03-25-07—Welcome to New Orleans

We’ve arrived…safe and mostly sound. This year’s group, consisting of over 60 Downers Grove area Campus Lifers and volunteers spent the last two days on the road covering over 1000 miles in our caravan of vans. Energy drinks and Ryan Jenke’s new mullet seem to be the most telling ways to explain the journey so far with hip-hop music, a Pringles can and John Pack getting lost (again), a close second.

We rolled into our destination around 4:00 in the afternoon, the Oak Park Baptist Church. We were welcomed by the ‘Project Serve’ staff with a clean and specious housing, hot showers (well, at least for the girls) and a delicious meal. Sara, one of Project Serve’s staff coordinators ran through the house rules to the students and presented a tour of the area. After dinner the students each claimed their sleeping territory and spent some of their cooped up energy while the leaders were given their assignments for the week.

Tired but excited, we're all looking forward to our week-long work in New Orleans. The plan is that we will be performing cleanup and construction projects consisting primarily of roofing and drywall. Most of the work will be taking place in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward, which is said to be one of the hardest hit communities.

More updates, photos, videos, and journals to follow - so be sure to check back in! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

From Wikipedia…
“Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States. Most notable in media coverage were the catastrophic effects on the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and in coastal Mississippi. Due to its sheer size, Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season.”

03-26-07—Work Day #1

“It looks like it was a normal place like Downers Grove once,” shared sophomore Katie H. about the New Orleans community surrounding her, “but everyone has up and left. It was probably a completely decent neighborhood.” The shells of closely spaced homes extended from view block after block; street after street.

Katie, who was one of a number of Campus Life students that went to the Gulf Coast to help in the hurricane relief last year explained further, “This hit me just as much this year, It’s just like how are these people going to start their lives over?” she questioned. “They’ll have to find new neighborhoods. We take this all for granted…schools, jobs, churches…it’s all gone and how do you rebuild?”

A fifteen-person crew headed up by project manager Josh Nichols arrived to their work area around 8:30 on Monday morning and took a survey of the task before them. “The neighborhood where we are working looks like it was pretty nice, I mean, nicer than I expected, like a Westmont or Lombard.” said sophomore Matt V. of his assigned work area. “I’m awe struck at how two years later that so little has been done.” Josh’s team was sent to replace a roof but they could tell that there was so much more that would need to be done. The interior of the house, as with most houses in the area, had been completely gutted to the studs with everything having to be ripped out and hardly anything salvageable. While Josh & his team leader partner, Mike Paull began to assess where to begin the students cleared out debris and weeds surrounding the property.

“Everything that was in her house is now in her back yard.” said Vincenti of the situation. “We made a garbage pile in the front yard and then we got to work on the roof and stripped it down to the wood.”

Later in the afternoon the homeowner, 83 year old New Orleans native was able to stop by her house for a visit with the crew. She shared with the students her family’s story of the enduring the storm, flood and their eventual rescue days later.

Meanwhile, twenty minutes away on the other side of the Mississippi, Ryan Kinealy’s group was also hard at work tearing off and replacing a roof on the home of Keith, a 47 year old retired veteran whose home had been subjected to over 6 feet of flood water. With his energetic and talkative personality, Keith engaged his workers in conversation and kept them encouraged and laughing.

“He (Keith) was so generous as well, given how little he had left. He bought us a really really good lunch and he didn’t even have any of it himself. The Po-boy sandwiches were the best and he just wanted us to eat it all.” said sophomore Kurt S. Over lunch the homeowner even asked the crew to come together as he lead the group in prayer, thanking God for the students and praying that God would continue to bless the week. He invited to students to consider the decisions they would have to make in their own lives and asked them to always work to make not just “good” decisions, but “God decisions.”

“We’re so lucky to have our homeowner (Keith) here.” shared Katie H. “He is so interesting and always has something important to say. He just feels like he has to let it out and he’s very sincere and cares about all that he shares.”

