The Fork in the Road

One of my pastor’s most famous sermons was about getting a flat tire on her way to preach a funeral. She could tell she had run over something because it make a horrible clanking noise. Obviously, this complicated her day beyond what she had planned. When she got somebody to change the tire they found a fork sticking out of it. She told us she had almost titled the sermon, “Watch Out for the Fork in the Road.”

I thought of Anne this week when one of our volunteers came into the office to show us a fork. It looked just like someone had run over it many, many times with a car. But not this fork—this was no ordinary flat fork. The volunteer said he was making his bed and moved a whole stack of mattresses. When he moved the stack the fork fell out from between two mattresses. He came into the office to ask us about what he had seen on the mattresses: “Made by Louisiana Prison Enterprises.” Well, yes, we knew the mattresses were made there. That’s why they are so hard and made a good joke. (If a hard mattress can ever be a joke.)
I had missed the point the volunteer was making. What he was holding in his hand was an honest to goodness “shank”, a weapon fashioned out of a metal fork stolen from the prison dining room. It hadn’t been run over by a car; it had been flattened by repeated bashes with a rock or other hard object. One of the pastors here had worked in prison ministries and he said he knew for certain this was a real live, bonifide shank. Our fork was on it’s way to becoming a weapon before someone had to hide it in a mattress.

We’re tough out here at the PDA camp, folks. Our mattresses have shanks in them.

We’ve had another great group of volunteers. I’m having a blast. We have a piano in the dining hall and this week brought us not one, but two, guitarists, plus a tamborine. They played tonight for a solid hour before dinner. And the room has great acoustics.

I’m also spending time with the co-manager of my dreams. I think Colleen O’Toole was a gift from God, possibly because I’m old and I’ve been a good girl. Colleen is 23 and a recent college grad that took a year off to serve in AmeriCorps between her sophomore and junior year. She’s easy going but very attentive to the volunteers.
Our temperaments are very compatible. She’s one of those people who can be both energetic and relaxed at the same time. She has a better sense of direction than mine, which isn’t hard to accomplish but means that she’s helped me explore New Orleans. We found Brad Pitt’s village of sustainable houses in the Ninth Ward. We’ve shopped Magazine Street. We like the same food and have found a great mid-eastern café in another of the lesser-known neighborhood of New Orleans.

And we agree politically. That’s not too surprising since most young people support Obama. But, last week, when we noticed a handful of more-assertive volunteers wanted to watch Fox news instead of CNN in the lounge, we just took the TV out of my trailer (where it didn’t work anyway) and moved it into the office. The fun part was that in order to do this we had to install a cable splitter then run about 100 feet of cable from the main cable, up over the suspended ceiling and through the office ceiling. This involved ladders and an assortment of macho tools to do our work. I had a blast. She’s the perfect running buddy for me.

If it sounds like I’m having fun out here in Katrina Country, it’s because I am. So, here comes the part about “Watch Out for the Fork in the Road.”

I’m going home tomorrow.

Through a strange snafu of mis-communication they have ended up with more village managers than they need. So I’m expendable. However, The Powers That Be say they want to use me in Texas to help set up the camps for volunteers to rebuild after Hurricane Ike.

I get to take a little time to finish the book, rest up and then go play some more. When this will happen, I don’t know. But I know that God knows. And that's all that matters.

Horrifying Beauty

I've been updating this spot on a sporadic basis since the weather got interesting and the camps got complicated. So, if you're a Wednesday morning regular there's a few words between last Wednesday and today so you'll have to keep scrolling down for all the news. The latest news from Pearlington is they had a huge tent donated but it's so big and heavy that they've been offered ten National Guardsmen to help them put it up. Sounds a lot more sturdy than our little corrugated plastic tents.

I can report that tomorrow there is a team of people going to the Texas coast to evaluated things from the ground. The unofficial word is that they should be able to get camps up and running by January. This sounds like a long time to wait but there is a tremendous logistics ballet going on in the background. They have to figure out not only the finances and housing but where to most efficiently position the camps so you can send volunteers to the most houses from the fewest camp locations. Send money. Now.

Things are calming down here in New Orleans. The "season" has opened and we've had a great group of 12 people from two states, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. We've had a designated cook and for good reason. She's good. We had both banana pudding and lemon meringue pie for dessert tonight, both made from scratch. This was after a pecan pie last night. I think I've died and gone to heaven.

The weather has even gotten more pleasant. We've had a spell of less than excruciatingly hot and humid days. So I spent my morning hunting for a phenomena that has haunted me since one of my first trips, I guess it was spring of 2006 or maybe 2007. I'm hazy on the timeline. I couldn't believe my eyes so I kept asking around but no one else had seen it. Every time I found myself on the Interstate 10 above the city I craned my neck and focused my gaze on the houses below but I still couldn't find it again.

Until last week. When I finally saw it I marked it on the GPS and went back to get my camera. A few days later I returned only to find the house had been bulldozed overnight. So today after driving all over town I finally got a picture to prove I'm not crazy.
In the time between Katrina and my first sighting, the neglect of abandoned homes had allowed vines to grow up the sides of some houses. Then the vines covered the roofs and thickened into a solid blanket of green. Then, spring arrived and the vines blossomed into bright yellow flowers. The houses looked like a bright yellow blanket had been gently laid over the resting houses.
It was so beautiful I couldn't believe it. And the idea of neglect this thorough, of abandoment so stark, was horrifying. Part of me wants to get more pictures in spring when the vines blossom again. And part of me hopes that each dangerously empty house with vines covering it will be bulldozed by spring. How can something so beautiful come from something so horrible?
.

