Yesterday I was talking with Dee Franke, Fred's wife. I asked her a couple of questions about how high the water was in her house (about 3ft) and where her family evacuated to (Destin) and other things. We started talking about the canals that failed and she started telling me about people who had houses in those areas that were completely destroyed, some of them who went or go to church at Carrollton Avenue. These stories really caused it to come home to me just how much this has affected people's lives here. Coming down here and seeing how much still needs to be done and how different New Orleans is now, even though the city is so resilient. Just Dee's voice as she told me of one family after another that had had to move away from each other, building in different areas of the city or in different states altogether. Fred has also been talking to counselors that he hopes to have come here and do counseling. This is a huge need because the studies being done right now show an incredible amount of people still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The normal statistics a year after a disaster, any disaster, are about 8-9% as a high...in New Orelans is is 40% or more!!!! That just goes to show the effects that Katrina is STILL having on these people. They are trying to get things back to normal but for one, normal isn't going to be like pre-Katrina New Orleans and second, they just need so much help! This is why I'm here...and it feels good to have someone come in and be able to help them, but it hurts me to have someone call and ask for something simple and not be able to help them out. i just wish there was more awareness of the need still existing down here. but on that note, i wish people just looked around themselves wherever they live and saw the need that is EVERYWHERE!!! i mean, no matter where you are, there are people that could use some help, they might be too proud to ask for it, but you can see that...i know that i do not do as good a job of that as i could when i'm in school in fayetteville or at home in mtn home. we all need to Wake Up!! and see that we are so blessed and there are people next door that we can show the love of God to and his generosity and humble, servant spirit. As Jesus said "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." (Matthew 25:34-36) this is what he did and he wants us to follow in his footsteps. through Him we are able

this one is going to be short because i've only got until my iTunes downloads. We were trying to develop some policy for the church to prevent child abuse and enable them to conduct background checks on people but we really didn't know what they wanted and i HATE it when people do that..."here, just go do this, we're not really going to tell you what we want but that's ok" yeah, right. this morning we planted lots of little bushes...it is actually pretty fun, maybe i should be a landscape artist...you have to do geometry though and i don't really like that. i go back to Zea's today at 3 to start doing paperwork and such for my job. i'm a little apprehensive now that i actually have a job...i hope i do a good job and get good tips cause i would really like to make lots of money while i'm here. they have a really interesting menu that i'm excited to learn about though! i also have to learn a lot more about wine and mixed drinks...that should be fun. even though i really don't drink that often, it's always helpful to know the difference between a chardonnay and a merlot, both reds, and a sauvignon blanc, a white and a white zinfandel, which is really a rose or blush wine....yea, i've been doing some research already ;)
ok, time to download iTunes and then go paint doors
snowballs tonight sounds yummy!

I don't have nearly enough time to write all the things I need to on here. So much has happened in the past few days. Yesterday was Sunday and I felt like the day didn't even really exist...it was crazy. I got up at 8 to take a shower. Fred was supposed to have emailed us the OpN newsletter on Saturday night but he didn't get it to us until Sunday morning. So...while I was in the shower, he called KT and she and Laura printed and stapled 30 of them. Then, we had to go to the church at 9 to pass them out and greet everyone. Sunday was the first day of Sunday school for this church since the storm! That is just one more indication of how devastating this storm was to these people....and still is. Everyone was excited about the classrooms and most liked them. This church worries and excites me at the same time. There are great people here...and we have been welcomed and helped in so many ways by so many of them. On the other side of that, though, is the fact that though we don't see much of it, the church is being torn apart by some politic type stuff. Some are even wanting to do away with OpN! I know that it has to be hard on people to have one of their elders, Fred, working so hard to help other people and not just them, but it benefits them too! Besides, how can the not want other people to receive the love that this operation has been spreading for almost a year?? I pray that God will continue to support this work and that Fred's family will understand. That is another thing, yesterday we went to eat at Fred's house. We ate with Dee, Ruthie, Robin and her husband Jay. While everyone is nice, they aren't vibrant, easygoing...it is really sad. Dee is having a hard time coping with all of the things...her mother being really sick, Fred not being there all the time and very busy, her daughter's not being happy...it is a lot for her to handle. We told her at church that we would take her out to dinner this week, maybe on Tuesday and I really hope that she says yes because I want her to know we're here for her. We also offered to help her start to clear up her house and get her life back to some semblance of order. Fred doesn't want us to overextend ourselves, but I think this would be a very valuable work.
