Preparation

In July my daughter, Mia and I started looking for a new church. Long story short, we ended up trying out one we had heard about from a few different people. It was New England Chapel, and from the day we went to take a look at it we were hooked.

It is a warm, welcoming church, filled with wonderful Christians willing to share their love of Christ.

Early on, it was obvious that this is what had been missing in our lives. Mia and I shared the experience of exploring all this new church had to offer. Mia got involved in the Youth Group and I started attending small group meetings.

One Sunday we were introduced to the mission trips sponsored by New England Chapel (From here on to be called NEC). Mia had been interested in Mission Trips for a while, but was unsure about going all on her own. The other church she had attended had summer Mission Trips to the South, but without parents, so she had been reluctant to try it. NEC has several Mission Trips throughout the year to various locations, and the one that caught her eye was one to New Orleans, taking place over April vacation. This specific trip was going to combine building work with ministry work and was open to teens and adults.

AHA!! So we had come across a Mission Trip that I could also participate in. As I am unable to do any building type work, I could only go on a trip if I could do ministry work, and here was one that had both, and it was in the spring, before the stifling Southern summer weather, so both of us could together! How great was that?? Mia could get to experience a Mission Trip, without having to go alone, and I could also go and do ministry work at the same time!

So we proceeded to work on raising the $1500 that we would need to embark on this journey.
We raised some of the money from family and friends, some from a Mission Market that the church sponsored. Mia made jewelry, I made scarves and we put up plants in my gardens for sale, which gave us the bulk of what we needed. Very interestingly, the balance we needed was provided from a stock split which occurred right at the time we needed it. Thank You, God!!

The same time as all of this was going on my mom took a fall which precipitated a 5 week stint in rehab. I became one of her caregivers last summer, and over the winter I turned into the primary caregiver. With the fall, it stepped up to daily care, which was not so bad as we were able to get her into a rehab in Wrentham, where I live.

I tell you this as it has a great bearing on our Mission Trip.

Once out of rehab, my mom required 24 hour care, which I was fortunate enough to have been given the recommendations of a marvelous group of Irish ladies who provide the most amazing care to seniors. We call them our "Irish Angels". They saved my life by being available to cover most of the shifts at my mother's apartment in Milton. Two of my sisters got my mom transitioned home for the first two weeks, with me covering as well. Then we settled in to our routine, me working 3 days a week plus covering, as needed, doing shopping, errands, Dr. appts, calls, etc, --- you get the picture.; me being very busy away from home, dealing with a transitioning senior with mild dementia, who was not happy with the situation.

It can be very taxing, but also something you know is worthwhile as it is for your mother's well being. The down side is that it can be all consuming getting something like this in place and then dealing with all the health, mental, daily living and social issues that need to be addressed.

Well, it all got done, thanks to the support of my family and siblings, and mostly thanks to the grace of God in my life. He provided the energy to get me through all the long hours and more importantly the patience needed to deal with all that came up. What was supposed to be one month turned quickly into two and now three, but I got it all covered so that I was able to still go on the Mission Trip.

So the week before the trip we all went to church in our teal green team shirts to have the church bless our endeavor and send us off. Imagine my surprise when I became the receiving end of a great Joke from God ----- my ministry work was to be working in a Senior Day Care Center!!!

Well, at least I would know my way around there!!