Medieval Madness

We have spent this week medieval-izing the church and ourselves. We have been planning and prepping for the children's program since Monday. Jacob is in charge of crafts. Since the theme is medieval, the crafts will be the making of the armour of God. Pretty cool. So we have been making swords of the spirit, helmets of salvation, shields of faith, breastplates of righteousness and belts of truth. The kids will be split into 4 groups: the 5-6 year olds (Kings Kids), the 7-8 year olds (Jolly Jesters), the 9-10 year olds (Knights of Ni) and the 11-12 year olds (Medieval Mustangs). It should be pretty sweet. My group is the Knights of Ni. Even though none of the children will understand the monty pythons reference, I think it's funny. We watched monty python's quest fot the holy grail last week to get into a medieval mind-set. And we watched Robin Hood this week. There will be many references to monty python that none of the kids will understand. Mwahahaha.

One night this week, I can't remember which because the days are all muddled together, there was a strange noise in the night. It woke us all up at about 4:30 am. It was a high pitched screeching/whistling noise. I think the noise woke me up, but I didn't actually remember hearing it once I was awake, so I woke up to the sound of someone scampering across the room and crashing into one of the chairs at the table. And then I heard Jacob moaning. Ooops, he ran into a chair while he was rushing to catch a high-pitched screeching burgelar. We couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. Leish suggested that maybe someone was stealing the laundry machine that is hooked up to the back of the building outside. So someone went to check on it. It was still there.

There were various theories thrown around as to what caused the strange noise. All of them were really strange, as we were all half asleep still. Someone thought that we were being raptured. But Sarah pointed out that a heavenly trumpet would sound a lot more heavenly that the whistling noise. Someone else thought that the pipes had burst. That suggestion was closer to the truth. We finally discovered that the water tank was over heated.

Everyone then was frightened that the water tank would explode. I envisioned in my sleepy state, being splattered with scalding water all over my body and getting really bad burns that would forever scar my face, and then I envisioned that the hot water would start filling up the hall and that I would be drowned in hot water. But thankfully Van had seen an episode of myth busters and informed us that water tanks cannot explode, unless they are put together completely wrong. So I went to sleep.

On Wednesday we had a tween night at the church. We wanted to have a sleepover at the church with them, but unfortunately that could not be done. There have been recent uncoverings of sexual abuse of young boys by authority figures in the schools and churches in Kitaia. So parents are hesitant to let their children have sleepovers. For good reason. It sucks that stuff like this has to happen in the world. It actually makes me feel sick just thinking about it. So we had the tweens come to the church in the evening. We had snacks, played games, watched night at the museum and played hide and seek in the dark. And then they went home. It was pretty fun, and not having a sleepover saved us a lot of lost sleep.

During the day Sarah, Leish, Jacob and I went over to the old folks home to volunteer for a bit. We got to take some old ladies for a walk in their wheelchairs. It was fun. And quite an arm workout. And then the nurses treated us and the ladies to ice-cream. I always feel bad turning down icecream or something that I technically should not be eating, so I ate it... but I regretted it later.

On Thursday night it was Ladies night at the church. So Leish and Sarah baked some goodies and planned some fun games for us and the ladies. It was really fun. I met a lady named Janet. In one game I learned that she makes really good bacon and egg pie, that she was born in Wairua and that her dream job is a nurse, and that is what she did! She was such a sweet heart. We played the telephone pictionary game, and she was literally laughing the whole entire time. She made Hannah and I laugh really hard too, but just because she was laughing so hard. It took us SO LONG to finish the game because of all of the laughing. But it was fun! And hannahs paper started out as "hannah had long hair but then she cut it off" and ended up morphing to "Hairy people throwing coconuts" to "A vacation in Hawaii" to "Pirates pillaging Christmas island". Oh man. So funny. I died laughing.

While we were having a blast with the ladies, the boys were back at the complex waxing eachothers chests and watching a movie... or so we thought. Dave came and picked us up from the church and when we got back, Van openned the door to the complex and was wearing a black dress shirt with a bow tie (Who brings a dress shirt and bow tie on outreach? Only Van....), and in the background we heard Jason Mraz serenading us. We walked inside and there was candles in the shape of a heart on the floor and the table was decorated in candles. The boys pulled out our chairs for us, and served us fruit and yogurt (and chocolate!) and they had encouragement cards set out for us. What sweeties. My future husband has a lot to live up to.

It was a pretty late night, so we got to sleep in in the morning, we prepped a bit at the church and the ladies had a bible study and then we embarked on a journey out of town to the Pastor's and his families houses for an afternoon and dinner. It was so nice. They have a river on their land and most of us went swimming, but I didn't. My stomach has been acting up since I ate that icecream and I had deathly cramps cramping my style. So I sat in the sun and read the Lord of the Rings.

I don't know why I didn't read the Lord of the rings before now! It is so amazing! I literally can't put it down. I found it in the attick of the complex we are staying in, and I have barely put it down recently. I have now converted to being a Nerd of Middle Earth. And I am proud of it. I think I will buy every single book that is related to the Lord of the Rings when I get home.

We had supper and watched some movies. Grace (one of the girls) helped me bake some gluten, dairy, egg free peanut butter cookies!!!! They are so good. AND Sophie gave me a massage (I think I have a few bruises from the karate chops) AND Sophie painted my toe nailes and gave me a make-voer.  I got beautiful pink blush all over my face, and a deep red blush mustache and some bright blue eye shadow. I looked quite beatuiful I must say. I was a bit terrified when I looked in the mirror, and Dave and Leish literally pointed and laughed when they saw me. I was quite pampered.

Today it is really hot out and we are taking the youth out to the beach for the afternoon. A perfect day for the beach!