Home again home again

We left about 8:15am Sat. in a "squall line"  very dark and very rainy.  Lasted about 10-15 minutes.  Troll took Darlene to the airport, and then left for Atlanta.  (He had to go back to Slidell to pick up his suitcase because he forgot it!)

Darlene left a message for me around 2:30pm saying she was on the ground in Michigan.  

Troll called me in the early evening saying he made it back to Atlanta.  

We got into St. Louis around 8:00pm.  

Next morning, we got up and left a little later than we planned, but in the morning, nonetheless.  Bob left for Indianapolis, and I'm assuming no news is good news.  He told me it was about a 4.5 hour drive.  He should have gotten in around 1:00ish pm CST.  

We got back to the church around 6:00pm.  

Bottom line:  Everyone is  home.   

Thanks for praying!  -  More coming later.

R

NOLA 1 Day 7

The last day of work went well.  Sounds like Bob's group went to three of four different sites.  Bob bonded with some kids at one of his sites.  See the pictures.  Howard and his team took their homeowner, Rosemary, to lunch.  It was a great experience for everyone.  Gary's group, (minus Gary) got the rest of the porch painted.  Rod worked on the plumbing (new toilet, hook up the sink in the vanity).  Mostly, he sat on the floor in the bathroom trying to figure out the complexities of plumbing. Erin's team got a lot of projects done at Carol's house.  Someone described it as going from a construction site to a remodeling site.  

We did our rootbeer float party tonight.  It was not well attended, but it was rainy.  (again?!)  I think this is a tradition that needs to get reevaluated.  Troll tried to do some magic tricks, but the wind made it impossible.  

We are all pretty tired and getting ready for leaving in the morning.  Troll is going to take Darlene to the airport in the morning.  We are going to try to get on the road by 8:00am.  There is a lot to get ready.  We have to unload the trailer and repack it.  We have to take some things back to the UMCOR field office.  We have to pack and have breakfast and devotions and and and.  I should probably go to bed.  

Day 6 NOLA1

Each team got more done today than they expected.  

Today was Gary's last day with us.  He is heading back ASAP in the morning.  I (this Rod Sc.) am leading his team now.  Tomorrow I get to set a toilet and use caulk.  This'll be fun.

Lot's of logistics for tomorrow.  We are doing the root beer float party at the same house Gary's team was working at.  

Ate alligator sausage tonight.  And Turtle Soup

Thanks to the people that sent letters.  We got a bunch today!  Gary got a billion cards.  It was really cool.  

Thanks to everyone that sent email notes.  I was able to read a lot of them

Thanks to all that have been praying for us.  here is a list of things we pray for each day:

Corrine M. and her daughter Laurie--  Corrine was supposed to come and couldn't at the last minute.

Jim P. Surgery recovery

Maureen (Darlene's step-daughter) for recovery from surgery / cancer

Our home owners

Betty and Betty-  two women we met at the community breakfast yesterday.  

Jeff S's. and Dave W's kids, who are having a hard time with their dads being away.  

All the work with pictures takes me several hours each night-  I copy everybody's pictures each night.  

Pray for our rootbeer float party.  We don't have a big tent or lights this year.  And I just don't see when anyone will have time to make and distribute flyers for promo.  -  

The pictures are - 

 The homeowner that Howard's team is working for

(This) Rod on the roof

Bob working on grout on the countertop

Troll hard at it.

Deb doing devotions in a park on a bridge

Barbara after doing texture on a roof.

Day 5- New Orleans

It has been a long day.  

The highlights:

Troll got in around 8:00am.  Very good to add him to the team.  

Worked a half day, then went to New Orleans for a half day and into the evening.  On this trip, we saw the devastation of the Lower 9th Ward.  Unbelievable.  At our orientation on the first day, the leader told us that in Slidell, they are back to 85%, but that in New Orleans, they were at 5%.  There are several factors that play into the severity of the devastation.  One of which is just the amount of people living in New Orleans verses places like Biloxi and Gulfport.  Keep in mind, also, that in Mississippi, when the water came in, it left right away.  In New Orleans, it sat for weeks and had to be pumped out..  There are some areas that have their houses rebuilt, and are shooting for normalcy (however this situation defines the new normal.)  Even if rebuilt, however, there is so much changed.  There are so many people that didn't come back, and that affects the economy of the area, which impacts the jobs available, which impacts WHO can live there, etc.    

In the half day of working, Gary got the tub installed and is trying to finish that bathroom completely before we go.  Darold led Howard's team today (added Rod Sc., Matt, and Troll) and got a lot of the shingles on.  Bob did a lot of misc. stuff in the house he has been working on.  It sounds like they keep adding stuff to him.  Howard was asked to go fix some last minute things for a home they are going to rededicate to the homeowner, so he did those thing on his own.  Erin's group is waiting on the supervisor from UMCOR to supply some tools they need for fixing a bunch of doors.  Sounds like they are getting a lot done there, too.  

There are so many pictures on our photo album pages.  You can click on this link to get to them.  I think tonight, I'm just going to give you the link instead of uploading these pictures.  http://picasaweb.google.com/RodScofield/NOLA1 That will get you to our pictures.  I think there are about 79 pictures in there.  For some reason, I couldn't reorganize them so they are chronological.  

Thank you to everyone that has sent emails and cards supporting us.  No cards have arrived yet, but I'm hopeful for tomorrow.  It means a lot to the crew to hear from y'all.  

Goodnight -  I have to sleep fast.