Well it is 10 pm Indiana time and I am just getting to relax, it has been a long day. Yesterday we had our two day laborers and they got up all the ceiling insulation we could before we had our plumbing inspection. The three young people from the Kenner church came and got one room sheet rocked. They are college students from Azusa Pacific University. There is seven in their group all together. Only one of the group had been to New Orleans before (she previously had family living here. None of them had been here since the storm. They got in on Saturday, and Sunday after church they took the "obligatory tour of the devastation". They went to the ninth ward and couldn't believe what they saw. And this is 33 months after the storm. The section of town we are working in is called Lakeview, and it was flooded when the 17th street levy broke. You can drive down a block and maybe one or two houses out of twelve have been repaired. It is just mind boggling. Jimmy says that just in the last six months the area has just started coming back.
Today we got our plumbing inspection and were told we can close the walls! The group from Kenner got another room drywalled, I got most of the ceiling drywall up in the Kitchen/ Living room of the one apartment. and we got the rest of the insulation in. Jimmy spent a lot of the day running (again), it is nice to have him running and fetching things. The worst part is that he has rented a Nissan Xtera (sp?) so he can't get a lot in, so he has to take multiple trips. Hopefully tomorrow he can stay there most of the day and help out. We are planning on going like gangbusters on sheetrock tomorrow.
Jimmy is a christian, but he has a lot of friends/ family that are not. I just ask that you would pray that we could be a witness to them by our actions and attitudes
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Builder's of Hope - New Orleans
Well, I am in New Orleans! The counseling Pastor at our church has a friend who inheirited a house in the Lakeview section of New Orleans. When the 17th street levy broke during Katrina, this house went completely underwater. The house had already been gutted and the mold remediation had been done. Someone had replaced all his doors, and gave him four windows to replace two that were gone and two that were damaged. The homeowner, Jimmy, had been living in L A and his business interests there have dried up. He was debating what to do, stay in La... or come back to New Orleans where he grew up. He has decided that New Orleans is where God wants him for now.
Enter Builder's of Hope. Our counseling Pastor contacted our director asking if we would be able to help out. The director threw out to us, and I definitely was ready for a road trip. We made plans to come down this week, the counseling Pastor and three of his buddys were coming along with me. On the 16th of May the counseling Pastor got a supena to testify Wednesday the 28th. He tried to get out of it, but it just wasn't going to work. Since he wasn't going the three buddys decided they weren't coming either. At this point, I was going "God, What's up? Do you want me to go, or what is happening?" After meeting with our director we came up with a couple of options, and the one that worked out was that I come by myself. We have made contact with a church in Kenner that is going to provide us with three volunteers all week! See, God had a plan we just needed to wait on him, and trust him. I kind of felt that peace about this whole trip, when we weren't getting many people to sign up, when I found out that Mike and his friends weren't coming, God knows who he wants to be here, and he is in charge. ( Boy isn't hard to let go and let him run the show?)
Anyway I left Thursday morning and drove to Little Rock, Arkansas to see my good friends Steve and Sara. It was a delightful visit. I am sooooo glad, and blest, to have these two wonderful people in my life. Friday I drove into New Orleans after making a little side trip to Lonoke, Ar. Got into town went by the house we are working on, and then went over to settle into were I will be staying until Thursday. It is called Beacon of Hope (same initials as Builders of Hope, BOH), and it is a ministry of St Pauls Episcopal Church in Lakeview. It is really nice digs. After Jimmy got free he brought me some baked Mac and Cheese, and chicken Parmesan that was to die for. It was local fare from some place he knows. We got to sit and get acquainted. Very interesting guy, Worked for Levi Strauss for a number of years doing marketing. Got to build some unique shops. He then felt being called by the Lord to go to LA and be a filmmaker. He has tried to do this and it just hasn't worked. That brings us to rebuilding this house for him.
Saturday morning, Jimmy picked me up about 6:30 am and we went and unloaded some appliances for a friend of his, and also some supplies that were given to Jimmy for this house. Our plan for this week was to get the house insulated, drywall up, and try to at least start the mudding. Jimmy had picked up a couple of day laborers to help unload and we had them start insulating. The really worked hard and got all the exterior walls insulated and the vapor barrier put up! I was excited, because I didn't have to mess with the fiberglass insulation when it was about 90 degrees and the relative humidity was about 95%! As it was I was really sweating my butt off (and there is quite a bit there to sweat off...). I got two of the windows in along with giving Jimmy ideas/ advice on how to do things. We also ripped the ceramic tile off the kitchen floor. Before the storm there was a wall between the kitchen and the living room which really made both areas small. Jimmy had ripped out the wall in between and wanted to run one flooring through both rooms. When we started ripping the ceramic out, we immediately smelled mold. The ceramic was on top of two other layers of flooring, and the bottom layer was where the mold was. We were glad that we decided to rip the tile out,that way we got rid of that mold.
