We'll see you later, Reedley!

Thanks Wendell and Aleta for the awesome car!

our team and the Boldt bros

gathering lemons at Georgia Linscheid's place

Megan and her class

Calla and her cuties

It's not been two days since we have all departed from our new found Reedley home/family and returned to our respective homes. Without doubt, we have all felt the longing to be back with this community that we feel so connected to and so much love for. Soon I'm sure there will be updated photo albums on facebook pages and reports given to friends, family and churches.

The final week was spent constantly on the go. Tuesday was another semi-chaotic day at Summer Learning Experience but immediately following we got to relax and quite literally "chill out" during a float down the Kings River with the help of the Boldt brothers. Definitely a MUST DO experience for anyone going to the Reedley area. Nevermind the numb feeling experienced by any part of the body that sits in the freezing cold water, it's just great. We then got our taste of delicious Mexican food at a little Mexican burrito shop in Dinuba. Best burrito ever, hands down!

On Wednesday, we experienced a minor miracle. By no means do we intend to imply that we didn't want some kids who have behavior issues at Summer Learning Experience, we love them and want to be there for them, but we were exhausted emotionally and physically. On Wednesday it just happened that most of the difficult kids were absent. God gives us only what we can handle and on Wednesday that just happened to be what we could handle. It gave us the break that we needed for energy through the rest of the week! In the evening, we were invited to a DELICOUS and amazingly peaceful dinner at Wendell and Aleta Rempel's house. The Rempel's are the gracious couple that lent their car to us for the 3 weeks and we are so happy to have that time to get to know them better. Such nice people! Afterwards we went to a swimming party with the youth group. Swimming was a huge theme of the last week in Reedley especially. But the day wasn't over after the swimming party. It was, well, a late night. It seemed necessary in the last week to spend plenty of time with our California friends so some came over after swimming for a movie at our house. A good end to the long day.

On Thursday, we had another very good day with the kids and followed it up with a delicious supper at Steve and Glena Penner's house. Since this was my last night in Reedley and second to last for the other girls we had to spend the evening cleaning and preparing to leave so we could enjoy the final day.

Finally, on Friday, it was time to sadly say our goodbyes! The morning was packed full of stops to get fruit and say our farewells. We had a crazy day with the kids. This Friday was a planned water games day, unlike the Friday before, which was more spontaeous. The kids came knowing that they would get wet and water seemed to be all they had on their minds. A little out-of-control it was, but everyone seemed to have fun on our last day with these great children we had come to know so well. It was so sad to say goodbye, but our time had come to and end and we all felt pretty confident that it wasn't a goodbye but a "See you later!"

And that's that! That is the close to three beautiful and powerful weeks in Reedley, California.

We miss you, Reedley, and will see you later!

-written by Jill on behalf of the Reedley Youth Venture team