February 21, 2026 - Saturday


Ben's game day got cancelled this morning because of too many people having the stomach bug. Yuck! It was kind of nice to have the morning at home, though. I ended up taking Ollie on a date to Chick Fil A, then we went to Home Depot and bought a bird feeder and some seed to set up together. Let's hope the Squirrel B Gone keeps the squirrels away! I hate all these dang squirrels.

The afternoon was so amazing and inspiring and fantastic. We went to Lower Lights Christian Health Center to serve a community dinner, and it was just great. We worked with a few of the people from the Meadow Park small group and served drinks and salad and pizza, but what was cool was the little snippets of conversations we got to have and just being involved in something that is outside of our Ohio normal, but felt very regular in our DE life. For most of my college career, I was working towards opening my own community center someday. I was learning grant writing and worked and volunteered at community centers as much as I could. I also was working as a drug and alcohol counselor at a methadone clinic after graduating. These were my people and my whole purpose - pouring back into a marginalized community that needs just as much (no, more!) love and attention as anyone else. Of course, after moving to Ohio, and, honestly, getting into a relationship with Ben, who had very little interest in community service or getting himself back involved with a group of people that he was happy to have escaped, I got out of it. I got married, had a bunch of kids, and could barely maintain my own life, let alone pour into others. Anyway, it was really cool to do that today and Ben really enjoyed it a lot too. He wants to go back as often as he can! 

After the volunteering, we went to Forge Tavern with those same small group friends. We had a really fun evening eating, drinking, and playing games with everyone! We couldn't stay too long, because the kids had been home alone since 4 and we didn't get home until 9. It was a long time for them to be alone! But they all agreed that it was worthwhile for us to be able to serve dinner. 

Praising God for giving us this opportunity!

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