Prayers still needed

This is the update from Davis's mom, Lona.

Hello everyone! Davis is stable tonight and his blood gases have all been pretty good since the incidents. He has a hyperinflated lung, which means that his lung is over inflated. There are lots of things that can cause a lung to hyperinflate, but it can cause lots of problems, so they are focused on getting his lung to come back to it's normal size. Dr. Thomas came in to see Davis this morning, and we missed him because we overslept (we hadn't slept in like 2 days!) but he discussed what he wants to try to help Davis's hyperinflated lung. He wants to paralyze Davis for 24 hours to see if the vent can clear the excess air. He is getting pavulon every hour or so to keep him paralyzed and still getting sedation to keep him calm and sleeping. They are watching everything very carefully and he is with Leslie tonight. His fluid is coming off a bit now that his chloride is around 98 so the lasix is working again finally. His secretions are thinning out so hopefully that means that the pseudomonas is clearing up some. Right now, he is on TPN and IV fluids because they don't want to restart his feeds just yet. His blood gases tonight was 7.45 with a co2 of 42.5 which is awesome, but of course the pavulon doesn't allow him to have any control over his lungs so the vent can do it's job. He is still pretty critical guys.... we came very close the other day, but we made it through. We will make it through this, one day at a time. As for the next few days, Gustav is looking to pay a visit right up our bums. For all my out of town friends who read the page, the track tonight has it pointing right at us, hopefully the track keeps shifting because we DO NOT need another major hurricane around here. As of now, the plan is for Jared to stay at home to protect the property and kitty cats and I will go stay with Davis in Baton Rouge. We will have to plan carefully because trying to get to Baton Rouge won't be easy with evacuations. I'll keep everyone posted... good night all....

I would also ask that ya'll pray for one of my youth kids. He is only 11 and has expressed the desire to kill himself. He is now in a mental healthcare facility. This young man has just recently started attending youth (just barely old enough). He lost both of his granparents this year (within 3 months of one another). They were his stability. His father is an alcoholic and losing his parents has sent him into a tailspin. His mom is not very stable either. I pray that this young man will receive the help he needs!

PRAYERS NEEDED

This is a heading we see fairly regularly on the DIBBS. It's an instant call to action for all the prayer warriors on the board. For the last couple of days we have been praying for Gustav to die a quick tropical storm death. It seems wrong to pray him away from DI, when that does send him into the path of others. Where ever he goes we hope it is far away from our little strip of sand in south Alabama.

More importantly I am asking any of you that are not already on my email list to please pray for Baby Davis. He was born on Feb. 28 (Brett's birthday) and only weighed 3 lbs 6.6 ozs. His mom is a regular on the DIBBS, and we have all "adopted" this little family. His mom's name is Lona and his dad is Jared. They have been through so much over the last 5 months, including heart surgery. Davis was doing much better and had even started back drinking breast milk, but over the last few days he has taken a drastic turn for the worst. His mom, usually updates us every day, and we had only a brief update over 24 hours ago. At that point his little heart had stopped twice and they had to bring him back.


Just look at that million dollar smile, we are claiming a victory for this baby. One of the strongest prayer warriors I know (Ms. Roberta) prayed this prayer with us yesterday.

Father, I lift little Davis up to you and ask that you touch him with your healing hand and heal him from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Please send your ministering angels to minister health to him constantly. I speak life to him and not death. I speak good health over him. I also ask that you help Lona and Jared through this difficult time. Give them strength and peace in Jesus name. Amen and Amen!

Please join me in praying for this family.

(and it wouldn't hurt to ask that Gustav lose strength and go away). Unfortunately, Davis' family lives in LA and could be affected by this storm.

I also forgot to mention that we had heard that Lona's dad is also in the hospital.
So please lift them all up!

