Conclusions

They say that all things must come to an end. Sometimes, an ending is just what we have been waiting for; but other times, an ending brings only sadness and painful goodbyes. On the whole, the end of my time in Kentucky follows the latter.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been having some health problems. I started having muscle spasms that would last (off and on) for hours - something the doctors couldn't explain. I went to see a neurologist and they ordered a round of tests, but still there are no answers other than the catchall of "maybe it is stress" (as if I haven't been more stressed at other times of my life?) or a sleeping disorder. Personally, I am not really buying either guess, but thankfully the spasms have subsided for now.

In some ways these spasms marred my ending in Kentucky. My last two weeks were spent going back and forth to the doctor/hospital/specialists - and when I wasn't in Lexington doing that, I was at home. In a strange way it felt a little how I imagined life would have been in the dorms if you didn't have class. Because of Shannon's odd work schedule, I got to see her on a lot of different days and we had a fun little LOTR party as a result. When everyone came home from work I got to hear how their days went, along with any other recent news. I got to do some baking (which is generally a stress reliever for me). And, perhaps best of all, I got to spend a lot of quality time with Allen (who was absolutely wonderful - he put off his trip home so he could be my nurse and chauffeur me to all of my various appointments). So there were some blessings out of these spasms too.

Last Saturday I left Kentucky. The goodbyes were, of course, the hardest. Both Jenny and Jenna made me cry as I hugged them each for the last time (I probably would have cried with Shannon too, but she came in at 6:30am to say her goodbye and I was a little out of it). My empty room looked quite desolate and it was odd to walk away from the Rockcastle House knowing that it was not my home any longer.

Thankfully, the last few days have brought a little more peace with that transition. I had a wonderful trip to Texas (and I didn't even melt in the heat!) and was briefly in Seattle before heading to Leavenworth for time with family. I still don't know what lies ahead for me; it looks like I may be in Portland this fall, but we'll see. For now I am looking forward to my cousin's wedding, Allen's visit to Oregon, being back in the Northwest, and spending some time with family and friends.

I definitely left a piece of my heart in the hills of Kentucky with a wonderful group of people whom I will miss dearly. But, for now, this seems to be the end of my Kentucky story.

Blessings.

You Know You Are in the South...

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but life has been crazy.

The month of August brought along a few unique Southern experiences.

During the first weekend of this month Allen took me to the Kentucky Speedway to watch the Indy 300. And yes, that is Indy car racing. His friend's little sister is an Indy car driver and she was able to get us passes for the race. What was cool was that we had really special passes - we could go anywhere. Well, technically, we weren't supposed to go to the grandstands...but we could go anywhere else, including the garages and the pit areas. It was way too loud (even with earplugs) to be down in the pits during a race, so we ended up sneaking into the grandstands. Luckily we didn't sit in a spot where someone had tickets.

During the first race, which was the shorter and lower level race, Ana Beatriz (his friend's sister) ended up getting third place. It was pretty neat to be there courtesy of someone who placed, and I felt especially cool when we saw her afterward and she gave me a hug.

The Indy 300 was also fun to watch. I even recognized some of the racers' names - Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti.

The people attending were also fun to watch. It is an eclectic group of people who go to races. Unfortunately, we had some extra people watching. For some reason we couldn't find the car afterward and walked through a ton of people before, eventually, finding it.

My other recent Southern experience came when we attended the "Little World's Fair" in Brodhead (the next town over). This fair has been taking place for over one hundred years. It was another fun people watching event - especially since I recognized quite a few of them through my work with CAP.

At the fair I tried a few new foods while also attending a "mud run." I'm still not entirely sure what the point of the mud run was, but basically ATV's went through a mud patch and got timed. It got old after an hour of the same thing.

My new foods, however, were very interesting. There is a saying in Kentucky - "If it's not fried, it ain't worth eating." I tried deep-fried Twinkies and deep-fried Oreos. Both were actually pretty good, which surprised me.

We were also able to knock a few things off the list of things Allen needed to try. Like riding a Ferris Wheel and eating cotton candy.

The South is definitely an interesting place...I am going to miss Kentucky.

Prayer

I can't believe that August is almost half-way over already - my time here is just flying by way too quickly. I leave next Saturday the 22nd...it still hasn't hit home, that is for sure.

I can, of course, continue to use prayer for what is next - I am still applying and still very unsure of where I will be in the future - but today I am asking specifically asking for prayer for my health.

Without going into too many details, I have been going back and forth since last weekend between the ER, Urgent Care, and doctors...tomorrow I am off to a specialist who can hopefully tell me what has been going on. The waiting all week has been very wearing and I am just exhausted in general. So, if you can, please pray the doctor I see tomorrow will have the wisdom and foresight to understand what is going on inside my body, and that I will have the courage and patience to accept whatever the findings are (or that I will accept the waiting period if that is necessary).

Thanks.