The students and leaders of all the groups put in a hard day of work. By the time 4:00 came and it was time to pack it up you could see the sweat and dirt on tired faces. Matt V. summarized the day, “Tomorrow we’ll kick it in gear and finish the roof. We definitely got in a grove by the end of the day. It’s so funny because I think the girls in our group worked harder than the guys I think but everyone was cool with each other and no one complained. Our group really works well together.”

03-27-07—Work Day #2

Student Journal: Catie K and Aaron H

Throughout these past two days, lives have been changed.

One big influence on this trip has been the homeowner of the house we are working on, his name is Keith. We knew from the moment we pulled up to the house that Keith was a man of God. Keith showed our team what it is like to live and breathe the word of God. To begin our eight hour work day with a prayer from Keith’s heart, set the pace for the rest of the week. This prayer and encouragement also impacted our relationships within the team. Because of Keith’s devout faith, our team has spiritually grown and become better followers of Jesus Christ, not only on the work site, but also in our free time and small groups. It was refreshing to see a simple Christian, a man that lost everything in the hurricane, but has it all within a spiritual walk. Keith lost his home, his car, and essentially his whole life, but even at the bottom, Keith never lost faith. It was a blessing to step out of our vans to a bright smile, and a supportive attitude, ready to tackle each daily project. It was good to see that we were not the only ones that were grateful, but he couldn’t thank us enough. For the past two work days, Keith has been nothing but giving, and provided us with a real ‘New Orleans Style’ lunch and plenty of cold drinks. Each day, during our lunch break, Keith has insisted that we remember who were living for, constantly reminding us how to find the good in the bad.

Not knowing who we are with and where we are going from the beginning, our team has been nothing but awesome. As soon as we stepped foot on our worksite, all we wanted to do was help. Between Keith’s good words and Ryan’s (team leader) plans, there was no direction other than reaching our common goal. Ryan, as our group leader, started our work week off with scripture. He read passages that discussed God’s passions and gifts that He has blessed us with. It was cool to see that each and every one of us within our diversity can come together and accomplish something great. After a message from Pastor Ronnie we met with our work groups to talk about our relationships with Christ and with each other. We realized that each one of us differs in so many ways, but we all have one thing in common. Whether we are weak or strong in our faith, it is clear that Jesus Christ is present. Through God’s grace, he has shaped and molded our team to become one. Our unity has shown in our devotion to our project. So far we have stripped all of the old and moldy shingles off of the 31 square foot roof and have replaced half of the roof with new shingles. The amount of progress our team has made is unexpected. On our work site, there is a place for everyone. We have chosen our personal tasks due to our personal strengths. Our team has an immense love for each other and we are constantly looking out for one another.

This so far has been an amazing experience. We hope that we only grow stronger from here.

In Christ,

Catie and Aaron
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Student Journal: Becca H.

After a very long car trip we finally arrived safe and sound. The church we are staying at is really nice, we all have a bunk bed to sleep on, bathrooms to use and a lot of showers. Monday morning we had a fire drill...6am, bright and early, just what we all wanted. The food here is delicious and fills you up really well. I like how this year we are responsible for making and packing our own lunches. After breakfast we loaded up into the vans to head out. Our work site is kind of far and we have to battle lots of cars in rush hour. … it’s mass chaos! The house we are working on is really cool. Ms. Cains owns the house and rents half to another person. She told us that the only work she had was gutting the house about a year ago. So our main task is to re-roof her house so she can finish the inside and get her tenants back and make some more money. Monday and Tuesday Megan and I worked on the ground picking up roof tiles, cleaning up tools and other tasks. Tomorrow we are going to try and put up shingles, hopefully, it won’t be bad.

