Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Thank goodness for knee-pads






















Yes, tiling is hard on the knees and the women are making good use of their knee pads! The tile in Dane's is looking awesome and they should've gotten done with laying all of it by this evening. The women were cleaning and sealing what had already been grouted. You can see in the bottom and top left photos where the line is just being started in the kitchen area. Dane was home sick today but felt much better when he saw the amazing progress.
When we stopped in at Rosemary's we came right at lunchtime. The finishing they have been doing on the sheetrock looks professional. Finding people who really know how to finish properly (or willing to learn) isn't easy but God always provides exactly who and what we need. They will be priming the walls and possibly painting some of the rooms before the end of the week.
Monty and I visited 2 more homes today. The first was Melinda's home. She works here at the daycare and lives directly on one of the bayous. Her house was not only flooded, it was knocked from the foundation causing the basement wall to crack. Amazingly enough the house isn't damaged as badly as we expected. We will plan to send our team in next week to do sheetrock patches and possibly tear out the tile in her bathroom. There is no need to gut the home, patching will work as the sheetrock is cracked and not molded or caved in. It is my hope to take the 4 women who are expected to arrive here tomorrow morning over to Melinda's to help her clean furniture and things which were nearly destroyed by the storm. Not only will this help Melinda in the physical sense, the ministry that will take place is the most needed right now.
The second home was Joseph. Joseph has lived in his little house since he came home from the Korean war in 1963. He had a team of volunteers who came in and did quite a bit of work. The one thing Joseph needs is a covering for his water heater. He is like alot of folks here, their water heaters are located outside their homes. Monty is working on a design that will work for him so he can then have some hot water. He has been living these past 18 months without hot water, taking baths at his friends home. Hopefully we will get that done either this week or the next. Joseph was another one who really enjoyed just having someone to talk with and someone who would listen to the stories of his life. Amazing man!
Mike and Faye had a newspaper interview this afternoon. One of the local papers is doing a "pre-story" about them. They will also do a story at the end of the build but this pre-story is to be about Mike and Faye's lives. It should be in tomorrow's paper. As Mike told their story the tears streamed down his face so hard that they stopped the interview a couple of times. He is still in so much pain due to the partial amputation but I think it's really starting to set in -- the idea that they really are going to have a new home! I don't know of anyone who deserves the blessing more than them! Isn't God good!!
We have a special prayer request for this team. Their church has a Christian school with grades kindergarten through 12th grade. One of their 5th grade girls became very ill and passed away just a couple of days ago. Now another girl the same age is also sick. We would ask for prayers of healing and a special comforting touch from God at this difficult time.
Until tomorrow ... God bless! Susan and Monty

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