Coming Home

The cliche thing to say is that it is bitter sweet. Hard to leave but good to come home. I am not sure that is exactly the feeling. There is a little bit of home for all of us here now. We realize more and more everyday that it is not the structure of a home that makes it feel that way, it is a sense of family, belonging and hope of something better.

For the last four + weeks our nation's emotional energy has been nearly consumed by the stories of devastation and despair coming out of the tragedy of the Hurricane but now Hope and Resolve. We are so proud and to feel a part of the good that is happening here. You see, the buildings can be torn down but not the Spirit of the people.

Perfect strangers have approached us and thanked us for being here. Thanked us for helping them and their community. Children have told us they love us after just a few short days of knowing us. Parents have shaken our hands and said nothing but the feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood and humanity is here. It is so apparent.

Yesterday was the perfect ending to the adventure. We decided together, as a team of 8, that we need not to just pack our bags and walk away. At this point, there is too much invested. Not fiscally invested, much more sweat and tears. Rather than saying we did what we could with what we had.....which we did, we decided to do just a little more.

Saturday, the Elite Eight and Martin, our new Ukrainian friend whom we have adopted, piled in the Y van for a trip to Walmart and Lowe's. With lists in hand we rummageded through piles and stacks of goods in the stores. You see, there are not enough employees in the stores to stock the shelves so it is a little bit of a search for the things that you usually find easilyly. Fencing, paint, rugs, toys, books, puzzles, and more, plus the eight of us packed into the van for the short drive to Ocean Springs, the afterschool site at which half of the team has been working. Work gloves, tools and joyful noise were abundantnt as we transformed an old, tired, hurricanene beaten building into a real afterschool site. Now with a reading room, homework room, game room, assembly set up, etc. the place is ready for children. It is safe and appropriate and for the counselors it is full proof, we giggled by saying is was an "afterschool site in a box".

"Extreme YMCA Make Over" was a success! I wish we could show you all pictures. We have been unable to get pictures up on the blog. Time is short, not the right softwarear, and computers are all too popular. We do plan to get all of the best pics. up upon return.

If you are interested in seeing pictureses of Ocean Springs and some of the devastationon check out this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oceansprings/

Words cannot express the things we have seen and the experiences we have had in the last week. Seeing miles and miles of debris and rubble. Knowing, seeing, smelling, feeling devastationon all around us, we will still never fully understand what it is like for the people, all of the people, that were and continue to be affected by Hurricane Katrina.

David Harris, the CEO of the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA justed walked into the room. This is a man who has lost his home, a side business, the homes of several of his children and grandchildren, and told me thank you for coming and all that we did. He is here on a Sunday calling YMCAs in Florida to find out how he can help after Wilma and Alfa have swept their state. It seems as though the human spirit is truly the one thing that cannot be broken.

We are proud to end this blog and our trip by humbly saying that our experiences here will last a lifetime. Dreams of smiling children and glimpses of hope in the eyes of an adult are worth all of the sweat and tears....and then many more.

Elayne, Eric, Josephe, Leigh, Howard, Kim, Zach, and Meredith would like to thank the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA for a home for the week and for the opportunity, the best opportunity, to " Build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities."

Success is...

Having a child remember your name and knowing that that child has nothing consistent in her life right now.

Success is knowing that your sweat and tears is making a difference in the life of a child, a YMCA adult, an individual of a broken community, a parent that knows that for a short period of time their child will be well cared for and nurtured and reminded that not all is bad in the world. A short time is priceless to these folks.

success is getting up in the morning, loading up the van, driving the 25 minutes west into the "war" zone. Josephe, Zach, Leigh and Meredith travel each morning to Long Beach, a community 25 minutes west of Ocean Springs. The father west you travel from Ocean Springs the worst things seem, the worst things are. The communities of Long Beach and Pass Christian are juxtaposed on a peninsula of land in the Gulf of Mexico. When the waters rose to 30 feet above sea level and the storm surge topped that by another 12 feet is swept from one side of the peninsula to another. The sights we saw today are like nothing we have ever seen, or want to see again. Nothing remains in some parts. Communities have been wiped from the map. Standing on a corner of a small town in Mississippi today we realized that it is not just peoples homes that were lost to the sea but also their bank, local eater, place of worship, school, grocery, etc. It is what they did and who they are. Their whole life was taken by the sea.

