Sunday, March 18, 2007
We're Home!!!
Well we made it home yesterday after only a 26 hour drive home. All very tired and no one dead by anothers hand. Okay maybe if looks could kill, after 15 hours I might have maimed a few men. Good thing God gives grace and forgiveness...and so do men.... I will give you a more updated final story once I have a few days of rest in me and my company goes home. Thanks again to all of you who posted comments on the blog or by email, prayed or called. You were awesome and God used you to keep me going. Big Kiss!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Next To Last Day
Well here it is Thursday. I feel so tired physically and yet so refreshed spiritually. This has been a truly incredible experience. There has been a ton of laughter and a few tears even along the way. Today was the last day at Doris's house. All the sheet rock got done that needed to be done. Because of donations from some of you awesome people we were also able to provide her with a new sink, coffee maker and water dispenser. Her water is still not drinkable out of the faucet because of contamination. There is such a high to being able to do some small things for a family but to them it makes all the difference in their lives. Doris's daughter, Amy, took us sightseeing through her area today. There has been a lot of recontruction done in the last year but there is still so much to do. We also went to the bayoo and the cemetary.
Tonight we all went out to dinner together to a seafood restaurant. It was very good and I ate soft shell crab with crawfish sauce. Mmmmm! Deano ate steak but I hope his food wasn't touching any seafood and he's going to blow up like a hot air balloon tonight. The men will have to tether him to the truck and just tow him behind the truck. Today Rachel came up with a good analogy of Deano. She called him "the human forklift". I think that is a good word picture for him!
Well tomorrow we go and work in New Orleans itself instead of the suburbs. Then after working half a day we are going to start driving home. Pray for our safe travel and thanks for joining me in "Lynn's Big Adventure". I'm so gonna do this again!!!
xxxoooo
Tonight we all went out to dinner together to a seafood restaurant. It was very good and I ate soft shell crab with crawfish sauce. Mmmmm! Deano ate steak but I hope his food wasn't touching any seafood and he's going to blow up like a hot air balloon tonight. The men will have to tether him to the truck and just tow him behind the truck. Today Rachel came up with a good analogy of Deano. She called him "the human forklift". I think that is a good word picture for him!
Well tomorrow we go and work in New Orleans itself instead of the suburbs. Then after working half a day we are going to start driving home. Pray for our safe travel and thanks for joining me in "Lynn's Big Adventure". I'm so gonna do this again!!!
xxxoooo
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Wednesday
Well we have reached Wednesday and haven't killed any of our crew members. I have to say with the couple of young girls on the trip I have learned A LOT! "WOMAN! You are sooo weird and way too happy. Bleeedthat! You remind me of Donny." I've even learned new poetry and songs. I just didn't realize how sheltered I was.
My big adventure yesterday was that we went and did laundry after dinner. The laundrymat WOMAN gave a really good example of what type of grandmother you never want to be. She really needs Jesus...and maybe some happy pills. DO NOT take shopping carts from Big Lots into her place and make sure you are OUT the door by 9:00 pm whether your clothes are wet or not. I then proceeded to drive on the wrong side of the road because of a very confusing intersection, so I drove over the median in front of a sheriff's car. He however just drove past and thought "stupid woman driver". He thinks that because I'm in the South. I then proceeded down the road and right in front of the church drove my car into the ditch putting the axel on the cement divider. The girls are still a little scared to ride with me.
I can no longer write anymore because the girls have made me laugh too much. My IQ is dropping by the second...I'm becomin one of them.
My big adventure yesterday was that we went and did laundry after dinner. The laundrymat WOMAN gave a really good example of what type of grandmother you never want to be. She really needs Jesus...and maybe some happy pills. DO NOT take shopping carts from Big Lots into her place and make sure you are OUT the door by 9:00 pm whether your clothes are wet or not. I then proceeded to drive on the wrong side of the road because of a very confusing intersection, so I drove over the median in front of a sheriff's car. He however just drove past and thought "stupid woman driver". He thinks that because I'm in the South. I then proceeded down the road and right in front of the church drove my car into the ditch putting the axel on the cement divider. The girls are still a little scared to ride with me.
