16+ Hours

Today has been crazy!
Today began at 4:00 in the morning when I got up to take Chris to the airport. On the way home I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up yeast so I could make bread for the house blessing. When I got home I started on the bread because my to-do list for the day was as long as my arm and growing.

As I was waiting for the bread to rise, Don came and talked to me. A client made an accusation and PDA has to look into and while they investigate, he basically can't work. Henry is leaving town today which means I'm the only around with a truck to deliver supplies. Only problem: I didn't really have the time. Henry asked me to pick up and deliver some siding to one of the sites this morning (it's now about 7:30. when I usually make it out to breakfast. just to let you know how early it still is for me). I told Henry that I absolutely had to finish this bread and get flowers, but if the team could wait until 9:00 I could do it.

So in between waiting for the bread to rise, I was running to the office to print directions to the house blessing and to the work site I was supposed to take siding to and running to the storage trailer to get out more plates and bowls because we were running low in the tent. Then the guy who is inventorying all the villages asked if I was available to help him this morning. I told him my day was looking pretty busy, so I didn't think so, but I would let him know if I did.

I got the bread finished and it looked very good. (I tasted it later. It is good. Experiment successful! Thank you daddy!) Then I got in my truck and drove to the flower shop. (It is now about 8:30.) The shop doesn't open until 9 which meant I was really going to be pushing it to get the siding to the worksite and get the flowers and make it to the house blessing on time. (The house blessing is at 11:30 and the house is about an hour from camp.) So I called the group that needed the siding so we could meet at Lowe's and they could get what they needed and I could bring it to them. They didn't answer, so I left a message and went to Wal-Mart to get the things they needed for dinner. I brought the groceries back to camp and was about to go back to the flower shop because it was almost 9 when the home owner called. She couldn't do the house blessing today because she didn't have a car today, so she had no way to get home for it. So we rescheduled for next week and I called Henry and sent an email to the rest of the staff to let them know. So that took a little of the stress out of my day.

About then, the volunteers called back, so I picked up the siding for them. I brought one of the women back to camp with me. She started working on dinner. I had to go back to Wal-Mart because I hadn't bought enough hamburger the first time. (It is now about 11:30) At this point I strongly considered a nap because I was losing focus and becoming non-functional. But I needed to get flowers for tomorrow's house blessing before the shop closed. So I did that. While I was there I got a pinkish orange lily for Leslie because the last two days have been even crazier and more stressful for her than for me, so I thought she would like something to brighten her day.

The lady at the flower shop gave me the lily and one other flower for free and thanked me for coming here to help. She was very nice. So were all the other people there. The man there was working on a wreath and he asked me my opinion on it. It was beautiful. There were blue sequin fish ornaments and a green sequin something with peacock feathers on it and bright green sequin leaves. That sounds kind of loud and maybe too many sequins, but it really wasn't. It was quite lovely.

Anyway, I took the lily over to the main office to give to Leslie. I gave her the flower and a hug. I'm glad I did. It made her smile which she hasn't done as much lately because of all the stress. We talked a little and Leslie did say she would see if she could bring me back in January. So I really hope she can. Since I have insurance under my parents, I can work here more than 90 days (which is the cutoff for the uninsured) but with so few teams coming in she doesn't know if she can justify bringing in staff.

I got a short half hour nap around 4:30 (which was much needed) then a huge sugar rush from eating a pint of chocolate ice cream (which got me through dinner without falling asleep on my plate).

Tonight was family night. We had two families come. It was very nice having such a small group because I actually got a chance to talk to the families a little bit. After dinner we gave them a quick tour of the camp because they've never been here before. It was sort of difficult since it was already dark, but they could see the main things.

I am now up to a 16 hour day and I still have to go make bread for the house blessing tomorrow morning. >.< which means this will most likely end up being an 18-20 hour day. Such insanity. But so it goes. I am going to call home and see what is happening there, then I will go make bread, then I will SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because my sugar rush is about to wear off. I can feel the crash starting already.