It was personal. We stood on that corner and realized that the children we hug and feed and watch during the day have lost what we all take for granted and what we all know as home. Home is no more. Home has to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Elayne, Kim, Erik, and Howard all stay here at the YMCA of the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help in the nursery and at the Aquatics Center respectively. Howard spends his day lifeguarding, teaching swimming lessons and going back and forth between there and the nursery. The others have almost sole responsibility for infants and toddlers in an understaffed nursery. We wondered almost immediately upon arriving why everywhere is so understaffed; where is everyone. Well, everyone has left, ran from the storm to return to nothing to again leave for something better. The ones that are still here are working for FEMA for better wages or collecting unemployment simply because they can. Progress is on the horizon but we all know that the horizon can sometimes be an illusion.

success is not an illusion but a feeling. We feel it. Today was a good day and tomorrow will be even better.

Exhaustion setting in

Today is the middle of the road, the breaking point. We knew if we made it through today and crossed the line from sruvival to making a difference then there would be success at the end of the road.

Success looks and feels different to each one of us.

Survival Mode

Greetings and Ahoy There to everyone out there that is wondering where we are and what we are doing. What a blessing to be together and to have arrived safely in Mobile, AL on Sunday. Joe, from the YMCA of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, picked us up. We were excited to see a friendly face and the big welcoming Y on the front of his shirt.

Joe drove us the 45 minutes to Ocean Springs, MS. Ocean Springs is located 5 miles from Biloxi. We are staying here, at the YMCA. The boys are downstairs sleeping in the nursery and the girls are directly upstairs in the Karate room. We are just a few of the many that are sleeping each night at the YMCA. Other people from YMCAs across the country as well as Relief Counselors from the National Organization of Victims Assistance share the space and the stories.

Driving through Ocean Springs on Sunday we were amazed and surprised by the seemingly small amount of visual damage. Jodie, a Program Director from the YMCA of San Francisco, met us, passed on some of her wisdom from her experience of the previous week. Jodie drove us a little away from the center of town where we first began to understand the different levels of destruction. Just a few blocks behind the YMCA we quickly began to understand that our first impression was wrong.

Just blocks away houses are missing. Yep, missing. Ripped from the foundation with maybe just the toilets still standing or a staircase rising to no where. There is trash everywhere. It is in the trees, 12 feet off the ground where the water rose and left it to later blow in the breeze. Boats are scattered in places where boats do not belong; in yards, on the road, and even settled ontop of the rubble of a home. The toys of children lay strewn in piles and piles of rubble. It is hard to believe that a pile of carpet, insulation, siding, lumber, personal objects used to be someone's home, their lives, their past and future. The highway lays in a mangled mass of what used to be a be the road to a town where life was good, simple, and normal.

Normal is the word of the week because it is what everyone seeks. Normal is comfortable and comfortable is a long way away. Normal is sleeping on a bed, your bed, warm and soft, not a tent in the yard of what used to be the front yard. Normal is eating warm meals, drinking cool water, taking hot showers and dressing in your own clothes; not something a kind church worker gave to you.

Constantly seeking normal is what sends everyone, including us, into Survival Mode.

We are on our way to scrub the women's locker room.....more pictures and stories to follow!

Mississippi Elite Eight

Back At Home...(For Now)

Through our cancelled/delayed flights that took us to Detroit and some of us to Newark, we have landed safe and sound back in Raleigh. Some of us were greeted at the airport with news reporters, and Wendy and George were interviewed! I know this is repatative once again, but we would like to THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all the PRAYER that we were covered in while we were away. The power of God was very evident to all of us while we were down there-not once did we feel unsafe or that we had made the wrong decision to serve. For now, we go back to the real world...today was very tough for many of us, still wishing we were down in New Olreans serving and helping. But, when the time is right for us to go back and help, God will make it happen!

If you are interested in serving the Katrina victims in some type of capacity and would like more information, please call Nick or TJ. THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING!!!

GOD Leads Us To A New Place To Serve And Disciple To Others!

