Joel is home

We were planning on a week visit from Joel and last week, he texted and said he was on his way home early!  He and Zeb drove zeb's vehicle from California.  Joel said they planned to take their time, but I just felt he'd drive straight through.  I anticipated it would be late Tuesday evening and Scott guessed it would be in the middle of the night.  When I returned from an evening swim with Adelle, we pulled into the driveway and were on the front step when Joel came sauntering out from the side of the house!  He was exhausted and dirty from his travels and adventures.  It was so great to see him!

We've spent some good, quality time but I must admit, mostly it is me in the way of Scott and Joel's weird, deep political discussions and fantasy baseball trades and discussions.  They don't want to be interrupted to make, clarify, or firm up any plans including what and when we will eat.  We did manage to take a short trip to Lake Wabaunsee last night which was relaxing, enjoyable and foodtastic as usual.  Joel and I played two whole rounds of washer toss which was a lot of fun.  Joanna will put some pics up on her Facebook page and I will steal them and post them here.

I love spoiling Joel with food and cleaning up after him and doing his laundry.  Brings back memories.  He does disappear to spend time with friends periodically.  We got some pulled pork from Cox brothers we've been eating and I made chicken and noodles for him.  He sleeps a lot.  I will try to take some pictures but mostly when he's home, he is grubby and in various forms of half dressed.  I promise to enjoy his time here and not start anticipating missing him when he leaves.

My Lazy Life

I sleep until 9 ish, spend an hour to an hour and a half on the back patio with God, soak in the soaker tub, Maybe clean, maybe not, eat a few times, then start reading.  

Today I looked at some of my Pinterest boards, specifically, my style, and chose a few to share with you here.  Just for fun.

A Good Life

My life may not be exciting, but it is really such a good life!  I woke up around 8 after a great night sleep and sat out on the beautiful deck sipping coffee and spending time with God.  Around 9 I got into my soaker tub then woke Scott up and we headed down to meet Nika, the decorator from Ashley furniture who came by to get ideas for us.  She showed us her ideas and we picked out furniture for the livingroom and for the new room.  It's awesome, too.  A tan, plush textured couch and two cushy chairs in bold colors and an amazing taupe shap-like rug for the livingroom and a tan, comfy corduroy sectional for the new room.  Then we came home and I grabbed leftovers from last night, the delicious enchilada casserole, then my social worker friend, Tanya, came over for clinical supervision for a couple of hours.  At 4, I went over to Homestead and met with two of the gals for small group.  We had a really great talk.  Then I zipped over to the gym and did the intensity class!  Some running and sprinting and lots of burped and mountain climbers, etc, on the bosus.  My friend Kelly is back from her honeymoon and I partnered with jessica, another friend.  Grabbed a protein shake for Scott and I and spent the evening reading and chatting with Scott about the new furniture.

Tomorrow holds the same for the morning and then water run class, some cleaning, actually picking up some of the furniture (and paying for it), and maybe a trip to the library, then some extra cleaning because I didn't do any today.  At 5:30 I'll go to step class and then after, Scott and I will go out to eat, probably Chipotle.  

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Adelle, talked to my Dad on the phone, went to a step class, and read all evening.  Right after I closed my eyes, Joel called and we talked quite a while!

Seriously, a great life, don't ya think?

Leah

Had a great day with Leah and got my kid fix so I feel better now:).  Leah got off work and we went to her cute apartment and just hung out and talked, and played with Professor, of course.

This is a photo montage on her living room wall, her photography and her roommate Erin's.  Leah showed me her photos from her photography class, also.  And below is her bedroom.

Then we went downtown, of course, to the thrift store where Leah found a sweater and some great books about art, plants and several for teaching along with a children's book that I was familiar with that a Bethel art professor did.  Cool.  At the antique mall, Leah bought a record player and some albums so we went back,to the apartment to listen to them.  And played some more with Professor.

We met up with David who showed us the house he is buying and fixing up right behind his job.  Then we went back to Mojos for more delicious blended coffee, yum.  I looked at the radar and decided to,leave and beat the storms.  I only drove through a little rain and made it home in record time!

Rex was happy to see me and sniffed and sniffed.

P.s. dad was moved to the health care part of Aberdeen today until he gets stronger and he is not happy about it.  They called Jean today and said he tried to leave.  She talked to him and explained again and said shed bring their friends over to see him after dinner and then he was fine!  

