Day 223 - April 8th
Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings in the Lovely Name of our Wonder-Full Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ!
Yes ... we're still alive and well! I'm sorry for so littlecommunication coming out from us. I think you'll get the drift of thereasons as I fill you in on our progress
Beginning with my last e-mail (around Christmas) ... there was a LONG spell with DISCOURAGINGLY little progress! Thus the lack of correspondence from January through February. All of our folks had ordered "stuff" ... flooring ... cabinets ... counter tops ... furniture... etc. etc. etc. And we WAITED ... and WAITED ... and WAITED! The general rule was it took about 10-12 weeks for about anything you wanted to get from the order to your house ... that is if there were NO snags... which seldom happened. To give you a little idea, JoAnne and I ordered our cabinets (Home Depot) on 22-September-05. They came to install them in January and didn't finish due to some wrong cabinets, broken parts and lack of understanding of the design. They have STILL not come back to finish the job 7 MONTHS later ... we are definitely learning patience and how to keep your sense of humor about you! At any rate, about mid-February, the "stuff" began to come in ... not necessarily in the correct (or most desired) sequence ... but it came in! Then everyone became so overwhelmingly busy it was hard to just keep up with the work being done. That stage has continued up to the present. Thus the lack of communication from March through the present. In the mean time, most of the people have gotten back to their jobs which has helped establish a little more "normality" and get some cash flowing ... but the back side is that it has left way less time to work on their homes. Pretty much Saturdays all day and Sunday afternoon has become the work time ... with a little bit each evening if they have the energy for it in their overstressed condition after a long day at work. We have continued to enjoy our communal meals together several times a week ...currently down to Wednesdays and Sundays which serve as a time of good fellowship and GREAT encouragement to each one!
While all of this was going on, we were able to get 3 of the 5 worst damaged families into new permanent replacement housing. Melanie and her son Kyle, got into a new apartment. Joseph & Julie and their Daughter Becky were able to fix up and then sell their flooded home while they continued to live in their FEMA trailer at the Chapel and look for another (undamaged) home. Just a few weeks ago they found a nice (fixer-uper) home that had suffered little or no damage and made the couple an offer (as is) which was accepted! They closed on the new home 2 weeks ago. Many of the chapel folks are there right now painting it for them. They LOVED the way the old one had been fixed, but were concerned about the mold etc. as well as the dirt and filth in the neighborhood because of their Daughters asthma. You can imagine spending 6 months working to get the old home just the way you wanted it only to sell it and start all over again. UGH! Discouraging ... but they felt necessary! At any rate, the new home is wonderful and after they get it painted and fixed up it will be even better than the old one ... it will just take a little time and TLC. The third family, Rob & Mary, were able to purchase a new home. They purchased it from a single lady who gave them occupancy immediately in trade for allowing her to live in their camper in her mothers driveway in New Orleans ... a great deal for both parties! The deal on the home closed last Friday so Rob & Mary are now (thankfully / appreciatively - Praise the Lord) living in their very first, very own (un flooded / undamaged) home ... they are THRILLED to say the least. Before the storm, they owned a mobile home which was lost along with nearly everything they owned in the storm ... now they own their first house! Praise the Lord (Jehovah-Jirah) for His goodness!
Next, I guess, would be the Chapel facility. It is nearly back together. We still have a number of work projects to complete on it, but it is very close. We are using it daily (School & Day Care) and are back to (nearly) our normal schedule. We have still not begun the Nursing Home Gospel Meetings on Sunday Afternoon due to that being one of the few times people can work on their homes. The "normal" meetings do run long however (Worship nearly 1 1/2 hours (taking up much of the coffee breaktime) and Prayer Meeting between 2 & 2 1/2 hours) for which we are thankful ... the meetings have never been as good! I don't think the spiritual health of the meeting and it's people has ever been better either. Next, I guess, is probably Sharon & Lee's home (the one with the"This pile of stiff is not our life" sign) and Our home which are about at the same stage. We're actually sleeping in them! Praise the Lord!!! Though they are not finished yet, they are getting very close. Both are waiting on counter tops and those things that mount on the counter tops... like sinks, cook tops, etc. ... things like that. But ... Praise theLord for how far we've come and we are INCREDIBLY thankful to be "living"(at least to some degree) in our own homes again! We've even housed visitors in it for a couple of nights when they came to help us!