I can no longer write anymore because the girls have made me laugh too much. My IQ is dropping by the second...I'm becomin one of them.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Still alive in Covington
I know that you have eagerly been awaiting news from me. Because there are 220 people here wi-fi is hard to come by and I had to give a real hang dog look to get the "secret" password.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. After we checked out of the hotel we dropped off all the luggage and picked up Deano. For some reason Gary and Michael didn't want to go into town with 4 woman and one big man with a tatoos on his head and arms. We ended driving across Lake Poncatrain (24 miles long) into downtown and to the French Quarter. I wasn't impressed with the smell really but the food was great! We ended up ordering appetizers of all kinds of things and sharing. We had alligator sausage! Really, really good. Raw oyster, fried oysters, fried shrimp, catfish and jambalya. Deano didn't eat with us because he is allergic to all fish and seafood. He would have blown up like a big balloon and died so he had beer.
After that we found a visitor center and they directed us to the St. Bernard parish where it was hit really had after the levee broke. The devistation was incredible. Some many hoomes still left vacant. You could see where the water and debris had come through and everything was just piled up from floor to ceiling. There was such a somber mood in the truck and tears were shed. We continued down the street and long behold...we found a parade! It was St Bernard's annual Italian - Irish parade to celebrate St. Patrick's day. They had 43 floats and threw whole cabbages, potatoes, onions, carrots, ramen, lemons, beads, candy and underwear into the crowd. People had big bags and were just stuffing the food into them to take home and cook and share with neighbors. I caught a couple of cabbages but after awhile I stopped going for the potates. Those puppies hurt! When were first got there we were picking up strings of beads everywhere. Towards the end of the parade we're looking going "no that's just a plain strand, I want fancy ones". We came home with approx 600 strands of beads. Deano got a t-shirt and underwear! We talked with the locals and just laughed and had fun. They talked to us about Katrina and the aftermath. They were fabulous and gave us all hugs when we left. It was truly a highlight of all times.
Today we went to Doris's house in Lacombe. We did dry walling on the ceiling. The girls were awsome with the nail guns! Valerie was a real "Machine Gun Sally" and Rachel was a true brut with her gun. I couldn't even pull the trigger on her gun. We are going to be there until Thursday.
It's now lights out time so I have to sign off. Time for this is hard to come by but I will try when ever available. Thanks for the prayers!
Yesterday was a lot of fun. After we checked out of the hotel we dropped off all the luggage and picked up Deano. For some reason Gary and Michael didn't want to go into town with 4 woman and one big man with a tatoos on his head and arms. We ended driving across Lake Poncatrain (24 miles long) into downtown and to the French Quarter. I wasn't impressed with the smell really but the food was great! We ended up ordering appetizers of all kinds of things and sharing. We had alligator sausage! Really, really good. Raw oyster, fried oysters, fried shrimp, catfish and jambalya. Deano didn't eat with us because he is allergic to all fish and seafood. He would have blown up like a big balloon and died so he had beer.
After that we found a visitor center and they directed us to the St. Bernard parish where it was hit really had after the levee broke. The devistation was incredible. Some many hoomes still left vacant. You could see where the water and debris had come through and everything was just piled up from floor to ceiling. There was such a somber mood in the truck and tears were shed. We continued down the street and long behold...we found a parade! It was St Bernard's annual Italian - Irish parade to celebrate St. Patrick's day. They had 43 floats and threw whole cabbages, potatoes, onions, carrots, ramen, lemons, beads, candy and underwear into the crowd. People had big bags and were just stuffing the food into them to take home and cook and share with neighbors. I caught a couple of cabbages but after awhile I stopped going for the potates. Those puppies hurt! When were first got there we were picking up strings of beads everywhere. Towards the end of the parade we're looking going "no that's just a plain strand, I want fancy ones". We came home with approx 600 strands of beads. Deano got a t-shirt and underwear! We talked with the locals and just laughed and had fun. They talked to us about Katrina and the aftermath. They were fabulous and gave us all hugs when we left. It was truly a highlight of all times.
Today we went to Doris's house in Lacombe. We did dry walling on the ceiling. The girls were awsome with the nail guns! Valerie was a real "Machine Gun Sally" and Rachel was a true brut with her gun. I couldn't even pull the trigger on her gun. We are going to be there until Thursday.