So we start the day off thinking it will be a pretty easy day of cleaning up the East Jefferson Y and serving 25 kids at East Jefferson Kamp Katrina. But, GOD told us he had more plans than that! Can somebody in the congregation out there give us an AMEN! (Can you already tell today was AMAZING and we're a bit excited about it?!!!) Let's start back a bit...2 weeks ago, some members from Nick's church came down to New Orleans to do some relief work. During that time, they met a man by the name of Lance Rowe(who looks a bit like Jesus and has pearcing eyes that scream out how passionate he is about serving others and God) who was doing relief work at Crescent City Baptist Church/Crescent City Baptist School. They told Nick that if the team had any extra time, they should give Lance a call to help out. Like we said before, we thought today would be a light day, being a Saturday for Camp and most of the work at East Jefferson had already been done...so we decided to give him a call. As we found out, Lance and his volunteers were a bit short, and he was ecstatic that we called! So, we sent a team over in the morning for a few hours, then sent the rest of the team back after lunch...for many of us, this was the missions work and impact we felt we needed to make our trip complete.

Lance and a team had set up a relief center that provided almost anything and everything to Katrina victims-clothes, shoes, toys, ice, etc. They even have a makeshift grocery store in one of the gyms. Families can come in everday and go shopping...FOR FREE! They get 1 shopping cart and pick up what they need-food, bleach, medicine, cleaning supplies, you name it! Part of our job today was to move all items from the school and church that were affected by the flooding, roofing debris, boxes, crates, etc. to one HUGE dump in the parking lot-I think it was the most meaningful and fun time we have ever had picking up trash. During this time, we were able to chat with the tons of people who were coming in and out of the relief center. Although words cannot describe the tons of emotion that we felt today, here are a few cool stories...

While Kelly was moving some trash, a man in a taxi drove up to her with an elderly hispanic woman named Vicki in the back seat who could barely speak english. He proceeded to tell Kelly that he picked her up on the side of the road and brought her to the relief center because she was aimlessy wandering through the streets looking for food and water. Through Kelly's broken Spanish and the woman's broken English, Vicki told Kelly she needed Calcium pills, water, food, ulcer medicine, and tylenol. For the next 45 minutes, Kelly and Vicki walked hand in hand around the relief center and shopped, even finding a Spanish Bible. After their time together, Vicki gave Kelly two scripture based bookmarks, told her to give one to her mom (also named Vicki!), and told her she was a Santo(saint!) Can somebody shout AMEN!

While Wendy was working in the "grocery store" part of the relief center in the meds section, a woman came up and they started to chat. Wendy asked if she could help her with anything, and the woman told her the relief center didn't have anything that could help. The woman told Wendy that she had thrown her back out just before Katrina hit and had a bulging disc, and she has missed her scheduled surgery. (Remember back in May when Wendy had a bulging disc-is anyone seeing God getting ready to work this out?!) Wendy gave this woman tons of tips and advice on what she could do. Then, Wendy did the next best thing...She PRAYED with this woman and asked for healing. Can somebody shout AMEN!

There were TONS of other cool stories-Ryan handing out water and ice to cars driving by, Nick praying with a man named Javier who suffered in Houston and wanted to get back into God's word, Steve and Jennifer helping a little boy pick out toys for his yet to be born baby sibling, a lady dropping off almost brand new baby clothes to donate (she was around 8 months pregant and could of used them herself), and all of us took time to chat and listen to stories of the Katrina victims as they would come and go. We also found a cross that was in the rubble of trash. We decided to stand the cross erect in the middle of the huge trash heap for some symbolism. In all the chaos and destruction, only one thing will stand tall and never be destroyed...the CROSS AND JESUS! Can somebody shout AMEN!

After serving at the Relief Center, the afternoon team went to downtown New Orleans to look around. One of the most incredible things to look at was the water marks on the buildings. It was tough to imagine the water level being that high. We saw where looters had broken into stores, and we saw the tired look on the faces of the police officers, contruction workers, power workers, etc. The team was also able to drive through one of the neighborhoods right next to the city. Still a ghost town. We saw tons of cars sitting on medians, ownerless. We saw the spraypainted houses that were searched by rescue workers. We saw houses completely destroyed. But most of all, we saw a city and community that will need our help not only for the next few months, but for the next few years. After seeing the destruction, our van was dead silent for 10 minutes. The news on t.v. doesn't do it justice. Seeing it in person, it really hits home and makes you grateful for ALL that we have.

