A walk down memory lane

Yesterday I had the opportunity to share a little of our experiences in Pearlington with a church youth group in Santa Cruz that is heading to Galveston at the end of the week to do Hurricane recovery work. All week my mind raced with what I was going to say to this group that would encourage them, but also help to prepare them for what they are about to enter. It brought back some great memories and some pretty tough ones too and made me realize that we have a lot of stories and experiences to share with people. It also made me realize that we should be proud of all that we have accomplished!

Here are a few numbers that we need to remember--for all 6 trips that people from the church have taken:

• April 8, 2006 was our very first trip which means we have been going to Pearlington for 3 years this April.
• Over the 3 years we have raised/spent over $91,000.
• 51 people have gone on the trips total. 5 have gone 6 times, 1 has gone 5 times, 5 have gone 4 times, 5 have gone 3 times and 12 have gone 2 times. Wow!
• We have logged over 4800 working hours on 20+ houses in Pearlington...a couple homes we have worked on multiple times.
• We have purchased 118 round trip tickets to New Orleans, rented 21 vans and been to Wal Mart in Slidell and Waveland way too many times to count.
• We have been to Missionary Baptist Church for 5 catfish fridays and lots of lunches.
• We have driven miles and miles...I put 600 miles on my van the last trip alone!

That's pretty impressive! What are the memories or numbers that come to mind for you?