Janice, Joe, and Corie

One of the best and worst parts of living in my house is that we basically have a revolving door. There is always someone new coming in and there is always a friend going out.

Our short-term volunteers make up a large part of this revolving door process. In the month of July we were blessed to have three amazingly wonderful short-term volunteers with us and I just want to share a little about them and what they have meant to our house.

Janice actually came in the middle of June to join us for six weeks. She is pretty much from Virginia, but she and her husband recently relocated to North Carolina. Although she was originally hoping to volunteer at camp, she ended up volunteering in Respite (a program that provides respite to individuals with disabilities and their families). Some of the best meals I have had here have been in the last six weeks. Janice blessed our whole house by cooking every week and spoiling us with gourmet and homemade dishes. The blessings didn't end with her cooking though; she possesses one of the sweetest spirits I have ever known. I had some wonderful conversations with her and greatly appreciate her because of it!

Joe spent the month of June working at camp, then joined our house for July to help our VISTA volunteer Erica out in the Creation Care program. He is from Michigan and will be heading into his junior year of college. Joe is just a ridiculously crazy guy with a deep heart and the spirit of a servant. In his first week Joe dug our house a compost pit (without being asked!). He also continued to amaze us by his willingness to jump in and help out whenever needed. Again, some great conversations were had in the last month.

Corie came to CAP from Staten Island, New York. She was only here for two weeks but she deeply touched each of us in different ways and we all wished that she would have stayed longer. What's great is that Corie loved her time here so much that she is considering coming to volunteer for a year - which is huge for her since she is a full-time Kindergarten teacher. Shortly after joining us, we noticed that Corie liked to knit...a lot. I think we all just assumed she was making scarves for the women she worked with at FLAC. The scarves she made, however, were for us. And she made each of them for how they fit our personality. For example, Shannon's is green and made from crazy yarns, while Joe's was not really a scarf, but more of a knit sweatband.

I wish that you all could meet Janice, Joe, and Corie. I know that my descriptions don't even come close to doing them justice. Each of them, in their own ways, drew me out of myself and forced me to think about life and God in a new way. And it is hard to ask for more than that.

Sadly, all three of them left last Friday. Our house is definitely going to miss them!!!

And yet, the revolving door continues. Already we have two new short-term volunteers here with a few more on the way, along with a couple new long-term volunteers. All the change can be tiring, but, as I said, this is one of the best parts of being here. And hey, you can always use more friends.

Peace.

This is a picture we (Jenny, Corie, Shannon, and I) took last week at Sonic. Corie had never been before and she was fascinated by the idea of a going to a drive-in restaurant. I think our waitress thought we were crazy, but we had a blast, so who cares?

School Readiness

On Tuesday we had our school readiness distribution, so this was the day that all of the families came to pick up their backpacks, goodies, and assorted clothing. We also provided each family with a voucher to the Family Dollar store and a coupon to CAP's thrift store Grateful Threadz. Thankfully, Jenny is extremely organized and everything went smoothly.

We had ninety-nine students and forty-seven families sponsored through this distribution. The distribution was supposed to start at 10am; Jenny and I arrived at 8:30 to finish putting together the last few things and there were already several families waiting outside. Eventually, after all the other volunteers arrived to man their stations, we let them start coming in, five families at a time, to begin the process...

Step #1: Check-In
This was my station. Each family was supposed to bring the letter that we sent them with the information about the distribution. The letters served as proof for who they were and provided us with their family number. After seeing the letter I would cross them off the list and explain the rest of the process. Kiara, my volunteer manager, served as our bouncer - letting the right number of families in at a time - and our bag lady.

Step #2: Clothing
The majority of our clothes were a very random assortment and, unfortunately, we did not even have very many clothes for kids. We did, however, have underwear for all sizes and at least the teens and even a few parents were able to get some new clothes. This station was kind of crazy though. Each child could get five clothing items. An underwear pack, three pairs of socks, a full "Hannah Montana" outfit, and a singular piece of other clothing all counted as one item each. Hence the confusion. At Christmas we got this giant pallet full of these "Hannah Montana" clothes and I think every county has been swimming in them since.

Step #3: Backpacks
Here we had all of the backpacks lined up in long lines according to their grade and separated between boys and girls. Joe was guarding the packs and helping each student pick out one that they liked. It was fun to see which packs the kids would like - and thankfully they seemed to like some of the packs that we had tons of!

Step #4: Hygiene Kits and Grab Bags
Jenny and I worked hard to put together bags with hygiene items for each family. We had some basic hygiene kits from Op Share that we added to - mainly soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. The grab bags consisted of a lot of random items that we had in the office that we thought kids might like. Such as books, hot cocoa, granola bars, etc...Theses were then separated out by age range and gender.

Step #5: Check-Out
This was Jenny's station. Her main responsibility was to check each family, making sure that they had everything they were supposed to get and that they didn't have anything they weren't supposed to have. She also gave each family their vouchers and coupons.