My work group is awesome. We have a lot of fun while working, this makes the time go by a lot faster. Before I came on this trip I kindof knew the other people in my group but only after spending 2 days with them it seems like I have known some of them way longer with 2 and a half days left I hope everything will keep going great and the group can become closer and carry it back to Downers Grove.
--Becca H

03-28-07—Work Day #3

Student Journal - Catie & Aaron

Keith’s Quotes of the Day:

1. “Make a God decision, not a good decision”
2. “You can make a good decision and it can turn out really bad”
3. “Don’t dislike me, be like me”
4. “You should always be humble, but when you cant be humble, you can always be bold”
5. “God will lift you up when you fall”
6. “The best birthday gift to me is you guys building my roof”
7. “Before you all start eating, I wanna share with you….you understand…God is good.”
8. “A humble man that makes mistakes is better than a proud man who does everything right”
9. “You guys gotta stop workin and come down here and get some lunch!!!”
10. “I wanna pray with y’all before we eat”
11. “Blood is thicker than mud”

Keith’s Word(s) of the Day:
Day One:
1. cranberry sauce
Day Two:
1. Lord God T’mighty
Day Three:
1. humble
2. bold

Sarcasm:
Our team decided that we are too sarcastic. John Pack told in the car ride to our work site today that Christians tend to use sarcasm as a replacement for foul language. Encouraging each other helped to lift up strengths and self confidence. Uplifting each other demonstrated a Christ-like attitude.

Team Growth:
Today was the hardest work day of all. It seemed like ten trillion degrees outside, and nailing shingles on black tar paper was not doing good things to our extremely pale skin, which for most is now bright red. It was obvious that the only way that we were able to get through the day was the power of the Holy Spirit. When we thought things couldn’t get worse, Gods power and might gave us the perseverance to further reach our goal. We were tired, hot, sweaty and unclean, but nonetheless, God provided us with energy. It is evident that because we are united as a team, God has rewarded us. Although we have only been working for three days now, we only know that it can go up from here. “

“God will lift you up when you fall”
-Keith

P.S. Catie K is the greatest crawfish opener and eater in the whole New Orleans area

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Student Journal - Briannah B

Being down here is the most amazing feeling the world – the most intense. I’ve gotten to know some of my work crew past their names and we’ve all just had a blast on the site. These 10 kids work harder than anyone I’ve ever met.

It’s crazy to see this city like this. It’s such a slap to the face turning to see the outside world away from your cozy suburban home. I’m not saying that people in Dupage county don’t hurt. I know firsthand that they do. I hurt. Everyone hurts, but for these people it’s something different. These people’s homes have been absolutely destroyed. The only ones helping anymore are groups like Campus Life. Mission trips are the only things to help. Half the people have left anyway. Most homes abandoned & left to just sit and be nothing. And nobody cares it seems. Our homeowners begged our group to cover the doorways so that no one would come into his house and have sex in it. This is coming from an 81 year old man who had open heart surgery last week. I can’t even begin to imagine having to think about that living in Downers Grove.

The work days are insane. All day long people look forward to lunch breaks & 4pm. Not that the work is hard, but the sun is already beating down on your already on-fire, sunburned arms by 8am & you’d kill to make it feel better. But we’ve got reminders of why we’re here in New Orleans. Alex Enzbigilis nailed two pieces of plywood together in a cross formation & it’s a nice reminder.

“With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26. It’s true. God is working through many of us here & he’s giving us the drive to continue on until 4pm each day. It’s worth it. Working for Him makes all the sweat and heat and sunburns worth it. He put me on this trip for a reason. It makes me want to be more. Do more. It’s guaranteed that this isn’t my last year down South. Last year, I came, but I didn’t make the best of it. I let the heat and hard work get to me & I didn’t really appreciate it as much. Not only is it helping the people gain a roof over their heads, but as Ronnie puts it, it can really bring you to you 212 degrees.
-Briannah B

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Student Journal - Sarah C

So for the past three days I’ve been doing one of two things. The first thing I did was tame the jungle that had taken over the yard of the house I was working on. This yard was covered in every kind of weed imaginable. It took a full day and then another half day to get the whole yard done. It was really hard but the cool thing about it was all of the random stuff we found under the weeds and rubble. We found what had to be thousands of Mardi Gras beads, we also found dolls covered in dirt with their hair sticking out in every direction. But one of the craziest things that we found was a bra, size 36c to be exact. It made me thing about all of the people that these random items could belong to. It made me thing about how there life is now and how Katrina changed their lives. I also wondered where they are now. Where we are working, there is almost nobody around. It’s like a ghost town. This town could be Downers Grove, and I thought about if something like this happened in DG, would everyone leave and never come back? And would we have almost no help putting our town and our lives back together? I was also upset by the fact that there were tour busses full of people going through the neighborhood looking at the destruction. Why would you spend you day, your money and your time looking at the problem when you could spend your day, money and time solving it?

