Our mayor gave a speech and I wish I'd actually filmed it.
Such a beautifully thought out and worded piece that spoke of his faith in God and how God's strength had sustained him in the hours and days and weeks that followed the storm. So thankful that a man of God is leading our city.
Our church choir joined with the singers from College Hill Baptist and together, we rocked.the.house. The Spirit was so thick in that place, I felt like I could've reached out and touched it.
Sho nuff.
On Friday afternoon, exactly one year after the day, I put my kids in the van and we took a little drive.
We went to the parking lot of our church, where demolition was just completed a week ago-
Not much happening across the street to the left,
or directly across the street,
or across the street to the right.
I have no idea if there are any plans to rebuild what was once there-
probably not.
Only God knows...
After leaving church, we drove by the lot where Alberta Elementary once sat. The ABC 33/40 news crew was broadcasting live at that very moment-
After turning towards home, we passed a gathering of folks outside of Wright's Restaurant. Along with Family Dollar, it's the only business that actually came back in this shopping center after the storm. There were police officers and neighborhood friends and employees of Wright's that thanked others in the community for the work they'd done in Alberta City.
We crossed the train tracks and got back on 15th Street where I snapped this picture of CVS on the corner. It's one of the businesses that hasn't been touched in a year- the poor thing looks very sad, yes?
but we were hungry, so we headed straight for McD's since I'd heard they'd re-opened just the day before.
Wa-to-tha-hoo, friends.
Wa-to-tha-HOO.
Kind of a cool day for a re-opening, if ya ask me.
It was also kind of an awesome day for the rare treat of a Happy Meal.
On Saturday, we went to a birthday party in Capitol Park. "Lemonade Stand" was the theme, and lemme tell ya- this was one cool party. Not only was there an endless flow of lemonade, but the kids also got to play croquet with a lemon-
they carried lemons on wooden spoons and did a relay-
and rocked out to some cool 'lemonade' tunes while sippin' on some of the yummy stuff.
Did you know there were songs about lemonade?
Cause I didn't.
Hubs even drove straight from work so he could get his party on.
Here's kung-fu Oliver and the birthday girl, Chloe Lois-
After the party, we headed home for more outside playtime
I love that MM stood on this scooter, just waiting for it to move. Don't think she quite has the 'scooter' concept down yet...
"Maybe if I poke my belly out, it'll move..."
Happy Monday, friends
