Quiet?

At breakfast this morning it was more than quiet -- only Gregg, Pam, Diane, Monty and I. All the chairs sitting empty, the coffee pot still had coffee in it, the breakfast food seemed so small -- guess you don't need dozens of eggs for only 5 people!?

Even though there was only 5 of us we went straight to work. If you remember I talked about the shower trailer being moved over here from the New Orleans camp? It has seen better days and we decided to "spiff" it up a bit. Monty headed out for materials and we started pulling all the old rusted screws from the outside while Gregg went inside to take care of the trim around the windows that had taken on way too much water and needed replaced.

After removing all the old screws we got all the new ones put in, the trim put up inside and Diane started painting the inside trim while Pam and I went to work on the not so beautiful orange colored trim on the outside of the beige trailer. We went with a milk chocolate color paint and although we thought we would only use that on the trim we decided to do the entire trailer in it. Monty worked on one of the windows and will get the others before we fill the old screw holes and finish the job.

It was nice to do some real hands on work and the weather was more than cooperative!

This afternoon I had an appointment with Pilar, a homeowner in Galveston. Her story is enough to bring the biggest man to tears. She immigrated from Spain to the US over 40 years ago and has raised 4 children here. Her youngest, Tony, is disabled and has Down's Syndrome. When her father died in 2005 she purchased a duplex to rent as income for she and her son to survive. That duplex was severely damaged in the storm. Since this was her income and now she has none, she took a night job at the local IHOP since she is full time care giver for her son. With no rental income she is now in danger of loosing the home she and Tony live in --- and the car she had to purchase after the storm for transportation. Her car insurance was liability only and she had no flood coverage on her duplex. She is extremely depressed but standing on the word of God which promises that He will not give her more than she can bear! I met with her for quite some time in order to get all the details and hopefully find some resources to bring her some help! Case management here I come!

This evening Monty is helping Pastor change the fuel pump on his truck -- quite the job but between the both of them they'll "get her done". His truck is only a year older than Monty's and we've been this road before!

Tomorrow we have a big outreach planned. We loaded the van and an additional trailer with vitamin water, regular water and boxes of Hope which contain either baby products or hygiene products. We will also grill a bunch of hot dogs in the morning and head south into Galveston to hand out everything! Should be a great blessing for alot of folks just before the holiday.

I will be attending my first Long Term Recovery meeting tomorrow afternoon also. Last week was just the first meeting and I am so glad to get in on the very beginning of building the Long Term Recovery! Please pray for guidance and resources for all of us!

Until next time . . . Susan and Monty