Happy New Year!!!!!

There is always some question, on these trips, as to whether or not we will have enough work to do. Really it's not a question of if there is work, it's whether the work is ready for us or not. That has not been the case this trip.

Sunday afternoon, after worshipping together at our rental homes and lunch out (Popeye's Chicken...Jolynn was happy), we headed out to "the country" and Ms. Donna's house. There was a communication breakdown, so Ms. Donna thought that we weren't coming. But her neighbors were quick to alert her to the 3 black cars heading toward her house. There is much to do at Ms. Donna's and the crew got right to work. 16 people working on her home could have been really overwhelming but Ms. Donna took it in stride. Pete's team has been working out there ever since. They have been treated to dinner two nights, have nicknames for members of their team (Primer Babes, Frou-Frou Coffee Queen, etc.) and have marked off many of the items on Ms. Donna's list...though the list keeps getting longer. The amount of things in this house is amazing. Almost every room is filled to the brim with boxes and stuff. The kitchen had stuff all over the counters, the range, in the sink, everywhere. The Momma's decided that this was a room to tackle and between them all working on it a little over a day and a half her kitchen is clean. Reports came back that on Tuesday the team walked in to the smell of food that had been cooked and not a dish in the sink or on the counter...but a sweet note. It will be posted after we get home. There is so much happening, not just on the house but in Ms. Donna's soul, too much to share now, but suffice it to say, God is at work in big ways.

Momma Gail, Amber and Ellen have been repairing mistakes from previous volunteers at Ms. Pauline's house. They've been stuck in a closet the last few days repairing dry wall from when the closet shelves fell off the wall...bad installation. Ellen has been using her gift of listening in a big way this trip, and has had some poignant conversations with people at Ms. Pauline's house. There are some gifts that we are given that have little to do with repairing buildings and everything to do with rebuilding hope and joy in the soul's of the people we meet. Our team is lucky to have Ellen with us.

A mix of new crew and old crew have been hanging out at Captain John's house continuing to paint. The good news is that the scaffolding has moved! 3 sides of the house are done, paint has been purchased to put on the porch ceiling and things are moving along. We got rained Wednesday, which led us to the Yellow House now called the "Purdy House" (that's Pretty in southern). Pulling up baseboards, replacing a window pane and paint scraping were the jobs for the day. Captain John and Joel, his son, are constantly checking on our work, which is fun. Joel brought out his new pellet gun on Monday, to the delight of Sammy, Jonathan, Steven and Emily. They took turns shooting at targets out in the bayou. Tuesday Joel brought out the 22 gauge shotgun...that was a hit as well. Joel has also "gifted" us with some fireworks. We'll be heading down to the beach tonight to shoot them off...over water...away from the rental houses.

It's hard to believe that there are only one day left. Personally, after almost two weeks here, it still doesn't seem long enough. We do what we can do, and we do what we do with joy, with laughter and with the knowledge that God has lead us to this place, for this time, for a specific and good reason. We are blessed by the work that we are able to do and by the people we meet along the way.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and the prayers. This has been an amazing time. There are many, many stories to tell, so watch this space in the next few weeks for more stories...and pictures! Under a time crunch tonight, sorry!

Happy New Year!

Tile's and Ms. Donna

So, I've mentioned a little about the peel 'n' stick tiles over at Mr. Pat's but thought y'all don't quite have the picture of what that's all about.

In December of 2007 we trucked in and laid the sub-flooring in the house. Another group came in and laid down peel 'n' stick tile right over the top of the sub-floor. The tiles are cheap to produce, most likely, and when we put them in a house in June of 2007, we used gallons of mastic to adhere them to the floor. The group that laid the tiles at Mr. Pat's didn't use that. After a couple of years of the house settling, the cheaply made tiles started to peel up around the corners. Add to that a front door that didn't seal correctly, letting water in and a leaky roof and, well, the floor is a little bit of a mess. Insert our group.

Lynn, Jeff and Regina were the troopers over there this week who ripped into that floor. Some tiles came up easily but most needed a little shoulder, arm and sometimes whole body strength to be coaxed off the floor. Once the tiles are up, the stick part of the tile is still on the floor. So if you walk around on it for very long, your shoes start to stick. Nasty stuff it is. And frustrating.

