One more day finished

Tuesday March 17th-
Today was a 'work' day for us here in San Diego. We woke up early to meet Ashlee at 'the Marquee' which is where Ethos Church has their offices. The first few pictures are a few views of where they call home to their offices. The building is very cool with paintings of all sorts all over the walls. The girls had a great time looking around at all of the different art. At the Marquee we got the posters that we would spend half of the day passing out. We went to San Diego City College and put posters on every bulletin board on campus (after getting permission of course). The posters were advertising an event in May called "Sleepless in San Diego" which benefits the homeless awareness going on in the city of San Diego. After passing out the posters there we went to a place called Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego. This was a 5 story all outdoor mall! It was huge and of course amazing and multi- colored like most buildings in San Diego. We went to different stores asking if they would put up the posters in their windows supporting the Sleepless in San Diego event. We had a lot of interested people which was a great encouragement to this event! After walking and passing out posters for hours the girls were exhausted and hungry. We allowed them to pick somewhere to eat in the food court before we continued on our way.

Next stop, Sea Port Village. Here we STARTED to pass out posters till we were approached by a cop saying that it was private property and weren't allowed to without permission from the manager. So all 11 of us marched on over to the managers office to get permission, but just by being unlucky the manager had just stepped out for the day. With some extra time before our dog flyers came in we did the last bit of the girls sovenier shopping. This place was filled with tons of really cute little places that the girls just loved. We were right next to the water so we played in the park and let the girls climb trees, look at some baby ducks in a pond, and hang out with each other until Ashlee showed up with our flyers. We had a blast hanging out in the sun and seeing the HUGE boats that were floating in the water next to us. Finally Ashlee showed up and we headed off to the dog park!

We went to the dog park at Balboa Park. This is a 24 hour leash free dog park. Dogs and their owners come to socialize and hang out. It was so fun to see all of the different breads of dogs running and chasing each other around like they are old friends. The girls probably saw every type of dog ever created. We passed out little cards that advertised a dog show that the Ethos Church will be putting on at their Easter Carnival. The dog show includes prizes for cutest, ugliest, and best costume on the dog. With the cards we passed out big and small dog bones. Funny enough no dog ever turned down our treat :) The girls could have stayed at the park forever playing with all the dogs.

After the park we can back to the hotel to grill out some chicken and to avoid the St. Patty's day crowds. The girls swam while the ladies cooked. Donna made some amazing grilled chicken for all of us to eat. After the food we squeezed in 2 devotionals and off to bed for the girls. They are getting nice and rest for our last full day of work. We are hitting up a few more dog parks, a dog beach, and possibly a playground.

Please continue to pray for the girls, the adult leaders, and the people being effect by these flyers. Our energy is being drained each day so pray that God continues to refreash us each morning for yet one more day of doing His work. Good night!

-Angela

Day 2

Today was zoo day!! We started off at the zoo at 9:00 this morning and didn't leave till 5:30 and STILL had not see everything! This zoo is huge! We went on a bus tour at the very beginning to get a good look at the zoo before we tried to find our way around. It was perfect weather outside! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and was in the mid 70's for most of the days. We got to see all sorts of animals including some we got to see perform in a show. The girls were snapping pictures left in right so I'm sure you will see every step along our journey in their hundreds of pictures. We even rode the SKYfari which were like ski lifts that went over the entire length of the zoo. One of my pictures is from the top of the SKYfari down at one of the exhibits. The girls never ran out of energy or their constant need to stop at every little shop along the way.

After the zoo we went to Old Town which has tons of cool shops and restaurants. We ate at a place called El Coyote which has to be the largest restaurant I have ever been too. Most of it was very open and outside. The even had a real mariachi band that was walking around! And by far the BEST tortillas I've ever had. We stuffed the girls to the brim with Mexican food before hitting a few more shops on the way back to our cars. Needless to say the girls are officially worn out. They all got to the hotel and took off their shoes and put on their pjs ready for bed. After devotionals and giggling and laughing a bit they are tuck in bed and crashed out for the night. Tomorrow we start our day passing out posters around San Diego and then passing out flyers. The girls are eager to get to work (we'll see how long that eagerness lasts tomorrow). From San Diego back to the Lone Star State, " Good night y'all!"

-Angela

Our first full day!!