For the rest of the second day and part of the third day I was on the roof putting shingles on. It was really hard and really hot. It was extremely difficult work but with everybody working together it didn’t seem that bad and we put the whole roof on in 2 days. Which I think is really good. And when we were sitting on the roof baking a lot of people that drove by honked their horns in support of what we were doing. Also a whole lot of people stopped for a second to just say thank you for being down there trying to get the job done. A few others just honked their horns and gave us a thumbs up. It was reassuring and just kept me going throughout the day. At the end of the day I’m so tired and I just can’t wait to go to sleep and knowing that I have to get up at 6 next morning doesn’t get me too excited but knowing that by getting up at 6 I’m going to make a difference makes waking up a little easier.

03-29-07—Work Day #4

Student Journal: Briannah B #2

It doesn't feel like we should be heading back to Downers Grove tomorrow. This week has been such an amazing spiritual high for me & most likely for other people too.

Sitting on the roof with the sun beating down on your face & arms; sweat seeping through your dirt stained t-shirt...it's derfinitely the best feeling in the world. And that's not sarcasm, it really is an amazing feeling to have. I personally felt like I was at the highest sense of peace possible at the top of the world.

I don't understand it, No. How sweat and burns and cuts and fiberglass can make someone feel so good. It's a pretty strange concept.

I've really been focusing a lot this week on what Ronnie said about living to 212 degrees-to live your life to the fullest. When you're down here that's how you're looking at life. It's pretty hard not to. I'm already excitied for next year's trip. 212 degrees lets you put all the hard times away & enables you to just be completely full of all this joy, all this joy that you just don't find elsewhere. It doesn't have to just be about your relationship with God. Not everyone has that and that's okay. You can be full of joy sitting on a rooftop in New Orleans, sweating you butt off. And you can feel that forever. This trip down here is more than helping a few people out. These people down here change your lives. The whole trip does.

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way."
--Don Miller, Blue Like Jazz

03-30-07—The Final Work Day

Student Journal: Jimmy D

Jimmy D, March 30, 2007

Right now I am in the van while the majority of my homies sleep. I am well, obviously not asleep but definatley wide awake. I have been up since 5am and will not go to sleep. The sound of pouring rain dashes the windows. The car is smothered in aromas of food to dirty clothes and the vents blow a cool breeze to leave us all under our blankies. I must acknowledge my drivers, Rebecca Pack and Mark weirda. They have both put up with alot and are simply the best...better than all the rest....yeah you know that jingle. Thats like not knowing the phone number to LUNA. c'mon now. Anywho, Mark for one has been the most amazing driver to me. We rode with Allison, our friendly wonderful Downers Grove reporter, and he has just driven and driven. He has put up with us having raves, balloon infested in car dance parties and screaming sing-alongs. So much has happened in the vans alone, and I know thats with everyone. He has put on any music we have wanted and even introduced us to new music. Mark has just simply been alot of fun. As for the trip, this is my entry.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating storms to hit the southcoast. Watching the aftermath on television is nothging compared to being face to face with it's damage. Upon first arriving in the New Orleans area, I was heartbroken. After almost two years later, I am so upset at how little has been done. I have never been in New Orleans before so saying little actually has been done, may not be all that correct. I truly do not know the outcome of what has been accomplished. Although, I do know that there is so much that has been abandoned. So much debris and unfinished construction lie everywhere.The homes there are just sitting and waiting. They appear to be waiting for their residents to return. I look at those houses as if they were full of life and now they simply sit and wait for that life to come back. What bothers me most is that you know who has money and who has little to none of it. It's obvious. The people who do, have beautiful clean homes full of energy.Their residents sit outside taking in the warm spring heat that the south is known for. Then take any glance in that homes surrounding neighbors and for the majority, several sit secluded and destroyed. When we were first driving into the area, I saw this little blue house. This house consisted of no more than a few walls and a partially blown in roof. On that property sat a woman looking out, just sitting on the porch. Her home was ruined. The damage appears as if it all happened a week or two ago. I was shocked and overwhelmed. This was just the beginning of a life changing event.

