This past weekend, Ellie and i were in the Waverly Heritage Days parade. It was the first parade she’s ever been in and was thrilled at the idea that she got to throw stuff at people. And this is what she’ll tell you about the parade too…”I throw stuff at people” – obviously the highlight of her day was the fact that she got to break the rules for an hour or so of her saturday.

I’m not so sure the kids sitting on the float with us were as thrilled as she was…considering this was her first parade, when I told her to pick up a toy to throw to the people, she promptly picked one up and threw it at the little girl sitting next to her. Sorry, Emily…once we got her straighted out, she did okay – except for that one gummy pizza sitting in the middle of Bremer Avenue…oops…I’m sure that left a nice, sticky mess on the tire of the first person to run it over. I’m hoping the celophane wrapper did its job and held it all in!

The theme of our float was “Your peeps are at your library”, and we were to dress in hip hop fashion. Ellie must be more hip hop than her mama, because it was easier to dress her for this than dressing myself.

You be the judge…I think she looked pretty good…(thanks for the photo stacey!)

No, its not a typo.
This year, Waverly was once again a stop on IPTV’s Reading Road trip.
Ellie, Evan and I went along with my mom who was here helping that week.

Here are the three of us with Dan Wardell of IPTV kids club fame.

I went to Wartburg with Dan…so have known him for 10 or so years…and am still amazed at his constant energy and his ability to mezmerize a crowd of kids (and adults too!)

This is the scene in Waverly these days…as the clean-up from the flooding begins…

drywall, kids toys, wood furniture, couches, and whatever else you can name line the streets waiting to be picked up and hauled away.

We are so fortunate, and it seems we keep learning lessons in humility as we watch others clean up and try to do our best to help. Some people say the offer of help is enough. We wish there were more we could do.

This is a picture of Kohlman park. Its right on the river. We were amazed at all the sand and silt that got moved around. Water is a powerful force, thats for sure…it looks more like the beach these days than a park.

And this is a picture of the school affiliated with our church…I know several teachers who teach here. One said “there was so much more we could have saved.” I suppose this is always the feeling you’ll have. You know what they say about hindsight.

The businesses of town were hard hit too. We’re hoping most re-open. We’ve heard of some that will have new locations…and some that just aren’t coming back. This is Dell’s Diner. Their food is amazing. Granted, we haven’t been there in roughly a year and a half…but you can only have so much of a good thing.

Its hard for me to see all of the destruction in this town. I wasn’t here for the floods of 99, and while Waverly isn’t my hometown…I’ve been in or near it for 12 years and feel connected to it and the community here. And what an amazing community it is. My heart hurts for the town…but deep down, I know Waverly will come back from this…its just hard to see right now.