Mid-Day

This blog is being written in the middle of the day as there might not be an end!

Yesterday was a day filled to the top and overflowing, much like today. Our morning began with our weekly case management meeting. With all meeting rooms already taken we utilized our key word, "flexibility", very early in the day. We all decided to meet in the case management room where we lined the chairs 2 and 3 deep but we made it work. In the end result we all agreed to continue meeting there since it is the hub of all the activity.

We do have a few cases ready to be brought to the unmet needs table starting next week. From there we will be tapping into resources at a pace like never before. We also were blessed to welcome quite a few new case managers into the family. They completed their training last week and were ready to go. They left completely equipped with an ID badge and Tshirt. Cases were given to them, they made visitations with other case managers and thus the initiation was over and reality arrived.

The rest of the day was one meeting, formal and/or informal for the rest of the day. So much was accomplished, all positive.

Monty spent his day at Bruce's, both un-installing and reinstalling kitchen counter tops and the works. The final task was taking Bruce to the shop to have his car battery checked since it had died. The kitchen looks great, installation done to perfection and another happy homeowner!

As I had said before, my brother from Florida flew in last evening. We were thrilled to be able to sit down together and have dinner and then continue our visit into the evening hours sitting in front of our trailer enjoying the evening temps and cooler breezes. For those who don't know, I have 3 younger brothers. 2 of them are here in Columbus and I see them pretty regularly. With Ross living so far and us being on the coast for so long, our visits have been rare. This one is great and we plan on being together for dinner again this evening. For our parents to have all 4 of us kids together is rare -- and alot of fun for us all!

This morning started with another new case manager coming on board. With the possibility of our hospital RN case managers possibly being called back to work we are desperately needing other case managers to come on board. We are doing all we can to make our plea to the hospital to not call them back to work until the hospital is actually open again -- possibly the end of October?!

For those of you who remember our retired Pastor and his wife and know they lost everything in the flood -- today they are getting their carpeting in -- Home is on the horizon!!!

Our neighbor, Shelley, returned to volunteer again today. Little did she know how valuable she would be! The case managers discovered her ability to speak Spanish and had 8 clients lined up for her to speak with. I wonder if she will be able to speak English by the end of the day!? She has an open door complete with red carpet for whenever she can return!

As I said, this blog is coming in the middle of the day. There is a very important meeting scheduled for this evening (which will have us very late for dinner). There is an area of "contention" here in the city, one that went underwater in the flood and one that needs some "intervention". Our State Representative has taken an active role in the disaster recovery and he scheduled this meeting to get to the bottom of some of the questions and concerns that have been plagueing not only the homeowners but now the case managers. We pray this will be a peaceful meeting where questions will be answered and forward direction will be routed. Please join us in that prayer.

Tomorrow morning will start bright and early with another meeting where we also will be looking for a bit more direction and a few more answers. It is one where both church and state will sit at the same table -- both with the same goals -- help the people! It will be another meeting where I feel blessed to participate and even more blessed to see with my own eyes! God is an amazing God and never more amazing than at these type of meetings!

Be sure and stay tuned for tomorrow's blog -- I have an incredible story of a woman who was in line for the TV show Extreme Makeover --- and then the flood came!! You won't want to miss this one!

Until next time . . . Susan and Monty