Winter break!

Hi everyone!!

I'm back in Denver now, and patiently waiting for 3:30 am to roll around so I can hop on the shuttle to the airport and go home for Christmas!! I am SO ready to see friends & family!!

The last few days of work in Joplin were definitely bittersweet. We finished up a lot of projects, which I think made my team feel pretty good about being there. We completely finished clearing out all of Twilla's house...which was a HUGE accomplishment. The pictures on my previous post were of her house. On the very last day we got to work out at Scott's house and help him finish his chain link fence. He really wanted to complete that so that we could get his dogs back in his yard. It made me a little sad though because Scott was worried about his dogs not remember his yard! We assured him though that they would be fine. We also helped him organize some things in the different sheds he has. He is the only homeowner on his block that has begun rebuilding..all the other lots that surround him are empty. In fact, while we were there a newscaster came out (he had been following us for the past couple of weeks). In an interview, Scott pleaded that people do not forget the community of Joplin because it had been an incredible, progressive 6 months, but it was going to take more like 6 years or more to truly be finished.

 Across the street from his property is the Joplin High School, "Hope High School".  After the storm, only the "OP" from the word "JOPLIN" was left on the sign in front, and someone added and "H" and an "E" to make it say HOPE, and the community has kept it ever since. The school was completely demolished and it is painful to look at. Only recently have they begun moving heavy machinery in for clean up.

Round 1 proved to be quite an experience for me. It was extremely powerful and rewarding. Some moments were devastating and almost too much to handle, but others were undescribably amazing. The unyielding spirit of that community is something I will never forget. The people there are so thankful and so positive that I truly believe they will get Joplin rebuilt. There are so many good things happening there, and I wish them the absolute best.

Love,
Abby