Half a day's work, half a day's play

Team Sawzall and Team Broken Drill Bits/Plant the Posts all headed out to Captain John's today for a fabulous half day of work. On the list of things to do was plant two posts, secure boards to the side of the poles that will eventually hold the planks for the ramps, put dirt back into the post holes, drill holes and lag in bolts to the posts and put in closet shelves. It was a productive morning with all of that being done. Word on the street is that the furniture for Captain John's will arrive Thursday between 12noon and 3pm. Yippee!!!

We broke for lunch about noon and headed over to Ben's house for a Crawfish Boil. 44lbs of Crawfish to be exact. And Cajun deer sausage and Italian deer sausage and potatoes and corn and celery and onions and garlic and fruit salad and deviled eggs and sweet tea and...oh goodness. There was a ton of food for the crowd that gathered. It was a great afternoon, the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze keeping the bugs away and good food for all. I think we all needed the afternoon off. I know we all enjoyed a new Southern experience! Unfortunately Harold wasn't feeling so well and missed the whole afternoon to go back and sleep...hopefully he will be up to one more day of work tomorrow!

Time for bed! We've got one last day ahead of us and it's a biggie! Nighty-night!

Good news!!!

Today was Waffle House day. We headed out for a special "treat" this morning...which made Team Plant the Posts late to work. That didn't stop us from working hard though! Ben and Tom arrived and we were well into our work. Ben noticed on the way down Captain John's driveway that there were some stickers on the permit sign at the front of the driveway. He hiked back out to check it out and then yelled back to Captain John "Order your furniture!". These green stickers mean that the house has passed inspection! It was a goose bump kind of moment. There is only one issue with the heating and air conditioning unit that needs to be figured out, but that doesn't need to be fixed before he can move in. Hopefully the furniture comes before we leave so we can help with that process.

The good news continued as Team Plant the Posts got on a roll. We placed 7 posts in 4 hours! Yes! We have the outline of the ramp and will hopefully be placing planks on it tomorrow. Hallelujah! Ben can't seem to stay away and has to get his hands in the work as well. Don't tell him, but we like having him around too.
Team Sawzall finished up their work at Ms. Donna's today. They arrived to a beautiful note of Thanks from Ms. Donna and were able to say their goodbyes before leaving the site. The siding has been replaced, the vents fixed and both sides of the house that needed to be painted are done. It's looking good over at Ms. Donna's house!Team Sawzall will join up with Team Plant the Posts tomorrow and will be installing shelving at Captain John's house. It will only be a half days work though, cuz Ben and Tom have requested our presence at a Crawfish boil at Ben's house. It promises to be a fun afternoon!

Please pray for the team in the next couple of days, that we can be efficient with our time, accomplish more than we anticipate and that we will be the light that God desires us to be to those we work for and with. We're tired after the week and the excitement of last night. Here are the promised pictures from last nights celebration. Harold created the "award" himself...not sure it's gonna make it home on the plane with the doorknob, screws, latch and all the various items on it. Might have to leave it for someone else to be "awarded" with! The tiara and the scepter are a nice touch, no? They even light up!

Monday's excitement

Oh, what a day. We have worked hard, laughed a lot, been frustrated, had new adventures and shared in the ups and downs of the day.

Team Sawzall has done a great job at putting up new siding, painting, taking down the scaffolding, putting back up in a new place and then starting on the 2nd side. Harold cut three times for the one cut he needed for every piece on an octagon shaped vent but it's beautiful in the end! One more day at Ms. Donna's and they believe they will be ready for a new adventure! The diligence of this band of workers is spectacular...so glad they came with us to bless Ms. Donna!

Team Broken Drill Bits gained a new name...Team Plant the Post. It's a frustrating job but we work for a very kind boss who dealt with the slowness of it all. The stink coming up from the swamp hole wasn't lovely but once the pole was set and cemented in, the stink went away. The wind whipping through the swamp didn't help...in fact it was strong enough to shift the posts off level but we powered through. I will admit that I let frustration take over my body at one point...a level almost bit the dust. But determination won out! There are plenty more posts to plant tomorrow.

Tonight the house had a mini-celebration. It's awkward to write about it but tonight was the Reception and Award Ceremony for the Jefferson Award that I was honored with for the Central Coast back home. I had a few friends represent me and they called and sent texts all night with the fun that was happening back home. The house here created an award of their own...pictures will have to wait until tomorrow...and had a celebration.

And then the text message came..."You won! You are going to DC!" What???!!! I sent a text back..."don't joke with me about this". The response was a phone number...it's true. I was chosen to go to Washington DC this summer for the National Jefferson Award Ceremony. Oh.my.goodness!!!!!!! What an honor! It's capped by the fact that the reason that I'm even being honored with this award is because of the work that we do here in Mississippi and here we are, on trip number 9. Words fail.

Thanks for your prayers! Time to go to bed. We have a Waffle House adventure in the morning!

The day's go by...

Team Sawzall (Kanda, Harold and Debbie) headed up to Ms. Donna's house today for another round of scaffolding and siding. They went up three levels on the scaffolding and kept finding more and more rotted siding. Ain't that always the way it goes? The sun was favorable, though, which was a good and bad thing. No rain, good, sunburns, bad. They also took an antenna down from the roof, fixed an electrical pole, primed the siding and enjoyed their lunch out on the porch swinging on the porch swing. All in all a productive day...with lots of laughter, I'm sure knowing this team!

