Lo & Behold

I am a little late posting this, but I said I would, so here it is.

Iowa surprised me. I expected friendly people - after all, everyone I know who hails Iowa as home, I know to be extremely friendly. I didn't expect it to be pretty. Unaware of the difficult workload I would discover on this trip, I found myself to be very grateful very quickly of the beauty that surrounded me.

I seem to have uncovered quite a problem on this particular visit. I experienced great feelings of dread at having to be the one to inform my boss of said problem, and at having to, by default, be the one on the front lines of said problem for the two days I was there. On top of that, I found myself up to my eyeballs in self-doubt, thanks to the slightly self-absorbed person I was spending my days with. It is really difficult to be upbeat and positive and effective when you are constantly belittled and put down. I am a strong person, but anyone would break down under that kind of weight after a given amount of time.
It may be the nature of my job; it may be something else. I don't know. Perhaps I needed to have a really emotionally rough trip right off the bat so I don't have to deal with it later in the summer.
So when I finally got three minutes to myself, I sneaked out of the side of this particular property and made a lifeline phone call. I sat on the side porch trying not to cry too loudly on the phone, and as I was telling my friend all that I was dealing with, the Lord sent a precious gift my way.
A bunny came hoping by, in the yard, about 10 feet away from me.

Very few of you will know what a bunny crossing my path would mean to me. I laughed at the Lord's humor, and His timing, as well as the fact that there was a forest creature (adorable as this little guy was) literally just chillin' out just feet away from me.
That teeny tiny little gift sustained me through the rest of my day until I could fall into the relief of another lifeline phone call later that night.

I didn't get to have any of the coveted Iowa corn, but I did enjoy a special meal on the street of Iowa City's Mall - a really cool outdoor shopping area just across the street from the old capital building. Not that I needed the help, but the organic raspberry lemon margarita was a highlight.


I'm off to Memphis, TN next to visit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Is it appropriate to say that I am excited about that trip? Or do you just say that you're looking forward to the experience??