So Much To Say

It's been such a long time that I hardly even know where to start.

We took our Junior High students on a missions trip this week to Indiana. It started out with packing Andy & I along with all the kids. Of course it took far longer than anticipated. I grabbed my work tennis shoes out of the garage and brought them into my bedroom to pack. I noticed something fuzzy in my shoes. Ty is notorious for shoving stuff in shoes so I pulled out the fuzz and realized it looked like a mouse nest. I then noticed the mouse in the shoe still. All I could think of is the mouse getting loose in the house. I ran outside as fast as I could and threw the shoe into the garage. Andy doesn't understand why I threw the shoes away after that. Come on, a mouse was living in there...

A group of churches had rented out a part of the Tippecanoe River State Campground. They put together their own kids camp so that it was affordable for all families. We were there to do the grunt work to give leaders more time with the kids. When we got to the camp late Tuesday the mosquitoes were crazy. What we found out is there was also a bat problem. They had tried working with the camp staff/DNR to fix the problem but it didn't work and there was a group of 8 and 9 year old girls crying about bats. Trust me, I would have too. So they canceled camp on Wednesday and had the parents come get the kids that night. We had less then 24-hours there to work in the kitchen, serve meals (I got a glimpse at your world Lunch Lady!), clean, prep crafts, work with kids in the horse area, etc.

We ended up in Remington, IN working with a church there cleaning and doing a few projects. The highlight though is helping a flood victim's family move back into their home. There was massive flooding in the town 6 months ago and many families lost so much. Some lost everything. We were able to leave the family encouraged, and with hope that people do care. Our kids had an opportunity to give back to others. God has blessed us all in so many ways that it can only overflow to bless others. Great lessons for our students as well as service to the family and church. The students worked hard and made us really proud of them.

We ended the trip with a day at Indiana Beach (an amusement park). It had rollercoaster rides and a water park. It wasn't glamorous, but it was fun. Because of the blood thinners I couldn't ride the roller coasters, so I got a nice relaxing day waiting on park benches watching hundreds of great examples of why not to get a tattoo. The stretching, wrinkles, and extra pounds really added to the artwork.

We got home after 11 last night after we dropped kids off and picked up the boys. Our boys had a crazy and long week with grandparents. We were all so tired that everyone had a 3+ hour nap this afternoon.

I'm glad to be home, to sleep in my own bed, and catch up with my boys. There is lots to do to catch up on life here and more blood tests. My clotting/thinner levels are whacked out and hoping and praying for good results to tomorrow's draw.

Missed you all...