Day 88 Update
Dear Praying friends,
Greetings in the lovely name of our wonder - full Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
JoAnne and I just returned home from about 10 days of travel ...PA / St. Catharines, Ont. / Tavistock, Ont. In many ways it was a HUGE shock to go "out" to "normal life" again ... and again a HUGE shock to"come back in" where "normal" is "anything but normal". On the other hand, it was wonderful to get a "breather" and "come down / chill a bit"for a while. Everyone at each of the meetings and the conference was HUGELY encouraging and understanding of two people who were not very"conversational or social". In PA the Elders purposely cancelled some of the meetings to give me the chance to just "relax" a bit. AND WE DID!!! It was also great to get to meet many who had been praying for us and had given to us ... and reunions were extra sweet with some that had even come down to help physically! WHAT A FAMILY WE ARE A PART OF!! Won't the reunion in Heaven be a GREAT one!
Then after returning on Monday night we gathered on Wednesday evening for our SPECIAL prayer meeting ... our annual "Chapel Thanks -Giving". We gather for our normal prayer meeting but spend the timegiving each person a chance to come forward and tell what they are thank-full for ... or how the Lord has particularly blessed them this year! EVERY person gave thanks ... for Hurricane Katrina ... for our lives ... for the lives of each other ... for bringing us all back together again ... for our local fellowship and how it has grown and improved since the storm ... for YOU ALL ... for all that we have learned about the Lord and His faithfulness ... and for the BLESSING of being apart of such a wonder - full family and the fellowship of the assemblies in general! WE HAVE MUCH TO BE THANK - FULL FOR!!!
Then today we had a "communal Thanks-giving dinner" for the workers that are here and the rest of us that are living in campers with no real kitchen facilities for such a dinner. So the ladies pitched in and cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the Day Care and we ate it at a BIG table in the Fellowship Hall. It was a BEAUTIFUL day ... about 75 degrees, blue skies, fresh breeze ... and an air of THANK-FULL-NESS! BEAUTIFUL!
Coming up ... a long weekend ... OF WORK!!! Mostly finishing up our home and then the chapel (probably a couple more weeks). That will bring the homes (nearly) all to the point of waiting on cabinets and floor coverings ... then furnishings! We're all pretty optimistic that we'll be in our homes by spring (maybe April / May - BUT our dream wouldbe to be in by around the first of the year)! The "Katrina Fund" has passed along funds to us which will be a HUGE help in making all of this happen! So ... all in all ... we're coming along pretty well ... and we're slowly getting back to "normal" ... we're VERY optimistic!
CURRENT NEEDS: Paint - Trim - Floor Coverings - Cabinets -Furnishings - Appliances.
FUTURE NEEDS: One of our families home in New Orleans East ...the Government needs to decide what to do with these homes (I'm told thisapplies to 250,000 homes) ... "Structural Integrity" from being underwater for 8 weeks ... "Biological Integrity" from the mold that has grown all over these homes and the "stuff" in them! The question is ... Can they be repaired? Then just general cosmetic work on all the homes (yards, trash, replacement of trees / shrubs / plants / etc. that no longer exist). Finally some repair / sprucing up of the camp which has served us SO well in housing the work crews that came down to help us.
PRAISE ITEMS: FOR THE WHOLE OF THE "KATRINA EXPERIENCE" and the many wonderful people that it brought into our lives ... those who prayed, those who gave, those who worked and sacrificed so that others could come, and finally those who came! For our temporary living facilities (our campers)! For our jobs ... all of our people are now back to working so they now have incomes coming in (though less time to work on their homes)!
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LIFE IN GENERAL: STRANGE!!!
JoAnne and I went out to eat chicken Monday night ...they had run out of chicken and closed!
Most fast foods now are functioning to some degree ... mostly drive through with VERY limited in building seating. - HUGE lines everywhere - Limited supplies.
Almost everything closes by 6:00 p.m.