Forgiveness

Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Last week a wrote about the man that "went off" on me. I was hurt and I was actually even scared. Each morning we gather in our office to pray. We pray for our customers, their businesses, our business and our own personal prayer concerns. I've been praying for this man. Today, God spoke to me again. I was in the front office helping Kimberly when I saw a car drive up. A young man I didn't recognize got out. Very pleasant looking, I started to ask Kimberly if she knew him, but was then distracted back to her question. I felt the presence of someone at the door and looked up as the young man entered the room. He looked around with a lost look in his eye, "Kim?" he questioned as he looked at each of us. I said, I'm Kim. He said, I'm Charlie. I didn't even feel scared after all the anxiousness last week. The girl's on the other hand, didn't know what to do. The phone rang, so I started to take him into the hallway. But the expression on Ashley's face, made me change directions and take him to my office.

I still did not know exactly what he wanted, but I recognized that this was a young man that was hurting. He looked at me very sincerely and apologized. I took his hand and shook it, and told him that I accepted his apology and that it took a big man to admit he was wrong. He had tears in his eyes and he continued to apologize. I patted his hand and repeated that I forgave him. I wanted to hug him but felt that would be inappropriate. He looked so young and vulnerable. I'm sure he is at least in his late 20's but he looks younger. About that time, he grabbed me and hugged me, so I hugged him back. I then felt that I needed to share with him that I had been praying for him. I'm not sure that he really heard me. I did tell him that he had really scared me and that I was so thankful that he had come to apologize. Unfortunately, I could tell that he is very troubled. I will continue to pray for him and ask that you pray for him as well.

That brings me back to forgiveness. Sometimes it is so easy to forgive a stranger, and we find it much harder to forgive our close friends and family. The person I have the hardest time forgiving is myself.

I urge you if you are harboring resentment, hurt feelings, old grudges, whatever it might be, let it go. Forgive the person, forgive yourself and ask God to forgive them and to forgive you. I wish I could say, I did that today and I'm free. Unfortunately I can't, I can say that I forgave Charlie today and that did lighten one of my burdens today. Maybe it's just the small things that bring us down but as we let those go, we will become lighter and lighter.

Ashley, my former co-worker, sent me a very exciting email today. She had asked that we pray for her path to be made clear to go into the ministry. Today, she told us that someone has committed to paying her for the next 3 months so she can pursue God's calling on her life. She wrote something in an email to me today that really made me think:

We are all brothers and sisters. If one of your siblings messes up it's not like they become any less related to you.
God's been changing my heart to be willing to stand on behalf of people that won't stand themselves.
It's the hardest thing, to care more about someone then they care about themselves. But through it the Lord is taking me deeper into His heart, and literally my heart begins to ache when I see someone bound by shame and guilt.

Let's just get over the fact that we sinned and look at Jesus. Because He's trying to get our attention so He can tell us the truth... that we're dark, yet lovely, and we're clean by the blood of the lamb and have been then adopted into the Kingdom as sons and daughters. We're more than conquerers, and we were made for glory.

We can't, through bad works, lose what we could never gain through good works.
It's for by grace we have been saved.

Anyway, Wow. I'll just keep going if I don't stop me.

I love that! WE WERE MADE FOR GLORY!!! Can I get a hallejah or an amen??? I also love that we can't through bad works, lose what we could never gain through good works. That's right no matter what, we aren't good enough but by Jesus's Grace we are saved.

What makes life worth living?

When I was in High School, way back long ago. I was a journalism "jock", at least that's what we called ourselves. Becky finds it so easy to admit in her blog that she is a nerd. I find that very difficult, although I'm starting to possibly entertain the idea that I wasn't the coolest chick at school. I was the feature editor for the newspaper and the sports editor of the yearbook (perhaps that's why I turned out to be a Rowdy Mom). Hey, I still think I'm pretty cool.

I loved to write hard hitting stories (like the one I wrote about Arkansas Nuclear One) but I also loved "fluff" stories. One of my favs, was "What makes life worth living?" Pretty heady stuff for a bunch of teens. I can't remember all the responses but Karla's were my favorite "kisses in the rain" and "tootsie rolls".

