Listening to Life

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 and Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I have been busy, busy, busy these past few days.

On Tuesday I worked basically all day in the Senior Center. Cookson hosted a volunteer lunch for all the people who have helped Cookson. So, I decorated the room where the volunteers had lunch:

Here is one of the goodie-bags I put together:


For the past few Fridays I have had the opportunity to go out into the community and work with the mission teams on houses. Colleen is the head of all the mission teams and I’ve gotten to know her quite well these past couple of weeks. She is a woman of many talents:

Carrying Many Plates:

Balancing:

Cooking:

Taking Important Phone Calls:

…

Haha. She is awesome to say the least and she, like the rest of the staff, has an amazing story! I can’t wait to get to know her more these next couple of weeks.

After lunch I helped clean up the dining area, clean the kitchen, and wash the dishes. Honestly, I didn’t realize how large of a production it is to put on just lunch! The staff that works in the senior center does this Monday through Thursday every week.

There was a Board meeting today at Cookson. I would compare it to a Charge Conference kind of meeting that we have a Bethany UMC. Although I didn’t stay the whole time, this meeting was like every other meeting in the world ---somewhat boring, somewhat interesting.

I was asked to transfer a list of 1,952 addresses from one program to another. I freaked when they said I was going to have to re-type all of them. However, I solved the problem. Two words: Copy. Paste. It took me all of 10 seconds to transfer everything.

While the office staff was in the meeting, I was answering phones, working on their newsletter, and updating the Cookson Hills Center Website. While I’ve never edited websites before, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve done so far. I still have a really long way to go though since all I’ve changed is the template. It will be a work in progress this entire summer.

I’m hoping to work with one of the Board members about getting new computers for the Cookson computer lab, which is used by local youth and is also used by the community members so they can do taxes on Turbo Tax. The computer lab is in need of new and up-to-date computers. Cookson is in DESPERATE need of children’s educational software. Most of the software was written for Windows 95 and it so outdated that it won’t even load on the computer! I know I’m only going to be able to do so much while I’m here, but I’m hoping to get something going with that.

I just finished reading a wonderful book my Dad gave me to read this summer: Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer. While I’ve been struggling with my “call” in life, reading this book has helped me figure out some stuff.

Well, I have seen a snake. Although I’ve seen two smaller snakes around Cookson before, this one was a lot bigger. I was walking over a cattle guard and there it was. I am 100% sure I have a serious phobia of snakes. I know that God does not make crap and that he loves snakes, but snakes are just not cool in my eyes. On the bright side, most of the staff here does not like them either. So, our secretary’s husband came out a few times with his gun, but he didn’t find any. They are going to put some random/deadly things under the cattle guard to get rid of the creatures that stay under it. After I described the snake to Meri, she decided it was a cotton mouth (POISONOUS!!) and that there were probably more around. She also told me if I got bit, then I would need to drive immediately to the hospital. So, in the mean time, I am driving and will be driving the van back and forth from my trailer to the office. Intense stuff!!!

Anna and I went to the lake today. It has rained so much that the water level at the lake is extremely high!!

This is the same guard rail I took a picture of previously…a bird was perched on in it in the other picture:

The water is flowing out of the lake, onto the road, and into the grass on the other side.

Fun Fact: Cookson, Oklahoma his home to Pretty Boy Floyd, an American outlaw/gangster.

Meredith