Thank You

I wanted to stop in and say a great, big THANK YOU to everyone who sent me messages or commented on my post about the tornado that hit Joplin.  Thankfully, all of my family is accounted for-- and while many lost everything-- they are all safe and well.  The whole event through me for a loop, I must say.  I just cannot imagine what the community is going through.  My parents sent me pictures-- and it looks like a war zone.  Utter destruction.  I had been in a downer mood lately because of the weather here, and it really put me in my place.  No blizzard will ever knock my home to the ground, so I have a lot to be grateful for.

On Saturday, after some very generous donations were collected from friends/coworkers/friends of coworkers, J, Finley and I drove to Frisco to drop off 25 boxes to be delivered to Joplin.  I was able to piggyback on to another former Joplinite's efforts here in Colorado, so the boxes went by semi instead of mail and are expected to arrive tomorrow.  The savings allowed us to contribute financially to the relief, as well, which was something I didn't think we'd be able to do right now.  I spent both Thursday and Friday nights boxing up the donated goods and became a bit emotional thinking about how generous everyone had been.  Times are tight for everyone right now, and people were still willing to give.  People opened up their hearts to me, and it showed me that there really are good people in the world.  It warmed my heart. 

For those of you that aren't familiar with the devastation, here are a few good links.  A couple of them show Grand Ave-- the street I grew up on-- just 4 blocks from where our house stood.