Katrina Update - Day 118 - CHRISTmas Eve
Dear Praying Friends,
JoAnne and I (writing from CMML in New Jersey - arrived yesterday for a few days of R & R ... then on to speak at the "Rise Up and Love"Conference ... then returning home on the 30th) want to take a minute to wish each and every one of your the very MERRIEST of CHRISTmas's ... and trust that the "True and Living God" and the "Lord of all creation" will give you each and every one of you the finest of all years ahead ... for your kindness and care for the two of the VERY least of all His servants... and to those we love and serve amongst !!!! What a WONDER-full family to be a part of! We will never be able to express what your prayer and care for us has meant over these past 4 months! As we gather with the Lord's People each week ... the Lord ... and YOU ... continue to be the focus of our prayer and thanksgiving! We have SO very much to be thank-full for! The Lord ... you ... each other ... life ... roofs andwalls ... water ... sewer ... food ... clothes!!! And we could just goon and on! You can't imagine how thank-full a person can be for just themost basic "essentials" of life! Then ... add to the basics ... our homes are moving ahead ... things are getting ordered and we are in line waiting for things to come in ... mostly these days it is cabinets and flooring that most of us are waiting on ... then it will be getting them installed! And so it goes day by day! We're still looking at probablyApril / May to be back into our homes (and secretly hoping for February /March) ... which is really pretty good considering the degree of damage they suffered! It's kind of like building new homes ... but more difficult because you have to work around whatever was left from before!
A little bit of the life experience we are currently living with... I went to the bank the other day and went inside to "save time"! An hour later I was seen and a half hour later I was on my way back to the Chapel! UGH!! People say: I hear things are "returning to normal"! Maybe so??? This week it has been about 27 degrees and we woke up to our water hose (running from our house to the camper) being frozen! No water! UGH! Then I needed to drain the sewer holding tank so I opened the valve only to have the (cold / brittle) flexible sewer line rupture... DOUBLE UGH!!! For some reason splashing around in your own sewage seems somehow to be worse than having to work on someone else sewage! Very Strange! At any rate, I decided to just replace the "flex hose"with PVC pipe so I'd not have to do this again! I went down to Lowe's to get some ... NONE available! FEMA had bought it all to hook up FEMA Trailers! The sales person told me "That's nothing, the other day some contractor was there waiting for the delivery truck to arrive and wrote a check for something like $240,000 to buy EVERYTHING that was shipped in! TIPPLE UGH! Well anyway, I went to what I think is the "sorriest"hardware store in town and sure enough, the "big guys" hadn't thought of them ... so I bought my PVC (and an extra piece) and couplings ... and headed home like a proud hunter returning home with food for the family! People say: I hear things are "returning to normal"! Maybe so??? Maybe we just don't know what NORMAL is anymore!
By the way, the Nogueras family closed on their home last Friday... so they are "officially" part of our fellowship now! We're glad they are here (Mom, Dad and 5 kids ... who are all trying to figure out what"normal" really is)! They got their furniture on Monday (I think) and are now pretty much settled into life in Slidell (such as that is). Rob & Mary decided to host a special dinner on Tuesday evening ... it was GREAT! Then again one of our ladies decided to host another "communal dinner" maybe partly in honor of the new home closing occasion ... though we didn't need an excuse ... on Wednesday before Chapel! We enjoyed "Dinner in the Day Care" together and shared a meal of homemade soup, french bread, and cookies sent by a family that had "adopted" them! These were GRAND times for us all!
By the way, though we don't have room or time for much"Christmas-ing" this year ... we have had a WONDER-full Christmas so far! We received a bunch of "Christmas shoe boxes" (like those collected by Samaritan's Purse for their "Christmas Angel" program) from two different Chapels ... about 275 I think in all ... also a number of "giftcards" ... also some blankets ... plus some boxes of candy and "goodies". JoAnne divided these all up and had them waiting when the School / DayCare children came in on Wednesday Morning ... they were THRILLED ...then she had the rest in the Chapel on Wednesday evening before Prayer Meeting ... all divided up by family. As the people came in everyone got some goodies ... and there were some left over for us to give out to families we had been reaching out to throughout "Katrina"! If every family was as thrilled as our neighbor's little girl, I would say the"treats" were a huge hit ... and none of it took up too much room (a situation we find to be embarrassingly critical these days)! So THANK YOU to each of you who contributed to such a great Christmas for each of us!
