Ever Thankful

I am thankful beyond words for all that God has given me. This Thanksgiving Day was filled with many emotions with joy being at the top of the list. As you view the images on this entry you will see work being done on a trailer which happened a couple of days before Thanksgiving. My thankfulness is for the people who are doing the work... Susan has the drill in her hand replacing the bolts on the shower trailer. She has become like family to me over the years. she and her husband Monty and I have spent over two years together since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Now that another storm has brought us together we intend on serving our call from God in the every way we can.

Another couple in a photo who are dear to my heart are Gregg and Pam from South Dakota who have been here for a month. While they were here they helped with many projects and were able to be here while the team from my home church were here. they had worked with 3 of them on a Speed Build (building a house in 6 days) in Mississippi last October. Gregg and Pam were suppose to leave on Weds to spend Thanksgiving with her two brothers in Dallas but when we did an outreach on Tuesday to the people in Galveston and saw the need for people to have meals they opened their hearts and said they wanted to be part of another food outreach on Thanksgiving Day.

The planning began..... On Weds we went to Sam's Club and bought all the things we needed to feed 350 meals. There was ham and buns for 700 sandwiches, pasta for 350 salads, 17 spice cakes for 350 pieces and chips for each plate. The picture shown is a sample of what we served. We planned to pack it all very neatly in brown bags so it would be easily served to anyone who stopped by. The day was spent cooking pasta to make the salad, building sandwiched, filling the bags, and creatively packing the slices of cake. It took about 7 hours once we returned to the church to prepare what we could and on the morning of Thanksgiving we finished filling the bags and packed the van and trailer.

As we drove to Galveston and parked at the selected spot it was only seconds and people were there for meals. In fact, some of the men there began helping us set up and stayed to the end handing out food and water to anyone who stopped. For a while we thought that we were working the drive-thru at a fast food place. All the people needed to do was drive up and the men that were helping us ran to there cars to bless the families. It was amazing. What a great way to reach out on Thanksgiving Day! We loved it! In less than one and one half hours all the meals were given out and as we were leaving Galveston we stopped at the police station to drop off a tray of pasta salad and several sandwiches. They need the blessing as well!

It was about 1:15 when Gregg and Pam pulled away to head back to SD. There is a very large whole in the parking lot now with their camper gone but it does not compare to missing them. They are such awesome friends that I am so thankful for.

The other emptiness was when I spoke to all of my girls, their special friends and my grandchildren. I miss them all so much and hope that I will be able to get home for a bit for Christmas. I am thankful that God helped me through the feeling of loneliness.

One last thing... once again I am thankful that my mother has successfully gone through another lung tap. She went in the day following Thanksgiving and breezed through the procedure. She is back home, resting well!

I am ever thankful to god for all that I am blessed with!

A Picture is Worth More Than Words

This is just a glimpse of what this past week was like... The 44 Relief Workers from all over the country moved mountains of trash. We worked at 24 different sites and were able to complete all but two of them. One still has a bathroom to be gutted and dear Marie has to be helped to sift through her belonging before we can get to the home structure needs.

Mercy Response Outreach has made a huge connection with the city of Galveston this week. If it were not for my home church out reach of OAKS this connection may not have knitted us together in the same way. God certainly had his plan and is remaining to work in us and many other churches and organizations.

I remain thankful for the call that He has placed on me to be able to come along side the less fortunate and lift them up in hope of a better day!

I am thankful for the team from my home church to have made the trip and to close the gap that is is my heart. I miss my family so when church family comes it is such a huge blessing to feel the closeness.

Thank you to the other teams from IN, CO, SD, NY, and FL you are now all family as well... Be Blessed in all that is ahead of you and know that you are in our prayers.

