I forgot to mention this. After we finished our work in New Orleans, we headed over to Galveston for a day of rest and relaxation. As we were walking down the side walk, we looked over and saw this:

So, technically this isn't a real tornado, it's a water spout. I have no idea what that is, but it looks like a tornado to me. In all of my years living in West Texas spring time daily tornado warnings, I've never actually seen one- so I was pumped. I kept thinking to myself, am I really seeing this??

In other news, last night I watched The Lakehouse. I guess it wasn't too bad. Any thoughts??

So, what's worse? Only having one choice or having too many choices? That's my question of the week and it's a tough one.

Home Again.

Well, I just got home from a nine day trip to New Orleans. I'm a little pooped. To be honest, I always dread these trips. They are so long and exhausting. I hate living out of a suitcase and the showering conditions always leave you feeling a little dirtier than you were before. I always come home so excited though. I'm always blown away by my kids. They work so much harder than expected. They seek God in incredible ways. Mission trips give me a glimpse of what the body of Christ is truly intended to be.

New Orleans is doing great and terrible all at the same time. Many things had changed since last year. A lot of people had come back and it wasn't such a ghost town. More stores were open and quite a few houses were rebuilt and being lived in. A lot of houses had been completely demolished. There were houses that hadn't even been touched though. Streets were still lined with FEMA trailers and it was clear that people were very weary. They were not without hope though. They were confident that God was at work in their lives even in these unbelievable conditions. One of our sweetest moments happened one night at our devo. We had driven through the neighborhood where we worked last year. One of the work groups from last year always pulled into a Walgreens parking lot for lunch and ate under the pharmacy drive through overhang. So we decided to worship in that same spot. A man and his daughted drove by and saw us so they decided to get out and talk to us for a few minutes. He told us about his experience in the hurricane and about the friends and neighbors who had been killed by Katrina. He encouraged our work and told us that church groups were responsible for the rebuilding that had been done. When he left we were all so touched by his words. How often to you see God in a large Cajun man and his daughter? As hopeless as New Orleans may seem, God is still at work there. We believe in and worship a God of redemption, a God who rebuilds and restores. New Orleans is a testament to that.

My parents gave me a digital camera as a graduation gift, so now I can put a few more photos on here. Here are some from my sister in law's fiesta celebrating her law school graduation.

Here is the lady of the evening, Hailey, along with my brother David.

This is their dog Carey, dressed up for the occasion. My brother was not amused.
Here are my lovely parents enjoying the party.
And here's a shot of both of my brothers.

This is a super close up of my other sister in law Julie and my niece Kaelan. My brother Stephen took this one. Nice job.
Well, last night I got home from our junior high mission trip. I may be more convinced than ever that the junior high years are the hardest. There was so much drama! She likes him, but he likes her, so she's mad at her, and he talked bad about her, so she told him about her and now she's mad... One of the girls said that she wasn't going to talk about people any more, and one of the other girls quickly responded with "Well, let us know when we can talk to you again." You just can't make that kind of stuff up.

Anyways, I thought St. Louis was a great city. I went up to the top of the arch and looked out over the sky line as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. We worked with some great agencies further convicting me of the need to work for social justice. Here's a picture of the teens at a food pantry.

Overall, we had a great week. We were even on the local news a couple of times. The day we worked at the food pantry a news crew showed up and filmed us working. Then one afternoon we were at the zoo and happened to walk up to the elephant area right when they were bringing out the new baby elephant for the first time. Three news cameras were there and filmed us watching the blessed event. Here's a picture of baby Jade.I was really excited about the elephant, she (or he?) was so cute. I think they said she was three months old. I just love zoos.

I want to type a few words about the Overland Park girl who was abducted at Target this week, but I'm too tired to keep typing, so I'll put that in a future post. Good night everyone.

Well, I finally feel settled in and I'm going out of town tomorrow. So much for not living out of a suitcase. I'm headed to St. Louis with 30 middle schoolers tomorrow for a mission trip and I think it will be great. I'm loving being here in Kansas again. My kids and parents are the best. I'm having a great time with the other interns too.

My parents drove up here with me to spend a few days. It was really neat to show them around KC. I was really sad to take them to the airport though. There's something different about me staying and them leaving. So, when I drove out of the airport I was a little emotional and distracted and I missed my turn off and accidentally drove half way to Iowa. Yup, I probably drove for 40 minutes before I even knew I was off track. I turned around and realized how off course I was which only heightened my emotional state. It took me about two hours to get from the airport back to the church building, a trip that should have only taken 45 minutes. I still can't believe I did that. Typical Sue.

This summer we are without a youth minister. I guess some might see this as a problem, but it makes me excited (as much as I loved the old youth minister). I'm excited to see what I'm made of, although it's too late to find out that I'm not cut out for ministry. I know I'm going to learn so much this summer.

I better go work on my class for in the morning. I made posters and I'm showing a clip from The Lion King. Yay for media.