As far as we can tell, the homes are in good shape with no mold or smell noticeable that we can sense as yet! While we wait, we are working on paint, trim, cleaning up debris and rubble in the yards, putting away things from the boxes and piles they were temporarily put in after the storm. As we do, everything has to be cleaned and inspected to make sure they are clean and safe to keep. A couple of weeks ago, we found a collection of old clothing in a cedar chest in the front hall that had been covered with tools and repair parts so that we couldn't get to it. The clothes inside the chest were STILL wet from the storm! The "wad"was alive with yuck that we were hesitant to even touch ... it was quickly dispatched to the trash and the cedar chest got a good bleaching and cleaning and then sat outside for 2 weeks while we watched (and smelled) it ... so ... pray for no more "hidden treasures"!
Sharon & Leewere able to return their camper to it's owner ... grateful to both have had it ... and also to no longer need it! Our faithful camper is still in the front yard and is now being utilized by our #3 daughter, Tina ...so we're still VERY thankful to have it! Campers were NEVER meant to belived in full time for such extended periods and we are amazed at how well they have held up and thankful that the Lord provided them when He did ... at one point we had 10 campers at the Chapel and 3 more in other locations! There are STILL MANY people living in tents here in Slidell and all along the Gulf Coast from the French Quarter all the way to Pascagoula, MS (nearly Mobile, AL). The next home would be Mike & Ruth's home ... early in the process, they had opted to have much of their work done by contractors. Consequently their work has gone very slowly and their home is considerably farther behind.
Two weeks ago, we decided that we needed to supplement their paid work with our volunteers and so, for the past two weeks we have been trying to get their house painted and moved ahead a little more with our volunteer helpers. They are now nearly all painted and the cabinets went in this past week ... so they are once again moving ahead and a little more encouraged! PTL!! One ofthe great dangers in this whole thing is the battle that everyone has with discouragement ... a very formidable foe!!! He's an ever present foe who raises his ugly head often when least expected ... and always when least needed! Consequently, it is SO important to see at least some progress week by week in each families life! Thankfully, for the most part, we have been able to see that in most cases!!!
Mike & Yee andtheir 2 children's home in New Orleans East is the last on the list and the farthest behind with very little progress made. It continues to sit... and sit ... and sit!!! Currently, we are waiting on the New Orleans government to come up with a "flood plan" that will determine whether they will allow the home to be rebuilt. The walls have been stripped and gutted and so the house is sitting airing / drying out ... this is good since it sat under water for nearly 8 weeks! Once we get some direction from the government we can make a LOT of decisions as to what to do next... demolish / rebuild / sell as is / move / ?????. In the mean time, they are living in a FEMA trailer. Well, that's the current status and about where we are today!
We currently have 2 volunteers with us (all from Wisconsin) ... Josiah (quit his job to come and help us in September and stayed) and his new (3 weeks) fiance Jen who has been with us for about 2 months working with the Day Care, and Amos (quit his job to come and help us about 2 months ago). To illustrate how the hand of God has moved behind the scenes in all of this, about 2 months ago we began coming up with electrical problems ... and there are NO electricians available! Enter Amos ... who worked as an electrician at home in Wisconsin and quit his job to come and help! Is that not the hand of the Lord looking into walls ahead of time and bringing in JUST the people that HE knows will be needed ... and having them here just when we needed them. If he runs up against something that he can't figure out, he calls his friend at homewho he worked for (thank you friend!) and gets some technical advice and the project moves ahead!