It's been kind of a weird day, and I guess that's what got me on this subject. I started out the day a little bummed. I will not be heading to Dauphin Island until June. There are just too many things standing in the way of the October trip. I've known in my heart for a while, but just couldn't face it. We've had too much turnover at work, and I just don't have a good comfort level being that far away. Along with spending 18 hours in a car for a 72 hour trip. Just not logical. I wanted to be fair to the person I was renting my house from, so they would have a chance to rent it, I emailed yesterday stating I might not be able to come. He was very gracious and told me he didn't think he would have any trouble renting it. (In one way I was somewhat hoping that he would tell me that I couldn't get out of my obligation. His graciousness further showed me that I was making the right decision.) Anyways, later in the morning I received a call from a customer that runs a conference center. (I had inquired with her if she might have something available for that weekend in October, so that Dale and I could still get away.) Not only did she have a spot for us, but her boss insisted that they "comp" it.

Knowing that I was going to Dauphin Island in October was one of the things that made life worth living over the last few months. Just when that dream was gone, God placed a new one. Dale & I have many fond memories of Petit Jean, and it is beautiful there in October. When we were first together, we had a wonderful escape to Petit Jean one Sunday afternoon. We had a picnic, and just "explored", it's still one of my favorite days EVER! Now we get the chance to make new memories.

No, it's not DI and I'll miss out on meeting a lot of my friends, but I'm still thankful that we will at least be able to get away for the weekend.

I'm back to asking myself what makes life worth living..........

Snuggling up to Dale each night as I go to sleep.

Hearing Brett's voice on the other end of the phone saying, "Hello, beautiful mother of mine"

Hugs from any and all of my "kids"

Having someone new ask if they can call me "Aunt Kim"

Hearing my nearly 21 year old Godson call me "Aunt Kim"


Waiting for the day that Eva Kate will call me "Aunt Kim"

EVA KATE


The hope of granchildren (in the future!!!)

Peanut M&M's

Popeye's Chicken

Duane's Brisket

Karla cookies (basically anything baked by Karla)

Sunrise

Listening to Tri-Chord

Sunset

Dauphin Island

The knowledge that as wonderful as this earth is, Heaven is unimaginably better!

The further knowledge that one day I'll get to see it for myself.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

My baby boy came home this weekend to surprise me. I'm not sure who was happier! Okay, it was me. Amazing that it feels like it has been a lot more than a week!

Oh well, I'm just bursting with happiness!

Hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend! Wow, I used a lot of exclamation points in this post!

Healthy

It has recently come to my attention that I've gotten entirely too serious. Serious is just not healthy. I try to be healthy when I can. (Already those that know me are laughing.)

Trust me, I know what is healthy and what is not healthy. While I know that broccoli, bean sprouts and tofu are healthy. I also know that chicken fried steak, biscuits & gravy, and bacon are not healthy. Unfortunately when it comes to food, I almost always pick unhealthy. Sorry Yaya, but it's just the way I was raised.

My mama, my memee, my other momma Shirley, and my grandmommy are all good southern women. They taught me how to cook and I learned well! (Just ask Brett & Dale!) You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again. It's all about the pork fat for us southern cooks. Who could eat turnip greens without some bacon or ham in them? Seriously?

Of course, my memee was the best cook of them all. Chicken 'n dumplins, coconut cream pie and homemade mashed potatoes. That's what I got every year on my birthday, what I wouldn't give to have her cook me another meal. Oh wait, that sounded serious, and I'm not being serious today. I'll tell a little story about memee, that would probably make her mad, but then again, I know she would forgive me. (Don't tell my cousins, but I was always her favorite.) Memee had altzheimers which is a horrific disease, so all you can do to survive is learn to laugh. Her last two years, my uncle and I had to laugh a lot (it kept us from crying).

