We are all home now, back to our normal lives. We have slept in our own beds! Most things would be an improvement over the bunks at the dorm.
This is a group that was big in heart. I spent my time at Mrs. Fontenot's home. We laughed so much together, and we had a great time. But we worked hard. Although there was still one more section we wanted to tile, we got a lot accomplished for her. And we most likely prevented her home from burning down by fixing some electrical problems.
In all three sites we accomplished so very much. And we left behind a lot still to do. I suppose this is life.
We all arrived home very tired! We certainly know each other's warts by now! Bruce is in a splint. That makes me feel badly, especially since we were finished and loading up when he fell. We have expended a lot of energy, and God has worked very hard on us.
The Apostle Paul writes, "Run in such a way that you may win." (1 Cor 9:24) We return home knowing that we did our best. We did what God wanted us to do. May God be glorified now and in the years to come through what we have done.
Kevin Boyd
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Good Morning All,
Yesterday was a busy day, trying to finish up our projects. The bathroom got finished at the first house, and the ceiling tiles got finished at the second house. The office work is mostly done too. Sally joined us at the office and we were able to finish the filing. No more boxes to dig through looking for files. April, Carlette and Carolyn got most of the data base entries done, and next weeks group will be able to finish that project.
The day ended with Bruce taking a tumble. We took him in for x-rays and fortunately nothing is broken. He has a badly sprained ankle, and a sprained wrist. He has a wrist brace, a half cast on his ankle, and he is on crutches. He is not a happy person at the moment, but thank heaven for drugs.
We will be heading home shortly. It has been a wonderful week for all of us. We have learned a lot about these people, and how they have been living since the storm 3 years ago. It is predicted that it will take until 2010 before all is finished. We have seen row after row of empty slabs where houses used to be. It is quite humbling.
God Bless you all. See you soon.--Diane
Yesterday was a busy day, trying to finish up our projects. The bathroom got finished at the first house, and the ceiling tiles got finished at the second house. The office work is mostly done too. Sally joined us at the office and we were able to finish the filing. No more boxes to dig through looking for files. April, Carlette and Carolyn got most of the data base entries done, and next weeks group will be able to finish that project.
The day ended with Bruce taking a tumble. We took him in for x-rays and fortunately nothing is broken. He has a badly sprained ankle, and a sprained wrist. He has a wrist brace, a half cast on his ankle, and he is on crutches. He is not a happy person at the moment, but thank heaven for drugs.
We will be heading home shortly. It has been a wonderful week for all of us. We have learned a lot about these people, and how they have been living since the storm 3 years ago. It is predicted that it will take until 2010 before all is finished. We have seen row after row of empty slabs where houses used to be. It is quite humbling.
God Bless you all. See you soon.--Diane
Friday, June 13, 2008
Well its Friday the 13th and I did not get on a ladder for that reason but we did finish up the house we were working on by putting up the last bit of Ceiling Tile. After we finished lots of people such a Meredith fell asleep on the couch. The woman that lives in this house that my group worked on, is very nice and even tries to help! It was a great experience for me and I had fun this week helping people out. Here in Louisiana its nothing like living in Houston with shelter, pets, and food. No here, you cant drive down the street without seeing something tragic. Weather it be person or animal on the side of the road or destruction, its awful. But St. Paul this week has helped 2 families get their lives back. It has been a awesome experience.~♥Rebecca♥
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Thursday Evening
Today was a long day. Our first task was to clean the former school which we're staying in, which was an ordeal. Carey, Bill Edson, and Patty cleaned the men's restrooms and showers, Kevin mopped the place, and on and on. After finishing that, we had a spill with Diet Coke in the cafeteria right after the floor finished drying, so that had to be cleaned up before heading to the work site. Both of us were at Miss Fontenot's house doing the tiling, we had to take down all of the old insulation in the room with the rat skeleton and replace it all. Afterwards we all had some fun in the showers scrubbing the fiberglass off of us. The best part of the day was interacting with Miss Fontenot and seeing her smile, along with her daughter and grandchildren. At the end of the day, we headed over and paid some big bucks at an upscale cajun restaurant, had a devotional, and wrote this post. -- Carey Boyd and Derek Farris