Praise the Lord for ALL of our volunteers (over160 at this point) that have sensed the Lord's leading and come JUST atthe right times to help people who have been TOTALLY helpless in and of themselves! And Praise the Lord for ALL of the rest of you who couldn't come... but PRAYED ... and the God of all Glory moved in response to your prayer and brought these people in! It's been an AMAZING thing to watch! As the songwriter wrote: "We stand amazed in the presence, of Jesus the Nazarene! And wonder how he could love us ... sinners, condemned and unclean!" How true! The Nogueras family has completed their move to the area from Long Island, are settling into their new home and quickly becoming a key part in the local meeting! Gail fits in great with the ladies and keeps busy home schooling her 5 children and trying to make sense out of the boxes and piles associated with any move ... and trying to convert them into a "nest" for the family! John has fit in well with the men at the meeting and keeps very busy (and I think fairly successful) at getting his construction / remodeling business set up and operating in a new environment and culture. In their "spare time" the children are quickly making friends and shuttle back and forth with their new found playmates. It's quite an adventure for all of our children to visit their friends in their "new" homes ... and it's hard to beat a"sleep-over" in a FEMA trailer!!! One of the families we're reaching out to has a big enough extended family to have 3 FEMA trailers in their front yard ...WOW!!!! Another - A fireman's family from the (now infamous I guess) Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans lives in their FEMA trailer at the (destroyed) fire house with the other firemen's families... what's REALLY COOL for their little girl is going with Mom to the"Laundry Trailer" ... a FEMA trailer set up with washers and dryers for all the firemen's families to use there at the fire house! Such are the new ways of life these days here in South Louisiana!!! The other side for the children is the constant fear of ... "the storm" ... some can't sleep upstairs any more when it rains ... some crawl into bed with their parents when the wind blows.
JoAnne and I went up to the local Jr. High School last week to vote and they had a group of posters the children had drawn of "What Katrina meant to them" ... the poster said such things as"I HATE my name!" (Katrina) ... "Katrina destroys homes, families and kills people!" ... "Katrina took my sister away!" ... "Katrina killed my Paw-Paw!". One of our own little black girls (1st Grade - a lovely, bright, beautiful child) cried last week for the first time after loosing her Grandpa. Though he didn't die in the storm, she says it was "because of Katrina" ... they were VERY close and "He was her best friend and used to pull nickles out of her ears!" Sights, sounds, smells and experiences that will probably never be left behind! Indescribably days! Can theLord's return be far behind???
Currently, our needs are small! Finances are in good shape! Useful help is still in the area of finish work ... cabinets ... countertops ... flooring ... trim carpentry ... paint ... some fencing ... and cleanup (raking/earth moving - leveling). We still have some siding (vinyl and hardiboard) to do at the chapel, day care and school as well as a few improvements that we'd like to make while we're at in the process of all of this work anyway. There is still a little brick work, framing and sheet rock work to do on some "outreach" homes we have been involved with. While almost everyone spends an inordinate amount of time being sick and having respiratory problems, the environment is probably now clean enough and facilities available enough for ladies and young people to do some of these things. Once we are more settled, there will be a LOT of work still needing to be done in other "outreach" homes that we can hook up with both locally and in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But we'll have to deal with that when we get enough time and energy back after dealing with our own little corner of the work.
In the end, we are where we are ... THANKS TO EACH ... AND ALL... OF YOU!!!! We are eternally grateful to each of you .. and all of you ... for all that you have contributed to this effort! PRAYER ...Labor ... Materials ... Food ... Clothing ... Supplies ... Funds ... and the list can just go on forever!!!
One final ... real ... current ... issue for your prayer is Teachers and Care Givers at the Chapel's School (Slidell Christian Academy) and Day Care (Lolli-Pop Ranch Christian Pre-School & Day Care) for next year. Primarily as a result of the storm we will be loosing all but one of our teachers (we need 5 total plus me - Kindergarten and Grades 1-8 - Teacher training / certification is NOT necessary) and all but two of our caregivers (we need at least 4-6 total plus JoAnne -formal training / qualifications are NOT necessary) ... these ministries can't carry on without the faithful, committed, godly ladies to serve the Lord in these capacities. So ... if you know of anyone (Solid, faithful, committed, godly Christian lady) who might be interested in such a ministry please have them get in touch with me. We will need them committed to the task before the end of the present school year (May) andwould want them to go to Pensacola Christian College for a week in thesummer for training which we pay for. They can contact me by e-mail (JesusIsTheWay@Juno.com) or phone: Cell (985) 502-8760 / School (985)641-3785 / Chapel (985) 649-1960 / Home (985) 641-4028.
Well, that's about where we stand these days and about all I can fill you in on for now. I'll try to be better in my e-mailing now that we're getting a little bit better settled. The very best of our love and gratitude to all of you that have been going through this with us,
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!
