Ward Service Day

I guess one of the perks of buying the dumpy house in a well taken care of neighborhood, and then being too busy or too pregnant to actually keep up with all the projects that need to happen is that your wonderful ward steps in to help!

Today was our ward service day. A couple of months ago, when it the announcement was made in Relief Society that we would be doing something in our own community, I was oh so tempted to jokingly raise my hand and let them know that if they were looking for a project, I just happened to know of a yard that was in need of some desperate weeding. But I refrained. Well, ironically enough, a couple of weeks later a member of the service committee stopped by the house and told me that the bishop had suggested they ask us if we could use some help. I almost laughed out loud!

Jeff and I were excited for some help, but also hoped that the ward wasn't putting us in front of the needs of the many more deserving people in our neighborhood. After all, we are capable of taking care of things.... even though it may not look like it. But we were told that a couple of people would still be coming to help. I think we expected two or three people to show up, and for a few weeds to get pulled and maybe one of our bigger projects to get started.

Um...

There were a couple of people to start out with, and little by little more people showed up to help. By the end of the 4 hour block, other projects in other yards had been completed so people just kept showing up to help at our house. If I was expecting just a little bit of clean up in the yard, I was SOOOO wrong. Every major project (except for the removal of one tree which is too close to power lines) was not only started, but was also completed. Everything was weeded; bushes were pruned; trees were trimmed; trees, shrubs, roots, rocks, and even random metal rods were completely removed and everything was cleaned up.

As I looked over my yard at the mass of people working so hard, and saw the progress that Jeff and I expected to take us the next couple of summers to really complete, I was so overwhelmed (and maybe, just maybe, cried a little...) by the love of our neighbors and by just how wonderful they all are, and how extremely blessed we are to live in this ward. Thank you all for your kindness, and for the sacrifice you all made to spend your Saturday morning helping our little family!

BEFORE:

(overgrown weeds in flower garden)

AFTER:

AFTER:

(didn't get a before shot, but they removed some bushes and trees that were in pretty bad shape)

BEFORE:

(an overgrown jungle complete with unwanted trees from neighbor's yard)

AFTER:

BEFORE:

(well, you can see.... it's a mess)

AFTER:

BEFORE:

(overgrown everything, and what in the world are those metal rods for?)

AFTER:

BEFORE:

(weeds, broken glass, and tons of other junk)

AFTER:

BEFORE:

(rotten apples, ivy climbing everywhere, and lots of non-producing branches down lower)

AFTER:

BEFORE:

(basically, I just couldn't keep up with the weeds)

AFTER:

AFTER:

(didn't get a before shot, but the neighbor's tree had grown over the wall so much that we couldn't even see the compost pit)

AFTER:

(once again, didn't get a before shot, but all the flower beds and around the stairs were completely covered in weeds)

P.S. Exactly one year ago today we signed the papers and closed on this house! What an awesome one year anniversary present we received today!!!