Sunday in Boston

We decided what church we wanted to visit and they have an early service so we got everyone ready to leave by 8:15AM which actually was a great accomplishment. We arrived with a few minutes to spare and got the little boys checked into their classes.

The church is a missions focused church and the Pastor had just returned from Haiti where they were putting roofs on for families there that needed them. The service was about envy/jealousy and was really good about how blessed we are and how much we have to be grateful for but how we still are not content. I think it hit home a bit with the older two B kids. They also participate in a ministry called Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan's Purse who organizes shipment of shoe boxes filled with necessities and toys to kids who would not normally get anything at Christmas. We thought this would be something we would like to do so we picked up the information on how it works.

One of my HTG group members lives in Boston so we had arranged to meet in downtown Boston at a place called Pleasure Bay. Sounds like it could be bad but it is actually a secluded bay right next to a fort built to guard the harbor. Craig was going to be there kite surfing so we arranged to meet.

In the mean time, we went shopping for the supplies for the shoe boxes. It was a little hard trying to figure out which items would be most useful and still exciting for the kids receiving them. We all joined in and picked out different items and picked up two extra shoe boxes for Craig's boys to build.

We met Craig at the bay and the winds were not up to par for being able to kite surf well. He had his kite out and was waiting for the wind so it was neat to see the setup. We walked on the beach across the bay from where he was to the old fort that was there. It looked like it was mostly shut down for the season so we walked back - probably 1.5 miles or so total so there was carrying of boys involved.



Enjoying the playground for a few minutes at Castle Island (where the Fort was located)

Once Craig had decided to give up on the winds, he led us through Boston to his house in Belmont. We were sure glad he was leading because the roads are wicked confusing and the drivers seem to be pretty impatient sometimes. We arrived at his house and met his lovely wife Kim and two boys Jake and Tyler. They had a blow up bouncy house left up from a birthday celebration the day before so before long all the kids were bouncing and wrestling and having a great time.

Stacey and I really enjoyed getting to know Kim and Craig better and they made a wonderful dinner. Brighton got the chance to finally deliver all the jokes he had been studying up for on our travels and by the end of the night Jake knew more jokes than he probably should.

We all built the shoeboxes together and it was a little difficult at times to convey that some of the items were for kids who have much less than we do and that we need to give it to them vs. keep it for us. All the kids did a great job building their boxes and some even wrote notes to the kids wishing them a happy Christmas and including their name and address should the recipient want to write to them.

By 9PM everyone was pretty wiped out. We headed back to the campground which takes about 45 minutes. Ben-sky was out by the time we arrived as was Spencer, meaning they had just had a great evening!