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I am still recovering from a wonderful week in the booming metropolis of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where I spent all of last week at Americorps/Habitat's Build-a-thon, painting houses, laying brick, and trying to be cheerful during a week of flash floods and tornado threats. Overall, it was a great experience--I met some of the most interesting and unique people: Shannon, who lived and worked in Guatemala with MCC, who also shares an interest in refugees and agriculture and appreciates earrings and recycled art; Anne, who owns and operates an antique shop and Russian bakery and made for us some of the most delicious shortbread; Joel, who left the corporate world to work construction and will be heading to Haiti to build an orphanage upon the completion of his Americorps stint; Ethan, who has my same job in Ohio, and will be attending seminary next year; Justin, who has some of the fastest moving fingers on the guitar and some of my favorite stories; Nick, the Minnesotan vegan; Dan, the "rebel" who is ready to move to Cambodia; Ellen the soon-to-be graduate student who wants to do international development work; Troy, who designs houses and shared about an impacting mission trip to South Africa--so many good people wanting to do so many extraordinary things in their lives. I was challenged and encouraged and inspired by the people I met and the conversations we had. Unexpected blessings, all of them! How great it is that we have these little glimpses of God's goodness in each other.


Jen and me rocking our ponchos.


Wonderful teammates.