Here's the picture, it's Thanksgiving, and memee has always made the dressing. The year before, she had decided that I needed to help because she recognized that her health was fading. So I was all set to make the dressing again. She had forgotten about my new dressing skills, and all but ran me out of the kitchen. I came back through and realized that she was very methodically cutting up all the chicken fat into the dressing. (This is a whole other story but my papa never liked Turkey, so we had to have a hen on Thanksgiving.) Anyway, she had one eye that bothered her so she had it closed, just chopping away on that fat into what I considered "my" dressing with only one eye open. I lost it, (this was before I had learned to tactfully distract her with another project, and "fix" whatever she was doing wrong") and screamed "What are you doing?" Well, I instantly felt bad, and she instantly got defensive. Deep down, I know she knew she was wrong but she wasn't about to admit it to me. I got the "Fine, then do it yourself", and she turned her attention to the strawberry cake (another one of her specialities).

She baked the fluffiest best Angel food cakes I've ever tasted. In the summer she would put up strawberries so that we could have them for this special cake. She would cut the Angel cake into three or four layers. Gently poke a few holes in the bottom layer, pour on the strawberries with all that good juice, layer on some "homemade" dream whip, then put on the next layer and do the same, and again. When finished it was just a oozing with strawberries and dream whip, I can almost taste it now.

Back to the story. She got her cake and slung it out on the bar. Grabbed a HUGE butcher knife. (At this point I was a little worried because she looked like she wanted to use it on me). She cut that cake into it's layers. Notice earlier I talked about her gently poking a few holes. That didn't happen with this cake, she had both hands on the hilt of that knife and started to massacre that cake (again with one eye closed). About that time Dale came in, and he about lost it. He feared she was going to miss the cake and stab herself. He looked at me, I shook my head and he quietly left the kitchen. (He is after all a pretty smart guy, he married me.) To this day, he still calls it her "One eyed ginsu" technique for strawberry cake. Needless to say the meal turned out fine, and the cake tasted good even if it did look pretty mutiliated. That was one of the last Thanksgivings that we celebrated with the whole family.

I know that it's not gonna be long until I'll have a grand-daughter that will roll her eyes at the crazy things I do in the kitchen. (My son, is already pretty good with the eye-rolling.) Brett loved to help his grandma's and great-grandma's when he was little. He's already a great cook. He's even won the church chili cook-off 2 years and finished as the "favorite" this past year. I can't wait to train the next generation of good southern cooks. We won't use "lard" and we'll probably have to cut down on some of the bacon fat. Might even serve a fresh green salad with something besides iceburg lettuce. The most important thing I hope to instill is the love with which it takes to prepare a good family meal. After all we're good Methodists and we know the importance of Love. In our meals and in our lives.

HURTFUL WORDS

When I was in school, I used to hear "Sticks and stones, may break my bones but words can never hurt me." If you have lived past the age of about 6 then you know that is wrong. Words are hurtful and sometimes their wounds take longer to heal than a broken bone.

This morning I had an employee of one of my customer's go "off" on me. It was pretty surreal. I was completely taken aback by the hatred in his voice, and his use of profanity. It was so random and unneccessary. I talk to so many people every day and I've never experienced anything like this before. He made me cry. Partly from the hurtful things he said and partly from frustration I felt at being "attacked" for no reason, and not given the right to defend myself. I cannot imagine how those Christians that are presecuted daily must feel. I truly felt violated and still find myself getting upset. I need to let it go, so I am adding this man to my prayer list. He obviously is in need of help.

Once again, I found comfort in the book of Job Chapter 5 Verse 21 says, You will be sheltered,without fear of hurtful words or any other weapon.

If he was this upset at me over something so small. How will he respond when faced with a real problem? Does he lash out in anger at his family? Does he even have a family? I have no idea what things he may have faced this morning. This is the only contact I've ever had with him, even though I've been writing his paycheck for over 8 years. To my knowledge, we've never once in all those checks made a mistake on his check. Why today did he feel the need to call and curse at me? In the great scheme of things, am I really injured? Probably not, but another thing that I took for granted is gone. My safety, I have no idea how this man would have reacted to me if we were face to face. That is a new reality in our world.

Once again, I am reminded that my little problems are pretty insignificant in comparison to the big picture. There are those that risk their lives everyday as they head to work. Our military, police and fireman and in some areas our teachers and medical staff. Our world is becoming increasingly more violent and people less tolerant of one another.

