websites, birthdays, ice cream, and gardens

Random string of topics, eh. First off, I think the new Blood:Water Mission website will be launching this week...something I've been working diligently on for the past 6 weeks especially. As donor relations and development coordinator, much of it coincides with my work. I've been inputting all the content, working and reworking with our designers all of the navigational features, cleaning out our existing database of contacts so that we start with a good batch for the emailing tools, and trying hard to continue matching donors with communities in Africa (the long term challenge). All of this to say I am thrilled to finally get it out for all to see, use and share. More coming later this week as it hopefully moves forward.

In the birthday category, this week brings us to Sam's 3rd birthday. My how time flies! We spent Saturday putting together a new swingset and sandbox for him, giving him a chance to get acclamated this week and hopefully a little more freedom and desire to share for the party coming up. Kids and sharing...a constant reminder of how our hearts are bent toward the self:) I think we spent about 3 hours putting together the swingset, much longer than anticipated, but probably within reason. The main frustration was that we are missing a few bolts and such, and have to ask the manufacturor to send them so that we can finish the see-saw portion of the set. Sam is loving it all already, though, I am pleased to report.

Though we may have ice cream at the party, we are having homemade ice cream with our neighborhood group tomorrow night. The flavor of our choice to make and bring is yet to be determined, but we are reviewing the Ben and Jerry's ice cream recipe book to make the best choice. I'm so grateful for this group from our church, a great source of extending the vision and reality of our church into our hearts and the community around us.

And our garden is definitely taking shape. Over the weekend we planted our tomatoes and some herbs, and I'm excited to see the corn, lettuce and snap beans poking through the soil. We have a few more things to do, but I think most of the planning and planting is done. Now we wait...and pull a few weeds in the meantime.