We've been on the receiving end of cleaning up after volunteers before, repairing things that other's had done incorrectly. Our motto is do things so that other's don't have to clean-up our messes. And it works most of the time. But this took things to a whole new level. This wasn't cleaning up after volunteers, this was ripping out what other volunteers had done because the materials were bad. Frustrating and yet, the end result will be a better floor and a better house.

Tomorrow, we will be heading up to Ms. Donna's house. Ms. Donna and her husband lived in Pearlington before Katrina, next door to the Post Office. Katrina destroyed their home and they moved up into the country, to Ms. Donna's father-in-laws house. That house was damaged by the tornado's and winds that came along with the hurricane. Ms. Donna has a generous soul and has her house is filled, FILLED, with boxes and things from friends and families. About 18 months after the hurricane Ms. Donna's husband passed away. Ms. Donna hired a local carpenter who came with great recommendations and who wound up taking money from her, doing really bad work and skipping town, leaving Ms. Donna with a house with lots of problems and company's going after her to pay bills. Every story solidifies why we are here...to bring hope and healing to people that Hurricane Katrina has brought to their knees.

Today, we are waiting for group number two to arrive and prepping the rental houses. A day of rest before gearing up for the rest of the trip. God is good, all the time.

Positive comments and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated!

Merry Christmas!

What a beautiful day it has turned out to be. After a day and a half of rain, the sun has returned, the bayou's are receding and we got to walk on the beach. Yea! Christmas Eve, Jeff cooked shrimp. Jolynn and I spent time peeling and de-viening before cooking. Thanks to Aunt C. for those lessons!The Walton clan headed home on Christmas Eve, leaving Jeff, Jolynn, Regina and I to continue to scrape the floors at Mr. Pat's house. We finished the living room and were headed down the hallway into the bathroom. It was fun to work and talk and laugh! Oh the laughter. Walking out of your shoes took on a whole new meaning as the souls of our boots stuck to the floor. We all decided no sticky mousetraps in our houses! Too cruel!

Wednesday afternoon, Ellen spent some time chatting with Captain John. It was really special to hear them talking and laughing, sharing about life, and what-not. At one point I heard Ellen say "Well, they say that Jesus probably built the yokes for oxen." It was a sweet moment of the day.

We've got a new house to go to once the 2nd half of the group comes in. It's up in the "country" as Ben said. Probably about 20 minutes away from our rental homes. The house sustained wind and tornado damage from Hurricane Katrina, not to mention some shady dealings with a hired carpenter. It's frustrating to hear the stories of people hiring on help and getting swindled out of money and getting shoddy work. We'll be traveling up to Ms. Donna's house on Sunday afternoon to meet her and get a better idea of the jobs we'll do.

The work will continue at Captain John's. I'm happy to report that the front half of the house is completely painted, the scaffolding was put up on the right side of the house on Tuesday night, which was fortunate seeing as the bayou started rising early Wednesday morning. Jolynn and Doug persevered and have the right side primed and half of it's painted Twilight Jungle, with a layer of Autumn Surprise underneath. The left side of the house is completely primed. It's coming along

We had hoped to get back to Ms. Ana's house this trip. Lynn went over to talk with her and Ms. Ana decided to just keep her house as is, seeing as she has out of town guests through the holidays. We'll miss being there but word on the street is there is plenty to do!

Santa stopped by our house last night. It was nice to sleep in, enjoy bacon, eggs and cinnamon rolls and take our time together. We are blessed to be celebrating the birth of Jesus together. Thanks for your support!

Finally, Live from Mississippi!

Hey y'all! I'm sitting outside the Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis borrowing their internet connection. Jeffy got a latte and is sitting in the car while I quickly upload a pre-written blog. It's pouring cats and dogs out of the sky. The rain started about 3pm...just in time for us to take a break! More will come over the next couple of days as we have some time to decompress over the Christmas break but for now, read on for some highlights from the last week.
was smooth and easy.

