HIDAGITW - Day 3

Have I Done Any Good in the World?

We had such a busy weekend! We hosted a couple teenagers for a youth activity, so Z and I probably spent five hours (a very minimal, conservative, low-end estimate) in the car dropping off and picking up the kids over the last few days. The activity ran from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, and our job was to drive them back and forth and let them sleep on our couches for a couple nights. It was a good experience, but a taxing one at times. On Saturday we got to help with a service project for church: doing a total home makeover for a single mother of five small children. We were there for 6 of the 8.5 hours and helped pick up trash, trim plants, and paint. It was such an impressive project; I didn't see the original condition of the house, but about 70 volunteers repainted the entire exterior (missing just the cupola), painted the living room and all the interior doors, removed a broken AC unit, scrubbed away at the walls inside, picked up years-old construction litter, tore out dead and overgrown bushes and trees, planted flowers out front, and probably did even more that I wasn't aware of. My muscles are still complaining, but it was great fun to work with so many neighbors.

Ways I've made the world a better place:

- Making a difference at the service project.

- Hopefully offering a friend some solid relationship advice.

- Soliciting some advice from others for my sister as she prepares to serve as a missionary.

Blessings I've received:

- I functioned mostly-ok at work even though I hadn't been that sleepy in months.

- I get to keep my student job for a couple months after graduation (new policy change), so I'll have a source of income while job-searching and something to do so that I'm not bored. And as I've stressed less about my current job, I've enjoyed it a lot more.

- I've probably used this one already, but I still have an awesome husband who loves me, makes me smile, motivates and encourages me to do better, and so many other wonderful things.