Well, tomorrow we head home(with a few flight complications, but everything will be just fine!) Throughout this trip, we have learned to be FLEXIBLE and OBEDIENT to GOD. He used us each day in unique and amazing ways, and it has changed our lives forever. We would like to thank each and every one of you out in Blog land who has made this trip happen-TJ especially, for all your hard work, and everyone else who sent encouraging messages. But most of all, we would like to THANK YOU for the PRAYERS. They got us through our trip, and through that, WE CHANGED LIVES!!!

Encouraging Letter From A Parent

We thought we would share this nice letter with everyone out there in blog world...

To all of you who have given so graciously to be there for my son Jack, I want to say thank you. I can't express hom important it was for my family. I returned to work on Labor Day and my husband's job pulled him to Shreveport 2 days later. Jack's regular day care center would be closed until St. Tammany's school system reopened. The opening of Kamp Katrina at the YMCA provided the only way for me to continue my job. Friends and family who we would normally have depended on, had lost their homes or remained away. You provided consistency for my son when there was not much of that at home. I was anxious to bring him that first day but when I picked him up he expressed how much fun he had. I knew he always had a nutritious meal, security, love and a safe play to play. I appreciate you giving your time, energy, and heart to give us some nomalcy in our life.

Sincerely,

Ann (Jack's mom)


It felt really good to get great big hugs from some of the parents as we said our goodbyes. Many of them asked if we could move down here and continue caring for their children! We told them that although we were very flattered, we didn't think our friends in the Triangle would be too pleased with that :)

Both Kamp Katrinas went really well again today. Bead necklaces are a hit!!! Everytime a huddle sat down after an activity, the question, "Is it bead time yet?" was asked! It was so apparent that with so much going on down here in the last month, kids were not getting a lot of attention from their parents. The positive reinforcement of beads in front of their peers was just what they needed. It was music to our ears to hear the campers singing Y songs, doing cheers, and trying to imitate Irie Mon (skit character) throughout the day-all this after a few days of Camp! Up in the nursery area, it was business as usual-diaper changing, The Wiggles, and tons of hugs...It is few and far between when a baby, infant, or toddler is not in the arms of one of our team members! Thanks for all the prayers with our friend Ebony. She was dropped off and picked up at a normal time today. God answers prayer!

Darrell Johnson, the CEO of the YMCA of Greater New Orleans, took us all to dinner tonight for a great "Nawlins" meal. He talked about their Metro offices in downtown New Orleans and how it took in 8 feet of water. He just recently went back to retreive some personal items for himself and some of the other staff-wedding pics, diplomas, etc. and saw that the wooden desks had shrunk down to the floor for sitting in that much water for days. His house was also severely damaged and they are going to have to rebuild most of it. Darell also told us about an email he received a few days ago from a Y in Haiti(the world's poorest country). The Haiti Y informed Darrell that they were telling all of their donors to stop giving money to their Y but to send all of it to the New Orleans Y. It's kind of like the story in the Bible when Jesus tells his disciples about the old woman who gave only a few pennies in the offering plate. Although she gave only a few pennies, it was all she had, Jesus recognized it, and she was blessed for it! That's good stuff!

From his personal stories to the stories he has been told and shared with us, it is really unimaginable. But, the great thing is that New Orleans and the surrounding areas are covered in so much prayer and thousands of people volunteering with HUGE servant hearts! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Tomorrow morning, the entire team if off to the East Jefferson Y to finish up their Kamp Katrina. That's right, camp on Saturday! John, Kelly and Steve are very excited about this, for being away from the rest of the team during the day all week has made them feel like the red-headed step child camp! But, we are excited to connect and continue to build the "caring community" those guys have established down there. We are continuing to run off adrenaline, and are trying to find out a way we can stay down here longer and serve without our bosses getting mad! Although this is a repatative comment, we THANK YOU for the opportunity we have to serve!

Relationships...