It's now lights out time so I have to sign off. Time for this is hard to come by but I will try when ever available. Thanks for the prayers!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
We arrived in Covington in 10:30 last night after approx. 30 hours of driving. In the Expedition we had Eka, Valerie, Rachel and myself. The girls have lovely singing voices and they were much needed while stuck in traffic. In the last few minutes of our trip we got seperate from the men and my trusty Lola (navigation unit) got us to the church through a couple of back roads, while the men didn't want to follow us and ended up having to go through the DUI check point and took 15 minutes longer. We weren't sure how they were going to handle Deano but they let him through! Next time maybe they'll trust Lola.
We had added to our group, Michael, from Payson. He has already been a great asset so I am glad he made the trip. Plus he gave us chocolate!
About 100 miles outside of San Antonio I got a phone call from Pastor Rich who was staying in Kerrville for a few days. He invited us for lunch at his parent's house. We arrived to a beautiful home filled with 4 bathrooms, beautiful view and kolaches (like a danish but filled with sausage) and sandwiches. It felt soooo good to brush my teeth and wash my face. It was a wonderful break. They sent us on the road with goodies which everyone enjoyed when we were stuck in traffic on the I-10 freeway just outside of Beaumont. We gave people things to watch as we're running between vehicles with sandwiches, donuts and drinks. There I am...just a big white woman running down the interstate with a bag of sandwiches. Normally I would have thought that would trouble people but we are here in the South so it could be considered normal!
At the "Flying J Truckstop" after 25 hours, the bra went flying too. I sang "Free at last, free at last, thank God we're free at last". I think that's pretty normal here in the South also.
Last night the women opted out of taking outdoor showers at 11:00 pm and sleeping on the floor for one night in a hotel. Best decision we made. We all took showers last night and again this morning! We would have had to be up by 4:30 am our time for breakfast and we were just plain worn out. Not a peep was heard out of anyone until 8:00 am. We had our continental breakfast and now we are going to hit the French Quarter. We only have a few hours to sight see but after traveling this far...we are seeing something...even if it's wrong!
I know this is rambling but everything is kind of blurred together and I only have had a half cup of coffee. Thanks for the prayers and phone calls and words of encouragement. Will ramble again later.
We had added to our group, Michael, from Payson. He has already been a great asset so I am glad he made the trip. Plus he gave us chocolate!
About 100 miles outside of San Antonio I got a phone call from Pastor Rich who was staying in Kerrville for a few days. He invited us for lunch at his parent's house. We arrived to a beautiful home filled with 4 bathrooms, beautiful view and kolaches (like a danish but filled with sausage) and sandwiches. It felt soooo good to brush my teeth and wash my face. It was a wonderful break. They sent us on the road with goodies which everyone enjoyed when we were stuck in traffic on the I-10 freeway just outside of Beaumont. We gave people things to watch as we're running between vehicles with sandwiches, donuts and drinks. There I am...just a big white woman running down the interstate with a bag of sandwiches. Normally I would have thought that would trouble people but we are here in the South so it could be considered normal!
At the "Flying J Truckstop" after 25 hours, the bra went flying too. I sang "Free at last, free at last, thank God we're free at last". I think that's pretty normal here in the South also.
Last night the women opted out of taking outdoor showers at 11:00 pm and sleeping on the floor for one night in a hotel. Best decision we made. We all took showers last night and again this morning! We would have had to be up by 4:30 am our time for breakfast and we were just plain worn out. Not a peep was heard out of anyone until 8:00 am. We had our continental breakfast and now we are going to hit the French Quarter. We only have a few hours to sight see but after traveling this far...we are seeing something...even if it's wrong!
I know this is rambling but everything is kind of blurred together and I only have had a half cup of coffee. Thanks for the prayers and phone calls and words of encouragement. Will ramble again later.
Friday, March 9, 2007
The Big Day
Well the day has arrived when we leave for New Orleans. I can't believe how fast it has come and now it's down to hours! Thanks to many of you, we are able to take provisions to the Free Store there. Our drive should take approx. 26 hours. We will be taking I-10 most of the way. We leave at 5:00 pm tonight. I hope the people in my vehicle like a variety of music. I've got a little of Meatloaf, IlDivo, Mercy Me, Dixie Chicks and my favorite....Pink. I am the official photographer and with luck I will figure out how to post pictures. Thanks for all your support...I'll keep you posted! (get it...keep you posted. I crack myself up sometimes). Lynn
If you want to see information about the church and where we are staying click on this link:www.trinitychurchonline.net
If you want to see information about the church and where we are staying click on this link:www.trinitychurchonline.net
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