It was a fitting end to a bright and colorful journey from Jefferson City, MO to the heart of the Cedar Rapids, IA neighborhood affected by the flood. Kia Gruhn, 15, asked her new friends to leave their mark (literally) on her newly remodeled room they helped to decorate. Just one year earlier, Kia stood in her old bedroom covered wall-to-wall with stinky flood mud and wrote the word "PAIN" on her door. Today, the Jefferson City kids transformed her door from PAIN to PAINT...purple paint that is. Each kid dipped their hand in purple goo, placed their own print on the door, and then signed their name and hometown. It was Kia's idea.The girls stood side by side and giggled with each other as they painted their hearts out. In an instant Kia was a 15 year old girl again, talking about music, being goofy, and just chillaxing. For one afternoon anyway gone were her worries about taking care of her elderly grandparents, communicating with her hearing impared father, and worrying about the future of rebuilding her life. No, today's topics were throw pillows and accent colors. Just as it should be. And to top it off, the young people from Jeff City left their mark forever on Kia's door. Hopefully the handprints will remind Kia each night before she goes to sleep how much God loves her and so do her friends from Missouri.
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