New Orleans is absolutley gorgeous. I wish I would have seen it before Katrina. If it is all so beatiful now, I think about how beautiful it must have been before. it brings me down to see so many people left with so little. I knew that on arrival to the church, I was on a mission to aide those in need and seeing what I did, only proved that. Each of us were assigned a team and mine was so much more than I could ask for or imagined. I had such an amazing crew. The incredible souls of Liz, Natalie, Justin, Matt, Mike, Mosie, Melissa, Kayla, Terra, Anna, Josh, Laura, Cathy, Mike P, and Mark worked amazinly with one another. Cathy is one coke fiend but she'll convert to Pepsi, bwahhaha. No but really I knew no one and met such amazing people. I have had a blast with all of them, leaders included. The leaders are so comforting and ready to help us. This whole trip has been everything from stressful to rewarding. I have felt every emotion I possibly could feel. I am so happy that I was able to be part of helping the people I did. Mrs. Dolly. and Mrs. Zelda were such wonderful women with such great children. I am so thankful I was able to participate in such a great reward of helping others. The people down there are so faithful and so full of hope. I could write and write on, but I mainly wanted to focus on how thankful I was to do this trip. I thank Bri for alot of that help on getting there. I want to continue doing these projects in the future because they are so rewarding. You learn so much about and from people and there is so much I am going to take with me. You learn from your experiences, and this was by far the best one of all.

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Student Journal: Sarah C #2

So right now I'm in the van on my way home to Downers Grove and we had an amazing trip. Last night we watched a slide show of all the pictures that Mark took over the whole week and we talked about what we all got out of the trip. For the most part we all agreed that we all came closer as a group and we accomplished a whole lot. The impact we had was incredable.

Last night one of the homeowners, Kieth, came over to the church for dinner and the slideshow. Before we all talked about how we thought the week went, he got up and told us what he thought about what we did and just whatever he wanted to tell us. It was inspiring to see how someone who lost so much still has so much faith. It makes it hard to complain about the things that go on in my life. A couple days ago my work team finished our first roof and our homeowners had tears in thier eyes becuase of what we had just done for them. We were ready for our next roof but when we saw it, it was intimadating. This roof was huge and we didn't think that we would get anywhere with it because the next day was our last work day and that day was only a half day because we were going to Bay St. Louis later that day. We did what we could that day and went to Bay St. Louis and had a great time at the beach. The next day when we went back to work where we had a ton to do. We still had to strip most of the roof which had at least 3 layers of tar paper which made it really hard to get it all off. At noon we had almost the whole roof striped and part of it had a new layer of tar paper and some singles. About 30 minutes later another one of our teams came to help us and after that we worked like a well oiled machine. In the next 3 hours we had the whole roof completly stripped and had a new layer of tar paper and a good portion of the roof had shingles.

Our last day proved to me how much we had come together that week. We were all tired but we just knew that we had to do it for them. This was an incredible week and I got so much out of it. We've all been thanked for giving up our spring break to do this but I don't think that I gave up anything by coming here. Sure, I was out of my comfort zone and I could of spent my spring break doing something other than manual labor but if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. I learned a lot about myself and about other people that I didn't know very well and I will carry the memory of what happened this week for the rest of my life. I want to thank all of the leaders for giving up thier vacation time to go away for a week to work with a bunch of teenagers. I had a fantastic time and I hope that more people will go and experience something new and get something done along with it.

