Getting Ready

As soon as we get some of our more recent photos loaded into this computer we will be including photos with our daily blogs. Please bear with us as we change the photo programs. Computer wizards we are not!

It seems amazing that today is actually Friday. The days of this week have been all messed up and had no names.

We spent the morning just trying to get caught up on paperwork around here, both personal and business. I'm still not completely done but it's closer than it was. Surprising how quickly things get piled up --- and we have no space to pile things!

Our connection with Project Recovery is growing and growing. Today one of the representatives came for a meeting and brought a multitude of jobs needing done. They range from trees needing taken down and removed to a woman who had both of her daughters pass away just before the storm and after the insurance money came for the storm damage her husband took it and ran off with another woman. She is so depressed she cannot go into the room where her daughters possessions are stored. The things have been soaked with flood waters, mold is growing and she cannot handle going in and cleaning what is left of her daughter. Needless to say she will be moved to our priority list! There is definitely not a shortage of work and this looks to be the case for who knows how long. Project Recovery is walking neighborhoods and going door to door checking on how people are doing. What they are finding will blow your mind! Praise God for this avenue of disaster relief! Please keep this organization in your prayers also.

This afternoon was again filled with paperwork and computer work. Both of which went well.

We are still being welcomed back by more of the teachers and it really makes us feel welcomed. It's nice to feel loved!

We enjoyed an evening out with one of the teachers and her husband. They took us on a tour of the beach line and talked about where some of the mansion style homes had been and how they are now completely gone! They both have lived here "forever" and know the history of the homes and families. It's educational to talk with those who know what it looked like before the storm. You can hear the sadness and see the loss in their faces. They told us about driving down to the beach areas a couple of days after the storm and in the middle of one of the streets sat a complete garage! The wild thing is that the garage did not come from any of the houses in the area and no one could figure out just where it did belong! More and more stories, more and more shock, more and more sadness.

We were supposed to have a team of volunteers in this evening. They were coming from the Tennessee area and large storms came through there today and created quite a bit of damage so the men will not be coming after all. They will be missed but we completely understand why they will not be able to make it. Those storms were forecast to come through here this evening but we only got a short, small shower and that was the end of it. In this location they are nearly 14 inches behind the usual rainfall amount and the area is really dry.

Tomorrow will be more preparation for the incoming volunteers from California and Missouri next week. Some arrive Sunday night and others on Wednesday night. We have alot of work lined up for them and are anxious to meet all of them. We pray God protects them as they travel here.

We also spoke with 2 more team leaders who are planning on bringing teams to volunteer in May. They are excited about getting information ahead of time on what they will be doing when they get here. This enables them to make preparations and bring tools they might need. They thank us for being able to supply them with this information. We explain that this is the reason we are here and they tell us how this will make the trip more productive for them. One of the groups will be here on a journey to earn badges for their work. They are members of the Rangers, a division of men in the Assembly of God churches. They also were thrilled to let us know what they needed to do to accomplish what they need to earn the badges and we were equally thrilled to have them coming to do just that work! Makes for a blessed trip, all the way around!

If you would like to help us, and thus help the volunteers coming here, you can send your tax deductible gift to the following: Vineyard Community Church at PO Box 3277 in Bloomington, IN 47402. Please be sure and note "Katrina" on your gift as 100% will be used in this mission.
We thank you as without your gifts this mission would not be possible and these people are the ones who would suffer, and they have suffered enough!!!

Until tomorrow....God bless you! Susan and Monty