GREETINGS!! A great update on our new friend who is moving to Raleigh with her children. She came into the Development Center today and chatted with a few of us a bit more about her plans to move. She is leaving tomorrow afternoon and will arrive in Raleigh in a few days! We have put her in contact with our good friend Bo Roberts who is helping out with her housing situation. THANKS BO! As movers tried to pack up her house today, they realized all of her furniture was infested with cockroaches, fire ants, possum, and other animals/bugs that had come into the house while they had evacuated after the flooding. The movers had other families furniture on the truck already and could not load any of her furniture due to the risk of damage. These men could of just left and proceeded on, BUT they helped her rent a trailer and agreed to pull it behind the moving truck. They also agreed to switch up their driving plans and make Raleigh the last stop on their trip to give her a few extra days to find a place to live. What a great thing God has done to use his hand to put all the right people in the right places at the right times to help this woman! That's some POWERFUL stuff!

Speaking of great relationships, I have failed to mention two great people we have grown to love down here, our new surrogate parents Mrs. Sue and Mr. Jack! Sue and Jack are a retired YMCA couple from Minnesota. Sue was in resident camping for many years in Conneticut and Pennslyvania(where she also served as CEO), while Jack was her Operations guy. They too were in touch with the YMCA of the USA and came down to help as soon as they were called. They have since been at Kamp Katrina for the 3 weeks it has been open. Sue did most of the daily activities (she has since stepped back into more of an admin. role since we arrived and loves us for it!), and Jack still does Operations-cleaning, fixing stuff, and serving up snacks and lunch everyday. Sue and Jack drove down in a Winnebago, and sleep out in the parking lot of our current home. She makes sure we're up in the morning and ready to go, and is always offering words of encouragement! (they have also been our ride to work!)

Over at East Jefferson, John and Kelly once again shared an amazing story about 2 children who are attending the newly opened Kamp Katrina on the other side of the lake. Gabby(4th grade) and Hickman (6th grade) were affected by the flooding, commenting that they were lucky because they only recieved "16 inches of water" in their one-story house. But, in reality, everything is destroyed. They have just rented an apartment right next to the East Jefferson Y where they plan to stay for a few more months. The apartment they currently live in has holes in the roof and cockroaches all over, and Gabby shares an air mattress with her mom at night. Until the new Kamp Katrina opened, they had spent their days pulling up nasty carpet, digging out wet sheet rock, etc. Today at camp, they got picked up around 4:30 to go home and eat an early dinner. But, 10 minutes later Gabby came stolling back through the doors of the YMCA. John thought that maybe she had left a lunchbox, but she came back in to ask if she could stay longer! (She was there until closing time!) What a great escape for Gabby and Hickman-getting showered with love from John and Kelly! (Gabby is in the pic with John, she is on the right)

Back at Kamp Katrina, it was rockin and rollin as usual! The St. Tammany newspaper came around today and took pictures and interviewed the Executive Director and Sue about Kamp Katrina. We also found out that there is a 4th grade girl named Ebony who is in need of prayer!!! She gets dropped off at the Development Center at 6:30am and doesn't get picked up until 8:00pm. During the day, she tells us about her home life-a few siblings who have died(car accident, drowning, miscarriage), and about her Dad who tells her he doesn't want to be her father. The way she causually talks about all of this stuff is heartwreatching. While we don't know how much of her stories are true, we do know that any child making those claims is a child who desperatly needs our love and prayers. (This is Ebony with Richard)

Nick, John and Kelly got to sneak in a little trip through downtown New Orleans today. In a nutshell, here is what we saw-watermarks on houses and buildings so high it was almost unimaginable, minimal power throughout the city, the Superdome's roof and how the outer shell had peeled off, police officers still blocking off a few exits due to current flooding, 3 boats tied up to an overpass in the median of the highway, and a smell of waste and debris that we will never forget.

Tommorow is a sad day...the last day of Kamp Katrina at the Child Development Center (we will all go over to work the new Kamp Katrina at East Jefferson on Saturday). Darrell Johnson, the CEO of the YMCA of Greater New Orleans and other staff are taking us out to dinner for an "End Of Camp Banquet. " It should be a great time of fellowship with our new life long friends. Once again, we thank you for all the prayers and support. TJ always says it so well but it's so true..."WE GET TO DO THIS!!!"