I wish that we could live by Jesus's words in John 13:34-35 "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

I pray that as I go through each day, those around me will be able to recognize that I am trying to live like Jesus. (do I hear my kids singing???? And they will know we are Christians by our love.......)

Making it

I knew it was going to be hard when Brett was no longer "living" in our house. I’m not sure I was quite prepared for just how hard. Once again, so focused on myself, I didn’t realize how hard it would be for Dale & Brett.

Quite honestly, I mostly worried about me & Renee. Renee’s actually done better than all of us. (I am so proud of her!) Once Brett went to the Wesley foundation on Sunday, he recovered pretty quickly as well. For me, it will be not only day to day but probably hour by hour. Sometimes, I just feel like something's wrong and then realize that it's just me missing him. Funny, because he was never home anyway. He was either at Renee's, work or Jeffrey's. It was just the knowledge that he would be home. (I could peek into his room and watch him sleep.)

I truly was not prepared for Dale to act just as lost as I felt. We really rely on one another, but I realized this weekend just how much. We've shared a lot this weekend. I can see where the “empty nest” either makes couple’s closer or drives them apart. I know we will be closer! I love him so much, and he truly makes me feel loved! I hope that he knows just how much I love him!

Yesterday morning, was the worst. Not having Brett to ride to church. It was always a time that I actually had some one on one time with him. I walked into Sunday School having a wee bit of a pity party. Then we read the first verse of our lesson.


Job Chapter 4 Verses 1-6 (The Message Bible)
1-6Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:

"Would you mind if I said something to you? Under the circumstances it's hard to keep quiet.
You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words
that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.
Your words have put stumbling people on their feet,
put fresh hope in people about to collapse.
But now you're the one in trouble—you're hurting!
You've been hit hard and you're reeling from the blow.
But shouldn't your devout life give you confidence now?
Shouldn't your exemplary life give you hope?

What a baby, I was being. Aren't I always the one telling people not to "borrow trouble", "don't worry about the things you can't control", "be happy, don't let others steal your joy", "we've got to let them grow up their not our babies anymore", blah blah blah. I wasn't even remotely following my own advice, and God called me on it, using Eliphaz's words to Job. I felt like they were being directly spoken to me.

By the time I got to church I was feeling quite a bit better, then we sang the hymn
"What a friend we have in Jesus" Words by Jo­seph M. Scriv­en and Music by Charles C. Con­verse,

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised, Thou wilt all our burdens bear.
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded, there will be no need for prayer. Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

Recently I wrote about friends, how could I have forgotten Jesus? When I think about the sacriface God made for us with His Only Son, I scarce can breathe. I feel so ungrateful. But then, I still miss Brett. I'm so thankful that my son is not "gone" in the literal sense, I'll see him next weekend. What about all of my friends that have lost their children? Again, I stand in awe of their strength. Again, I realize that they don't do it alone. They all have relationships with God and I know that He lifts them up. He promises that they'll see their childen again, and what a joyful reunion! He is always there, speaking to us, comforting us, we just have to listen.

Tomorrow is the day

How can it be that my baby is heading to college tomorrow? Am I ready? Is a mother ever ready? Probably not, would be my guess. I trust that God has a perfect plan for his life, and this is just the next part of that plan. God has blessed us so much this week in making the path clear to the school for him. Having a friend that works at the SLGFA who was looking out for his interests. Then finding a good deal on his computer, to finding a good deal on his books.

On Sunday we had a wonderful "going away" party with the youth group. So many people there to pray for him!

On Wednesday we had a wonderful dinner with my parents. Afterwards we all went shopping together, and they practically bought a new wardrobe for him. I know that he felt so special and loved! It wasn't the fact that they spent the money on him, but the fact they wanted to spend time with him and help make this transition easier. It was just a godsend all the way around!

Thursday, another great dinner prepared by and shared with friends that love him and love us.

Sometimes I tend to focus on what I don't have instead of what I do have.