Team Broken Drill Bits (Sammy, Jonathan, Joe, Michelle and Brittany) finished up the kick boards on the stairs and got started on the ramp at Captain John's. We are hoping that the inspectors that come through after all the work that went into the kick boards! Mr. Ben kept working on the railing and had a little help from Michelle. It's always nerve wracking to work when Ben is standing over your shoulder watching! We dug, sunk and leveled four posts and poured in the cement as well. There are many more posts to go! There were a lot of visitors at Captain John's today. His daughter and grand kids came by to say hi along with many friends. Amongst the work and the visitors, Sammy learned how to square dance. I have video...just haven't transferred it yet.

Tom D. from Mountains to Mississippi arrived today. It was good to see him after two years. His first question to me was "Are you ready to go to Haiti?". Their group has sent doctors to Haiti in the last few months and Tom is contemplating sending work crews. I'm not promising anything.

As usual, there are things that we are enjoying and things that we are struggling with. The tools are there, most of the time, but it's slow going at times. This trip we seem to be doing more people therapy as well. We know that God is working and are constantly praying that we are doing and saying the things that God asks us to do and say.

Work begins

We split into two groups today. The fantastically talented team of Debbie, Michelle, Harold and Kanda headed up to Miss Donna's house for some scaffolding and siding fun. The siding is cumbersome and easily broken, which presented a bit of a challenge. The work was slow going for awhile as they waited for the right tools (sound familiar anyone?) but they quickly improvised. A hacksaw was taken apart and used as a saw, giving them the feeling of prisoners trying to escape...said by the crew with the former Jail Sheriff on it.

The equally fantastic and talented team of Jonathan, Joe, Sammy and Brittany went to Captain John's house. Kick boards were kicked out, cut down and began to be replaced so that the tread would be 10 inches wide. What a good thing that would be. Sammy rocked on the screw gun, Joe rocked on the chop saw, Jonathan rocked at measuring boards and Brittany rocked at doing whatever else needed to be done...which usually meant talking with Ben D. (Tom's son) and Mr. Ben. Mr. Ben worked on the railing and hopefully, once these two things are done the house will pass final inspection which means Captain John can move in!!!!

Sammy charmed the local kids at the Community Center today. Captain John's crew headed over to the playground at lunch we were soon surrounded by kids. Sammy was kept busy on the swings pushing kids, watching them play and helping them on and off the swings. It was a pretty sweet moment in the day.

We've had our first round of injuries on and off the work site. Harold can't stop fixing things. He was trying to put a latch plate on a bedroom door at the rental house, was using a knife instead of a screwdriver, pushed a little too hard and the knife folded back on him, slicing his finger. There was lots o' blood, some of which made it's way onto the toilet paper roll. Gross!!!! We've declared that roll Harold's alone.

Joe smashed his thumb with a hammer...that's when he decided to begin using the chop saw. He kept his fingers and thumbs out of the way for that one. It was good.

We're tired, there are lots of bugs but working is good. Time to head to bed! Look for pictures to come tomorrow night!

Trip #9 has begun!

We are in Mississippi! Our flight out yesterday was delayed a little but seeing as how we were on the same plane all the way through, it wasn't a big deal. We arrived in NOLA at 1:15am, went straight to the rental car counter, got our 2 suv's (I told the team as we approached the rental car I'm driving "Ben's gonna approve of these!) and were on the road by about 2am. At the house about 3:15 and in bed by 4am...that's 2am CA time. Long day but everyone was in good spirits.

We had already planned on taking the day slowly. We went to Cracker Barrel (my favorite) for breakfast and then placed the call to Ben saying it we were heading his way. We met up at Captain John's house to get an idea about what the week will entail. Sure enough, things changed before our time was up. The original plan was that we would build a ramp out to the fence line of the property, by the road, so that when the water rises (as it does in the swamp) he can get out to his truck. We are also to install shelves in the closets. And then things changed.

The inspector had been out to Captain John's for a final inspection. There was a note on the door that said "need to fix the handrails on stairs and the treads need to be 10 inches". Great. So now we are dealing with the handrails and redoing the stairs before getting to the ramp. But there is much to be joyful about! Captain John is out of the hospital! He talked with us quite a while. AND the electrical work is done, there's a box outside, lights are on, a stove and fridge are in place and he's thisclose to moving in. Hallelujah!

Tomorrow we will start on the work at Captain John and will also send a crew out to Miss Donna's house to get moving on the siding there. There's work ahead and we are ready!

And, Ben, by the way, took one look at our Ford and GMC Suv's and said "you finally brought real vehicles." I knew he would approve. :)

24 hours

In 24 hours these 8 people will be heading to the airport for another week of work in Mississippi.

Jonathan

Debbie

Sammy

Brittany

Kanda

Michelle

Harold

Joe

Jonathan pointed out a little while ago that when we are done with this trip we will have spent 2 months plus working in Pearlington helping them recover from Hurricane Katrina. It's an honor to serve, to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need hope, love and a way to find joy again. Please pray for the team as we travel and as we serve. We will blog as often as possible, so please check back and leave notes of encouragement and love. We appreciate hearing from "home", it helps us get through hard days and reminds us that people are praying.

Prayer for a friend

I got an email today saying that our friend, Captain John, is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Please pray for his healing. He is out of ICU but not out of the woods completely. We are hoping to work on his house this next week and would really love to see him IN his house...which would help with some of the health issues as well, I'm sure.

Captain John is a special guy...looks a little like Santa Claus, dontcha think? :)

10 days

In 10 days a team will leave for Mississippi. I've heard from Ben and there is plenty o' work to do. The thing that we are running up against is a lack of funds to buy supplies. We'll take it one day, one job at a time and figure it out!

In the next 10 days we would appreciate your prayers as we prepare mentally and physically for the upcoming trip. Those going on this journey are Debbie, Jonathan, Michelle, Joe, Sammy, Kanda, Harold and Brittany. We are excited, eager and looking forward our time in Pearlington. Thanks for praying for our journey!