Welcome to Tactical Team

On Monday, I planned to sleep in but covered a friend's shifts instead while she recovered from a migraine; because of that, I didn’t get cleaning grades in until late. All Team was great and made me ponder the difference between ‘sweating the small stuff’ and being anxious or afraid; I don’t think I quite know, but it’s an interesting conversation.

Tuesday was academy as usual, and then I had to stop at home very quickly before going out to Trailhead and then to a movie for Rachel’s birthday. We watched Princess Mononoke; it reminded me of childhood and made me a little homesick.

On Wednesday, I went to a few of C11’s art presentations, and they all did really well! It reminded me of my class’s art presentations and how much fun it was to hear everyone's take on different pieces of art.

On Thursday after academy, all the C9 girls, except for Margaret, who wasn’t feeling well, went to Fresh to celebrate Rachel and Mckensie’s birthdays. We revisited our first experiences with Excel and how we decided to come here, and I was struck with such gratefulness for the specific class I was given.

On Friday, we didn’t have a house meeting like we normally would because C10 had a final. Class discussion for C9 centered around modesty and what exactly that means, under the umbrella of Urbanity.

On Saturday, I worked a full day at Ridgecrest, so I wasn’t at the house very much, and Sunday I went to church with Anna for the first time in a while, which was good until she forgot her phone on the roof of her car and it fell off on the highway. We eventually recovered the phone (and it still kinda works, yay!), but it took a while. After we went to Dixon with Nate and Charity, we played a really cool board game I’m heavily considering buying for the house.

• New, healthy rhythms for the home
• High spirits and momentum moving into this new season
• For God to equip me for what He’s called me to do
• Peace and grace

• Tuesday- The C11 women are continuing to bond well, during their class day off today they spent time cooking together as well as preparing for next week's small teams 90s themed hosting party. They made invitations, went out to buy the snacks and decorations and then distributed the invites throughout the neighborhood, all very excited to host.
• During the afternoon Tuesday I was able to drive one of the women to a doctor's appointment which was also a good time to have some quality time to get to know her more and check in with some ongoing familial and health issues.
• Wednesday- Happy birthday Suz! With the help of Mckenzie to organize we had a little birthday party to celebrate our lovely Suz together as a house on her last official day as house captain as well. Most of the women in Creekside were able to make it and it was a sweet time to spend together, with good snacks, watching one of Suz’ favorite movies.
• Thursday/ Friday- One of the ac units had an issue with its filter and poured water out onto one of the bunk beds in the evening, high five to the maintenance team and high five to Nathaniel for fixing it early the next morning and immediately replacing the mattresses with dry ones.
• Saturday: The house was pretty quiet this weekend with several of the women in the house away visiting family locally and out of state. The few that were home and I played a fun card game in the evening, though just a few of us, it was a fun light hearted way to connect.
• Sunday was a more cozy rainy day as the women home spent time cooking and baking throughout the day, as well as having a couple of girls from other houses over, the house was filled with sweet aromas of muffins and laughter.
• Also throughout the week as the C10 women worked on their Art module final presentations it was encouraging to see how they, along with the others in the house supported each other intentionally, listening to each other's presentations to help practice and prepare.

Reflections:

• Something I was noticing before this week was a bit of a separation between the different cohorts still in how they’re spending their time together, but this week I noticed a lot more natural social integration throughout the house on the day to day and will be praying for that to continue as we establish new dynamics and develop a stronger culture.

• A highlight into vision for the home, tonight at Smallteams one of the C11 women mentioned how her and a few others had read through Psalm 1 together and were thinking about making it a regular habit! Such a prayer being answered for this to be a house of worshipping women who delight in the Lord and are grounded in the word.

• This was also significant to me because a verse the Lord spoke to me over Creekside the first week I was here was Psalm 1:1-3 “ Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
  

Father, I thank you for each of these girls and this house that is intentionally planted by a stream of water. I pray that its positioning physically would remind us of the spiritual reality that we live dependent upon you as our source of life and refreshment as we delight in you. Lord, I pray that each of these women would know your beauty, your grace, feel your presence with them through their days and your peace through the nights. May this house be one that worships you and is unified in spirit and truth. Heal any sickness and bring comfort to any lonely heart. Thank you that you go before us into the week ahead, may we all see you at work in our lives and moving in this home, in Jesus name, Amen.