After mopping the dining hall this morning, like yesterday, I worked in the office to help where I was most needed. I was more productive today than yesterday, as Barbara the new manager gave us solid direction yesterday afternoon on what they really needed on a priority basis. The clients had not all been entered in the Access database, which helps to sort the clients by their application date. A few clients from 2006 and 2007 had gotten ahead of the 2005 clients' needs, so the data entry that Carolyn McKee and I did today is instrumental in getting the right date order in place for clients to receive services. "Everything decent and in order." Seems like something Albert Swarts would say. I think I appreciate my current job in Houston more - and the walls and roof that keep my family safe and dry. I think I appreciate my family more. That includes my church family. Diane Anderson's thumbs are numb from the volume of filing she has been doing to help catch them up. They can find their files now - Yay!! - and more importantly, God's work is being done. --April Dickson
Christie (mom), Howard (dad), and Breneston (9-year old son) DeJean continue to be friendly, involved, thoughtful hosts for our work at their house, together with their BIG boxer dog, Prince Ali. As you may have previously missed (since I don't think our team blogged recently), new vinyl siding now covers an 18-inch by 12-foot hole high up on the outside bathroom wall that had long been left open to further rain damage. Sadly, the DeJean's have now shared with us that insurance money only covered re-roofing costs, which led to the first well-meaning but disorganized Christian volunteers promising to do siding, bathroom, and window restoration work on their house over 1-1/2 years ago but then FORGETTING to ever come back and finish (until now, when WE finally walked in to start making good on that promise). That same terribly rotted, water-damaged bathroom which we gutted to the studs on Monday now has new gleaming white tileboard all over. Its worn-looking mouldings around window, ceiling, tub, and door have all been re-stained and reinstalled. New waterproof plastic woodgrain mouldings and quarter rounds have also been installed around the bottom of all walls plus the vanity and the one-piece fiberglass tub. The existing vanity, sink and faucet have now been re-installed after the new tileboard, but now with renewed cabinet stain, plus DEEP cleaning and renewing of the acrylic sink, plus no more undersink leaks from the shutoff valves and the drain pipe to their bright new vanity cabinet floor (that our team member Sally thought to create from a tileboard scrap). An unsafe, water-damaged light fixture has also been replaced with a new fixture that any wife and mother might enjoy having in her "master bath". Seeing all of this, Christie put her hands to her mouth and gasped about something that all of our team members USED TO take for granted - "Finally after all this time, no more big holes all over the inside of rotten bathroom walls, and no more LEAKS all over the place!" In addition, Howard has insisted on taking time between his double shifts in a Johnny Carino's restaurant kitchen to thank us by fixing us one kingly lunch yesterday (by his family's modest budget standards) of Beans and Rice with Beef tips, then today even while he was at work to have Christie warm up a tray of Carino's lasagna that he thought to bring home FOR US after his second shift last night. And perhaps most significantly, through many discussions while watching and helping, young Breneston has had whole new worlds opened to him - asking and learning why strangers might travel to help others even without getting paid, learning about circular saws, jig saws, miter saws, reciprocating saws, measuring tapes, pliers, utility knives, valves and pipes that he might someday like to work with for himself. He also learned about caulking (and its curious "guns" that DON'T hurt anybody), about friends who like to help together even if they don't all look and speak the same way or even come from the same continent, and especially about being a helper himself and the joy that it can provide him now and into his own future. Thanks to all back at our little Saint Paul Presbyterian Church in Houston who are supporting us both in prayer and financially this week. -- Dewayne Anderson
After mopping the dining hall this morning, like yesterday, I worked in the office to help where I was most needed. I was more productive today than yesterday, as Barbara the new manager gave us solid direction yesterday afternoon on what they really needed on a priority basis. The clients had not all been entered in the Access database, which helps to sort the clients by their application date. A few clients from 2006 and 2007 had gotten ahead of the 2005 clients' needs, so the data entry that Carolyn McKee and I did today is instrumental in getting the right date order in place for clients to receive services. "Everything decent and in order." Seems like something Albert Swarts would say. I think I appreciate my current job in Houston more - and the walls and roof that keep my family safe and dry. I think I appreciate my family more. That includes my church family. Diane Anderson's thumbs are numb from the volume of filing she has been doing to help catch them up. They can find their files now - Yay!! - and more importantly, God's work is being done. --April Dickson
