Happy Father's Day!

Howdy!

SO right now a group of us are downstairs singin around a piano. It's awesome. I started tearing up a bit actually because it was such a beautiful sight to see. If you don't know what it's like to be surrounded by peers that are singing from their souls about something that means (litterally) more than life to them...well it's an awesome feeling; I wouldn't do it justice to try and explain it. so i won't =) i'll just say i hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

ANyway let me give you an update on what my first 24 hours have been like.

I'm rooming with a LaShandra (My friend, Sam says when you say her name you gotta say it with flava). LaShandra reigns from Atlanta, GA. She's what some might call a "soul sista." Basically, she's awesome! super sweet and a little shy. SHe got in about 11:30PM last night, so we talked for a bit and then drifted off to sleep.

So this morning I woke up. Good start to the day, huh? I thought so to! It was already light out, and i thought it must have been at LEAST 8 or so...right? No. 4:55AM, actually. Apparently Mr. Sun wakes up early over here. haha so I went back to sleep for a while. we had to be ready to leave at 9:59AM for Seattle International Church, a predominately black church in West Seattle. Man, let me tell you it was neat! Can I say that I thought that my pastor, Matt was treated with respect (and he is, don't get me wrong), but not like this. Rev. Dr. Bishop Hampton (try saying that 5 times fast!) was given more respect by not only his congregation but also is family than i have ever seen. His wife, Julia, was the church "Mother" which, we learned, is a norm in black churches. So after some great worship, it was time to appreciate the father's! EVery father, EVery weather they belonged to the church or not, received a gift. then we listened and studied the Word. The moral of what we learned was the the Lord overflows our hearts. That to have true faith, you must have true belief.

After that we went to our underground tour. I also got my first Seattle cup of Starbucks! yay!...but i also spilt a whole bottle of fruit punch gatorade in my purse and killed my ipod. that was sad. After the tour (which was really cool! check back for pics!) we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant .

Then came the really fun part! we went to Kelly Park where you can see the whole Seattle Skyline and waterfront. It was at this tine that Drew, Chris and I decided to roll down a huge, rather steep hill...covered in hay. I love rolling down hills.this is why: when I roll down a hill, i feel like a kid, when I feel like a kid, I feel innocent, that innocence reminds me about how I strive to be the innocent daughter that has been made in His image.

then we came home and went over tommorows plan and a bit about what we will be focusing on during our time.

You know what's awesome?? I'm starting to see just how the Lord has prepared my heart for this trip. I'll explain that more in future posts, but let's just say that the struggles that I have gone through in the past few months the reasons for them are starting to unravel.

I also want to take the time to introduce the rest of my team since I will be speaking about them a lot, i figure it might do y'all some good to know a bit about them. I'll try to do that tomorrow, but now I'm going to get ready for bed since it's 1AM and I have to be ready to leave for Prison Mug Shots at 7:14AM...i'm starting to think Uncle Tom (our project director) has a very similar since of humor.