Summer rolls on...

June wraps up today but summer rolls on tomorrow. I really don't have anything exciting to Blog about today but I enjoy staying in touch regarding life at Shelterwood and in the Albright home. My kids are busy with the usual stuff. Swimming, movies and evening walks to a local spot in the neighborhood with a large firefly (or lightning bug) population. Same can be said about Shelterwood. Summer school, activities, etc. I am enjoying the slow pace of summer and I hope you, too, can take a deep breath and enjoy the longer days and warm weather of your summertime.

Sunny Side Up

The sun is out today in Kansas City, the humidity is high and there is a lot happening. For starters, one of our Shelterwood boys is graduating today. It always seems rather epic when we have a graduation, but it makes sense when you consider the tumultuous first year of operation in KC. Today's grad has been around since close to the beginning. Despite the epic nature of our first generation of graduates, things are actually getting back to normal with time spent at Shelterwood and the progression through the levels.

Following the graduation, we are hosting a family night here on property. The swimming pool opened up recently so the activities with be centered around swimming and grilling. I heard over 100 folks are coming?

Change is always a staple around here. In the last few weeks we have had 6 new residents and as many departures through graduation and other reasons.

This Saturday, Jena and I have 3 more kids coming home. Our house will be at capacity. It will make for a messy house, lots of noise, mountains of dirty towels, ravenous appetites and empty cabinets...but good times. A full house is a full heart.

Worship Reloaded

One of my other ministry interests outside of Doulos is leading worship at New Community Church. The band at NCC has reloaded recently and it is really cool. You see, I lost most of my musicians last spring and winter. Keyboard player left for college, guitar player left Shelterwood, and the bassist left the church. With some grace, natural church growth and some hard work, the team is back. New drummer, new bass, and new keys in addition to the original two of myself and Pastor Jeremy. The music rocks, worship is happening, and God is good.

As I mentioned last week, today begins the summer schedule at Shelterwood. Pre-summer break ended last night. Some change usually accompanies summertime. Four new kids are coming this week, one resident left during the break and one is leaving Wednesday. In some other random news, Doulos Ministries is putting together some promotional and informational video regarding Shelterwood, the Doulos Discipleship Program, and the stages of growth and development. A professional film crew arrives tomorrow and will shoot video through Saturday.