Christie (mom), Howard (dad), and Breneston (9-year old son) DeJean continue to be friendly, involved, thoughtful hosts for our work at their house, together with their BIG boxer dog, Prince Ali. As you may have previously missed (since I don't think our team blogged recently), new vinyl siding now covers an 18-inch by 12-foot hole high up on the outside bathroom wall that had long been left open to further rain damage. Sadly, the DeJean's have now shared with us that insurance money only covered re-roofing costs, which led to the first well-meaning but disorganized Christian volunteers promising to do siding, bathroom, and window restoration work on their house over 1-1/2 years ago but then FORGETTING to ever come back and finish (until now, when WE finally walked in to start making good on that promise). That same terribly rotted, water-damaged bathroom which we gutted to the studs on Monday now has new gleaming white tileboard all over. Its worn-looking mouldings around window, ceiling, tub, and door have all been re-stained and reinstalled. New waterproof plastic woodgrain mouldings and quarter rounds have also been installed around the bottom of all walls plus the vanity and the one-piece fiberglass tub. The existing vanity, sink and faucet have now been re-installed after the new tileboard, but now with renewed cabinet stain, plus DEEP cleaning and renewing of the acrylic sink, plus no more undersink leaks from the shutoff valves and the drain pipe to their bright new vanity cabinet floor (that our team member Sally thought to create from a tileboard scrap). An unsafe, water-damaged light fixture has also been replaced with a new fixture that any wife and mother might enjoy having in her "master bath". Seeing all of this, Christie put her hands to her mouth and gasped about something that all of our team members USED TO take for granted - "Finally after all this time, no more big holes all over the inside of rotten bathroom walls, and no more LEAKS all over the place!" In addition, Howard has insisted on taking time between his double shifts in a Johnny Carino's restaurant kitchen to thank us by fixing us one kingly lunch yesterday (by his family's modest budget standards) of Beans and Rice with Beef tips, then today even while he was at work to have Christie warm up a tray of Carino's lasagna that he thought to bring home FOR US after his second shift last night. And perhaps most significantly, through many discussions while watching and helping, young Breneston has had whole new worlds opened to him - asking and learning why strangers might travel to help others even without getting paid, learning about circular saws, jig saws, miter saws, reciprocating saws, measuring tapes, pliers, utility knives, valves and pipes that he might someday like to work with for himself. He also learned about caulking (and its curious "guns" that DON'T hurt anybody), about friends who like to help together even if they don't all look and speak the same way or even come from the same continent, and especially about being a helper himself and the joy that it can provide him now and into his own future. Thanks to all back at our little Saint Paul Presbyterian Church in Houston who are supporting us both in prayer and financially this week. -- Dewayne Anderson
Good Morning, it is Thursday morning, and it is cleaning day here. Yesterday the office crew changed a bit. April replaced Carlette and she and Carolyn did a LOT of data entry on the computers. I spent the morning doing more filing, and the afternoon taking supplies to the worksites and taking more pictures.
After supper, we drove south to Holly Beach in Cameron. Although nobody was wearing swim suits, three people got completely wet swimming in what was bathtub warm water. Diane, Rachel and Rebecca were soaked, but had more fun than anybody!
When we arrived back, we found that Paddy had arrived! Yea! More help for us today. This morning was our day for cleaning up the dorms. That is done in exchange for paying to stay here. That is being finished as I type. We are looking forward to a productive day today. --Diane
After supper, we drove south to Holly Beach in Cameron. Although nobody was wearing swim suits, three people got completely wet swimming in what was bathtub warm water. Diane, Rachel and Rebecca were soaked, but had more fun than anybody!
When we arrived back, we found that Paddy had arrived! Yea! More help for us today. This morning was our day for cleaning up the dorms. That is done in exchange for paying to stay here. That is being finished as I type. We are looking forward to a productive day today. --Diane
Wed. JUNE 11th!