Flights were on-time and full! They were trying to bump people and offering a round-trip voucher to anyone willing to take a later flight into New Orleans…we refused. Arrived in NOLA early, all bags arrived and the rental car experience. It felt like a dream! Even have satellite radio in my van/SUV kind of thing. Loving it!

Work is plentiful. We have spent the last few days at two homes we’ve worked in before. In December of 2007 we worked at Mr. Pat’s house putting the subfloor in. Another group came in and put in peel ‘n’ stick tiles and some kitchen cabinets, some bathroom fixtures and worked stopped. It’s been sitting for the last couple of years with no money to finish. Mr. Pat’s niece, Tina, is moving into the house with him, so she’s investing in the house. Turns out, that peel ‘n’ stick tile, 2 years later, is peeling up. Lynn, Jeffy and Regina have spent the week over there peeling up the tile bit by bit.

There have been some creative ways of getting tiles off the floor. Putty knives, heat lamps, skateboards, hammers, lots of elbow grease...what's that? Yep, I said skateboards. Jeffy asked for something to scoot along the floor on with padding. Doug found the skateboard, we found a pillow and the result you can see below!

Lynn and Regina are coveting the skateboard. Ellen spent some time over there helping with the floor and her comment was that was the loudest she’s ever heard Regina…hammering up peel ‘n’ stick tiles. Laminate floors and ceramic tiles will go in as soon as the tile’s are up…that’s a job for next week!

Last December and April our groups helped get Captain John's house started. This time around we're painting the exterior of the house.

It’s been an amusing process. Captain John was sent out to get the paint…but when he got the paint he forgot which color it was and thought the color on the end of the swatch looked familiar. After priming the house the paint can was opened…Autumn Surprise is the color name…we decided, after putting a coat on the house that Pumpkin Pie was more like it. Yikes. Ben came over and put a stop to the painting of the trim and soon Ms. Sue was over with more color swatches. Now that was a fun conversation. Ben and Captain John look at the color swatches and say “I like this darker one over the lighter one” while Ms. Sue is saying “Well, Twilight Jungle matches the mildew better.” I had to step down from the paint bucket I was using as a ladder before I fell off I was laughing so hard.

What wasn’t said, though, was that the WHOLE house color was changing. Autumn Surprise aka Pumpkin Pie aka Sweet Potato Pie was out and Twilight Jungle is in. One side of the house is painted, one side primed, one half of a side primed and has a base coat of Autumn Surprise waiting for the top coat of Twilight Jungle and the back of the house hasn’t been touched yet.

Douglas has faced his fear of heights and been climbing around the scaffolding. Jolynn has braved the 3^rd level of scaffolding to paint the peak of the house. Bill has helped to assemble and dismantle the scaffolding (assuring us that the water rising up in the swamp wasn’t his fault) and has been piecing together which wire goes to which switch or outlet in the house. Ellen has split her time between flooring at Mr. Pat’s and painting at Captain John’s with a little time out to throw wood over the railing.

I’ve been busy caulking all the cracks in the ceiling of the porch and priming the hard to reach places on the front of the house…oh and Douglas made me get over my fear of nail guns…don’t tell him, but I still don’t like ‘em.

More stories to come later! Keep praying!

On the road!

Mississippi Team Part 1 leaves in the morning...7:50am to be exact! We've hit a little snag in the internet department, so I thought I would let y'all know before we leave...we're not sure when we will be able to update next. Neither of the places we are staying has internet connections but we will make sure updates come through at some point!

In the meantime please pray for safe flights, easy rental car experiences and for safety on the road and as we begin our jobs. We are so grateful for all our friends and family! Please, leave comments for us! It helps to be reminded of those supporting us!

Catch ya on the flip side!

The home stretch--updated

8 of the 19 Team members leave on Friday for Mississippi. We are SO ready! There are little details that still need to be done, like making sure the walkie talkies have batteries so we can communicate from car to car, putting fresh band-aids and super glue in the first aid kits (yep, we've super-glued wounds shut before!), getting all the directions printed out and of course, that whole packing thing.

There is still some fundraising to be done as well. In the last week some stats have changed a little, so here's the rundown.

7 people have their trip completely paid for.
7 people are within $200 of goal.
3 others have between $201-400 to go.
2 team members need over $400.

