Joplin

This past week has been so full and God has moved me so deeply, I am not sure how to get my thoughts around it all.  I just know that I have been changed for the good.  When I have a large task, I always chunk it into smaller pieces.  I am thinking that is what I will do with this.

As you know, the week before we left, my "Granny" was not expected to make it until I got back home.  She did.  She is back in the nursing home under hospice care.  I am thinking that any day now, I will get a call to let us know that she has passed.  I will be going home to attend her funeral. I thought of her often and my thoughts naturally are of how blessed we have been to have her with us for 97 years.  I also think it is time for her to go home and be with the rest of her family.

I slept very little on Saturday night.  We just weren't ready to go and we had to finish packing.  Once the packing was done, I couldn't sleep and I wasn't feeling well.  We met at the church, prayed and we were on the road by 6:30.  Even though I was tired, we were excited to be going.  My prayer in this adventure was that God would reveal himself to me. I wanted to come back a better person, wife and mother. 

After a couple of rest stops in Kansas, we finally made it to Carthage, Missouri around 10:00 at night.  We were not allowed showers, but were told to go to bed and be ready for breakfast at 7:00 am the next morning.  We were hosted by the First Christian Church in Carthage.  We used their industrial kitchen and hall as an eating and gathering area.  This area was about a block away from where we stayed and had the only fully functioning toilets. The church owned houses where we were allowed to stay.  We girls had an air conditioned house that was built in the early 1900s.  They boys stayed next door in a not so air conditioned, not so big house.  The church had one showers for the girls and three showers in the men's room.  We all showered here once, but mostly we went about 10 miles away, to the YMCA, for showers. That first night, we were all so very tired from the drive.  We prayed over our trip and for each other. We poured ourselves into bed and prepared ourselves for the hardest work many of us have ever done.