24 hour Super WalMarts open 8 a.m. till 7 p.m. - and it takes from 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hours to check out.
Home Depot and Lowe's open 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. I think.
The New Orleans airport (an International Airport) is operating - USAir opened their desk 2 weeks ago - when we flew out the next day there were 4 airplanes on the ground and only a couple hundred people in the whole airport.
Traffic is HORRIBLE ... Accidents are EVERYWHERE!
Tempers are short ... road rage common!
You can get medical attention but you have to wait for it... and when you get there you probably won't see YOUR doctor. Often medical records no longer exist! Those elderly who have special needs are at great risk!
UPS / FEDex / DHL ... VERY slow! I ordered something on11-2-05 which was supposed to take 3-5 business days ... on the 22nd it hadn't come and they told me that there was NO guarantee when it would be delivered but I could drive to the warehouse (where it had been for over10 days) to get it ... I did ... 30 miles away ... there was ONE man in the whole shipping warehouse who came when I rang the bell and brought me my package! It's a good thing I wasn't waiting on medical needs or something critical!
Finally - the city of New Orleans - VERY GRIM! From the industrial canal (you'll see it on a map as a canal connecting the riverand Lake Pontchartrain) South & East (down river and toward Slidell) is virtually dead! No people! No (or virtually no) work going on! No birds! No squirrels! No people! No LIFE~! Very Grim! They don't expect to get electricity until after the first of the year ... most /many houses and apartments are falling down ... streets strewn with derilict cars / trucks! Without electricity there is little that can be done with the homes and they remain wet and molding! They didn't have near the storm damage as Slidell ... but the flood damage from the breached levees is horrific ... totally unbelievable! I have NO idea what will / can be done with this huge area ... it's businesses ... it's homes ... it's people! PRAY! Well ... that's about it for now!
Thank you ... on this Thanks -Giving Day ... for you!!!
Our VERY special love in Christ,
Bob & JoAnne Brown
Slidell, Louisiana
Greetings in the lovely name of our wonder - full Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
JoAnne and I just returned home from about 10 days of travel ...PA / St. Catharines, Ont. / Tavistock, Ont. In many ways it was a HUGE shock to go "out" to "normal life" again ... and again a HUGE shock to"come back in" where "normal" is "anything but normal". On the other hand, it was wonderful to get a "breather" and "come down / chill a bit"for a while. Everyone at each of the meetings and the conference was HUGELY encouraging and understanding of two people who were not very"conversational or social". In PA the Elders purposely cancelled some of the meetings to give me the chance to just "relax" a bit. AND WE DID!!! It was also great to get to meet many who had been praying for us and had given to us ... and reunions were extra sweet with some that had even come down to help physically! WHAT A FAMILY WE ARE A PART OF!! Won't the reunion in Heaven be a GREAT one!
Then after returning on Monday night we gathered on Wednesday evening for our SPECIAL prayer meeting ... our annual "Chapel Thanks -Giving". We gather for our normal prayer meeting but spend the timegiving each person a chance to come forward and tell what they are thank-full for ... or how the Lord has particularly blessed them this year! EVERY person gave thanks ... for Hurricane Katrina ... for our lives ... for the lives of each other ... for bringing us all back together again ... for our local fellowship and how it has grown and improved since the storm ... for YOU ALL ... for all that we have learned about the Lord and His faithfulness ... and for the BLESSING of being apart of such a wonder - full family and the fellowship of the assemblies in general! WE HAVE MUCH TO BE THANK - FULL FOR!!!
Then today we had a "communal Thanks-giving dinner" for the workers that are here and the rest of us that are living in campers with no real kitchen facilities for such a dinner. So the ladies pitched in and cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the Day Care and we ate it at a BIG table in the Fellowship Hall. It was a BEAUTIFUL day ... about 75 degrees, blue skies, fresh breeze ... and an air of THANK-FULL-NESS! BEAUTIFUL!
