Jesse A. Schroeder

Two weeks ago, my grandfather - Morton A. Schroeder - passed away. He was a great man in many ways.  A scholar, an author, a father, a grandfather and great grandfather. I went with my family to Wisconsin for the funeral, and it was a powerful experience. Although my grandfather was a great man, there were many challenges for us as a family. Throughout the years we had more than a few moments of tension, unease, and hurt. 

But, one thing I realized as I paid my final respects: My life is really good, and I owe much of that to my grandfather. 

In about three weeks, Kel and I will be taking our fifth trip to Guatemala. This year, we are lucky enough to have an amazing group of students, again from around the country. 6 students are former GCCS students, and one is the daughter of a friend whom I met at a conference in D.C., and lives in California. Another eclectic team of amazing students!! 

We have several goals for this year's trip: First, we are taking shoes to distribute to the kids in the villages, and also to take to the people who live in the mountain regions. We have collected over 200 flip flops, sandals and other shoes, and I expect we will have about 400 by the time we leave. Our only concern is that we make it through customs without having to pay any taxes. Second, we hope to distribute toothpaste/toothbrushes and hand towels. The local missionaries said that hand towels especially would be very helpful and needed by the families. Third, we plan to assist with a few construction projects, the most exciting of which would be working on a new house for Heidi and Brian, whom I wrote about here. 

Before going to Guatemala, I have to make it through the HOBY conference. For those of you so unfortunate that you don't know what HOBY is, it is a high energy youth seminar for high school sophomores. I went a sophomore, and have returned as a facilitator and speaker almost every year since. I LOVE HOBY - but it wears me out :) I'm hoping to somehow conserve my energy this year so that I will be able to make it to work Monday morning. 

This is just a snapshot - every day Kel and I have the fun challenges of things like trying to mow the grass on the one afternoon that it isn't raining, brushing all of the hair out of Sobe before she sheds all over the house, changing the oil in the cars, and planting new trees in the yard, as well our first attempt at a vegetable garden this year. 

I feel incredibly blessed to have such a busy and fulfilling life. I have many other ideas and thoughts I'd hope to blog about soon, but suffice it for now - this is a snapshot of my life :)