What an Amazing Week

Well we are finally home!!! After what has to be one of the most amazing weeks ever with my kiddos, and 15 others, in Kentucky we returned home at 9:40 last night. Last Saturday we left the church at 1:00pm and after staying the night in Denver all 21 of us arrived at DIA at 4:30 am not sure of what lay ahead in the week to come. We were divided into separate work crews for the duration of our stay, and luckily I had Kendal and 3 amazing high school girls in my group. Monday - Thursday our days were spent serving those less fortunate than us at various sites throughout Louisville; such as the YMCA, a homeless shelter, a refuge help site, a daycare, and the church that was our host site. The evenings were filled with worship andwe devotion time as well as fun activities, like our tour of the Kentucky Derby & Churchill Downs!!! The final night there was a "foot washing ceremony", which represented all that Jesus did for those less fortunate and how no task was too simple or "common" for him to do. It was quite an emotional time for nearly all in attendance.
Friday after we left the mission host site we toured the Louisville Slugger factory. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the factory tour, but I did take several of the museum and the HUGE bat in front. We then travelled 3 hours to the lake house in Jacksonville. It was a beautiful drive and we all had a good time while we were there.
Yesterday we got up at 4:30 am in order to make the drive back to Louisville for our flight home. There seemed to be several "glitches" during the day yesterday. In Houston our shuttle train broke down and after waiting for someone to get us out we had to HURRY to our terminal and made it with only about 5 minutes to spare before they started loading our flight. When we arrived in Denver one of the jr high girls lost something when she was leaving the plane. Someone turned it in, but it was at the terminal and in order to claim it she had to go through security again, since we were claiming our luggage when she was paged. We were on our way home last night when the NASTY storm rolled into Goshen Co., the streets were all flooded when we drove through town to get to the church.
Now, for the most exciting things to happen while we were in Louisville. First the appraisal came through for the house and we are now under-contract with the closing date of July 20th!!!!!! The best part of that date is the fact that Tracey has the 21st off from work so he and the boys can spend the entire day moving; ya for me! Second, Lori is engaged!!!!!! Her and James are getting married Nov 7, 2009. Yes that is correct, 4 months from tomorrow. Us girls are going to Rapid dress shopping on Saturday in order to get plans off to a fast start!!
I hope that you all enjoy the many pictures which I have included in the slide-show. If you ever want to see all of the over 300 pictures which I took just give me a call, or stop by.