catching you up on things...

Updates from the storm: I read that they have determined 7 tornadoes touched down last week between the two storms that caused all the damage and our seemingly endless power outage. It took nine days, but they say that as of today all homes and businesses in the St. Louis area finally have their power back. And then there was light. And it is good.

I have added yet another home-improvement skill to my list and became a fence painting pro this week as we worked to meet city codes by restoring a rusty chain link fence to its proper glory. Several days of pulling weeds, sanding peeling paint, priming to prevent more rust, and painting a beautiful shiny black topcoat and we are almost done. Some days I went home with as much paint on me as on the fence. It was all worth it.

My posts will be black & white for a while since my camera was stolen last week. Don't worry, though, we figured out who took it (a visitor from out of town) and confronted the individual and it is being returned through the mail asap. When I get it back I promise I will take lots of pictures of random things to make up for all this text.

Today was the final day of summer day camp here at World Impact. My arts & crafts elective ended with a bang as we celebrated Christmas in July and made everything from snowflakes to manger scenes to graham cracker "gingerbread houses". Next week some of the staff will join the kids at MorningStar Ranch in Kansas for Bridge of Hope Church's family camp week. One little girl told me she has never been swimming before. I cannot wait to hear what she thinks of the awesome pool at the Ranch!

My desire to have a puppy is growing stronger every day. Soon I will begin researching what type of dog I would like to have best. Any suggestions? If possible I want to rescue one from the humane society so I might not have much of a choice... but at least I can dream.

That's my update. What have you been doing lately?