The end?

It has been 6 years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.  It's been 5 1/2 years since a team of 21 people headed to Pearlington from California and found themselves in the midst of chaos, struggle, heartache, despair and the tiniest, smallest amount of hope...and strangely joy. 

It seems amazing that so many years have passed.  For many of us it seems like just yesterday.  About this time of the year for the last 6 years, I've been in the beginning process of planning a trip to Pearlington.  This year is different.  The work, though not done, has stopped.  The money has dried up.  The attention of the country and the world has moved on to other places.  While I would love to be planning a trip, to be reunited with my friends in Pearlington that does not seem to be happening.  This seems like the end.  There is the fact that I'm no longer employed at the church but that won't stop me from jumping at the opportunity to take a group of people back Pearlington if God makes it happen.  Not being in Pearlington around Christmas and New Year's will definitely be different!  It's in God's hands.

For now, this blog will remain up, though maybe not active, just to remind us of where we have been, what God has done and to keep the little town of Pearlington in our hearts and minds. 

Irony of color

On trip #8 our crew was charged with painting Captain John's house. There are pictures here along with some back story of the colors. I remember opening up the paint can and all of us going...ummmmmmm. The statement we all made was "It's going to dry darker." That's the thing you say when the color in the can is not quite what you expected and you aren't sure you are going to like it, right? Yeah. Autumn Surprise was the color. It was bad. Really bad on the outside of that house. Like really, really orange and bright and wow. It did not blend in with the bayou at.all.

Ben didn't think so either and we changed colors. Autumn Surprise became the base coat, Twilight Jungle became the top coat and all was right with the world.

This week, I'm in a hotel near Disneyland. Our rooms are nicely decorated, with beautiful windows that overlook...well a parking lot but the backside of California Adventure's, which is fun. I was laying in bed, exhausted after our first day when I looked at the wall behind me and saw...(wait for it) AUTUMN SURPRISE!!! No kidding. I can't quite get a great picture of it but I tried. It looks better on the wall than it did on the house, but still...AUTUMN SURPRISE!! What are the chances? :)

PayPal

Hey there friends! We had a great day, yesterday, sharing memories of Pearlington with the Church Family at FPC. It was so good to hear the experiences of other people. Hopefully I will get them to report HERE soon!

We have decided to take down the PayPal button. Our mission to Pearlington has been completed at this time. If God decides we are to go back, the PayPal button will show back up.

Thanks for your support, encouragement and help through the years. We have been blessed!

Sammy's Thoughts

Every time I have visited Pearlington, I feel like someone who has just been pushed into the ocean. You know what is there, and what it will feel like, but the experience is always different.

I did what I thought I was going to do, and I accomplished all I could have accomplished, and everything in my heart told me that this chapter in my life was over but fulfilled. God was and is so good to me. and there is not one aspect of money raising or working or team meetings that would have been done without Him and all his amazing grace. But I cannot say that the tears I shed on the last day there were the last ones I will every cry for Pearlington. Although I have not been on every trip, I have been enough to know that what I have done there will stay with me for the rest of my life. This nowhere town has changed my path in this mess we call life for the better.

It's pretty amazing to think that after all the death and destruction and disaster this storm has brought, it has also brought hope and love and friendship that no one ever thought possible. God is so good, and I thank him every day for this great opportunity to laugh, love and live.


Watch out...she knows how to use that caulking gun!