These are some of the things I'm working on inside of the home:

Technical Organization: I’m learning a lot of the technical work as a house captain. The system of weekly house meetings + house cleanings has been highly successful. The rhythm of getting the entire home to clean at the same time and also get on the same page works really well. It also gives me and Sanders a scheduled time to do stocking like hand soap and organizing cleaning supplies. I quite like this rhythm and will fight to keep it.

House meetings also show a lot of success, and I’ve decided on a speech pattern to do from now on in the meetings, this is how the meetings go; I have someone pray over the meeting. I set a 15m timer. We’ll do 3 minutes of high-fives as a home (I love the atmosphere this sets). Then I’ll use ten minutes to talk about whatever technical or spiritual things I see that I need to communicate. Sometimes this is new systems, like this week I’ll introduce the room cleans. Other times this is mindsets, like this week I’ll be addressing the language problem we have in the home. Then in the last two minutes, I’ll speak into the home some of the incredible things I see in them as their leader. This models an idea of communication that Isaiah Schmidt taught me a long time ago: the complement sandwich. The start of the meeting has everyone encouraging each other, the middle of the meeting has challenges over the group, the end of the meeting has me encouraging the group. This will give optimal room for growth and has a great rhythm of habit for everyone.

Where are people connecting: There’s a group of people connecting through movies quite often. They set up the projector and choose a movie to watch together. There’s still a lot of Catan being played, as well as pickleball. One spot of connection I’m worried about is a group of people watching shows such as Smiling Friends together. This group is led by Noah Sanders and Matthew Hobcroft. I’m planning to talk to Noah about it, this is something he’s already wrestled with. What’s the problem with watching shows like Smiling Friends? Smiling Friends is a super dark and crass-humored show. It promotes crass humor and promotes mindsets and concepts that I actually don’t want in the home. So, when my first mate is getting groups of people to watch it together, he’s publicly promoting mindsets and language that I don’t promote. Noah also watches shows of similar humor in his free time. I’m going to talk to him about it, and I expect heavy pushback.

Video Games: There were two people in the home still gaming single-player games despite the rule I set. I talked to them privately, and it has now settled. I had a great discussion with them and also asked how they want the rule to be enforced on them, which is as simple as privately saying to them, “hey I see you’re playing single-player games, let’s not”. I was worried about doing literally that, but now that I’ve gotten them to tell me to do that I think it’s perfect. Setting that expectation on a personal level will make it highly effective. I can also see both of those people starting to participate a bit more because they’re off those games.

Dishes: It’s hard to tell who the main culprits are for dirty dishes. Last week I addressed dishes and heart posture with cleanliness at the house meeting, and while the group seemed receptive, the next day there were a ton of dishes. Brayan is the hero of this home, as he helped stabilize the kitchen and make it clean. My plan of action for cleanliness in the kitchen is simple: locate the few people causing the most dishes, privately talk to them, and coach them to a higher level of cleanliness.

That the students would find their footing in the new home and that they would get a lot of value out of the critical thinking class. That their heart postures would be set in a productive and life-giving way.

Thank you God for this home and the bonds the men have created with each other. Thank you for such a time as this. I pray over the men in this home; I pray peace and joy over the men. Thank you for the power of language. I pray for wisdom and revelation to enter the hearts of these men, that they would understand the power of the words they speak. I thank you for this day, I bless this next week that it would be very fruitful. In Jesus name, amen.

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This week I grabbed a burger with Sam and Jack. Learned about some of the struggles Jack's family is going through. Learned about Sam's struggles with keeping himself on track in his writing. As a whole the guys are connecting pretty well. Sam is great at getting guys to hang out together. In my own growth I had a great conversation with Noah Sed Mac about understanding the guys and what motivates each one of them individually. There are some of the guys I know how to motivate but a few of them I struggle with. Not sure how to close this week.

God I just asked that would give motivation and peace to jet as he searches for a new practicum. That you would be able to provide Gabby with healing with whatever the heck is going on with her. I pray over the next week that we would be able to enjoy each other and grow closer to you through fellowship with one another