Coming up ... a long weekend ... OF WORK!!! Mostly finishing up our home and then the chapel (probably a couple more weeks). That will bring the homes (nearly) all to the point of waiting on cabinets and floor coverings ... then furnishings! We're all pretty optimistic that we'll be in our homes by spring (maybe April / May - BUT our dream wouldbe to be in by around the first of the year)! The "Katrina Fund" has passed along funds to us which will be a HUGE help in making all of this happen! So ... all in all ... we're coming along pretty well ... and we're slowly getting back to "normal" ... we're VERY optimistic!
CURRENT NEEDS: Paint - Trim - Floor Coverings - Cabinets -Furnishings - Appliances.
FUTURE NEEDS: One of our families home in New Orleans East ...the Government needs to decide what to do with these homes (I'm told thisapplies to 250,000 homes) ... "Structural Integrity" from being underwater for 8 weeks ... "Biological Integrity" from the mold that has grown all over these homes and the "stuff" in them! The question is ... Can they be repaired? Then just general cosmetic work on all the homes (yards, trash, replacement of trees / shrubs / plants / etc. that no longer exist). Finally some repair / sprucing up of the camp which has served us SO well in housing the work crews that came down to help us.
PRAISE ITEMS: FOR THE WHOLE OF THE "KATRINA EXPERIENCE" and the many wonderful people that it brought into our lives ... those who prayed, those who gave, those who worked and sacrificed so that others could come, and finally those who came! For our temporary living facilities (our campers)! For our jobs ... all of our people are now back to working so they now have incomes coming in (though less time to work on their homes)!
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LIFE IN GENERAL: STRANGE!!!
JoAnne and I went out to eat chicken Monday night ...they had run out of chicken and closed!
Most fast foods now are functioning to some degree ... mostly drive through with VERY limited in building seating. - HUGE lines everywhere - Limited supplies.
Almost everything closes by 6:00 p.m.
24 hour Super WalMarts open 8 a.m. till 7 p.m. - and it takes from 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hours to check out.
Home Depot and Lowe's open 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. I think.
The New Orleans airport (an International Airport) is operating - USAir opened their desk 2 weeks ago - when we flew out the next day there were 4 airplanes on the ground and only a couple hundred people in the whole airport.
Traffic is HORRIBLE ... Accidents are EVERYWHERE!
Tempers are short ... road rage common!
You can get medical attention but you have to wait for it... and when you get there you probably won't see YOUR doctor. Often medical records no longer exist! Those elderly who have special needs are at great risk!
UPS / FEDex / DHL ... VERY slow! I ordered something on11-2-05 which was supposed to take 3-5 business days ... on the 22nd it hadn't come and they told me that there was NO guarantee when it would be delivered but I could drive to the warehouse (where it had been for over10 days) to get it ... I did ... 30 miles away ... there was ONE man in the whole shipping warehouse who came when I rang the bell and brought me my package! It's a good thing I wasn't waiting on medical needs or something critical!
Finally - the city of New Orleans - VERY GRIM! From the industrial canal (you'll see it on a map as a canal connecting the riverand Lake Pontchartrain) South & East (down river and toward Slidell) is virtually dead! No people! No (or virtually no) work going on! No birds! No squirrels! No people! No LIFE~! Very Grim! They don't expect to get electricity until after the first of the year ... most /many houses and apartments are falling down ... streets strewn with derilict cars / trucks! Without electricity there is little that can be done with the homes and they remain wet and molding! They didn't have near the storm damage as Slidell ... but the flood damage from the breached levees is horrific ... totally unbelievable! I have NO idea what will / can be done with this huge area ... it's businesses ... it's homes ... it's people! PRAY! Well ... that's about it for now!
Thank you ... on this Thanks -Giving Day ... for you!!!
Our VERY special love in Christ,
Bob & JoAnne Brown
Slidell, Louisiana
posted by Shawn Abigail at 5:12 PM
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