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Student Journal - Kevin E

Here we are driving home from New Orleans. Im just chillin' here in Mark Wierda's van listining to Michael Jackson on Mark Dunnings Ipod. Its been a long, exhausing week but I'm not sure I would have wanted to leave so early. I've met alot of amazing, inspiring, and humble people on this trip. We started the week working on a man named Roy's house. Roy wasn't there Monday or Ttuesday because he was in the hospital. He had just had open heart surgery a few weeks before. We ripped off all the roofing and had it replaced by Wednesday. While most of the guys were on the roof the girls were down on the ground cleaning the jungle that was this man's yard. While cleaning we found about eight thousand pairs of mardi gras beads. At one point in the day I just stopped for a second and looked around. This neighborhood was gone. There were about 4 or 5 people that were around in a 5 block radius. We met a man named Ronnie who lived a couple houses down, he came over around lunch and told us he had a working bathroom that we were more then welcome to use. Immediately the girls took off in that direction. Ronnie was a funny man to say the least. Every chance he got he ragged on grandpa for being old, but he told us about how everone had just packed up and left, there were no open stores, just empty parking lots.

The first day we were on Roys roof a little blue and silver car pulled up outside. I wasn't the first to notice but it was awesome anyway. Two girls in a Redbull energy drink car had just pulled up and were now distributing our entire work group with free Redbull. While they were there they told a little about what it was like when the hurricane hit and how it had affected the area we were working in. Its just amazing how these people just picked up thier lives and just tried to pick up where they left off. On our last day on the roof at Roy's house we had the pleasure of taking a group picture with him and his wife. We got a chance to talk to his wife and all she could do was cry she was so happy her roof was done and that her husband was okay. She thanked us a thousand times over that day. Early in the morning i was sitting on the edge of the roof shingling, and roy walked out of his trailer, i was the only one watching at this point. He walked over to the large pile of junk that had accumulated in his front yard, and picked up two wooden post we had taken out of the back yard and he used them as his cructhes for the rest of the day. After witnessing this I talked to Bess Paul, one of the group leaders and asked her if before the day was over we could stop by a pharmacy and pick up a walker for him. We never got the chance to but I'm still happy that we finished his roof and helped him get his life back to where it was before the hurricane hit.

The next day was a half day because we were going down to Bay St. Louis. Never the less we still got a new house to work on and approached it with the eagerness we had at the beginning of the week. This house was in a much worse off neighborhood then the first and was under a different level of water. Right away we got to work de-shingling this house. We immediately noticed that it was in much worse shape than Roy's. We never got to meet the owners of this house but we werent disheartened by that.

Later that day we headed out for Bay St. Louis. We got there and drove along the beach, the houses there aren't there at all. It's just foundations and stairs. There were cars sunken in the mud, cars that were completely abandoned, and cars that were just gutted and had nothing left. Later that afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Robert, the man whose house was worked on last year. He had a little dachshund dog named Daisy, she was shy but energetic and loved to have her belly rubbed. Robert had on the same clothing he had worn last year( clean of course).

Its now raining outside......just keepin' ya updated. I didnt go on the trip last year but i had the pleasure of meeting Robert this time around. He was just amazing, no matter what he was always smiling and having fun. That evening we went to the beach to play frisbee and go swimming. There were some people with thier dogs there but other then that, our group was alone. Around sunset there wa the most beautiful horizon ever. It was a rainbow of color, and it faded from bright to dark in a matter of minutes. Everone was taking pictures and having fun. That night i met alot of people from different branches of Campus Life, like Amy and her hurt wrist, Billy and Ali, Shrooms (man that kid is crazy), and Chelsea (we went swimming). We took some pictures then left the beach tired and sad to leave.

The next morning we got up and prepared for our last day of work. We arrived at our work site and got right to work. That day i saw the " ICE CREAM MAN" he was in a white delivery van, listening to that song that goes.... i like my beat down low down low i like my top let back let back. I ordered ice cream for everyone in the group and thanked him walking away laughing so hard. About half way thru the day Ryan Kenealy's group came over and helped us knock out a huge part of our roof. i felt good about how much we got done that day and was proud. Proud because we could call ourselves a team now. Everyone grew much closer during this trip and we made friendds with people we never thought we would. It was an amazing trip and my favorite part wass that three people from D.G accepted Jesus Christ this week and i could not be happier for them. im going away now but i will come back and i will fix more houses and help more people. Keep The Faith Everyone.