My life forever changed last Friday morning, and I really learned that I can no longer take things for granted. Things are not always what they seem. For the last week, I've really been focusing on what I do have in my life! I have a wonderful family. Wonderful friends. A good job. A God that loves me.

I understand that God did not give us Brett just so we could keep him forever. Dale & I have tried to raise him the best we could, but sometimes I think he helped to raise us. I know that Dale is hurting to, but he won't admit it.

So we'll head to Russellville tomorrow with a smile on our face, waiting for the next adventure that God has for all of us. (If you happen to think about it tomorrow, an extra prayer wouldn't hurt either).........

I can't fix everything

I have been humbled before the Lord today. I have seen His power once again, and I give Him glory. I know that there is a plan and He is in control. I've seen Him take control of this situation. I've seen my friends rally together trying to do what little we can in the face of this devasting situation. I sit here this evening exhausted. Mentally & physically, completely spent. A friend that I love dearly is hurting and I can do nothing to help her. No matter how much I want to, I cannot fix this.......I've cried all I can today. It's time to fully turn this over.

I am claiming the word of God as written in Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:29-31
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I am claim this for me and my friends. We are not promised that our time here on earth will be easy. However, we are promised that we will not have to face it alone. I know that God is in control. However cliche that may sound to some, we have seen Hope. I've seen God working through many people, there is a new bond among us. I know that He can cure my weariness for He is my hope. I pray that others will be reminded of that as well.

Lucky man

Tri^Chord is so special to my life. It's officially the Praise band for Amboy UMC. Tri^Chord began as a bible study with musical instruments and turned into a band.

Wow, God is so creative!

These are some pics from the 1st retreat they played at Camp Tanako.



It's amazing to watch God work through this group. He has helped Paul to write so many songs, and the "band" to make those songs come to life.

In 2004 we headed to Dauphin Island. Four families sharing a house for a week. It wasn't the best trip ever, but it was good. (No time on DI can be bad!) Leaving NLR in the dark, we watched the sunrise over South Arkansas. It wasn't the most remarkable of sunrises but we apprecited it nontheless.

That night everyone was gathered on the back porch (after watching a beautiful DI sunset). Guitars were brought out, and we just sat around pickin', talkin' and singin'. It was really fun. At some point I made the observation, that hey when we are in the country (translate Pangburn, AR) we sit on the front porch and at DI we always sit on the back porch. I also made the observation that, "this morning we watched the sunrise in the country and tonight we watched it set at the beach". Just random words out of my mouth that most others probably ignored. Not Paul, he thought hmmmmmmm sunrise in the country, sunset at the beach, there's a song in there somewhere.


Eventually that song became Lucky Man, the group's most requested song and the title track of their CD.

Below are the lyrics, if you get a chance check out their myspace and have a listen.


LUCKY MAN
Front porch in the country
Back porch by the Beach
No matter where I go
You’re always there with me.

You told me this ain’t heaven
But I could get there if I believe
I read it just the other night
In John 3:16.

I’m a lucky man

CHORUS:
Floatin' in salt water or
Watchin' eagle’s soar
If this ain’t really heaven,
I can’t wait for what’s in store.
I’m just a country boy,
A part time Island man
But I know you’re right beside me
Building castles in the sand.
I’m a lucky man.
Yes, I am.
I know you’re right beside me
Building castles in the sand
I’m a lucky man

My life used to be so rocky
Without your guiding light
Even when I went to church
Something wasn’t right
But then I asked you to forgive me
To take over my life.
It wasn’t worth the living
But now I’ll never die

CHORUS

Sunrise in the country
Sunset at the beach
I know your building Castles
For Sinners like me
You can build mine in the Rockies
In the pure sweet mountain air
Or down on DAUPHIN ISLAND
Just as long as you are there.

I'm a lucky man.