In our PayPal Challenge Ralphie/Jeffy is still in the lead with 18 donations...Ellen is in 2nd with 5, Debbie hangs in with 2 and the Waltons are at 1. There's still time to enter the race!...which reminds me of a song from Sawyer Brown "The race is on and here comes pride in the backstretch, heartache coming to the inside..."...maybe not such a great song to be reminded of huh?

We will gladly receive donations anytime! If they get here before December 30th, it will be tax-deductible for 2009! Paypal or snail mail works, just look on the sidebar for more information.

I spent a few hours at the beauty salon today. It felt good to just sit and relax for a while. As I was there (it was a longer appointment, sometimes a girl just needs a little help) I made a list of all that I would like to accomplish in the next week before heading to Mississippi. It's a long list. Some things are pretty important, other things aren't so much...I started to write down "wrap Christmas presents" and then realized I could just bring my presents to church on Sunday morning and have them wrapped for me! I almost did a happy dance right there in the beauty salon. YES! The team will be wrapping gifts on Sunday morning starting at 8:45am and ending whenever the last gift is wrapped. They will be there the following Sunday as well, December 20th. Donations gladly accepted.

My friend and hairstylist donated part of today's fee to my trip as well. One of the first things she asked was "what do you need". What I said? Prayer. Money is helpful, prayer is really the thing. I know she's good for that one! Prayer sponsors and financial sponsors are what make this trip run smoothly. God bless y'all!

Speaking of finances our thermometer keeps creeping up...here's the end of the week rundown:

7 people have their trip completely paid for.
5 people are within $200 of goal.
4 others have between $201-400 to go.
3 team members need over $400.

In our PayPal Challenge Ralphie/Jeffy is still in the lead with 16 donations...Ellen is in 2nd with 5, Debbie hangs in with 2 and the Waltons are at 1. There's still time to enter the race!

By the way, KPIG fans are awesome!!!!! We've had donations come in from Indiana, Connecticut, Virginia, Alabama, Oregon and all over CA from KPIG fans...so very cool. Thanks for supporting Ralphie and the team!

And just a reminder for our team, our final meeting and team commissioning is on Sunday. Commissioning is at 9am and 11:15am, team meeting at 10:30am (I'm pretty sure it will be in the fellowship hall...just an FYI). Hopefully your t-shirts will be here as well!

A few statistics

The countdown is on! In 11 days Operation Christmas in Pearlington begins with the first wave of team members heading for Mississippi. 8 days after that the second wave of team members will join the fun. So exciting!

We still have a little ways to go where fundraising is concerned, though. The thermometer is heading up (it changed pictures, btw, because the other thermometer stopped working...geesh!) and we want it to explode! Here's how things break down:

For those going one week it's costs $900. For those going both weeks it's $1200.

6 people have their trip completely paid for.
4 people are within $200 of goal.
6 others have between $201-400 to go.
3 team members need over $400.

In our PayPal Challenge Ralphie/Jeffy is still in the lead with 15 donations...Ellen is in 2nd with 5, Debbie hangs in with 2 and the Waltons are at 1. There's still time to enter the race!

And our little house that has been collecting change has brought in about $100 for building supplies. That's pretty awesome!

If you are a friend of one of the team members, who hasn't yet donated, please consider doing so today. We appreciate all the prayers, financial support and encouragement from our friends and family as we serve as God is calling us to serve!

PayPal Challenge

The competition is starting to heat up on the husband & wife front of Jeffy(aka Ralphie) and Ellen...

Jeffy(aka Ralphie) is still in the lead with 10 PayPal Donations...the KPIG listeners are certainly coming through for Ralphie!
Ellen is making a mad dash for 2nd with 4 PayPal Donations.
Debbie remains at 1 PayPal Donation.
Bill & The Waltons remain at 1 PayPal Donation as well...though if I count all the test donations Bill did they could be in 2nd place.

Meggie offered to make 11 donations and put me in the lead...but I figured since I'm the contest organizer I should be excluded from the challenge...but that doesn't mean you can't donate! :)

There's still time! Donations received by December 31st are tax-deductible for 2009!