SPEECHLESS

       I don't know what to say about today. I was on my feet 3 hours, nothing hurt, I packed 3 dozen sack lunches, and we served soup... Joey says we're gonna be serving soup every Sunday for a long time. I can't remember why.

       He forgot about our vegetarians, so I made up a pot of meatless soup for them, and I took a bag of toddler foods, fruits, and kid-friendly things today. I was excited to see their little vegetarian faces when I pulled out a strawberry-banana Trix yogurt!

       But the children didn't come for lunch. Joey poured up their bowls of soup for dinner.

       Only one of our babies came today, but he ate enough for himself and his brother! His mother was so pleased to have real toddler foods, and I left her a nice bag full of them in the kitchen, for other days (with her name on it). I've never thought specialty foods would survive in the pantry because too many volunteers and "community-service" folks come through there—and the good stuff is... well... good. So this little mom has a bag of baby foods with her name on it. Finally.

       The tall social worker from 3rd floor came to the kitchen late. I got a hug! I've heard he's a "touchy-feely" person—he is. He even put on a pair of gloves and helped serve plates.

       One was not there again today, but the nice lady from last week was. It's amazing how much having nice people around can change how we perceive a day—as a good day, or a not-so-good day.

       Joey did "okay" on his test last week, but he LOVED his theater class! He has one more of those and hopes to find other things to fill in his social life. Joey's a doer. World needs more doers.

       He was checking his spelling as he labeled some pans of food, and after he finished, I asked him if he'd ever made other words from one word's letters. He had not. So I asked him to look at "heat," and tell me what other words he could make from those letters. He studied it a minute, covered up the "he" and said "at!" Then "he." Then "eat" and "tea." He was fascinated with the game. I hope he plays it often.

       We had a new child today—a little boy about 11. Cute, cute, cute. I couldn't wait to offer him a Trix yogurt. "Yes!" he said.

       "Say 'thank you,'" his mother prompted. All our mothers do that—people don't have to be self-sufficient to have good manners. And speaking of those, a very young man from last week came to the counter especially to tell me that his cold was much better… and not only that, but he had a great day last Sunday because he found Jesus.

       I gave him the thumbs up. "Nowhere to go but up, is there?"

       "No," he smiled, pointing down; "we don't want to go there."

       He gave me a nice send off when I stepped into the parking lot, too. I hope he didn't hear me when I sat down in the car and cried out in pain as my back got bent for the first time in 3 hours.

       You have a neat week, too.

       Oh, and keep the you-know-what on your prayer list.