CHORUS

I know you’re right beside me
Building castles for ALL MAN!
I’m a lucky man




Recent pics from the "Battle of the Bands" (which they won), but the Community Food Pantry was the big winner with close to $800.00 being raised.




http://www.myspace.com/tricord

Muddin', Drywall and the church van

I forgot to mention that not all of our team went to DI, some had to come up on Sunday evening due to other obligations (they actually wanted the Preacher at church on Sunday a.m.). One of my girl's Beth, was participating in the STARS program at school. Through this program she worked as a mentor with "at-risk" youth. She has a heart for missions and helping others (that might be a blog on it's own). Her mom Cindy, my co-chef for the week, were the other 2 that got to Missisippi early.

Before heading to Mississippi/Alabama we had MANY fundraisers. One of which was to sell bracelets. They had sayings on them like "Faith Hope Love", "Jesus Loves You" "Keep the Faith", etc. We also made 5 index cards for each member of the team and asked that prayer partners join us in prayer for the trip. Boy did we call on those "prayer warriors"!

There are so many things about this trip that were so incredible, I want to type every detail of the trip, but I know that's really not interesting to anyone but me and maybe my kids. I'm guessing if you're reading this you want to find out what other kinds of blessings came out of Katrina?

As always I got up to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful streaming through the trees in the church yard. (Not as beautiful as over the water at DI, but still memorable to me.)

So many things seemed to still be going wrong. Fussing amoung team members. I couldn't find my work boots anywhere. So here I am heading to a construction site and the only shoes I have are my bright orange Crocs. Not gonna work! Bless her heart, Cindy loaned me her tennis shoes, but they weren't exactly the right size. Oh well, we were on an adventure. WHAT an adventure!

Some of our crews would continue with the work in the Turkey Creek area, the rest were going into a different neighborhood. As we entered the neighborhood we were once again struck with the devastation. Nearly every house still had a blue FEMA roof, a FEMA trailer and a POD. Again, the devil was working on me and the snotty "princess" came out. As our "neighbor" came out to greet us, she seemed very friendly but then we realized that she had 3 teenage sons. Couldn't they have been doing some of this work??? She seemed a little upset that our team was mainly made up of teenagers. I can't say that I blame her, I would be worried if this crew showed up to work on my house too. When we entered her house, you could literally see from one end to the other. There was one room that had partial drywall up but that was it. It was overwhelming. My boys jumped right in measuring and cutting the drywall. My girls started "mudding" as soon as the drywall was hung. If you're like me "mudding" is when you place a piece of tape like paper over the seam between the pieces of drywall, and then take a putty like substance and smooth it out. If you do it correct you will end up with a seamless wall ready for painting. Some of my girls have a definite talent for this. I on the other hand, not so much. I ended up with it on my clothes, Cindy's shoes, in my hair. The finally took my trowel away from me, and told me to "just rest a little Aunt Kim".

We worked for several hours, and then the homeowner came back. I sensed a little distress in her. Did I mention that her husband is a contractor? He’d been so busy rebuilding the local businesses and churches, that is why he had only done such limited work on their house. He had been trying to get her and their boys to help, but she did not believe that they could do it.

My boys were steadily hanging the drywall, the girl’s were muddin’ and it looked good to me. Gina had come back to pick us up to go to lunch, and she thought it looked okay. I remember saying, “I don’t want to do more harm than good.” Drywall was at a premium, and if we messed it up they wouldn’t be able to easily get more. We prepared to leave for lunch with our “neighbor” from the day before (the family we tore down their home). In appreciation they wanted to feed all our teams. I hugged Ms. Wanda Renee and told her we would be back in a little while. I detected even more distress from her, she was definitely worried about what her husband was going to say! Also, a neighbor had passed away and she was trying to deal with that situation as well.

Our “picnic” was really great. They had tables set up in the front yard. Dad was grilling burgers & dogs. Mom had prepared all the fixins’, bbq beans, chips, it was quite a spread. After lunch, most everyone joined in a game of volleyball. Then their kids showed my kids how to “fly”. They were so proud of what was basically a rope swing attached to a tree. All my kids were good sports and tried. Even our 6’5” pastor, and the 6’1” youth leader tried. I thought it best not to try because I surely didn’t want to be the one to destroy it. These kids had lost enough already.

