A God Thing

As many of you have seen on the blog, or in talking with me or Nicki, we have been fortunate enough to have some amazing experiences thus far in our time in Fayetteville.  Through the first two months of being here God has reiterated his plan for us and helped us feel comforted that this move was indeed the right move for us.

This past weekend we had the opportunity to serve at the P&G sponsored Duracell Power Relief Truck and the Tide Loads of Hope truck in Joplin, MO.  A category 5 tornado ripped through Joplin last Sunday, and has been reported to be the worst tornado since the science of reporting tornados started in 1950.  Given that Joplin is only about 2 hours away from Fayetteville, we felt it was the very least we could do to go up and help run the operations P&G was sponsoring.

To say the town is devastated would be a dramatic understatement.  I/we have no experience with being in the aftermath of a disaster, but I can tell you I don't hope to ever see anything like it again.  The pictures you will see below are from basically the center of town - where there used to be a bustling hub of stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, etc. and a number of subdivisions.  The best example I could come up with would be like taking Fields Ertel and wiping out every commercial and residential building for a 12 mile stretch.

The feelings and emotions seeing something like this brings about are almost too much for words.  I am, thankfully, a novice in dealing and communicating such emotions but I felt it was worth explaining the scene we witnessed in Joplin on Sunday.

It would be easy to focus on the devastation.  As you can see below, it would be hard pressed to blame these people if they felt as if there is no hope and no explanation for what has happened to them.  But that is not the town we served - the town we served was full of hope, ready for the work ahead of them, and most importantly, when it seemed the best and easiest thing to do would be to turn away from God - they are taking a firm outward spoken stance and turning directly in to God and all he has in store for them.  Quite simply there was a palpable presence of God's love everywhere we went in Joplin.

We heard countless stories of people thanking God for this experience and what it has taught them.  There were numerous stories of survivors turning their lives to Christ through their interactions with faith based volunteers.  It was clear not one person was concerned about themselves - everyone was concerned about the well being of others.  The entire situation was one of selflessness.

I've often heard the human spirit is much stronger than one can know in times of extreme disaster or need - and what we saw in Joplin more than proved that statement.  There are years and years of hard work and perseverance ahead of the citizens of Joplin - but I left with no doubt that they are not alone in their fight and it is a fight they will win.

On the way up to Joplin I told Nicki I was not confident that I would have an appropriate response if someone who lost everything they owned asked me why a good and loving God would do something like this.  After the experience we had I left with a confident answer:  it is times like these when God's love is at its strongest, His word is spread the easiest, and people are drawn to Him in the fullest.  While there are literally storms in this life, it is the calm after the storm where God can be felt and the story is completed.

This flag, along with a cross of an altar of a Catholic church which remained standing amidst the rubble  have become symbols of the resolve of the citizens of Joplin

From what we were told - everything you see here used to be a neighborhood.

This is a gas station right at the beginning of the storm's path

Amazing to see the interior rooms of almost every house remained standing after the storm.

Another area where a neighborhood used to exist

Work and MORE Work...

I have been wanting to blog for days now and tonight finally have a minute to give a brief update!  Life in Fayetteville (or really life in general) has been very busy for Nick and me.  I was in Dallas for six days for a new product launch meeting.  It is a very exciting time for Lilly and the millions of patients with diabetes but makes for an unusually hectic time of year.  Nick has been working around the clock drawing mods (whatever those are or however you spell that.  Just picture a computer game (he would say it isn't a game at all) that rearranges the placement of deodorant on the shelves at Walmart.  All I know is that it takes forever to draw just one of the many shelves...Secret in the middle, Dove to the right and don't forget Suave etc etc).  The final product is quite impressive but exhausting for him nonetheless.  However, admist all of our busyness, we are enjoying the many opportunites that thankfully come our way!  With that said, we are very excited to have a three day weekend ahead of us for some rest and relaxation. 

Here are some pictures from our adventure to Devil's Den that we took a few weekends ago.  It is a beautiful state park nestled in the Ozark Mountains.  We have really enjoyed hiking out here in NW Arkansas.  We always talked about going on hikes in Cincinnati but other things seemed to take precedence.  Maybe it was the lack of mountains and scenery...these pictures might be difficult to duplicate back in the Nati. 



Every hike should start with coffee...





I dont' know who he was texting...





Pretending to know where we were going...



       

And some redecorating of the house...one of my favorite things to do! (and Nick's worst nightmare...)

Did you say a bug boil?

You know, as they say in the south "y'aint livin' in the south if y'aint been to a bug boil".

Okay, so maybe they don't say that - but can't you kind of picture that being said?