Emotions Take Over

Twenty eight people were sent out to two jobs today. Nineteen went into Miss Ninfa's home to continue where the team from Sturday left off. There were a couple of layers of sheet rock over boards that needed to also be taken off. As I mentioned yesterday, this homes' history covered 5 generations. When Miss Ninfa stopped by at about 11a.m., stepped into her home, saw through her studded walss and immediately was overwhelmed with emotion. She stepped out and I tried to comfort her with love after a very short while she walked to her car, I thought to get tissues to wipe her tears, she got in and drove away sobbing. It was very hard watching her and knowing that her grieving came to the surface. I prayed for her as she turned the corner, asked God to take away her pain. I knew he would answer. I moved on to another job to check on the progress. It was about an hour later when that team called for more supplies and I asked if Miss Ninfa happened to come back. She had and was helping the team pull nails... God is so good. I am sure that it will take a long time for her to end the grieving, but God helped her take a giant step today! Thanks to the teams from SD, WI, CO, IN and TX.

There will a team spending a few more hours there tomorrow to finish up but that does not end our connection with her. We hope to assist her with moving forward to rebuild.

The other job today was done by another team from CO. They were assisting the Pastor of the Vineyard Church Plant in Galveston complete the tile stipping, panelling removal and some sheet rock removal in the fellowship hall of the church. They worked non-stop doing very hard work. They came back to dinner knowing that they made a difference for not only the Pastor but for all the members of his church.

We all shared dinner and fellowship. we also had a birthday in the group. Tiffany from IN said that it was one of her most memorable birthdays. What a great way to spend a special day....serving the Lord!

A Very Busy Day & Night

The teams from GA and TX went out today on a mission! The GA team was split in three ways, I took one of them to a home on the water where the home was damaged to the point that the owner is looking at a long rebuild. His yard was covered with not only his things but the path of the storm brought in most of his neighbor's things as well. We focused on the twisted cyclone fence and removing a washing machine that was wedged in a hole near his house. The plan was to send an additional team to clean up the rest of the yard next week but as it turned out one of the projects was completed early so the entire GA Team went back to the property in the afternoon and blessed the owner and included most of the neighbor's yard as well. this couple both work for UTMB and it was announced that 3500 jobs at this medical complex will be losing their jobs due to the damage that occurred to the complex. Most of the people who work there have also lost their homes. Imagine that!

The other homes that GA helped with went very well. They were able to finish gutting out the apartment that they worked on yesterday and help a grandmother pull up some carpet, some insulation, some wet walls. Miss Susan had been given full custody of her 14 and 9 year old grandchildren. They have been helping her gut out the house but it just got to be very overwhelming she simply needed to be blessed with helping hands.

The 5 people form TX and 3 others from another GA team went to Miss Ninfa's home to find out that nearly everything needed to come out of her home. The water level was 7 feet in her 5th generation family home. The pile on the street was already incredible but the team kept adding more. Within an hour one of the contracted removal teams drove up and began loading it up in their trash trucks. This hose has so many drawers still filled with water, the appliances needed to come out and if you have ever done removal of a refrigerator that has not been opened for weeks without the electricity running to it and it was full of food... look out! It gets duck taped shut so there is not a chance for it to open but the stench is still unbearable even for the strongest of stomachs. Many people have lost lunch over this. The walls in this home were painted over drywall, the next layer was wallpaper over another layer of drywall and not it's down to a layer of tongue and groove and who knows... on Monday we may find another layer of drywall before we get to the insulation and finally the studs. This was just one room but time ran out for the day.

Even with all of that going on each and every member of all the teams were moved in such a way that they were brought to tears. What a great God we serve!

The three men from GA pulled out at about 3:00 to get to their flight. As dinner was being prepared I needed to pick up a couple people from the airport, friends from my home church. it is always good to see home church people!!!! The rest of the home church team who were driving had reached Arkansas by this time so they expected to arrive at about 2a.m. The other GA teams' plan was to leave at about 4a.m. so needless to say I was in for a busy night. CTR Team from home made it in at about 3:15a.m. so with the GA team leaving within an hour... I have been up since. It is now about 5:30 so it's time to start the day. Sunday mornings, there are no cooking staff so I will be getting breakfast prepared for 8:00.

I know that I will be blessed with another great day so I am giving praise to God for all that has happened and will happen.
The 3 Men

Bringing Down The Walls And Limbs

The 2 teams from Georgia, along with local church ladies and Gregg and Pam from SD we were able to nearly complete gutting out two homes and trim some limbs at another home. The day flew by with all the energy spent on pulling drywall, floors, cabinets and several walls of blown in insulation. Pam and Gregg have always been on the building end of projects so with this being their first tear out... They had a great time. As we talked on the way back to the church it was mentioned that it doesn't take much planning or the precise measuring of materials to tear the walls down. Next week we will have several others that they will be able to participate in.

