New Orleans Recap

First of all, Thank You to everyone who prayed for the seven of us while we were in New Orleans. It was an amazing trip and we had little, if any, delays, complications, or set-backs.

The duration of our trip was Monday, July 7th - Saturday, July 12th, 2008. We left Parker Road Bible Church at about 5:30 a.m. and spent about 15.5 hours crammed into one mini van. No matter, it saved us a lot of money on travel expenses and watching 5 movies seemed to take our minds off of the fact that we didn't have much room to spread out. We stayed at Berean Bible Church while we were in New Orleans. There was another group from Maine staying there as well. We pretty much spent the first night getting settled and picking up supplies from Wal-Mart.

Day 1, Tuesday, July 8th:

- The home were supposed to work on was unavailable since the homeowner (Gloria) was not ready for us.

- We got reassigned to Buddy and Debbie's homes (the Berean's youth pastor's father and step-mother).

- Did some sanding, painting, and iron work at Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Joined the Maine group for Jambalaya for dinner... a New Orleans favorite.

- Sat in on an evening devotional with the group from Maine.

- Tried pickled pig lips (which we didn't know until after we sampled the offered New Orleans "treat" offered by the Maine leaders).

- Did another evening Wal-Mart run.

Day 2, Wednesday, July 9th:

- Worked on Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Did more sanding and iron work, as well as restoring wood work.

- Cooked burgers on the grill.

- Did a Walgreens run and picked up a greeting card and an Applebee's gift card for Buddy and Debbie.

- Got Frosties from Wendy's.

Day 3, Thursday, July 10th:

- Stopped at Lowes to pick up a supplies and a gift card for Buddy and Debbie.

- Worked on Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Did more sanding and iron work, as well as restoring wood work.

- Dr. Counts and I drove to a local hospital to meet Gloria at work.

- Gloria signed paper work and we were officially set to work on her home.

- Melissa took us on a tour of the Levy and the 9th Ward.

- Spent some time at the French Quarter.

- Everyone had alligator as an appitizer.

- I had BBQ Shrimp for dinner... ones that I had to pull apart myself.

- Had Beignets (square doughnuts) for dessert.

Day 4, Friday, July 11th:

- Worked on Gloria's home.

- Painted the interior of her garage.

- Restored and painted burgler bars.

- Handed out flyers to the neighborhood for Berean's VBS. The one house my dad had someone answer the door the dog got out and he spent much of his time chasing down the dog with the owner.

- Did our last evening Wal-Mart run.

We left New Orleans at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The trip took about 15 hours and we hit some nasty weather on our way back. We even got through another 5 movies! When we arrived at church we were amazed at how much cooler it felt! We don't miss the humidity at all.

If you want to see more pictures be sure to check my Facebook profile (if we're friends).