Saturday was a really busy day. We worked on the classrooms and making the building safe and ready for the kids all day. Tamron Hall and her cousin Erika came...Tamron is a talk show host in Chicago. They were with Fred most of the day but then later they came and helped paint and did a really good job too. The yellow room is insanely bright. They I went with them to get some stuff to decorate the rooms. Tamron had set a 500 dollar budget to get supplies for the classroom. We went to a place called the Educator, then to Target, then to Toys R Us, then to Wal Mart. We got stuff for a little reading corner, bulletin boards, lots of books, just general things to help in the classrooms...and all for her budget which was great. A group of 3 people came in on Saturday night. They are from Tennessee and they are kind of an odd group. It is Linda, Mike, and Kyle and they are not related. Linda is probably around 40, Mike is 33, Kyle is 20. Kyle and Mike are a bit socially awkward but alright guys. We are glad to have them of course. Saturday night we went to eat with James. He told us that he wanted to take us out to eat but we would have to pick the place. We asked Fred and he told us to go to Sweet Fire and Ice. We tried, but we couldn't find the place and so James took us to O'Henry's. It was excellent! We had such a great time too...laughing at each other a lot. Last night we sent out all the emails to the campus ministries for our after finals project. I'm really excited about it and I hope God blesses us with more people than we can handle really...or just the right amount =)
I just spent some time writing down all the emails that are no longer functioning that we sent our challenge to. There wasn't a whole lot so that is encouraging! We also got 3 responses back already--all positive!!! I'm so excited! Well, it's 9am already and I need to be getting to work. I'm doing ok about missing blair right now, probably because i've been so busy lately. It is going to be SO good to see him here in a little over a week. I just want to sit somewhere in his arms for a couple hours...i think that will do wonders for the both of us. I hope we can stick this out...I pray so hard for him and for us. I have another interview at Zea's today...hopefully I can convince him that I'm a hard worker and that I won't just screw around. I think that working there I could make some good money and save a lot for Germany...another thing I need to be thinking about. ok, here i go...another day in the life

Tonight after church Laura, KT and I went to a coffee shop called Neutral Ground with an older couple in the church, Ann and Wayne Arnold. They are awesome!!! They know the coolest places like coffee shops, restaurants, etc in New Orleans and they are so young at heart. We all love them so much. We're going with them to Snug Harbor on Friday...another place with live music and good coffee. The interesting thing about Neutral Grounds is that it is technically a business, but it doesn't make any money really. All the people that work there are volunteers and the coffee is cheap...pretty much sold at cost. It is an amazing place with a shelf full of an awesome variety of books and a corner of games like scrabble and monopoly; good, no frills music, and good coffee too...or so says KT =) so we were enthralled by the place and we vowed to come back...speaking of which i have to find it on the map so we can get back to it later on.
So...this week has been a jumble of plans and actuality. Fred had planned on us doing some more ministry-type work this week and some real stuff for Operation Nehemiah. However, he has been reprimanded over the way he handles some of the church operations. It's a long story and I don't really want to put it all on here but basically it isn't anyone's fault, mainly the usual suspect of people not being willing to put their own agenda aside and try to see things from someone else's point of view. So the fallout of this is that we, as interns, are getting to do a lot more hands-on stuff. We like this, of course, but Fred is kinda wishing that we could be doing more for him. We are painting classrooms for the first sunday school classes since the storm at church, clearing walkways through the equipment to them, organizing some stuff, and other odd jobs. Another repercussion of this is that Brenda, the secretary here, is basically leaving after this week...which means that we are going to have to be the secretaries. Thankfully, Laura likes doing that kind of work so KT and I won't have to force ourselves in there too often, but still, we aren't getting as much training as Fred would have liked because we have so much other work to do.
