We are on the road, doing the 12 hour drive back to Frankfort. It is quite a drive from such a long week. It is only doable with a stop at Cracker Barrel. You'll have to ask Paul about his favorite dish.
We have made it home safe and sound! More pictures to come soon.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Friday, Day 6; Last work day and goodbye to New Orleans for 2011
As we prepare for our last night in New Orleans, l would like to take the time for the group to thank all those who supported the mission trip this year! For those who provided delicious treats for the trip down ( I especially enjoyed the puppy chow, I didn't share ;) ) prayers and monetary support. We are truly blessed with such caring people!
Our last day at the work site included actually painting the main window on the deck. It is finished! We have primed all the windows except for on the south side. Check out the pictures from our last work day:
We took time this afternoon to visit a few homes from the past three years, to see how they are fairing and course a tour of their still beautiful home. First we visited John and Minnie from last year on Clouet. And to see this house complete, it was breathtaking. It was not the same home we walked into this time last year, holes in in the ceiling and a bedroom wall from thieves and little else. To see the loving hands of countless others who came after us that allowed them to come home, it was truly a God moment.
Tomorrow, I will have some updated pictures of John and Minnie's finished home as well as updated progress on Overton. The excitement of the afternoon led on into the evening with dinner in the French Market and window shopping. There was little to no time to pass the required memory cards before we all headed for bed.
Enjoy a few additional pictures of the New Orleans's French Quarter:
Our last day at the work site included actually painting the main window on the deck. It is finished! We have primed all the windows except for on the south side. Check out the pictures from our last work day:
We took time this afternoon to visit a few homes from the past three years, to see how they are fairing and course a tour of their still beautiful home. First we visited John and Minnie from last year on Clouet. And to see this house complete, it was breathtaking. It was not the same home we walked into this time last year, holes in in the ceiling and a bedroom wall from thieves and little else. To see the loving hands of countless others who came after us that allowed them to come home, it was truly a God moment.
Tomorrow, I will have some updated pictures of John and Minnie's finished home as well as updated progress on Overton. The excitement of the afternoon led on into the evening with dinner in the French Market and window shopping. There was little to no time to pass the required memory cards before we all headed for bed.
Enjoy a few additional pictures of the New Orleans's French Quarter:
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| Our trip was not complete without some delicious Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. |
And so I close our final day in New Orleans with tired feet, sore muscles and filled hearts that our fingerprints in our homes are but a small reminder of God's love for Nola. Its been a meaningful trip, and I thank you for 'clicking and scrolling' through with us!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday, Day 5: Volunteering and Jesus' mission
The morning began with to delicious cinnamon french toast. We did a speedily efficient clean up while Spike entertained the troops.
Good news, no future damage at Pauger and Overton has wonderful windows.
We progressed enough on Pauger St. to begin priming. You can see from the pictures it makes a world of a difference.
On the back side after lunch, Sandy removed old cauking and sanded the windows. The rest of the team, Sheri, Joyce and Sarah came along after and primed them.
In total, we primed two of the front windows and four of the back side windows. Leaving for tomorrow hopefully the main right window and 4 additional side windows, completing all the window priming. Will we get it done?!?! the clock is ticking!
On the interior, Jimmie worked with Christine and Eric further leveling the floor, ensuring this home will be level and secure from the ground up.
While out on Overton, the team took special care to install special window trim and frames. These window frames are waterproof, fireproof and moldproof, very sustainable and 'green.'
However, they take a special blade to cut, so it is very time consuming.
Using new materials and building in new ways seems to be the way Project Homecoming is moving, if this home is any indication. It is the first of thirteen to be build in the Gentily neighborhood. They won a $500,000 grant from the National Neighborhood Stabilization Program to build these homes, through not just sustainable building but also thinking ahead for the future owner. Beyond providing sensible financing for the new home, they are also keeping the city from raising the taxes for five years. All this thoughtfulness beyond the initial build may be what keeps a low-income person in such a home.
This evening was also the special evening of inviting homeowners to dinner. The family from Pauger were unavailable to have dinner with us. But we did invited John and Minnie from last year. Remember them? We also have our construction manager Christina for dinner as well. Unfortunately, no other new homeowners were able to visit from any of the other sites.
It is interesting that what we are lacking in learning new stories of New Orleans' families we are building a solid relationship with the rest of the Olive Tree volunteers. We have two gentlemen from the Foothill Presbytery of NC who closed the devotion for the evening. One spoke of the importance of volunteering and how we are called to bring this call back home. While the other spoke of the importance of Jesus' mission as described in Matthew, he was called "to bring good news to the poor." As I write this blog, our group is sharing parting words with John and Minnie. The bonds are strong from such a short period of time.