Yes ... we're still alive and well! I'm sorry for so littlecommunication coming out from us. I think you'll get the drift of thereasons as I fill you in on our progress
Beginning with my last e-mail (around Christmas) ... there was a LONG spell with DISCOURAGINGLY little progress! Thus the lack of correspondence from January through February. All of our folks had ordered "stuff" ... flooring ... cabinets ... counter tops ... furniture... etc. etc. etc. And we WAITED ... and WAITED ... and WAITED! The general rule was it took about 10-12 weeks for about anything you wanted to get from the order to your house ... that is if there were NO snags... which seldom happened. To give you a little idea, JoAnne and I ordered our cabinets (Home Depot) on 22-September-05. They came to install them in January and didn't finish due to some wrong cabinets, broken parts and lack of understanding of the design. They have STILL not come back to finish the job 7 MONTHS later ... we are definitely learning patience and how to keep your sense of humor about you! At any rate, about mid-February, the "stuff" began to come in ... not necessarily in the correct (or most desired) sequence ... but it came in! Then everyone became so overwhelmingly busy it was hard to just keep up with the work being done. That stage has continued up to the present. Thus the lack of communication from March through the present. In the mean time, most of the people have gotten back to their jobs which has helped establish a little more "normality" and get some cash flowing ... but the back side is that it has left way less time to work on their homes. Pretty much Saturdays all day and Sunday afternoon has become the work time ... with a little bit each evening if they have the energy for it in their overstressed condition after a long day at work. We have continued to enjoy our communal meals together several times a week ...currently down to Wednesdays and Sundays which serve as a time of good fellowship and GREAT encouragement to each one!
While all of this was going on, we were able to get 3 of the 5 worst damaged families into new permanent replacement housing. Melanie and her son Kyle, got into a new apartment. Joseph & Julie and their Daughter Becky were able to fix up and then sell their flooded home while they continued to live in their FEMA trailer at the Chapel and look for another (undamaged) home. Just a few weeks ago they found a nice (fixer-uper) home that had suffered little or no damage and made the couple an offer (as is) which was accepted! They closed on the new home 2 weeks ago. Many of the chapel folks are there right now painting it for them. They LOVED the way the old one had been fixed, but were concerned about the mold etc. as well as the dirt and filth in the neighborhood because of their Daughters asthma. You can imagine spending 6 months working to get the old home just the way you wanted it only to sell it and start all over again. UGH! Discouraging ... but they felt necessary! At any rate, the new home is wonderful and after they get it painted and fixed up it will be even better than the old one ... it will just take a little time and TLC. The third family, Rob & Mary, were able to purchase a new home. They purchased it from a single lady who gave them occupancy immediately in trade for allowing her to live in their camper in her mothers driveway in New Orleans ... a great deal for both parties! The deal on the home closed last Friday so Rob & Mary are now (thankfully / appreciatively - Praise the Lord) living in their very first, very own (un flooded / undamaged) home ... they are THRILLED to say the least. Before the storm, they owned a mobile home which was lost along with nearly everything they owned in the storm ... now they own their first house! Praise the Lord (Jehovah-Jirah) for His goodness!
Next, I guess, would be the Chapel facility. It is nearly back together. We still have a number of work projects to complete on it, but it is very close. We are using it daily (School & Day Care) and are back to (nearly) our normal schedule. We have still not begun the Nursing Home Gospel Meetings on Sunday Afternoon due to that being one of the few times people can work on their homes. The "normal" meetings do run long however (Worship nearly 1 1/2 hours (taking up much of the coffee breaktime) and Prayer Meeting between 2 & 2 1/2 hours) for which we are thankful ... the meetings have never been as good! I don't think the spiritual health of the meeting and it's people has ever been better either. Next, I guess, is probably Sharon & Lee's home (the one with the"This pile of stiff is not our life" sign) and Our home which are about at the same stage. We're actually sleeping in them! Praise the Lord!!! Though they are not finished yet, they are getting very close. Both are waiting on counter tops and those things that mount on the counter tops... like sinks, cook tops, etc. ... things like that. But ... Praise theLord for how far we've come and we are INCREDIBLY thankful to be "living"(at least to some degree) in our own homes again! We've even housed visitors in it for a couple of nights when they came to help us!