Tomorrow, we are going to have our two day laborers back, along with the three from Kenner, and hope to get the ceiling insulated, and alot of drywall up!
Enter Builder's of Hope. Our counseling Pastor contacted our director asking if we would be able to help out. The director threw out to us, and I definitely was ready for a road trip. We made plans to come down this week, the counseling Pastor and three of his buddys were coming along with me. On the 16th of May the counseling Pastor got a supena to testify Wednesday the 28th. He tried to get out of it, but it just wasn't going to work. Since he wasn't going the three buddys decided they weren't coming either. At this point, I was going "God, What's up? Do you want me to go, or what is happening?" After meeting with our director we came up with a couple of options, and the one that worked out was that I come by myself. We have made contact with a church in Kenner that is going to provide us with three volunteers all week! See, God had a plan we just needed to wait on him, and trust him. I kind of felt that peace about this whole trip, when we weren't getting many people to sign up, when I found out that Mike and his friends weren't coming, God knows who he wants to be here, and he is in charge. ( Boy isn't hard to let go and let him run the show?)
Anyway I left Thursday morning and drove to Little Rock, Arkansas to see my good friends Steve and Sara. It was a delightful visit. I am sooooo glad, and blest, to have these two wonderful people in my life. Friday I drove into New Orleans after making a little side trip to Lonoke, Ar. Got into town went by the house we are working on, and then went over to settle into were I will be staying until Thursday. It is called Beacon of Hope (same initials as Builders of Hope, BOH), and it is a ministry of St Pauls Episcopal Church in Lakeview. It is really nice digs. After Jimmy got free he brought me some baked Mac and Cheese, and chicken Parmesan that was to die for. It was local fare from some place he knows. We got to sit and get acquainted. Very interesting guy, Worked for Levi Strauss for a number of years doing marketing. Got to build some unique shops. He then felt being called by the Lord to go to LA and be a filmmaker. He has tried to do this and it just hasn't worked. That brings us to rebuilding this house for him.
Saturday morning, Jimmy picked me up about 6:30 am and we went and unloaded some appliances for a friend of his, and also some supplies that were given to Jimmy for this house. Our plan for this week was to get the house insulated, drywall up, and try to at least start the mudding. Jimmy had picked up a couple of day laborers to help unload and we had them start insulating. The really worked hard and got all the exterior walls insulated and the vapor barrier put up! I was excited, because I didn't have to mess with the fiberglass insulation when it was about 90 degrees and the relative humidity was about 95%! As it was I was really sweating my butt off (and there is quite a bit there to sweat off...). I got two of the windows in along with giving Jimmy ideas/ advice on how to do things. We also ripped the ceramic tile off the kitchen floor. Before the storm there was a wall between the kitchen and the living room which really made both areas small. Jimmy had ripped out the wall in between and wanted to run one flooring through both rooms. When we started ripping the ceramic out, we immediately smelled mold. The ceramic was on top of two other layers of flooring, and the bottom layer was where the mold was. We were glad that we decided to rip the tile out,that way we got rid of that mold.
Tomorrow, we are going to have our two day laborers back, along with the three from Kenner, and hope to get the ceiling insulated, and alot of drywall up!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I ran across this post on the 97secondswithgod blog. http://97secondswithgod.blogspot.com/2008/03/danger-of-mydo.html It really hit me. Check it out.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
I am still alive
No, I haven't fell off the face of the planet, just have been busy. Been working on the Rebuilding Together house and working with Habitat when I haven't been working at the "paying" job. A lot of other stuff going on too.
We got sad news this week. Mike S.'s father passed away Tuesday. Keep Mike and Carolyn in your prayers. In the last thirteen months, Mike has lost a sister and both parents.
Heard a neat thing today. "If you want God to guide your paths, you need to move your feet."
Still planning the New Orleans trip for the week of May 25th. I am excited. I haven't been able to go anywhere since I did my sabatical last spring. I am hoping to stop in Little Rock for a visit, and also have the opportunity to go over to Mississippi to see friends there.
Hopefully I can post again soon! Bye!
We got sad news this week. Mike S.'s father passed away Tuesday. Keep Mike and Carolyn in your prayers. In the last thirteen months, Mike has lost a sister and both parents.
Heard a neat thing today. "If you want God to guide your paths, you need to move your feet."
Still planning the New Orleans trip for the week of May 25th. I am excited. I haven't been able to go anywhere since I did my sabatical last spring. I am hoping to stop in Little Rock for a visit, and also have the opportunity to go over to Mississippi to see friends there.
Hopefully I can post again soon! Bye!
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