As aforesaid, everything went smoothly. We had just the right amount of help and only a few people showed up who were not signed up. It was great too because a reporter from the Mt. Vernon Signal came to do a piece on the distribution (hopefully Jenny makes it in the paper - it has been one of her goals for the year!). All in all it was a great day and hopefully a lot of children will enjoy their school year a little more because of it.

Even though the sign-ups for School Readiness were in May, we have been able to help out other families who missed the sign-ups. With school starting next week, we have been getting multiple calls each day from families who need help with school supplies, and thankfully, we have enough items left over to continue helping out.

This is Lonnie. He has been a student up at CAP's preschool, but he is about to enter Kindergarten. Although, maybe you can't see him with all that camo!

Exit Luncheon

Today was my exit luncheon. There are five of us long-term volunteers who will be leaving in the next month, so the volunteer department had a short ceremony to celebrate our time and our service here in Appalachia.

The ceremony was actually really nice. All of our managers came - even Jennifer. I e-mailed her last week and invited her to come, which really meant a lot to me. I like Robyn (my new manager) a lot, but I've only been working for her for two weeks, so it was great that Jennifer made it. Anyway, the managers presented us with our plaques that commemorate our year of service and said a few words about each of us. Jennifer said a lot of wonderful things about me - which was pretty humbling because I'm sure I don't deserve half of them - but again, it meant a lot.

Jenny warned me before we headed over that they might try to get us to share, but we both figured that our group was pretty quiet so we weren't going to have to worry about it. Wrong. Allen was actually the one who started us off, which was unexpected (especially since Robyn was joking that you can never get two words out of him). In the end, we all ended up sharing a little.

It was funny because Allen talked about coming to CAP with high expectations which, for those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning, was a polar opposite from how I came to CAP. I came here because I knew that this was where God wanted me to be - but not because I thought I would love it or have a great time or make amazing friends (which I did). I thought I would hate it here and that I would sit in my room and read five books a week or something. Thankfully, God had other plans and I came into a community that fit me, strengthened and encouraged me, and loved me. And I would not trade the last year for anything (except maybe world peace).

As I started reflecting on my time, I realized I was about to cry (one of many times that happened throughout the luncheon), so I cut my little speech short. It was wonderful to hear what all the other volunteers had to say about their experiences here and to just share that space with them.

At the close of the ceremony, we were presented with our safety awards for being accident free all year. CAP gives out mugs as safety awards. Ironically, we all received mugs. Everyone was actually in shock that Allen received a mug because McCreary housing has been responsible for at least a third of all the accidents in CAP this year and he has been to the ER twice. Apparently all his accidents were "unpreventable" so he still got a mug (Dana did not, but that is because he backed their work truck into a mailbox).

The whole luncheon, however, was a little surreal. It still hasn't quite sunk in that I am leaving soon. Last Friday I bought my plane ticket home, so it really is official. I fly into Seattle on August 26th. I don't know how long I will be there, but at least for a few weeks. The future is still filled with questions and confusion so, as always, prayers are greatly appreciated.

Blessings.

What I Do Now

Now that Adult Ed has closed I have started helping out with CAP's Family Advocacy program. Family Advocacy coordinates two major outreach events - Christmas Boxes and School Readiness - while also helping with emergency home improvements, getting supplies/clothes to those in need, and helping to pay bills for participants.

My housemate Jenny has worked in Family Advocacy all year and I am getting to be her little helper now - basically I am her slave. Okay, not really, but when someone asks me what I do now that is usually my answer.

I have only been working here for the last week and a half, but I am really enjoying it. The Family Advocacy caseworkers (this year, Kelly and Jenny) get teased a lot by the Housing volunteers who say that they just sit around and ask the housing guys to lift stuff for them. This, however, is not true. I have actually been really impressed with all that they do and have completely gained a new respect for them. They have a wonderful opportunity to really help the people of their counties in some amazing ways.

And we don't just sit around. I feel like we are constantly lifting, sorting, or going on home visits. Which has been fun - I am learning a lot about my county and its residents.

Another nice thing is that I am still able to teach at the jail two days a week. The new center has yet to open, so Sister Therese and I keep going and working with the women to keep them from losing anything they've learned.

Next week is our county's school readiness distribution. Jenny has received many donations of school supplies, backpacks, and new clothes to hand out to 100 children in Rockcastle County - which is amazing. So we have spent many hours getting everything sorted and organized and ready for the distribution next Tuesday. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

A few prayer requests...this week CAP made an announcement that they would have to let seventeen individuals go due to the economy. Prayer for these individuals and their families would be great. Also continued prayer for the volunteers who have, or are, transitioning out of CAP is much appreciated - it is not a good time to be looking for a job (or even a volunteer position!). And if you can, please pray that I would sleep; I am still having trouble getting a good night's rest. Thanks.

Peace.