As far as we can tell, the homes are in good shape with no mold or smell noticeable that we can sense as yet! While we wait, we are working on paint, trim, cleaning up debris and rubble in the yards, putting away things from the boxes and piles they were temporarily put in after the storm. As we do, everything has to be cleaned and inspected to make sure they are clean and safe to keep. A couple of weeks ago, we found a collection of old clothing in a cedar chest in the front hall that had been covered with tools and repair parts so that we couldn't get to it. The clothes inside the chest were STILL wet from the storm! The "wad"was alive with yuck that we were hesitant to even touch ... it was quickly dispatched to the trash and the cedar chest got a good bleaching and cleaning and then sat outside for 2 weeks while we watched (and smelled) it ... so ... pray for no more "hidden treasures"!
Sharon & Leewere able to return their camper to it's owner ... grateful to both have had it ... and also to no longer need it! Our faithful camper is still in the front yard and is now being utilized by our #3 daughter, Tina ...so we're still VERY thankful to have it! Campers were NEVER meant to belived in full time for such extended periods and we are amazed at how well they have held up and thankful that the Lord provided them when He did ... at one point we had 10 campers at the Chapel and 3 more in other locations! There are STILL MANY people living in tents here in Slidell and all along the Gulf Coast from the French Quarter all the way to Pascagoula, MS (nearly Mobile, AL). The next home would be Mike & Ruth's home ... early in the process, they had opted to have much of their work done by contractors. Consequently their work has gone very slowly and their home is considerably farther behind.
Two weeks ago, we decided that we needed to supplement their paid work with our volunteers and so, for the past two weeks we have been trying to get their house painted and moved ahead a little more with our volunteer helpers. They are now nearly all painted and the cabinets went in this past week ... so they are once again moving ahead and a little more encouraged! PTL!! One ofthe great dangers in this whole thing is the battle that everyone has with discouragement ... a very formidable foe!!! He's an ever present foe who raises his ugly head often when least expected ... and always when least needed! Consequently, it is SO important to see at least some progress week by week in each families life! Thankfully, for the most part, we have been able to see that in most cases!!!
Mike & Yee andtheir 2 children's home in New Orleans East is the last on the list and the farthest behind with very little progress made. It continues to sit... and sit ... and sit!!! Currently, we are waiting on the New Orleans government to come up with a "flood plan" that will determine whether they will allow the home to be rebuilt. The walls have been stripped and gutted and so the house is sitting airing / drying out ... this is good since it sat under water for nearly 8 weeks! Once we get some direction from the government we can make a LOT of decisions as to what to do next... demolish / rebuild / sell as is / move / ?????. In the mean time, they are living in a FEMA trailer. Well, that's the current status and about where we are today!
We currently have 2 volunteers with us (all from Wisconsin) ... Josiah (quit his job to come and help us in September and stayed) and his new (3 weeks) fiance Jen who has been with us for about 2 months working with the Day Care, and Amos (quit his job to come and help us about 2 months ago). To illustrate how the hand of God has moved behind the scenes in all of this, about 2 months ago we began coming up with electrical problems ... and there are NO electricians available! Enter Amos ... who worked as an electrician at home in Wisconsin and quit his job to come and help! Is that not the hand of the Lord looking into walls ahead of time and bringing in JUST the people that HE knows will be needed ... and having them here just when we needed them. If he runs up against something that he can't figure out, he calls his friend at homewho he worked for (thank you friend!) and gets some technical advice and the project moves ahead!