We REALLY appreciate you ongoing prayer for us (PLEASE DON'T QUIT) as we carry on and try to provide some level of outreach to those around us! We still find ourselves dealing with those who have lost loved ones (amazing when the death toll is only about 1200 or so ! Pray for each of our people as they try to provide comfort and love in these very difficult times! Also, one of our grown children serving with the Jefferson & Orleans Parish search & rescue teams who is dealing with the great grief of having to take a life during the early days after the storm ... this on top of dealing with the many bodies passed by in order to reach those still alive! Many other friends and acquaintances and coworkers who also lost older family members due to all the disruption and turmoil ... just too much for many of the older folks to deal with! Some too who stayed behind because they had "weathered" Camile and Betsy only to die in their attics or on their roofs! They are still finding bodies!
At any rate, we find that in these times it REALLY helps to be patient ... keep your sense of humor close at hand ... and keep your expectations low! It's AMAZING how little it takes to really be happy and content!
JoAnne and I are wonderfully thankful for each of you! We appreciate your interest, your involvement, your contributions and your prayer! These have, and continue to, kept us going! We hope we will see many of you at the "Rise Up and Love" conference this week! If you are there, please don't hesitate to catch us and say Hi or introduce yourselves!
One final thing ... Please help me out ... if you came to Slidell as an individual or as part of a team to help (there were about 150men/women in all) ... I would really like to build a list of names, addresses, e-mails and phone numbers of each person! Would you please e-mail me with your names and personal information ... feel free to"squeal" on each other if someone came and doesn't have e-mail! I'd like to obtain names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mails and chapel / local church where you are in fellowship and the town it is in.
Well, that's about all for now. Please excuse the slowdown in communications! The progress / changes have also slowed down ... so I'll continue to try to keep you posted as things move along ... it just isn't as fast as was the case early on!
Have a WONDERFULLY MERRY CHRISTMAS ... and an INCREDIBLY BLESSED YEAR AHEAD! Please love and enjoy each other ... and your life in Christ... for us! Be thank-full and never take any of these basic, everyday blessings for granted!
Thank you again for all you have and are doing ... AND FOR YOU!
Our very special love,
Bob & JoAnne Brown
Slidell, Louisiana
JoAnne and I (writing from CMML in New Jersey - arrived yesterday for a few days of R & R ... then on to speak at the "Rise Up and Love"Conference ... then returning home on the 30th) want to take a minute to wish each and every one of your the very MERRIEST of CHRISTmas's ... and trust that the "True and Living God" and the "Lord of all creation" will give you each and every one of you the finest of all years ahead ... for your kindness and care for the two of the VERY least of all His servants... and to those we love and serve amongst !!!! What a WONDER-full family to be a part of! We will never be able to express what your prayer and care for us has meant over these past 4 months! As we gather with the Lord's People each week ... the Lord ... and YOU ... continue to be the focus of our prayer and thanksgiving! We have SO very much to be thank-full for! The Lord ... you ... each other ... life ... roofs andwalls ... water ... sewer ... food ... clothes!!! And we could just goon and on! You can't imagine how thank-full a person can be for just themost basic "essentials" of life! Then ... add to the basics ... our homes are moving ahead ... things are getting ordered and we are in line waiting for things to come in ... mostly these days it is cabinets and flooring that most of us are waiting on ... then it will be getting them installed! And so it goes day by day! We're still looking at probablyApril / May to be back into our homes (and secretly hoping for February /March) ... which is really pretty good considering the degree of damage they suffered! It's kind of like building new homes ... but more difficult because you have to work around whatever was left from before!