Good news, no future damage at Pauger and Overton has wonderful windows.
We progressed enough on Pauger St. to begin priming. You can see from the pictures it makes a world of a difference.
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| Enjoying our lunch together in the much needed shade surrounded by our newly primed windows and shutters. We were asked by a person driving by to do their home next. Good sign! |
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| Edie removing the rotten and damaged shutters from the left side window. |
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| Joyce Dapping a large chip in the wooden trim, can you see it? |
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| Sandy and Sheri hard at work on the backside windows. |
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| Pauger home from across the street. |
In total, we primed two of the front windows and four of the back side windows. Leaving for tomorrow hopefully the main right window and 4 additional side windows, completing all the window priming. Will we get it done?!?! the clock is ticking!
On the interior, Jimmie worked with Christine and Eric further leveling the floor, ensuring this home will be level and secure from the ground up.
While out on Overton, the team took special care to install special window trim and frames. These window frames are waterproof, fireproof and moldproof, very sustainable and 'green.'
However, they take a special blade to cut, so it is very time consuming.
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| The finished product. |
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| They also spent some time completing interior wall frames. |
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| It was hot out there, even the neighborhood cat needed a break. |
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| The plans for the the Overton Dr. home. Three bedrooms, two baths home |
It is interesting that what we are lacking in learning new stories of New Orleans' families we are building a solid relationship with the rest of the Olive Tree volunteers. We have two gentlemen from the Foothill Presbytery of NC who closed the devotion for the evening. One spoke of the importance of volunteering and how we are called to bring this call back home. While the other spoke of the importance of Jesus' mission as described in Matthew, he was called "to bring good news to the poor." As I write this blog, our group is sharing parting words with John and Minnie. The bonds are strong from such a short period of time.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Day 4; Wednesday: wake-up call and questions
Good evening! As we wrap up Day 4/ Wednesday down here in New Orleans, I am reminded of our church's challenge to connect with and build relationships with young people. At lunch, we learned majority of Project Homecoming's site managers, our YAV and Americorp people are young people. Majority college-age but Eric, our YAV is a recent graduate of college. Here we interact with them, hear their story and of course, take orders. And as we begin to transition out of mission work back to our homes and communities, we will hopefully think about what God is trying to communicate to us from this experience.
Today, as I am sure you are all in breathless waiting for are the much anticipated pictures from our Overton Dr. volunteers. Just a quick reminder, they are working on a new construction on donated land which Project Homecoming is challenged to complete and sell to a much deserved family.
This seems to be the new direction Project Homecoming is moving into, building new homes in communities still struggling to rebuild. They are hoping their impetitus to begin rebuilding life will be the spark to bring others back in areas where little to nothing has been done since Katrina. It will be a challenge as Project Homecoming keeps its base in the Presbytery of South Louisiana but moves into becoming its own non-profits, seeking grants from organizations like Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Yet we are here, and what I am sure you all are waiting for is more pictures!
So here is Spike, Gleason, and Paul in action (though since Paul is the photographer, you'll have to envision him behind the camera...)
They have been hard at work for two days in an area with little to no shade or protection from the sun. Also the rest of the team is from Atlanda and have yet to do work in New Orleans, so they took the afternoon to visit other Project Homecoming sites and see what still needs work around New Orleans.
Out at Pauger, we arrived to find the attic stairs down and the back door open. It seems even as we begin to work on a home, it doesn't deter those who desire quick cash. During the night, a person or persons cut about $20 worth of copper piping from the air conditioner. It really shook the confidence of Eric, the YAV and we spent alot of the day preping the home for when we leave.
The rest of the day was pretty much the same, scrapping and sanding the exterior wooden areas (windows etc) for painting. It is quite a job! And for myself, an even more labor intensive job when the blade of your scrapper is on backwards, whoops. Jimmie continued to work on leveling the floor, he has been such an asset to this home and team! We also did enjoy a local fried chicken place, Mckenzie's Chicken in a Box.
Here are a few pictures of the team at work.
Though one great joy for our day was Edie asking a young man from down the street to quickly mow our lawn too. He did! God's grace in action!
It seems our day ended on a bright note, even though we had to board up our windows to deter further break-ins.
We spent a meaningful evening in discussion with the team from Charlotte on the differences from last year and this as well as a connectional note to the Parable of the Mustard Seed. We are indeed only a small part of a greater picture; we closed our evening with the Song of Hope praying we will again heed God's call. Blessings on you and thank you for checking in on us once again.
One more full work day to go, and our bodies are definitely feeling it!
Today, as I am sure you are all in breathless waiting for are the much anticipated pictures from our Overton Dr. volunteers. Just a quick reminder, they are working on a new construction on donated land which Project Homecoming is challenged to complete and sell to a much deserved family.
