We're HERE!!

Sorry it's been a long time since we updated. You can imagine why. From packing and moving out of our house and having people move in, and planning the trip down with the team and moving... it's been crazy. But good. We had a lot of time to say "see you later" to our friends and family and dog. We really miss everyone, but we're so excited about being here. Plus, we know we'll see everyone soon. I know of some that will be here around Christmas, and some later.

Well, I'll go back to the last update and work from there. The move went pretty well thanks in big part to the Senior High group from Lakeland, the Crossing. It's was so much fun hanging out with all of them, packing and loading the trailer. A handful of them came with us to New Orleans to help us unpack and unload our stuff into the trailer we're staying in. They then stayed the rest of the week... but I'll get to that in a bit. The trip down was a lot of fun. There were four in each vehicle, and we all had a great time. We left early Sunday the 21st. Good thing too. It took us close to 17 hours to get here. Mostly because of long stops and a 20-30 mph head wind. This made towing the trailer an adventure!

The unpacking went pretty well, and it wasn't long before we realized we had brought a bit too much. We sent a bunch back to storage. After a fairly long day stuffed into a small trailer in Covington, the eight of us piled back into the vehicles, and started to make our way to the Yellow House. The Yellow house is where the team and staff live while serving in Central City New Orleans. It's right down the street from Castle Rock Community Church. Here's where the story gets interesting.

It had been raining pretty much all day. We didn't think much of it while we were inside, but once we started driving, we realized it was much more rain than any of us had every seen. The ditches were completely flooded and the water was running over into parking lots and onto the streets. As we approached the Lake Pontchartrain, we learned the Causeway, a 24 mile bridge over the lake, was closed to bigger vehicles due to high winds. Not to mention, the streets of New Orleans were flooded to about 2-3 feet in some areas. The Army Corp of Engineers were out checking the levees and closing gates in areas to keep the water out. We then learned of the a tornado watch in effect over the lake and on the north shore, where we were. We made some phone calls and ended up at Trinity in Covington for dinner and decided to stay the night there. Besides, we didn't know what we'd be working on in the city... no one did. So we offered to help with whatever needed to be done on the north shore... sandbagging, water removal... whatever.

As it turned out, the rain stopped shortly after we went to bed. The water was gone in the morning. They didn't really need us to do any sandbagging or anything so we decided to head into the city and get settled in. It was now Tuesday and most of the projects were started or near completion by the other teams. We offered to do whatever needed to be done. We learned of a cleaning job near the Urban Impact offices. There had been a fire alarm the night before. When attempting to leave out the fire escape, the door was blocked by some garbage cans and debris in the walk way. It all needed to get cleaned up.

There was a lot of garbage. The rain from the night before didn’t help, as all the cardboard was spongy and stuck in the mud underneath. It was not a pretty job. Just when you thought we were out of the gutting phase!! There was one can overflowing with stinky water. We treated that like a refrigerator in a gutted house. Move it last, ‘cause we ain’t going back if it spills!

Take a look at the before pictures...here

And the after pictures...here

Not bad for a half day’s work, eh? I had a feeling we’d be back the next day to clear a field of debris behind this building, so we left that nasty can for another time. I don’t have any pictures of the giant cockroaches or the huge spiders because as soon as they surfaced, they were crushed. Girls with shovels are not to be taken lightly when you’re a ½ pound roach or a hairy spider.

As I mentioned above, we returned the next day to clear a field behind this building . It was mostly full of old sheets of plywood and other building materials. It took about half the day to clear and it was off to lunch!! We ate at a really cool restaurant in Central City called Café Reconcile. Check out the website here. They have really good food and their mission is to teach youth in the area culinary skills and after Katrina, started to teach construction skills as well. Check ‘em out. It’s pretty cool. We went back a couple of times. Amazing catfish! Thursday we cleaned up some at the church and started a painting project at Castle Rock. We had a great time painting the two rooms. A lot of trim work and 12 ft ceilings. We weren’t able to finish, but we got a lot done.

Super Friday went well. For those who haven’t made it down here yet, all the teams from both Covington and Central City gather for a Rally in the neighborhood. We circle up, get LOUD and get pumped up to go out to clean up the streets and talk to neighbors. We work for a couple of hours and head back to the rally area where the “Hot Dog Truck” meets us and feeds the teams and neighbors from a grill mounted in the back of a pickup truck. It’s a lot of fun and a great time to hang out with the other teams and with the people from the neighborhood.

On our way back to Covington, where the team would be staying before departing back to Illinois, we took a tour of the upper and lower 9^th ward. We first went back to the first house we worked on in the upper 9^th ward when Crossing went to New Orleans. (Thanks for the directions Karen!!) It was all boarded up and it didn’t look like much was happening with it. A lot of the houses that were there last June were gone. A church that had caved in was gone. The area was still mostly uninhabited. We then went over to the lower 9^th ward, near the Industrial Canal Levee break. It was amazing to see it was still a “ghost town”. Further inland from the canal, people are rebuilding their homes… on stilts, but rebuilding all the same.

The team returned to Illinois the next morning, and I hear reports that the trip was really good. They made it back in about 15 hours. Not bad with 6 people and towing a trailer! We had a wonderful time with the team that came down. It was really a blessing to have familiar faces around as we transitioned. We look forward to seeing many others while we’re here.

So that was the trip. Thanks to all who prayed for our time here last week. Please continue to pray for Amy and I as we continue to transition into a new phase of our lives. We start tomorrow. We felt it was a good idea to take some time to get settled and rest before starting. Pray also for financial support. We are at about 15% of our total support needed. If you are interested in donating, follow the link on the right to the EFCA website. If you have any questions about this, please let me know. Thanks again to all of you for your prayer and financial support. We really appreciate it.