03-31-07

"A View From the Top" by Cathy Darrah

Dear Moms & Dads~
Often times (more often that we'd like) there are three words heard by parents and spoken by their teens.

I did not hear those three words once this week. They were replaced by two of the sweetest words I did hear. instead of "in a minute" what I most often heard was and enthusiastic, "Got It!"

"Grab those shingles..." "Got it..."
"Unload the car..." "Got it..."
"Cut that 24 1/2 x 16 1/4..." "Got it..."
"Throw me a hammer..." "Got it..."
"Clear out the debis..." "Got it..."
"Go help Mrs. D. climb the ladder..." "Got it!"

"Lay down the tar paper..." "Got it..."
"More nails..." "Got it..."
"More buttons..." "Got it..."
"Starter strips..." "Got it" and on and on...

The other thing I have observed as I worked alongside your amazing kids is how genuinely encouraging they are towards each other. The fealess ones, of which there are many, waited patiently while others, including me, had to conquer our roof fears. They taught each other how to 'drive a nail' and 'flash a roof' and all the while they were under the watchful eyes of the most amazing group of leaders you will ever encounter. Those leaders patiently modeled and taught your students how to work together as a team with a unified goal: help to put back together a life...one roof at a time.

I have to tell you that your kids didn't want to go home... and as a parent of 4 grown kids I had asked myself and them why? Here they found that they were valued for every contribution. They saw a problem and became the solution. They learned new skills and overcame fears. They were loved, heard, and celebrated. I know my children need me to give more of myself to these values. I would encourage you to do the same. Give them a big, long hug and be very, very proud.

--Cathy Darrah

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'Afterthoughts' by Jimmy Doyle

As I sit in English, bored and secluded, I further ponder last-week's entire experience. I have felt so down being home. As with any trip or vacation, anyone is saddened that they had to leave. Well, Saturday and Sunday hit me hard. I was then just realizing how ungreatful I have been and how much I may have taken for granted.

"Call your parents, we have about 30 miles to Chicago..." said Rebecca Pack. At that time I was still typing my journal entry on Mark Wierda's laptop. Within a quick pass of just a couple minutes we pulled up to the warehouse. The real world hit me in the chest saying 'welcome back Jimmy', and I pushed away that acceptance. I did not want to be home and I could barely tell myself why. It was not until the van was cleaned, I gave my hugs goodbye, and I was parked in the truck that I knew. Within a minute of being back my sister and father were arguning. I muffled to myself, "I miss it...it was so nice there..." After a bit I was able to tell the tales of my trip, how it was, who I met and what we did. To simply put it, I became emotional. Home was stressful.

On Sunday, I was home alone and able to really think. This was when I felt that I was so ungrateful. Here I was, sitting on my tan-carpeted floor in front of my wide-screened television watching a movie. White walls surround me full of wide windows. I touched thw wall and told myself it is nothing more than a plain ugly wide wall that never been painted. A boring wall enclosed me. I began to cry becuase Zelda or Dolly didn't even have that. Something so simple as a wall is taken for granted so much. I was so enraged that my family had been arguing. It made no sense to me that we complain when we hae everything we need. The people such as Dolly and Zelda are so greatful, faithful and full of hope when they have to little. They are so happy and know God will work everything out. They cherish everything. A wall is a wall and a floor is a floor but that wall and that floor keep us warm, safe, and ongoing. Home is where the heart is, and home is full of memories, it is full of life. When I move, I miss my friends more than I miss the house. These people have had generations growing up in those houses, that is home, born and raised. That is all they want. They want their home and their lives back. We don't worry about rain dripping in our house. We have a solid roof to keep that out. We have those walls to keep us safe. We must analyze what we have and how some have little to nothing.

The warm beating sun, the southern smelly air and warm waters of beautiful New Orleans is home. My life has forever changed knowing that I helped giving them on step further to having home back.
-Jimmy Doyle