At the risk of making Arkansas sound like...well...Arkansas - I thought some time should be dedicated to describing our first crawfish boil...or as we were told later "bug boil".

What an awesome event.  We were lucky to even be invited - but what a classic southern affair.  First and foremost we were able to walk there (and to the other event we attended that night) which was a definite realization that we love where we live, and its proximity to the downtown area.  We waited anxiously for the 'pot to be dumped' and see what this was all about.  We snapped a few pictures of the cooking and preparations going on, and made like low level television reporters by 'interviewing' the hosts to find out what made their bug boil the best in town.  Apparently, they order "high grade crawfish and clean them before they boil them".  But let's be honest, he could have said "we wrap them in tea leaves and perform a traditional eastern seaboard dance around them" and I would have accepted it.

Then the magic happened - the preparations were made and the pot was dumped right on the table.  Out came about a thousand creepy crawlers and a schmogousborg (like you know how to spell that word) of potatoes, spices, sausage, artichoke, corn on the cob, and plenty else.  After a few early 'mishaps' we quickly figured out the process - although we stopped short of "getting the good meat" by biting the head off.

All in all it was a truly southern event - and we survived by saying things like "Yeah, Mallett totally should have gone first round" and "this'd make a great tailgate meal".

We actually started our weekend out by driving to Kansas City to see Katie, Jeff, and Emily Enger - and celebrate Katie's birthday.  I mention this because I could go on and on about how great our night was - and how lucky we are to have such good friends - but I thought the blog needed the pictures of Jeff playing "Dog Whisperer" to all 5 dogs that were at the house that night.

However, I couldn't resist putting a picture of Emily on the blog - she is a beautiful baby and...seemingly just my type of child...low maintenance (at least for visitors).

Sunday we completed our first 'hike' around Lake Fayetteville.  It is a 5.5 mile route that started out in the woods and ended mostly on pavement around the lake.  To put it in horseracing terms you could say Nicki "came out of the gate a bit early" as she sprinted us through the first 2 miles.  However, once we hit the quarter pole her pace slowed a bit and the willingness to take pictures dwindled.

All of that said it was certainly a bittersweet ending to the weekend.  This marks my first Mother's Day away from home and while we were able to Skype with my family during the celebration it just wasn't the same.  Among the many things I'm learning by leaving home, one of them is that it is easy to take the 'standard' events with your family for granted, until you aren't able to attend.  All the time we spent living 8 minutes from my parents house and it took living 11 hours away to realize how good we had it.

A First For Everything

Our FIRST visitors!!!!!  Last weekend my parents made the trip to Fayetteville for thier first visit and introduction to Arkansas.  We were so excited to see them and show them around.  Until this point, we could only describe what NW Arkansas had to offer and despite our best efforts through Skype, my parents (or should I say my Mom) was very anxious to see our new home.  With camera in hand, I met them at the airport late Friday afternoon. 

The weekend was full of great food, cocktails, shopping, rain and even a house project.  My Dad's favorite part of the weekend was most likely the wine bar, where he enjoyed his 1 oz pours from the automatic wine dispensor.  We had a fantastic dinner on Bordino's patio and were so grateful we had nice weather and sun one of three days!  After walking through the farmer's market with umbrellas on Saturday, my Mom and I went shopping at the local boutiques while Nick and my Dad worked tirelessly on a house project.  You're probably thinking, aren't you renting?!?  Yes, despite the fact that we are indeed renting, my Dad couldn't resist installing an automatic switch for the outdoor lights.  I told him, Nick is my automatic light switch but he insisted.  On Sunday, we attended St. Paul's Episcopal Church which felt just like Akron, choir and all.  My parents left on Monday morning, begrudgingly without Jack, but with plans to return in July for less rain and more sunshine!  We miss them already. 

Wine Bar!

Dinner at Pesto

Nick's replacement - the automatic light switch

On Tuesday, Nick and I got to enjoy our first Razorback Baseball game from a suite!  It was quite a different experience this time around compared to the hog pen with the frat boys.  We actually sat with the Dad's of three of the starters which not only led to some great conversation but also got us on tv!



View from the suite



Thursday night we had our first visit to the Walton Arts Center.  It was awesome.  P&G sponsored the evening with a pre and post cocktail party and dinner.  It was our first time seeing Les Miserables and while Nick may have enjoyed his intermission drink more than the first act, we really enjoyed the evening. 

It's been a hectic week for both of us, both personally and professionally but we are loving every minute as we continue to exerience our life in Fayetteville.  Tomorrow brings our first crawfish broil or is it boil?  Who knows, but I'm sure I will find out.  I'm also not so sure I will be partaking...