As

God Loves Me

Guess where I am?  Sitting in Mojos in Newton 10 feet from my Leah!  I blogged yesterday about how much I miss the kids and how I need a Leah fix.  Last night I dreamed about Professor.  This morning I got up and did my quiet time then faced a whole day with nothing to do which is becoming a rare thing even though its summer.  So I texted Leah and God worked it out because He loves me!  Leah gets off work in a few minutes and we will get salads and go to her apartment to hang out with Professor.  Who know what fun things we'll do after that!  Here is a pic of Leah at work and then my car next to another Mazda frog in the parking lot here.

Not like I thought

Summer is not turning out like I thought.  It's been pretty unpredictable, topsy turvy.  From driving to LA to see Joel, to two trips to Oklahoma, all the Homestead crises, and now Dad being sick.... I had hoped to spend more time with Adelle but I am getting her minimum time in.  I thought I'd see more of Cecelia, maybe entertain more, see Leah more....  See my Mom more.  We are supposedly going to host a couple of dinner parties, one for the admin team and spouses, and one for the entire staff!  Before school starts!  A decorator came over today and we will go look at her ideas on Thursday for furniture for the front room and the new room.  The house and yard are looking amazing!  Scott is busy, busy.  He has now cleaned out the basement and is tiling and painting it.  

Water run is going well and I still very much enjoy it.  I got a cortisone shot in my shoulder to fix the issue that brick throwing in Oklahoma caused. Need to get my knee figured out.  It swells for no reason randomly, happened yesterday after sitting too long.  I spent two days sitting in the hospital making sure Dad knew where he is and didn't try to get out of bed without help.  Now it looks like he will go to the rehab unit at Aberdeen before going home.  That's got me sad.  

Then today I found out we are losing my favorite step teacher at the gym which means no evening step classes on the west side.  So frustrating!  I have looked forward to stepping in the evenings for 15 years now!  That's got me really bummed to tell you the truth.  I do have one step class I enjoy.  I like a total body circuit ok.  I haven't been going to intensity lately.  

I miss the kids.  I even cried today!  I need to carve out a day to go see Leah.  Joel is having a super hard time financially.  Something is going on with Hannah based on a text she sent Scott but she's on a hitch so we need to wait ten days to find out. And it could all change by then.  My Mom is flying to Colorado to visit Lee's family and then going to Virginia to see her sister in law.  I guess that would be my aunt, huh, but I've only met her once when I was little.  

Wow, this blog is random.  I'm feeling melancholy lately when I should be super happy.  I am excited about the furniture.  I like water run class.  And we got to go the the lake for the 4th!  I like getting to sleep in and have my quiet time on the back patio.  Scott is keeping a good attitude about not finding a job.  All is well.  Ill try getting a good night sleep.  Always helps.  And more prayer time tomorrow.  

Oklahoma Two

     What a great experience with such an amazing group of people!  I have to say I had a very good time and I think the group did too.  There were no problems or hitches other than two wrong turns, one on the way there that resulted in a loss of 20 minutes and $1.50 per team in toll, and the other on the way home which just gave us an alternate route.  

     We gathered at the church on time and Pastor Pat talked to us about Philippians 1:27 and then prayed with us in a circle.  Most of the people who went had not been on a disaster relief mission so that was fun and this was Scott and my first time leading.  We took three vehicles with Melinda and her son, Don, his friend Victoria, and Ryan and Sarah in the van; the church van with Jay driving and most of the other people, and our van with me driving, Scott, Laura, and Deana.  We stopped in Blackwell at the Braums and started getting to know each other.  In our vehicle we listened and sang along with old Christian music including Rich Mullins and shared our stories with one another.

     We arrived at the church around 8:30 and found out they were only expecting 10 of us, not 17, but quickly decided on jobs for us to do.  Sandy and her husband and Jean, volunteers from out of state, stay at the church to organize the teams and the paperwork.  Jared from Poured Out was there along with Kevin, a National Guard volunteer.  They estimate that well over four hundred people have come to stay at the little May Avenue Weslyan church and work to help Moore.  Last week there was a group of 80 there at one time!   Ladies from the church including Melissa, the Pastor's wife, prepare breakfast and dinner for the teams.  

