Saturday, we returned from a 5 day mission trip to world famous Tipton, Oklahoma. Okay, it's not really world famous....it's pretty tiny. As in, if I moved there, I would have culture shock for a long time. Anyway, this was one of my favorite mission trips we've been on. It was so simple...pure...what you really want to have happen on a trip like this. We wore our bodies out every single day. We finished some pretty big tasks. We grew closer together and got to know those we were working for and with. We laughed a lot. I am so very thankful that we still get to work with youth and am thankful that Shawn's job has the flexibility for us to go.
Here's our little group, ready to hit the road!
We arrived about 6 hours later. Tipton Children's Home was established in 1924 and it has a lot of history...and a lot of people that were meticulous about preserving it's history...my kinda people.
We started out Wednesday morning with a dream come true. They had received a bunch of donated scrapbook supplies from a business that was shutting down. Our job was to unload the boxes and then LOOK THROUGH THEM AND TAKE WHAT WE WANTED. I am not kidding. My hands were shaking with the adrenaline rush for a good 15 minutes. Before I took anything I had to go find the lady in charge and have her clarify what she meant by "take what you want" because I wasn't sure if she understood my love for scrapbooking things and free things! It was awesome.
Then we helped move some boxes back to the main building.
After that we got to the stuff that makes you sweat! All of the vines on this fence needed to be removed...it was a big ol' hard task....and we accomplished it! We had some near hits from a few wasp nests but otherwise, just a bulky unruly tangle of vines to slowly pull off this fence.
Time for a rest and popsicle break.
For our afternoon, we became a landscape crew.
We needed to pry out all the old cross ties in the front flowerbeds and dispose of them. Did you know that cross ties are heavy?...like really heavy.
I was dog tired after Wednesday....just exactly how I wanted to feel.
Thursday morning, we needed to remove all of the cement border stones, stack them on the trailer, and then move them to where the cross ties used to be. There were a lot. And also there were a lot of creepies on those stones and they were creeping me out. We only encountered one Black Widow. Lovely.
Thursday evening we had a cookout with the entire children's home and got to hang out with the kids and play games with them. This was a great night!
Then Elle and her friend Caroline found a cake mix in the pantry and HAD to make a cake. No one rejected the idea and by 9:30 we were gobbling down funfetti cake with hot pink icing like it was our last meal. They did a great job making it!
Here we are Friday morning in our kitchen. Our lodging was really quite nice....better than many places I've been and it was nice to eat breakfast family-style every morning.
Time for our hardest work orders yet: Take down a 1/3 mile section of barbed wire fence.
We started about 9 am
Major applause for this little toot who was like a mission trip veteran the whole entire time....no whining or complaining and found his own things to keep himself entertained!!!
This is how I spent much of the day. Bent over winding barbed wire around and around while slicing my forearms over and over.
A few, meaning all by one of the kids we brought, needing a break. They did work really hard for a long time, so I didn't get mad at them. :)
Finally, around 3 pm, Shawn snipped the last piece of barbed wire and rolled it up! The task was complete and we felt like rock stars for finishing what I believe those in charge didn't think we'd get done! :)
That evening we headed to the next biggest town...15ish minutes away and rewarded everyone with snowcones!
We invited anyone who wanted, to come to our cottage for our last night, to play games and hang out. One of the boys cottages showed up and we had a great time with them!
Saturday morning, we loaded up and made our way back home, filled and fulfilled with wonderful memories.....and a good possibility of going back next year!
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