Praise the Lord for ALL of our volunteers (over160 at this point) that have sensed the Lord's leading and come JUST atthe right times to help people who have been TOTALLY helpless in and of themselves! And Praise the Lord for ALL of the rest of you who couldn't come... but PRAYED ... and the God of all Glory moved in response to your prayer and brought these people in! It's been an AMAZING thing to watch! As the songwriter wrote: "We stand amazed in the presence, of Jesus the Nazarene! And wonder how he could love us ... sinners, condemned and unclean!" How true! The Nogueras family has completed their move to the area from Long Island, are settling into their new home and quickly becoming a key part in the local meeting! Gail fits in great with the ladies and keeps busy home schooling her 5 children and trying to make sense out of the boxes and piles associated with any move ... and trying to convert them into a "nest" for the family! John has fit in well with the men at the meeting and keeps very busy (and I think fairly successful) at getting his construction / remodeling business set up and operating in a new environment and culture. In their "spare time" the children are quickly making friends and shuttle back and forth with their new found playmates. It's quite an adventure for all of our children to visit their friends in their "new" homes ... and it's hard to beat a"sleep-over" in a FEMA trailer!!! One of the families we're reaching out to has a big enough extended family to have 3 FEMA trailers in their front yard ...WOW!!!! Another - A fireman's family from the (now infamous I guess) Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans lives in their FEMA trailer at the (destroyed) fire house with the other firemen's families... what's REALLY COOL for their little girl is going with Mom to the"Laundry Trailer" ... a FEMA trailer set up with washers and dryers for all the firemen's families to use there at the fire house! Such are the new ways of life these days here in South Louisiana!!! The other side for the children is the constant fear of ... "the storm" ... some can't sleep upstairs any more when it rains ... some crawl into bed with their parents when the wind blows.
JoAnne and I went up to the local Jr. High School last week to vote and they had a group of posters the children had drawn of "What Katrina meant to them" ... the poster said such things as"I HATE my name!" (Katrina) ... "Katrina destroys homes, families and kills people!" ... "Katrina took my sister away!" ... "Katrina killed my Paw-Paw!". One of our own little black girls (1st Grade - a lovely, bright, beautiful child) cried last week for the first time after loosing her Grandpa. Though he didn't die in the storm, she says it was "because of Katrina" ... they were VERY close and "He was her best friend and used to pull nickles out of her ears!" Sights, sounds, smells and experiences that will probably never be left behind! Indescribably days! Can theLord's return be far behind???
Currently, our needs are small! Finances are in good shape! Useful help is still in the area of finish work ... cabinets ... countertops ... flooring ... trim carpentry ... paint ... some fencing ... and cleanup (raking/earth moving - leveling). We still have some siding (vinyl and hardiboard) to do at the chapel, day care and school as well as a few improvements that we'd like to make while we're at in the process of all of this work anyway. There is still a little brick work, framing and sheet rock work to do on some "outreach" homes we have been involved with. While almost everyone spends an inordinate amount of time being sick and having respiratory problems, the environment is probably now clean enough and facilities available enough for ladies and young people to do some of these things. Once we are more settled, there will be a LOT of work still needing to be done in other "outreach" homes that we can hook up with both locally and in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But we'll have to deal with that when we get enough time and energy back after dealing with our own little corner of the work.
In the end, we are where we are ... THANKS TO EACH ... AND ALL... OF YOU!!!! We are eternally grateful to each of you .. and all of you ... for all that you have contributed to this effort! PRAYER ...Labor ... Materials ... Food ... Clothing ... Supplies ... Funds ... and the list can just go on forever!!!
One final ... real ... current ... issue for your prayer is Teachers and Care Givers at the Chapel's School (Slidell Christian Academy) and Day Care (Lolli-Pop Ranch Christian Pre-School & Day Care) for next year. Primarily as a result of the storm we will be loosing all but one of our teachers (we need 5 total plus me - Kindergarten and Grades 1-8 - Teacher training / certification is NOT necessary) and all but two of our caregivers (we need at least 4-6 total plus JoAnne -formal training / qualifications are NOT necessary) ... these ministries can't carry on without the faithful, committed, godly ladies to serve the Lord in these capacities. So ... if you know of anyone (Solid, faithful, committed, godly Christian lady) who might be interested in such a ministry please have them get in touch with me. We will need them committed to the task before the end of the present school year (May) andwould want them to go to Pensacola Christian College for a week in thesummer for training which we pay for. They can contact me by e-mail (JesusIsTheWay@Juno.com) or phone: Cell (985) 502-8760 / School (985)641-3785 / Chapel (985) 649-1960 / Home (985) 641-4028.
Well, that's about where we stand these days and about all I can fill you in on for now. I'll try to be better in my e-mailing now that we're getting a little bit better settled. The very best of our love and gratitude to all of you that have been going through this with us,
Our very special love in Christ,
Bob & JoAnne Brown
Slidell, Louisiana
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