

We had thought that another family would be joining us today, but that did not occur. It may happen tomorrow, or later in the week, or not at all. We just have to be flexible.

When I left the church after driving Clay to work, everyone was already in bed. It should be another quiet night.

IHN Sunday 3/28/2010

Once again, our intrepid set-up crew converted the children's classrooms into guest bedrooms. Below are before and after shots of one of the rooms.

[The photos are links; click them to see larger photos.]

John Calvin (in the "before" photo) is now in seclusion behind the brown cabinet. With any luck, we'll remember to rescue him at the end of the week when we restore the rooms to their classroom use.
The beds belong to IHN and move from church to church each week. They are exactly like the roll-away beds that a hotel or motel would supply. They are a bit more comfortable than you might expect: IHN has recently purchased a new set of mattresses, and so each bed has one of the old mattresses under one of the new ones.

The beds, a set of large plastic bins with the guests' belongings, and some other furniture items are picked up from the church that's finishing its host week early on Sunday. Later that afternoon they are delivered to the next host church (that's us, today).

At the moment we have two families as our guests. One family is a mom and dad with a two-year-old daughter. The other is a mom with 4 1/2-year-old twin daughters and a 2 1/2-year old son. There's a strong possibility that we will have a third family with us before the week is out. As a result, we set up four rooms this time, three for the families and one for our overnight hosts. All of the classroom things are stored in Misse's storage room in the Children's Ministry Suite or in the "last resort" storage area underneath the church's front porch (you have to go through two sets of doors to get there).

Our guests and hosts joined First Presbyterian's youth group for dinner this evening, and will join the church as a whole for dinner on Thursday. On the other nights, dinner will be provided for the guests and hosts by some of our IHN volunteers.

Everyone was settled in when I left, and a quiet night is anticipated.

A good start to our host week. Stay tuned.