KT and Perry (the lady in the church that does basically all of the children's ministry) chose the colors for the classroom and they are really neat...bold but not primary blue, green, and yellow colors and I think they are going to look great. We finished the green room today, it is the biggest so that is a good thing. We have to prime the yellow room and wait for the drywall to finish drying but the nursery doesn't have to be primed so we can go right ahead with the pretty blue/turquoise.
Last night us girls and brenda and her husband Craig and Bob had a study that Tim Martin (no, not the one from First Day and Mountain Home) teaches. It has little business cards that you put in order of how you see your journey to faith. We basically just got started but it looks like it could be pretty cool.
The guys here from Ohio are really nice...Dave, Gary, Wayne, and Bill. All very different personality wise and I love seeing them together. They have been such a help to Ronn and James I think.
I will tell you one thing I love about Fred Franke. He is an insanely busy man and he has to run all over town doing all sorts of things. Despite all this, he still makes time to show us his favorite restaurants and places...like Ro-Bears snoballs...incredible...and Zeas bread pudding, and today, we went to Smoothie King and got some awesome smoothies with him.
Tonight after we left Neutral Ground Ann and Wayne drove us by this sweet little restaurant down Carrolton called Jacques-Imo...you walk into a bar, then you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the dining area! it is so cool and we all picked up applications--it was a pretty hopping place for a wednesday night but it is small and I don't know how good the tips would be. Zeas seems to be a really good place right now but it's a drive...i just don't know which one would be better, i guess we'll see.
I really hope gas keeps going down because i have pretty much NONE right now...haha
ok, KT and I are going to go paint because we are excited!

I've got that song stuck in my head---Blessed Be Your Name--i think it is called...i really like it, partly because of the beautiful melody and music, but partly too because of how purely worshipful the song is. It basically says that God is always good and blessed and we should worship him for that reason alone besides all the other stuff he does for us. Cool.
so...today is Sunday and church started at 10 this morning. The church here is about half the size it was before Katrina but they are all wonderful loving people. i find myself just grinning because they love each other and God so much...something I'm really impressed with though is their willingness to admit weaknesses, problems, and ask for help and prayers. That could come from the necessity of working together to rebuild and i think whatever caused it, it's good. I met several new people today. One was Michael, whom KT and Laura talked to for a while. He's been to church a couple times and James, the long haired guy from Ohio who has such a good heart but seems so afraid of church, said that Michael came the other day and just broke down in tears when James asked if there was anything we could do for him. Michael says that his house is still in shambles and he doesn't know how to get it all together. Laura was talking with him about the fact that God can't fix everything that's wrong but he can change your attitude towards it so that you can be happy in the face of trials and problems because you know that He's going to take care of you...we just may not be able to see the end result for a while.
I think that I have a lot to work on. I don't really know how to just go up to someone and engage them in a meaningful conversation from the start, i never have been that good at dealing with emotional situations and I need to start right now learning how to really show people that I care and I want to help them. Also that I'm not above needing help as well. I need to learn how to present myself to people not as a person seeking something for myself, but as someone with an offer of friendship and love no matter who they are. I think hugs are important
Yesterday we drove around a lot and it was fun...we got to see some gorgeous old parts of New Orleans and I just pray that another hurricane doesn't come through because there are lots of places that are just too beautiful to lose, but then i guess war has wiped out lots of those in other places in the world so who am i to try and stave off nature?
isn't that always an interesting question? why is nature destructive? or is it really? i don't know...nature could be the constructive one and we are destructive and we just don't see it that way...odd
I dreamt about Blair last night in several different dreams...it makes me sad because i miss him so much and i almost don't want to think about him so I can push away the ache, but then thinking about him is healing and soothing too. I'm extraordinarily lucky to have him.
there are quite a number of kids in the church which is such a blessing and brings a lot of life to it...i hope we get to work with them. I like Fred Franke more and more too...he's a lot like an organized Karnes in some ways...haha, that makes me laugh.
