SORRY I MISSED LAST NIGHT BUT I HAVE A SEMI-GOOD REASON

Hi, all,

I had a hard time getting this computer to log on tonight. Sorry this is late. Last night I didn't blog because I had a real rough day. We started work at 8AM as usual and we really worked. We got the house mostly painted and the floors almost down. We worked until 6PM. We missed dinner so when I got back Pastor B insisted that they get me some food and off to Bourbon Sreet we went. I did get a shower before we left but that was about all. We had dinner at Pat O'Briens. I had crawfish ettoufee, red beans and rice and gumbo. I have had some wonderful food down here. For lunch yesterday I had a catfish po'boy. WOW! We discovered a new little restaurant in the area of our house - a real surprise. Loved it.... Anyhow - back to O'Briens - I had a hurricane and it was really good but not being a drinker it was almost more than I could handle. Wasn't drunk (especially by NOLA standards) but I was REAL tired. I was glad when we got back here so I could get some sleep. The French Quarter was very busy last night - a Wednesday night at that. Not my idea of a great time. I am glad we went but I don't want to do that again tomorrow night as we planned. We found this (to use an Illinois term) Sports Bar in Chalmette that was really neat so we are going there tomorrow for dinner with the whole Immanuel Team or at least those who want to go.

Today was back to Mrs Clouds where we finished the painting and the wood floors and the tile team came in and did that in the bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms. She is so excited. She brought her grandson over who goes to the boys academy across the street and he was so surprised. He said to his grandma later - " it is so wonderful that all those white christians came down to help us and they did such a good job". When you get comments like that you remember why you are down here and why you deal with the aches from muscles you haven't used for many years, if ever. I am bone tired but it is a good tired. We have met some wonderful people. Many in Mrs Cloud's neighborhood have come over to introduce themselves. Most everyone who drives past while we are outside eating lunch or cutting flooring or doing anything else waves and smiles. Mrs Cloud walks through the house with tears in her eyes saying "oh my" with awe in her voice. She is a dear who has been living with her daughter for 3 plus years now. It is time to get that lady back to her home. It is getting there. The sad thing is that after tomorrow someone else will get to finish it or at least get it a bit closer. Tomorrow we install all her internal doors on her side and get started on the trim. The next crew will get to hang cabinets, finish the other side and do some outside work. Wish I had another week here. I would love to see the finished project.

We drove through the lower 9th ward today after work. They have come a long way. It has been cleaned up so much since last year and there are a few new homes there and some that escaped the floods have been rehabbed. There are still many foundations there without homes and there are still abandoned homes and abandoned lots. We saw the Brad Pitt homes too. I can't say I like them. They don't fit the New Orleans style - they are very ultramodern. I won't say too much because he is helping to get the rebuilding going and he is doing it in a very green way but I still don't know.... The homes that are being rebuilt are all being outfitted with a hatch in the roof in case this happens again. The sight of that is pretty disturbing to me.

Tomorrow we are only working until noonish and then back here for a pizza party and then devotions and after that a free afternoon. This is a real treat but we deserve it. We have worked on 14 homes this week and have made a dent in their "to do" list. We have drywalled, installed insulation, done tile and wood floors, hung cabinets and sanded lots of drywall and painted, painted, painted. We are a good crew. We even deep cleaned Camp Restore and helped out here. What a good feeling to get the kind of complements and verbal hugs like we have from the staff here. Anyhow think of the manhours we have donated to New Orleans and the people here 61 peopleX40 hours each. Then we donated $3200.00 in supplies and a full set of kitchen cabinets. The people of our congregations have been very generous in their donations and that is what we used to get things like the extra flooring for Mrs Cloud that she needed to finish the job. It is an interesting story of how she got on the Camp Restore list. She had hired a person to do her work and he bought the supplies with her money (the money from her insurance check). He then turned around and sold the supplies right out of her house just like a mini home depot. He then took off - never to be seen again. This is not a unique story here. Mrs Cloud had no where else to turn and Camp Restore took a look at her case and put her on the list.

I am going to bed now. I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I have pictures and will get them up here soon

Pray for us to have the strength to finish our jobs tomorrow and also pray for our safe travels home. We are all distressed to hear about your cold weather. As I type this my little weather bug on the top of my screen says Elgin is -14. We are sorry and very worried about you all. Stay Warm! We are praying for you.

Peace and Love to all

Ginny