I forgot to mention something Christi and I did through work a week ago - that week was so busy with people in from the offices around the country and the two of us getting to sit in on most of that training along with attending their social hour - remember the "onion ring" calamari? Anyway - before the social hour a week ago Wednesday night - we were able to participate in Principal's volunteer time to package Meals for the Heartland. This is something I've really wanted to do since Mike died but they usually do it for one weekend at Wells Fargo Arena and I did not want to walk in there by myself where there were thousands of volunteers packaging meals - just wasn't my deal. But when I saw that Principal was allowing employees to take an hour of their volunteer time to package meals in our building I checked with my manager and received approval to participate. As an employee of Principal you have eight hours of volunteer time each year to use for their company sponsored projects.
Well Christi and I were the only ones from our department to do this - which we have already told our teams that we need at least 10 volunteers next year to make up a table to package meals. I held the bags under the big funnel that others poured their food/vitamin item into, then I handed the bag off to someone else to weigh the bag. I can't remember how much the bag had to weigh - it had to be an exact weight with either taking away rice or adding rice to make weight. Then the bag of food had to have the air smooshed out of it so the bag could be heat sealed and then 36 bags to a box. During our shift - this had been going on all day at Principal - we had the chance to break the 100,000 meal mark. I don't know if we did or not. I'm amazed at how many bags our table did in an hour, then multiply that by how many tables we had going at Principal, then multiply that by how many shifts - that seemed like a lot. Then imagine all of Wells Fargo Arena full of tables of volunteers packaging meals for two full days - wow.
Yesterday we had our WELLebration at the Well at church. The remodeling of the building had been put on hold for quite a while by the City of Des Moines but right before Pastor Josh headed to South Africa the beginning of February we were given the ok to continue the remodeling. We have new heating, air, plumbing, electrical and more in the building. We paid cash for the building and all we have done we have paid as we went - no debt incurred. But....now the Well fund was empty. So yesterday was our last big drive for our church family to give sacrificially to help finish remodeling the Well so it could house our church offices and be a tool for the community to tie in with the school where we meet for church. We would help with after school tutoring, have a clothing bank, English as a second language classes and more - along with LWF being able to utilize the building too.
Yesterday was cold and it rained some but that didn't damped spirits - people turned out and money/checks were given. We raised over $22,000 yesterday! Check out the pix at the end of the blog. I am on the church planning committee that organized WELLebration and was on the food committee. We met Friday night at a couple's house to make over 100 hamburger patties. I started out mushing hamburger into balls to put on the food scale to make sure they were 4 ounces and then others made the patties. That was a lot of hamburger!
We also got to make our mark on the Well by signing our name or writing a verse. I had so many verses I could write but finally decided on Psalm 91:2, "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
I had gotten a call Wednesday that my new car was in at Toyota but they needed to install the remote start. I called my sales person while at WELLebration wondering if the car was ready and it was - I could pick it up at 4:00 pm! I was excited but had mixed emotions. This was my first car to get without Mike. The blue car I was turning in was the last item of something I owned that had Mike's name on it too - the house is now in my name from refinancing and the timeshares are in my name since I converted from weeks to points. It still bugs me a little that his name isn't on anything now. I had mixed emotions driving to Toyota not knowing how it would go picking up the car by myself - Mike had been there for all our cars. The paperwork went really quick and the guy that showed me the bells and whistles of the car was really nice. And he realized we shared the same birthdate. I think he got a kick out of me when he got my droid cell phone to communicate with the car's bluetooth technology so I can make hand's free calls with the car now. He wanted to know if I used my droid for downloading music - I just looked at him and said I'd work on that for the next car. I won't post a picture of the car until Dad gets to see it in person.
I can't believe this coming Friday will be two years since Mike died - it doesn't seem possible. This second year has flown by. I miss him so much but I don't mourn him. My sis-in-law, stepniece and I are going to do something pretty nifty Friday night. We all three bought tickets to see Jack Hanna at Vet's Auditorium. He's here as a fund raiser for Blank Park Zoo. We bought the deal to meet him before the meal, get a picture with him and see his animals, then have a meal, then he'll talk and show everyone the animals he brought. The three of us are really looking forward to this. Mike and I loved to watch Jack on the late night talk shows and see what the animals would end up doing - especially to Johnny Carson :)
