Harsh Reality

The sign hangs on the front door of Faye and Mike's house, the house that is now merely a shell waiting for the city inspector to meet with us tomorrow to determine if it will be torn down or we will continue to gut it down to the framing studs and rebuild. It's all in the hands of the Lord at this point. We are prepared for whatever the decision as we know it will be God's and with His direction we will be able to put Faye and Mike and their son into a new home!

The photos here are the harsh reality of what conditions they have been living in. The may be difficult to see but just realize that THIS is their home, THIS is what they have endured since the hurricane, over one year ago.

First, far left is their bathtub area. What is keeping the tub from falling through the floor onto the dirt below remains to be seen. The flooring is so rotten from the moisture that you can see the dirt below. We told the team to leave the linoleum on the floor as it may be the only thing holding it up.

First, far right is the seal plate below the window in their family room. This is an outside wall, the wall where all of the water has been pouring in. It is completely rotten and will need to be replaced as it holds up this side of the house.

Next left is the closet in one bedroom. The water level is quite evident, along with plenty of black mold.

Next right is the ceiling in another bedroom. Tell me this stays dry??

Next left is the bedroom wall and if you look closely you will see the hole in the floor next to the hole in the wall, the dirt fully exposed and the only thing that was covering it was the wet carpeting. The son slept in this room and was amazed that he didn't have "critters" coming up through and into his room!

Next right is yet another hole in a bedroom. Now please note that there are only 3 small bedrooms in this house and these photos are of only 2 of them. The third room has yet to be cleaned out to see its full condition!

The final left is the part of the team that did all of the work today. They came in and removed all of the soaking wet carpeting (it rained ALL NIGHT last night), worked with Faye in cleaning the closets and clothing that was stacked up trying to stay dry, the linoleum in the kitchen and a couple of the sheets of paneling in the family room for us to see what was underneath! This team had to really!!!! help Faye through this painful process. Going through things in the home that has been theirs for the past 17 years, throwing away things that the storm ruined, cutting the ties with what has been home, no matter how bad ... these things are extremely difficult and we thank the Lord for sending this team as they were all hand picked by Him and just what was needed for the task.

Mike had another kidney dialysis today, they take over 4 hours and he has them every other day. He insisted on coming back to the house, to be a part of things, yet he was so sick he could hardly hold his head up. We took a break, surrounded the entire family and prayed! Thanks to Pastor Tony we are claiming healing for Mike!

The final right photo is our "master" painter, Mona. She and Charlie worked with Delores again today. We thought they might only be there for half of the day but super organized Delores had another plan and she now has 2 rooms complete, except for the flooring. She hadn't thought that would happen and is thrilled! Just as the others, these 2 were also chosen by God to be with Delores. Charlie is a music teacher, just what Delores retired as, and I hear Mona had here first piano lesson, and was fantastic!

We had a special treat this morning. Two of the "master organizing" women stayed here at the church and took care of 3 rooms of organization! We now have nails with nails and tools with like tools, what a thought! Monty built some great shelving and we got it in the room but that's where it ended. Finding time for such things is nearly impossible and some may think that keeping them here was a waste! WRONG! Getting those things organized will create efficiency with the next incoming teams and thus is a blessing for not only us but for everyone else coming to volunteer. Just as the others, God sent those two organizing women just for that task! Thanks girls!

Tomorrow is a big day. As I said, we will be awaiting the decision of the inspector and preparing our strategy from that decision. We will be pulling all of the team to work together in the warehouse for the day. We are preparing for incoming blessings of furniture and windows and need to organize (there's that word again) some things to make sure we have the room. Since the warehouse is located on the river they will have the opportunity to picnic lunch on the water and enjoy some of the fisherman doing their jobs. We pray for good weather!

I would like to put out a special prayer request for Mike this evening. As I said, the dialysis makes him very ill and we pray for a restful night for both he and Faye. Goodness knows they need it! We thank you for taking them into your hearts, and families, and praying for them. God tells us that we can move mountains with our prayers ---let's take Him up on it!

Until tomorrow .... Thank you for coming along on this mission with us! God is moving along this coast like we have never seen and we don't want any of you to miss a minute of it!!!
Susan and Monty