Our group of Rachel, Bea, Rebecca, Derek, Carey, Meredith, Christine, and Chad. Oh... and Kevin... We were tearing down old water damaged ceiling tiles and replacing them with newer ones. While tearing down the tiles in the back bedroom, Carey poked some of the insulation with the handle of the broom and some stuff fell out... including a small rat/mouse skeleton! (Rachel kept it...) After finishing for the day, we took a drive to see some of the wreckage and it made us feel lucky to have our own homes with a roof over our heads. After touring through the wreckage we stopped at the beach and had a small devotional (along with playing in the water... swimsuit or no swimsuit...) Driving back, we dropped straight into bed. We were exhausted! ♥Beatrice and Rachel♥
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Today was the 2nd working day of the mission trip. Our group is split amongst three worksites. The first group is working at the offices. The second group is working at the DeJean house gutting a bathroom, replacing siding and replacing two sets of windows. The third group is working at the Fontenot house replacing ceiling tiles across the entire ceiling. I have been at the DeJean house both days and have a better appreciation for the effectiveness of "liquid nails" after chiselling the stuff off to prep for the replacement wallboard. The best part has been getting to know the DeJean family. I've conversed the most with Howard (the dad) and Brinston (his stepson-Age 9). Brinston has a birthday 2 days after mine and has a dog named Ali (a big slobbery boxer) that faithfully follows him around. Sometimes when I open the back door from the backyard, where we are cutting the wallboard, the door bumps into the dog. The dog doesn't seem to mind people being around. That's good, as we've taken over the back of their house. The family has been so friendly and so happy we're there. The mom said she is so looking forward to not having to look at the holes in her bathroom wall (in several spots). The mom has stayed out of the way, but Brinston is a curious young man -very bright- wants to be a helper. I'm looking forward to hopefully finishing the bathroom tomorrow with the other four people in my group. It's hot hard work, but there are words of reward I hear each day. I'm ready to return tomorrow morning. --April Dickson
The group working at the Fontenot house consists of myself, Christine Farris, my husband, Chad Farris, the Wilson girls, Meredith and Bea, Rachel Dickson, Derek Farris and Carey Boyd. Our second day at the Fontenot house was very productive. The kids have been amazing, and they love demolition. We are replacing the 12 inch ceiling tiles in the den, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, bedroom and closet. We have the den almost done and half of the kitchen done. There have been a few tricky spots, but we're hanging in there...no pun intended. -- Chad and Christine Farris
Four of us are working in the volunteer offices; Carolyn McKee, Carlotte Boyd, Rebecca Anderson and myself. So far we have redone all the files in the office for a total of 8 4-drawer files. Thousands of files needed alphabetizing. That is done as of today. The next project is taking those files and putting them on the computer. Carolyn is taking charge of that. We will see what other projects they have in store for us tomorrow. On top of that, Carlette and I have been doing the shopping each day and cooking breakfast and supper each day. (We did go out for supper tonight) I am not used to cooking for 19 every day, but everyone is very appreciative. We are ready for tomorrow. Please keep your prayers coming. -- Diane Anderson
The group working at the Fontenot house consists of myself, Christine Farris, my husband, Chad Farris, the Wilson girls, Meredith and Bea, Rachel Dickson, Derek Farris and Carey Boyd. Our second day at the Fontenot house was very productive. The kids have been amazing, and they love demolition. We are replacing the 12 inch ceiling tiles in the den, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, bedroom and closet. We have the den almost done and half of the kitchen done. There have been a few tricky spots, but we're hanging in there...no pun intended. -- Chad and Christine Farris
Four of us are working in the volunteer offices; Carolyn McKee, Carlotte Boyd, Rebecca Anderson and myself. So far we have redone all the files in the office for a total of 8 4-drawer files. Thousands of files needed alphabetizing. That is done as of today. The next project is taking those files and putting them on the computer. Carolyn is taking charge of that. We will see what other projects they have in store for us tomorrow. On top of that, Carlette and I have been doing the shopping each day and cooking breakfast and supper each day. (We did go out for supper tonight) I am not used to cooking for 19 every day, but everyone is very appreciative. We are ready for tomorrow. Please keep your prayers coming. -- Diane Anderson
Saturday, June 7, 2008
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