Sunday March 15th-

Our day started off with a trip to Ethos Church here in San Diego. The girls seemed to be fascinated with San Diego in the day time considering last night there wasn't much to be seen at night. Their eyes were really big as we drove past all of the hills, palm trees, and multi-colored buildings (see picture below). We got to participate in the staff prayer time before the church service began. It was a great time for the leaders of the church to meet us and have them prayer for us as we are there. The church service was great and very unique compared to what we are used to at Lake Pointe (and a bit longer than we are used too). After church we went to In-N-Out Burger! It was very yummy and for most of the girls very messy :) They even gave us all hats to wear (see picture below). Later that afternoon we met with our Ethos staffer Ashlee and worked on some art projects for the churchs Easter services. The girls had fun painting and cutting and then chasing our art projects around after the huge gusts of wind that kept random would come. We also enjoyed some sun and swim time! We ate at our hotel and had some home favorites like PB & J, Mac & Cheese, and hot dogs. We wanted to give the girls a pretty chill day considering tomorrow they will have no time to rest. We also had our first devotional tonight. We talked with the girls about their dreams for the future and worked on some different activities to help them elaborate with us. All the girls are currently tucked into bed and slowly drifting off to sleep ready for our jam packed day at the zoo tomorrow!! I'm sure they will have lots of pictures and stories from that to tell you when they get home. Enjoy some of our pictures from our day!

We made it!

It is 2:30 Texas time and we are finally in the hotel and READY for bed. Our travels from Dallas started off with a 30 delay. Finally we got to Houston and rushed to our next flight. Our flight to San Diego was filled with crying babies and sleepy people. We did have a movie during the flight which helped the girls keep their mind off our 3 hour flight. Now we are in our hotel rooms and ready for some much needed sleep! In the morning we will be up early and going off to Ethos Church to help out with their services. I've posted some pictures from us at the airport and inside one of our hotel rooms taken just a few seconds ago. Enjoy!

3 days away!

I wanted to update you with some wonderful news! I have been talking with our missions and accounting department here at Lake Pointe and because of all of the hard work we did to raise money with Joe Willy's and the Change Drive we will have enough money to completely pay for the kids trip to the San Diego zoo! We are also getting them a package deal that gives them a bus tour of the zoo AND backstage access to some of the exhibits! We are so excited to be able to now afford this for them and I'm sure it helps all of you out also! If the kids want to take a look at the zoo before we go I have attached the website: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

Remember to plan to meet at the airport at 5:00 PM on Saturday and find either me or Donna Boucher. Remind your child to wear slip on shoes and not to wear a lot of jewelry when we are going through security. They are allowed to bring a carry on with them on the plane, but please remember to look at the DO NOT BRING list. You can also find a list at: http://www.tsa.gov/

Please remember to turn in their medical liability form by Saturday at the absolute latest. If they need to take medication please place it in a clear bag and put on the bag who it is for and when they need to take it so we will know.

After the trip we are planning to have a wrap up party for all of the kids, their families, and ALL of their donors. With this time we will be showing pictures, videos, and sharing stories from our trip. We would love to serve dinner to everyone involved in this trip! This is our treat to you :) The party will be a few weeks after the trip and we will let you know when it is scheduled for as soon as we get back from our trip. Please start spreading the word around to everyone who helped this trip become possible for your child. I will hand out donor list to each kid with the name and address of every person that helped them so we can properly invite them to the party. More details will be coming soon!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Please remind your child that we are going on a MISSION trip. As much as they are excited to go to a new city to visit this is by no means a vacation. We are going to have a blast on this trip, but we are there to serve Ethos Church and the community of San Diego. Please talk to your child to remind them of this. We will be having devotionals every night so please make sure to pack them a bible as well.

Please don't hesitate to call or e-mail me if you have any questions about the trip!

March 4th Parent Meeting Notes

We had our final San Diego Trip meeting last night. I'm sure all of you were overloaded with information about this trip. I am attaching all of the papers that I passed out last night in case one of them (or all of them) walked away on you. All of them you can keep with you EXCEPT for the Medical Liability Form. We need that turned in no later than next Wednesday! Let me know if you need a new handout copy of any of the papers. Just click on any of the pictures to make them larger!



Only 9 days away from our trip!

-Angela

Final Parent Meeting

We are having our next and final parent meeting THIS Wednesday, March 4 at 6:30 in C217 before Extra Inning events. All parents and children should try to be at this meeting unless you have already spoken to me about it. It is highly important that you be here so we can talk about critical details about the trip. Please let me know if you have a conflict with the meeting time so I can get you all of the information we discuss. This trip is quickly approaching!!