A Very Busy Weekend Ending with a Very Random Road Trip

Sorry I have no pictures to make this post less wordy : ).

Friday I got off work about 3:00! YEAH! I did some running around and then met my future roommate for a quick dinner and a look at the apartment (For those of you who don't know yet, I am moving on July 12...more about my apartment another day). Then I went straight to Friday Night Impact, where I arrived about 35 minutes late. Oops. A group of guys who just got back from Dallas, TX spoke about their trip ministering to Iraqi refugees. After FNI, a group of us went to see Iron Man. Yes, we went to the 10:00 showing, no I didn't get home before midnight (but don't worry, I didn't turn into a pumpkin!)

Saturday I got up at about 8:30 so that I could be ready in time for my step mom's Pampered Chef party. Jan made wonderful Taffy Apple pizza. YUMMY! I also got talked into hosting a party in July since I will be moving to my own apartment. So, expect invitations in the mail : ). For those of you who don't get invitations, but want to come, let me know. Or if there is something that you have been dying to have, but can't come, you can still order something from me! Oh, the party is July 26. After the party, I had about two hours of free time before I went on a Career Impact scavenger hunt around Peoria. It was so much fun. I was able to learn a lot more about Peoria from our crazy travels around the city! After the scavenger hunt we went back to Tim's house and had dinner and watched a slide show of all the pictures taken and then hung out. After that a group of us went over to the church to help Kari and Kelli clean up after a wedding. Then Kelli invited us over to her condo to enjoy some ice cream and a little more fellowship. No I did not get home before midnight!

Sunday I went to church as usual. During Sunday School we learned that some people were driving out to Iowa to help with the efforts to try to save a whole bunch of farms from flooding. Several friends have families who have been effected by the Iowa River levee breaking and several more families who could be effected if the Mississippi River levee breaks. So, we decided to take a road trip to Iowa for the day. We all hustled home to say a quick Happy Father's Day to our dads, change clothes, grab something to eat, and meet at the church at 2:00. We got off to a late start, but arrived just outside of Burlington, Iowa around 4:30. The impact of these floods is too much to express in words. We were able to see the 17,000 acres of land flooded by the Iowa River. And then they put us to work on the levee sandbagging by the Mississippi. We were less than 10 feet away from the Mississippi River. It was CRAZY. When it started getting dark, we headed back to the sandbagging station at the church and helped fill and tie sandbags for a couple of hours. We then grabbed something quick to eat and headed home. No I did not get home before midnight.

Monday, I am very tired and very sore. I'm pretty sure it hurt every time I had to get paper towels in the bathroom at work today. Do I regret anything I did this weekend. Absolutely not. I had fun doing everything. I was glad that I could help the families that we helped. Please continue to pray for the families still working to save their farms as well as those who are reeling from the effects of losing their farms. The last information I heard was that they are expecting the Mississippi River to crest either Wednesday or Thursday. If the levee holds that long, the families should be out of danger for now.