A little bit of the life experience we are currently living with... I went to the bank the other day and went inside to "save time"! An hour later I was seen and a half hour later I was on my way back to the Chapel! UGH!! People say: I hear things are "returning to normal"! Maybe so??? This week it has been about 27 degrees and we woke up to our water hose (running from our house to the camper) being frozen! No water! UGH! Then I needed to drain the sewer holding tank so I opened the valve only to have the (cold / brittle) flexible sewer line rupture... DOUBLE UGH!!! For some reason splashing around in your own sewage seems somehow to be worse than having to work on someone else sewage! Very Strange! At any rate, I decided to just replace the "flex hose"with PVC pipe so I'd not have to do this again! I went down to Lowe's to get some ... NONE available! FEMA had bought it all to hook up FEMA Trailers! The sales person told me "That's nothing, the other day some contractor was there waiting for the delivery truck to arrive and wrote a check for something like $240,000 to buy EVERYTHING that was shipped in! TIPPLE UGH! Well anyway, I went to what I think is the "sorriest"hardware store in town and sure enough, the "big guys" hadn't thought of them ... so I bought my PVC (and an extra piece) and couplings ... and headed home like a proud hunter returning home with food for the family! People say: I hear things are "returning to normal"! Maybe so??? Maybe we just don't know what NORMAL is anymore!
By the way, the Nogueras family closed on their home last Friday... so they are "officially" part of our fellowship now! We're glad they are here (Mom, Dad and 5 kids ... who are all trying to figure out what"normal" really is)! They got their furniture on Monday (I think) and are now pretty much settled into life in Slidell (such as that is). Rob & Mary decided to host a special dinner on Tuesday evening ... it was GREAT! Then again one of our ladies decided to host another "communal dinner" maybe partly in honor of the new home closing occasion ... though we didn't need an excuse ... on Wednesday before Chapel! We enjoyed "Dinner in the Day Care" together and shared a meal of homemade soup, french bread, and cookies sent by a family that had "adopted" them! These were GRAND times for us all!
By the way, though we don't have room or time for much"Christmas-ing" this year ... we have had a WONDER-full Christmas so far! We received a bunch of "Christmas shoe boxes" (like those collected by Samaritan's Purse for their "Christmas Angel" program) from two different Chapels ... about 275 I think in all ... also a number of "giftcards" ... also some blankets ... plus some boxes of candy and "goodies". JoAnne divided these all up and had them waiting when the School / DayCare children came in on Wednesday Morning ... they were THRILLED ...then she had the rest in the Chapel on Wednesday evening before Prayer Meeting ... all divided up by family. As the people came in everyone got some goodies ... and there were some left over for us to give out to families we had been reaching out to throughout "Katrina"! If every family was as thrilled as our neighbor's little girl, I would say the"treats" were a huge hit ... and none of it took up too much room (a situation we find to be embarrassingly critical these days)! So THANK YOU to each of you who contributed to such a great Christmas for each of us!
We REALLY appreciate you ongoing prayer for us (PLEASE DON'T QUIT) as we carry on and try to provide some level of outreach to those around us! We still find ourselves dealing with those who have lost loved ones (amazing when the
At any rate, we find that in these times it REALLY helps to be patient ... keep your sense of humor close at hand ... and keep your expectations low! It's AMAZING how little it takes to really be happy and content!
JoAnne and I are wonderfully thankful for each of you! We appreciate your interest, your involvement, your contributions and your prayer! These have, and continue to, kept us going! We hope we will see many of you at the "Rise Up and Love" conference this week! If you are there, please don't hesitate to catch us and say Hi or introduce yourselves!
One final thing ... Please help me out ... if you came to Slidell as an individual or as part of a team to help (there were about 150men/women in all) ... I would really like to build a list of names, addresses, e-mails and phone numbers of each person! Would you please e-mail me with your names and personal information ... feel free to"squeal" on each other if someone came and doesn't have e-mail! I'd like to obtain names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mails and chapel / local church where you are in fellowship and the town it is in.
Well, that's about all for now. Please excuse the slowdown in communications! The progress / changes have also slowed down ... so I'll continue to try to keep you posted as things move along ... it just isn't as fast as was the case early on!
Have a WONDERFULLY MERRY CHRISTMAS ... and an INCREDIBLY BLESSED YEAR AHEAD! Please love and enjoy each other ... and your life in Christ... for us! Be thank-full and never take any of these basic, everyday blessings for granted!
Thank you again for all you have and are doing ... AND FOR YOU!
Our very special love,
Bob & JoAnne Brown
Slidell, Louisiana
posted by Shawn Abigail at 3:54 PM
0 comments