     We laid out our cots and mattresses and bedding and got ourselves organized with the 5 guys sleeping in the sanctuary and the 12 girls in the fellowship hall which is also where we ate our meals.  We had a meeting and Deana read a short devotion and we prayed then tried to go to sleep by about 10:30.  Even with earplugs to block the snoring and ibuprofen, it was comfortable but difficult to fall asleep.  It was also kind of fun, like a giant sleepover.

     We all got up around 7 and got our work clothes on and ate pancakes and eggs, had devotions, and met and divided up into two teams to do two jobs.  Scott assigned me to be in charge of one site and he was in charge of the other.  Three ladies stayed back in the morning to clean the church thoroughly and Jay stayed back to roof it.  These were such a blessing to the little church as three weeks ago when we stayed and there was another big storm, there were many leaks in the roof.  And the church had taken a huge beating from all the teams coming through.

     Our site was four lots in the same neighborhood our team worked in last time.  The lots had been cleared but still had small debris that needed to be cleaned up to make it really look nice for the homeowners.  So we raked and shoveled and wheelbarrowed.  My job was really mostly caretaker to be sure everyone stayed hydrated and safe.  Of course I worked alongside, also.  The hardest part was deciding when to take breaks and when to stop so that no one overheated.

     At around 11:30, I was starting to get concerned that we'd worked for three hours and no one needed to use the restroom so we decided to find air conditioning, a bathroom and food.  I had to take the group of eight in two trips to a McDonald's down the street where Melissa bought everyone lunch. While there, we met a group of volunteers from a Baptist church about 30 miles away who were also there to help.

     It heated up quickly in the afternoon and we were joined first by the ladies that had cleaned the church and then by the other half of the whole group.  Just before that, I'd sent the van with about five people to go to the restroom and cool off.  When they arrived, we sent three really hot people back to the church.  About an hour later, another group, including me had hit a wall and we returned to the church.  The last five worked another hour or so to finish up the last lot.

     That morning, Scott's group first carried some paver stones for a gal who is a hospice nurse whose home had been somewhat damaged in the storm.  She was giving the stones to another lady.  They got to hear her tornado storm and be a blessing to her.  Then they carried and placed many, many more paver stones for another gal.  Apparently at their lunch, they got to talk with another homeowner and hear her story.

     When we returned to the church, we took amazing showers in the shower trailer owned by Poured Out.  Dinner was beef with broccoli, rice, peach cobbler and brownies, prepared by the church ladies.  It was delicious.  After dinner, most of us piled in the church van and took a tour of the destruction and also went to the school site where six kids and a teacher died.  A memorial was set up there with memorial objects, messages of support and t shirts from all the groups that had come to help.  It was emotional.  There were t shirts that read about Hope for Moore that many of us purchased and later signed. 

  We met to decide the plan for Sunday.  We had a hard time deciding whether or not to go the church as there were really good reasons and those who felt strongly about working all day, and good reasons and those who felt strongly about going to church.  The suggestion and final decision was to get up really early and work in the cool morning before church, attend the church service, and then go back out and work a few hours in the afternoon.  It was a great decision all the way around.  It was awesome to work as a whole team and we quickly cleaned two more lots and then started on a large field.  Everyone was pretty jovial.  We returned to the church and attended in our sock feet and work clothes and sat up front.  I think it really blessed the congregation and Pastor to have us there.  We sang Happy Birthday to Deana and hugged many during the greeting time.  This is a small, older church in the inner city of Oklahoma City.  They plan a neighborhood block party soon that hopefully will be well attended as Moore was blessed by the teams and the neighbors had to be curious about all the activity at the church.

     After church, the team went out and worked more clearing the field of debris.  I stayed behind to clean and rest up and try to keep my sinuses from getting infected.  The team had more fun and bonding and hard work then returned around three to shower up and pack.

     The ride home was uneventful other than the wrong turn.  We stopped for a meal and arrived at the church around 10:00.

     Overall, the trip was a huge success.  Our prayer was that it be a blessing to the people of Moore, but also a great experience for the people on the team, especially those who hadn't done it before.  That prayer was more than answered.  Being able to bless the church on top of that was even better.  Both Sandy and Jarod said we were one of the best teams that had come which meant a lot.  

      Stepping out in faith, trusting Him, serving Him....He will never disappoint and even exceed our earthly expectations.  Thank You, Lord, for this trip and opportunity to grow in You.