I run in Leo

So I have now conquered my second week in Leo. This week was great. Started out with fixing my brakes (my grandma was very happy to hear that one was accomplished:) ) thanks to one of my friends out here. I also have established a running area: not as good as along the lake in Chicago but it is a good start!

I have been enjoying my time out here. This week I experienced my first time in court, (I even got to speak: "no, your honor" when the judge asked me if I had anything to say). I had the opportunity to become familiar with the juvenile detention center. I saw kids in jump suits. yellow/orange jump suits. It was rather sobering. I believe this summer in general will be sobering.

One of the residents and I spent some time together this week told me about her life. When I compared it to the reports in her file I identified that it was all a fanciful lie. The saddest part is this individual has only remembered the good parts of relationships and can not see the hurt these people have caused in this individual's life. It is a reminder of the truth that if we lie to ourselves we may start to believe it and naturally lie to others. Pray for these kids.

In the evenings I have been enjoying time with Schumachers, Amy and Johnny, and the young group here! This week was the first week of volunteers which is always fun. Today I had the chance to catch up with family and a few friends but am looking forward to a rather quiet weekend and memorial day.

Ok no more rambling for now...

I live in Leo :)

My first week out here after so many lasts up in Chicago it has been great to start the summer hear in Leo. I will try to post much more about how the summer is going and the encouragement working in a christian environment!! So far so good.

Today was great. I got my first run in Leo under my belt (I ran a local 5K). Olivia and I also made a wonderful German Chocolate Cake. Oh there was some yelling in the kitchen (mostly Olivia reassuring me that a double boiler would melt the chocolate just fine and I let her fight the battle of frosting and assembling the 3 layers.)

Today I realized how thankful I am to usually be an optimist but also recognizing the affect of assumptions. A friend randomly stopped in on their way through Leo. I was excited to catch up and felt loved that they wanted to stop by during their busy day... well later that day I was mentioning that I was excited my friend stopped by to "see me" to which someone joked " well maybe your friend just felt obligated to stop by because if they would not have, they might hurt your feelings."

As I thought about the 2 ways of looking at the situation I was faced with the honest truth that many people assume the worst. Many of my clients and society have seen the worst in people and believe that in every case. I pray in these 3 months God will give me the energy to model His Spirit and shine in lives that are surrounded by hut and defeat. I'm excited to learn and grow in these next months ahead.

well off to bed I go!! More to come later.