The second location that the teams went to was part of an apartment complex. There were two apartments that needed to be cleaned out and the drywall stripped out. The team from GA and TX worked very hard to get it done... it will only take a couple hours tomorrow and it will be all finished. Mary, the owner, is feeling extremely blessed by all they have been able to accomplish. It is so great to be a part of this ministry that truly are the hands and feet of God! Loving what we do it a joy beyond explanation!

Blessings to you all!

Finishing Touches to Mable's House

It won't be long now... the tile was laid in the bathrooms and the kitchen today. One of the bedrooms is about two thirds finished with laminate, the living room floor was prepped so the laminate can be laid tomorrow in it and the master bedroom. there are two bedrooms that will have carpet installed. The family room floor is also going to be worked on tomorrow using glue down laminate.

As you can see from the photos the trim was all painted today as well. If all goes as planned the doors will be installed on Thursday and the trim will be ready for the guys to hang along with the doors. Who knows, if the electrician and the plumber can fit it in their schedule it may be ready for Mable to come home. I wish she had not have had to move so far away, it would have been great to meet her. I know she will be excited.

Gregg, Pam and I, along with their dog Cooper, will be heading for Galveston at about 8am. We have a big week in store for us next week so a lot of planning needs to happen. The teams from several states start arriving on Saturday. It will be great reaching out to help the community.

Your prayers are always appreciated.

A Parents' Dreaded Phone Call

The snow storm that happened in the Dakotas over the weekend was surely the cause of many accidents but the picture you see above involved the son of Pam Stern. She and Gregg are here in Kenner, LA helping finish the last two homes for the camp. On Friday Pam got that dreaded call from her son Kyle that he had been in an accident. He and 5 other students from the Bible College they attend were on their way to a conference and the driver came upon some black ice. The van flipped over and rolled down the embankment ejecting all the passengers who were not wearing seat belts. Three were and three weren't. Kyle was in the front seat and just minutes before the accident he decided to buckle up. According to Pam she is forever needing to tell him to use his seat belt. It's amazing how we hear from God sometimes, Kyle is sure that he would not have been so lucky if he had not used his belt. He is bruised but doing very well.

Praise and prayer are both in order. Praise God for all of them being alive and prayer for all of them. Each of them have injuries, some more intense then others.

Atlanta Team Makes a Difference

The week went by quickly with the help from half of the team from Atlanta and Pam from South Dakota. In a total of five days we were able to pick up from the weekend crew to finish the first coat of mud and begin the not so pleasant job of sanding... I know of no one who likes that part of the building process. One thing that helped was that there was little to no humidity unlike the case when I was here in 2007. It seamed like forever but in truth, it took only a little more than two days doing the sanding part of the job. Once the texturing began it was totally up hill(in a good way) from there. The coat of primer was sprayed on and with adding just an hour and a half to the last day the job was complete. On Monday the paint will be applied and we are on to the flooring, trim, doors and cabinets....Guess what then!!! Mable will be able to move back home soon!

Martha, Mabel's daughter didn't have a chance to stop by the house since Monday and I surely would like to be a fly on the wall to see her expression when she opens the door, hopefully this weekend, and sees the progress. I know she is going to be thrilled and that's what this is all about...giving hope back to the family to have a place where Mom is and the family can gather again. What a blessing it will be if we can have this all ready for them to celebrate Thanksgiving Day!

Prayer Request...
The week was so busy that when I was adding to the blog I didn't think at the time to ask for prayer for my mother. She was once again in the hospital with fluid on her one lung. She has congestive heart failure so once again she needed some added care and prayers. This was the fourth visit to the hospital this year, even at 90 she is fully aware of what is going on in her body and called my sister to bring her in. She spent a 2 1/2 days in the hospital and is now back home under the care of family. That is the greatest thing about our family size...someone is always there to help my parents. Dad is 87 and was in the hospital once this year as well.
Please add them to your prayer list. I know that there lives are with God and that speaks for itself... Thank you!