Everyone headed back to their worksites. One of our prayer warriors, “Ms. Roberta” had told us during times of stress or conflict, to sing “They will know we are Christians by our love.” By this point in the trip we were getting very familiar with the song! Of course it doesn’t sound quite as meaningful when sung through clenched teeth, but after a few times, we would start to believe the words we were singing. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but the church van died, just died, wouldn’t do a thing. We jumped the battery and it fired up but it appeared to be the alternator. We called “Ms. Roberta” and she started the prayer chain, and the kids started singing “Sanctuary”. Gina got everyone delivered and headed to the dealership to get the van repaired. Again, satan was really after us!!!

We got back to Ms. Wanda Renee’s home and started back to work. Seems as if lunch had given us renewed energy, and I finally started to get the hang of muddin’. You could no longer see completely through the house. Part of the living room, all of the hall, and 2 of the bedrooms now had “walls”. We were feeling pretty good, and then I heard a hush fall over the house. Wanda Renee’s husband was home. Would he be mad that she had allowed us to do this work? How would he react? I said a quick prayer and went out to greet him. Imagine my surprise when I saw tears in his eyes. This was a burly, construction worker, and he was looking at me with the most amazed expression. He said, “you and these kids did this?” I answered yes, and he stuck out his hand for me to shake. He said, I would be proud to hire any one of them to work for me. I couldn’t have done better myself, or hired a team to do better. You should have seen those kids faces, and Wanda Renee’s. I still get tears in MY eyes.

We finished up the day and headed back to the church for VBS. At some point during the night I decided to give Ms. Wanda Renee my bracelet. It said, “Faith, Hope, Love”. That morning when we arrived, she was showing her neighbor her “walls”. She was so proud and praising Jesus because she had walls. I’m not sure about ya’ll but before then I had never woken up and thanked God for my walls. (I say thank you for a lot more things now!). Wanda Renee was preparing to go to the funeral visitation for her friend, but before she left she showed me her surprise for us. In the fridge was meat, cheese, gatorade and cupcakes. There was also a note to her family to leave the food alone, it was for the “people that God sent to answer our prayer”. I get tears again. God was using us to answer her prayer. I took a picture of the note on my phone and kept it for a long time to remind me of how much I had to be thankful for, when I got a new phone I lost the pic. Nothing can take my memory. As it turned out each set of “neighbors” prepared lunch for their team.


We worked all day, and even worked on the inside of the “outside” walls, which required us adding insulation. There was still a lot of work in the kitchen and bathrooms but there was still some more plumbing work that needed to be done. Jeffrey worked so hard on the house but we soon realized that he was going to have to work on something else. Gina talked to the dealership and they weren’t even going to be able to start on the Van until Friday, and we needed to leave on Friday. Jeffrey assured us he had helped his dad enough, he could change the alternator.

As we prepared to leave, I took off my bracelet to give to Wanda Renee. She hugged me and thanked me. She told me that not only had we done so much for their house, but also for their spirits. She confided that she had lost her hope, but thanks to us, God had restored that hope. She now realized just how much she and her sons could do to help her husband finish the work needed on their house.

We got back to the church and along with Bro. Steve’s “help” (translate just hanging over his shoulder), Jeffrey changed the alternator. Later that night Barbara shared with me that she had given her bracelet to her neighbor, who had never lost faith that God would help them to repair their home (Barbara’s bracelet said “Keep the Faith”). Britney then shared that she had also given away her bracelet it said “Jesus Loves You”, and she gave it to the teenage girl that had already lost so much.


As I finish this entry, thanks for sticking with me through this story. I’m still amazed at all the “good” that came from Katrina. I know that none of us will on that trip will ever forget the lessons learned. Again, I come back to Esther. When we first started planning the trip, I thought what can we really do? I learned we can’t really do a lot, but through God - Faith, Hope and Love were restored in us and those we that we shared our time in Alabama and Mississippi.