And So It Begins…

I am one day away from officially being on summer break.  It is always bittersweet.  It’s hard to let go, but at the same time I am so proud of my students and all of the progress they made throughout the year.  I teased them throughout the week about how I was never going to let them go and that someday they would be the biggest first graders ever.   Most of them really didn’t seem to mind that I was going to keep them in first grade. :)  But, I know that they are ready.  I’m excited for them.  I’m proud of them.  I will miss them!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy.  Kirsten graduated from high school…unbelievable!  This is the same little girl that once wiped me from head to toe with baby wipes on a car ride up to Morningside College for a football game.  It is the same little girl who use to watch Disney Channel with me when Trent and I were first dating.  Now, she is all. grown. up.

Jamie and I also ran the Lincoln Half Marathon again this year.  I was a little skeptical after last year and didn’t really know how it would go.  However, it ended up quite perfect.  Weather was great, playlist was great, company was great and I was able to beat my personal best by a couple of minutes. 1:54.25 was the final time.  And, the best part of all…it did not result in a trip to the ER.  Trent was very thankful for that!

As you may have noticed, these are in no particular order, but we also celebrated Mother’s Day.  We made a little trip to Saturday night church follow by a stop at Lake Wanahoo and Dos Margaritas for dinner in Wahoo.

Love them both…

Finally, I have to show off my flowers I planted.  I love spring and flowers even if I don’t have the best setup for a flower garden!

Until next time…

{The Launes}

14 Days…

In exactly 14 days, Trent and I will be on a plane to Sierra Leone.  I can honestly say it doesn’t seem real yet.  I don’t think it will really hit me until I stop off the plane in Africa.  I am strangely at peace.  I am thankful for this and excited for everything that is to come.  We have been busy preparing little things over the last couple of weeks. 

First up, we mailed our passport and visa application.  I came back in the mail stamped by the Republic of Sierra Leone.

We have also been working on raising money for our service project when we are there.  We are going to be building bunk beds for the children in the orphanage.  Currently, many of the children are sleeping on the floor.  As crazy as it seems, the cost to make each bed is $250.  Since there are three of us going from my school, we organized a little breakfast and lunch treat day.  Our principal said it would be okay to accept free will donations and AGES staff is amazing!  We were able to raise over $400 toward the purchasing of materials for the bunk beds.  Joint efforts between everyone going raised over $7,500.  With the money we will also be able to purchase mosquito nets and some other supplies that they are in need of.

We also had our final conference call to go over last minute details.  I have my packing list and am excited to start getting things together and  buy some of the things we will need.  I am also looking forward to perfecting the art of packing everything I will need into a carry-on suitcase and backpack.

Tonight I watched a documentary on channel 7 about the doctors and nurses from Omaha that went to Sudan earlier this year.  It made my heart ache, but at the same time it also reassured me that we are making the right decision to travel to Africa. These people need us and while I’,m hoping to help them, I think they are going to have a bigger impact on me. 

{The Launes}