Gawd.

You KNOW you're dedicated when you walk two miles at 5 a.m. with the temperature being 33 degrees on a Monday morning.

Of course, now my hands are frozen stiff and I'm walking around the house like Frankenstein with an enema hanging from his ass.

Gawd.

It's cold out, kiddies.

Ya know what?

I give 'em a lot of grief here sometimes, but I'm really proud of the people and kids of my church.

Last night we had a fall festival thing. Games and prizes for the kids, a cookout, S&M party games afterwards, mass orgy for the senior citizens...that kinda stuff.

So recently we've kinda gotten an influx of new families coming to the church. And one of them is a family that's kinda down on their luck.

Basically ... it's a woman and her son who first started coming to church to take advantage of our food pantry, where we give out food to people who are having trouble making ends meet.

I was the one who interviewed the lady which I talked about in this entry last month. She was looking for a church for she and her son to start attending and I suggested ours.

Now...way back in my mind, I hesitated. Basically, the woman was upset because many of the churches in town wouldn't accept her because she's poor. She doesn't dress that nicely and she can't afford new fashionable clothes for her son.

And ... without sounding like too big of a shit...I wasn't quite sure if our congregation would accept her either.

But they have.

And it really makes me feel good in my heart.

Last night I talked with her for about 15 minutes. She makes it a HABIT to bring up her irritable bowel syndrome in almost every conversation that we've had in the last month or so. I'm like "I get it lady...you can't control your shit. You don't have to remind me every time we speak."

I guess she's kinda warning me in case a dark puddle ever seeps out her pants leg and starts stinking, I'm supposed to just pretend not to notice it and let it fly as we continue our conversation.

I dunno.

Anyway, her boy is 14 and not exactly a social butterfly. He's quiet and shy and reserved.

But after last night, I think that changed. Because the other kids took him under their wing and they all went outside and played football. His mother was telling me that he NEVER does things like this and she hasn't seen him have so much fun in years.

I guess the kid's had a tough life lately.

By the end of the night, he was hanging with all the young teenage boys, laughing and running and eating hamburger after hamburger. When we went looking for them, they were all playing Nintendo and acting like kids.

Yes...one of the boys was my porn surfing nephew. Every kid needs a bad influence in his life and my nephew's the bad influence in all of the church kid's lives.

During dinner, I halfway expected the mother to come sit with us since I was her first friend at the church.

But she sat at another table. I kept my eye on her and seemed to have a great time over there getting to know some more of the church family.

It really made my heart swell with pride to see this woman and her child being not only accepted but becoming part of the "family".

So now you're all wondering..."What gives Uncle Bob? When did you get so damned soft hearted and caring?"

Well duh.

I'm getting tubes stuck in my heart next week.

You never know if God's reading your diary or not, do you?

I've got more news but it'll have to wait until this afternoon. Andy STILL hasn't adjusted to the whole new time change thing, so he wanted to nurse at 4:30, which kept Mom in bed until 6, which had me watch the boy while he slept in our bed for the last half hour and I've got breakfasts and lunches to make and diapers to change.

Later.

This afternoon.

I promise.