Had jambalaya today, but now Blair and I are fasting so no more until tomorrow lunch

Well, I've now been in New Orleans for 3 nights total and the beginning of the 4th day. My impression so far? well, there is still A LOT to be done a year after the storm (as residents refer to Katrina) This isn't to say that nothing has been done up to this point, just that it's going to take a while. It is sad to see what was once such a vibrant, multi-colored, happening city become a much more subdued, struggling place. I'm working with Operation Nehemiah which in a part of the Carrollton Avenue church of christ. I've unloaded pallets from trucks, cleaned a lady's house, cleaned the church house where me and 2 other girls are staying and helped the exterminator people when they came a couple days ago. So it's Saturday now and it's raining which is beautiful.
Last night Laura, KT and I went to a small group study at a church member's house, Judy. Her house is Lavender...really...very purple and it's gorgeous. we had a great meal of spaghetti and meatballs...huge meatballs, and bread and salad and a cake. Judy and her husband Charles are so sweet...their house is victorian inside and so cluttered with all kinds of memories. i would love to ask Judy about every single piece of art/clutter/photos. Wayne and Ann Arnold were there...they are an older couple in the church and Wayne is very smart and he has good comments about the Bible. Ann is just so funny...she used to have a Vietnamese girl that stayed with her and the stories she tells are hilarious...her name was Tweetie in think. There was another lady named Sheila...big black woman and really nice. Kirk, the minister at the church and his wife were there and Kirk did the devo about God's grace and how we try to pretend that it's still us doing some of the things when really we should just admit that we can't really do anything and it's all God. We had a great talk and everyone agreed that we need to be more real with each other and quit pretending that just because we go to church that we have it all together. Another older lady was there, Martha.
There's a few guys who stay here at the church too...in the bunk house not the house. One of them, Bob, is a GREAT cook and he has been cooking for us...delicious meals like shrimp and tilapia poor boys one night and for breakfast great pancakes and oatmeal and eggs and sausage and grits and biscuits and gravy (that was a couple days, not all on one day =) so I'm definitely NOT starving. I haven't spent hardly any money while I've been here which is a good thing
I haven't found a job yet but I applied at a pasta place really close that would be fun I think. I need to find a place soon though because I need to start saving for next semester.
Fred Franke is always on the phone and always running around doing things for other people...he's a pretty neat guy.
Ronn is another guy that stays here and he is in charge of lots of repairs...he's a gruff guy but with a good heart i think and a very hard worker.
James is a guy with really long hair who came here in December from Ohio planning to stay just a couple weeks and just ended up staying. He does a lot of things here and is a good guy but a little odd =)
Tony stays here too...nice guy but i don't know his story yet.
There is the neighbor guy, Perry, who is a nut and really funny...he sits on his porch and reads the newspaper and talks all the time and is just funny but isn't really involved with the church...his yard is a bit of a museum because there are signs in it that pertain to Katrina that he says the Smithsonian wants but i don't know if that's true. He has a sign that says "Thanks Corps, This much!" with an arrow pointing to the water line on his house. funny but sad. Everything is sort of out of order here but slowly moving back...it won't ever be the same everyone says, but hopefully we can make it better and people will love their city. I pray that another hurricane stays away...especially as we enter the season.
well, that's a lot to write but i'm just trying to give a picture of the people and the way things go around here...there's more people that i haven't mentioned but i'll get to them in later posts.