washed out.

this weekend i did some serious, deep cleaning.

sweeping-the-garage kind of cleaning.

i don't know why, but for some reason i want this place to be

as organized & clean in the last few weeks we're here.

i want to soak it up and remember it at its best.

...but pictures have started to come off walls and books have been placed into piles, so i guess the way it once was is already gone.

i even transferred some of the cleaning frenzy to my computer and was able to clear off the desktop enough so that i could finally see the face of this cutie patootie.

{my little sister captured on a road trip years ago.}

i created new folders, deleted old files & documents, and sent off pictures i'd been meaning to for months. why is it that now i finally get the motivation to do those little things i've been avoiding for so long? {i think it's a way to make everything on the exterior appear as calm & clean as possible...while the interior slowly becomes a bit more messy every day.}

anyway, i thought this was all pretty good.

...but then today i went with some of my teenagers to help clean out a salvation army shelter that had been completely destroyed in the flood last weekend. i forgot that water like that--waist deep river water--leaves behind a sickening smell. bloated, rolled up diapers and bibles cluttered the floor of some of the dorms; the material possessions of people who already have so little were pitched into dumpsters. nature truly does not discriminate. as i was tossing solo baby sandals and unfinished homework sheets into trash bags, all i could think of was new orleans...and the way that it will take months for this one building in clarksville to be gutted & renovated. i can't imagine the chaos on such a larger scale. we're so tiny in the midst of it all.

{clarksville, along the river.}

talk about a different kind of spring cleaning.