This seems to be the new direction Project Homecoming is moving into, building new homes in communities still struggling to rebuild. They are hoping their impetitus to begin rebuilding life will be the spark to bring others back in areas where little to nothing has been done since Katrina. It will be a challenge as Project Homecoming keeps its base in the Presbytery of South Louisiana but moves into becoming its own non-profits, seeking grants from organizations like Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Yet we are here, and what I am sure you all are waiting for is more pictures!
So here is Spike, Gleason, and Paul in action (though since Paul is the photographer, you'll have to envision him behind the camera...)
They have been hard at work for two days in an area with little to no shade or protection from the sun. Also the rest of the team is from Atlanda and have yet to do work in New Orleans, so they took the afternoon to visit other Project Homecoming sites and see what still needs work around New Orleans. Out at Pauger, we arrived to find the attic stairs down and the back door open. It seems even as we begin to work on a home, it doesn't deter those who desire quick cash. During the night, a person or persons cut about $20 worth of copper piping from the air conditioner. It really shook the confidence of Eric, the YAV and we spent alot of the day preping the home for when we leave.
The rest of the day was pretty much the same, scrapping and sanding the exterior wooden areas (windows etc) for painting. It is quite a job! And for myself, an even more labor intensive job when the blade of your scrapper is on backwards, whoops. Jimmie continued to work on leveling the floor, he has been such an asset to this home and team! We also did enjoy a local fried chicken place, Mckenzie's Chicken in a Box.
Here are a few pictures of the team at work.
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| Colette slowly but steadily evening out the flooring in the half-bath. Such a hard worker! |
It seems our day ended on a bright note, even though we had to board up our windows to deter further break-ins.
We spent a meaningful evening in discussion with the team from Charlotte on the differences from last year and this as well as a connectional note to the Parable of the Mustard Seed. We are indeed only a small part of a greater picture; we closed our evening with the Song of Hope praying we will again heed God's call. Blessings on you and thank you for checking in on us once again.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Day 3: The work continues
We headed out bright and early to a beautiful day, (for those back home in 40 degrees, we are sorry ;) ) and boy the time flew!
On Pauger, Sheri and Sandy tackled a ceiling in on the deck. While Joyce and Sarah began scrapping the side windows. Edie cleaned mold and mildew from the soffits all around the back of the home. (Pop quiz: where on the house are soffits?) Colette was hard at work evening out the floor in a half-bathroom off the main room. Jimmie worked with Eric on evening out the floors and putting back in the sub-flooring. Enjoy the picture medley below tracking our progress via Sheri.
And the simple truth, our folks on Overton have to begin to really feel the heat of a home without a roof. At the time of this posting, 9pm Central time, they have all headed straight to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow we will have some pictures of the progress they have made. I have heard custom windows have been placed.
Though we feel just as tired this evening, the folks of Pauger left a little early today and came back to cook dinner for the 35 volunteers at Olive Tree. We received a round of applause at the close of devotions for providing such a delicious meal.
The church group from Atlanta officially closed our evening with a reflection, "Joys, Junk and Jesus," They asked all the volunteers to share good information from their day, bad experiences and where they experienced Jesus. I am reminded of Edie's sharing that God has made us capable for the tasks we will face this week, trust all that is required.
Thank you again for joining us, I am sorry you could not enjoy Sheri's apple crisp, it was delicious! Maybe next year?
On Pauger, Sheri and Sandy tackled a ceiling in on the deck. While Joyce and Sarah began scrapping the side windows. Edie cleaned mold and mildew from the soffits all around the back of the home. (Pop quiz: where on the house are soffits?) Colette was hard at work evening out the floor in a half-bathroom off the main room. Jimmie worked with Eric on evening out the floors and putting back in the sub-flooring. Enjoy the picture medley below tracking our progress via Sheri.
And the simple truth, our folks on Overton have to begin to really feel the heat of a home without a roof. At the time of this posting, 9pm Central time, they have all headed straight to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow we will have some pictures of the progress they have made. I have heard custom windows have been placed.
Though we feel just as tired this evening, the folks of Pauger left a little early today and came back to cook dinner for the 35 volunteers at Olive Tree. We received a round of applause at the close of devotions for providing such a delicious meal.
The church group from Atlanta officially closed our evening with a reflection, "Joys, Junk and Jesus," They asked all the volunteers to share good information from their day, bad experiences and where they experienced Jesus. I am reminded of Edie's sharing that God has made us capable for the tasks we will face this week, trust all that is required.
Thank you again for joining us, I am sorry you could not enjoy Sheri's apple crisp, it was delicious! Maybe next year?
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