Well, we have had a busy past couple of days (no big surprise there!).  The Mississippi River is flooding.  They estimate that this year's flood will be worse than 1993.  I remember when my parents and I drove over the river on my way down to college in TX that year.  We went through St. Louis and the flooding there was amazing!

Last month there was flooding in our part of town known as "The Bottoms".  It is going to be much worse this month.  The flooding, as of two nights ago, was already above what is had been and cresting is not expected until this next Thursday.  We drove down yesterday to the river and it had already risen approximately 3-4 feet in the past 24 hours.  I will get my hubby to help me post the pictures soon.

The rich, fertile land that the farmers have already planted their crops in is underwater.  They will lose it all this year.  Homes will be destroyed.  Our water supply to our small town is threatened.  Please pray for everyone being affected by this flood.

On a side note, because of the flooding, Susan's trip has taken a detour.  We were supposed to drive up to Cedar Rapids, IA, where her flight was to depart.  When we were getting ready to leave home we got a call from Libby, her delegate leader, saying that it was not possible to fly out of Cedar Rapids anymore.  The exit to the airport was going to be closed later that day (Thursday).  Susan's flight was re-routed to depart from St. Louis on Saturday.

We left out yesterday morning for the airport, an excited young lady riding shotgun with her dad in the van.  Her check-in went smoothly and we were able to see her off as far as the security check point.  It is sad that we couldn't watch the plane depart, thanks to Muslim terrorists (but that is another blog post I'll tackle at a later date)! 

Susan told me before we said goodbye that she was starting to get butterflies in her tummy and wished that she could just go!  She was all smiles and ready to take on her new adventure with her usual "Can Do" attitude.  I'm excited to see how this trip will impact her life.  I'm sure years from now we will have that perspective.  She has already talked about how neat it would be to study abroad in college.  She is very excited about going to England.

I'm waiting to hear that she has landed safely in Amsterdam through the parent phone tree.  That is why I'm up at 4 am.  We are expecting to hear from her personally in a couple of days when she reaches Belgium, as her international calling card doesn't work in Holland. 

I hope that when she lands she will remember to brush her teeth!  I'm a mom, what can I say?

Now that Susan is gone, time to get back to reality and help other members in our community with the sandbags.  Paul will not be conducting services in Keokuk today because the bridge will close sometime in the morning and he would have no way of getting back to the IL side of the river.

Happy Father's Day!