May was a full month with the end of school, a dear friend's wedding, and a tornado. The first two were welcomed events and the last was another reminder of how BIG God is.
I'd love to say there is some hilarious story that capped off my first year of teaching, but the last few days of school were pretty uneventful. One of the coolest things about the final day was the realization that instead of having 40 students I felt like I had 40 kids. Daniel sometimes has to clarify what I mean by "my kids" when I'm talking to people we don't know very well. I'm sure the checker at Wal-Mart wonders how our groceries for two are going to feed all "my kids."
As soon as school was over I headed to Manhattan for my friend Jessica's wedding. As a girl all weddings excite me, but there are few that excited me as much as Jessica's did. It's crazy to think how the times we spent parked in front of Kappa talking about who we could muster up the courage to ask to the next date party led to each of us being a part of the other's special day.
The weekend of Jessica's wedding was also the weekend of the Joplin tornado. Daniel and I left Manhattan late Saturday evening to make it back for a church service project on Sunday. Since the service project took place during the time we'd normally have church, we had an informal service on Sunday evening. Daniel and I came to the service having just woke up from a nap (last day of school + wedding + late night drive home + service project = long nap). As soon as we walked in the doors there was news of the destruction that had taken place only an hour and a half away. In God's superior timing, what had been our church's desire that day, to be the hands and feet of God, was now the perfect spring board to deal with an incredibly tragic situation. Daniel and I were part of a team that traveled to Joplin on Monday, but without being emergency rescue workers we were unable to get into the real destruction. However, we worked on the campus of MSSU folding donated clothes. The gym full of cots, clothes, toys, and tables set up to check people in and help in the search for missing was incredibly eerie. I have since heard stories that are heartbreaking and unbelievable. It's a small world and while no one I knew was effected by the tornado, plenty of stories connect back to people I know.
If I may use this post to throw out a couple things to chew on it would be to say this...I can't tell you why this event happened or that there isn't incredible pain associated with it; however, God is God and I am not. That may sound like such an ignorant Christian platitude, but if I could explain the situation or take away the hurt, that would make me an equal to God and as a result God would be very pocket sized and finite. I serve a God who is described in Psalm 29 as being able to twist the oaks, split mighty cedars, and whose voice causes lightening. My part in our church's service project was to help clean up yards of community members and plant flowers. Trying to pull out an unwanted baby tree was beyond my strength, yet when I was in Joplin and saw a mature tree completely ripped out of the ground with it's roots staring right at me I couldn't help but think about how much more powerful God's strength is than mine. God is not finite and while He did not intend for us to experience tragic loss when He created us, in His infinite nature He can use any situation to serve a purpose far bigger than we can yet see. Also, people's response to Joplin has been incredible, but the reality is people have disasters going on in their lives all the time. We should help abundantly when massive destruction occurs, but I hope we can be responsive (i.e. give of our time, pray, encourage, serve) to the tornadoes people are experiencing privately. Again, just a couple things to think about...
Now onto June and the meaning of my post's title. Daniel and I have been busy completing house projects that I wrote about in March. The vision began with new siding, followed by new shutters, window boxes, and a modified landscape. Daniel was anything but thrilled when he came home from a long day at work and realized my mom and I had purchased plants, but were unable to dig holes for them (we did have them laid out where they should go, which was pretty helpful in my mind). It has been extremely tiring, but rewarding to see our landscaping and painting make a huge difference. We still have one window box to hang and then our makeover is complete. Below are a couple pictures of the progress.
Now onto June and the meaning of my post's title. Daniel and I have been busy completing house projects that I wrote about in March. The vision began with new siding, followed by new shutters, window boxes, and a modified landscape. Daniel was anything but thrilled when he came home from a long day at work and realized my mom and I had purchased plants, but were unable to dig holes for them (we did have them laid out where they should go, which was pretty helpful in my mind). It has been extremely tiring, but rewarding to see our landscaping and painting make a huge difference. We still have one window box to hang and then our makeover is complete. Below are a couple pictures of the progress.
I'd like to say my summer has been filled with progress like above, but I've honestly found similarities in my life to the cat's ambition. What ambition does the cat ha
ve?!?! Little to none as you can see to the right. I get plenty of sleep at night, but somehow I am always able to take a nap without any problem. It seems like Dipstick and I get up and he cleans himself while I get dressed. Then it's off to take care of a few things while he plays. Then I'm able to read, sleep, watch HGTV while he naps, and both of us break from these activities only to acquire more food or use the restroom. I don't mind being productive, but I'm sure grateful for the opportunity to adopt some cat habits. 