Fix You

Friends of First Presbyterian Garland:

We've got a new contemporary worship service we're offering at 8:30 Sunday mornings. Some call it an alternative worship. Whatever you call it, it has electrified our congregation. Vicki Bailey wouldn't recognize us. And this is good. The Frozen Chosen are thawing out in Garland! Aside from a more jazzy and upbeat style of music and singing, we're offering a variety of multi-media worship aids.

I would like you to check out the video Bob Williams, one of the newer members (sent directly from God, I'm convinced) has put together. They showed this at worship yesterday. Even my daughters, who are not known to discuss theology around the lunch table, were impressed. If it doesn't touch you then there's something seriously wrong and you might want to check in with a shrink. You can find it on You Tube at www.YouTube.com. Once you get there search for "Ike Fix You" and it should bring up the video.

Start planning a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast because I know the PDA is starting to plan for you to come.

Putting Pearlington Back Together

The weather has finally settled down enough to give us hope that there would be no more storms for a while. So, last week a team went to Pearlington to put the dining tent back up. We had already had a couple of residents ask if we were pulling out when they saw the big white dining tent gone and all the little blue tents sitting around in the parking lot like they were waiting for the next train out of town. Our camp has become a focus point in the community and they notice whenever we change anything. So we realized we needed to get everything back into place to give them assurance that we weren't going anywhere.

I took some video of the construction of the dining tent.







Here's a still photo of attaching the vinly ceiling. It has to fit perfectly for the velcro to line up in a way to make it waterproof. And this tent, even though it's stood in the heat and sun for almost two years, is still basically sound and waterproof.


There was one spot with a hole that might leak. We patched the hole once before, in February, 2008. I call it the "Dennis from Pennsylvania Patch" because he patched it when the tent stood over 12 feet above us. He used a complex assortment of ladders and pvc pipe to delicately lay a strip of duct tape over the hole. The picture shows how much easier this is to do while the tent is on the ground. This one is for you, Dennis:


To match the three vinyl roof sections you had to mate the edges with each other perfectly, then press the velcro together at the same time someone else lashed it together like a showlace. Finally, we assembled about 12 people who wrestled the whole thing up and into position. It is a heavy tent. We were beat. It was hot. We were sweating buckets, not to mention the brightness of the sun any time we looked at the bright white vinyl. Oh, and the bugs flew in and out and around our faces constantly. We were beat. Did I mention that part?

As we sat there resting and congratulating ourselves, somebody noticed a couple of places where the vinyl was bunched up. Then he saw one place where the rope lashing was done wrong. The announcement to take it down and put it back together again was met with small enthusiasm. "Small" as in "none." I had reached the limit of my personal muscle ability. There was nothing left on me. I was afraid we'd get half-way up and my body would give me that familar "Nobody is home" message and the whole effort would suffer. I needed a rest before I could do anymore physical work. I had become a dangerous and undependable team member. While the others debated and discussed the merits of re-doing the whole thing,I went over to Hattie's to get an order of fries. I had a good visit and talked to her about her house while we waited for the oil to heat and the fries to cook. By the time I got back to the camp the tent was back up without me. Thank you, Jesus. And it was perfect this time.

This weekend another group got all the blue tents positioned and a couple of donated brown Quonset huts ready. They are putting in the duct work for the heaters and coolers as I write this. The Pearlington PDA Camp is back in business. Come on down.

The "D" Stands for Disaster-part two

Hurricane Ike arrive a week after Gustav and did almost as much damage in Pearlington. While everyone was watching the hurricane on TV headed straight for Houston and Galveston, Ike caused the coastal tides to flood Pearlington again. We heard reports of the same roads being flooded the same depth. And, once again,, the tents just floated out into the woods. That meant that all the work the logistics crew did pulling the tents out of the woods was reversed. A few more tents were squished beyond repair. Pearlington wasn't destroyed the way Houma was but it still had headaches. Here's one of the squished tents:
The camp was lucky in that it had been packed up for evacuation while Houma wasn't. Pearlington was the only camp who managed to do just what we needed them to do. They had carefully taken down the dining tent and stored it. All the heaters and air-coolers had been stored in a sea container. I couldn't believe how much stuff they managed to cram into the container because when I worked there last winter the durned thing was absolutely crammed with stuff. In the time since I left in April the worksite manager, who knws the tools better than I did had culled out what he didn't need and made so much room that you could walk to the back of the container. Five months ago I had counted it a great achievment the day I could see the back wall--but I still couldn't reach over the junk to actually walk back there.

So Monday we went to put the dining tent back up and take things out of storage. You'll see them bringing cots and mattress, heaters, coolers and all sorts of things out of storage and into the camp. And here's the cool thing I want you to see: one of the families PDA had been helping came over to help Jeremy and Heather put the camp back together. I tried to get their son, Tyler, in the picture. He's about five and carried stuff right along with everyone else.


Wed morning update- We got rained out Monday afternoon but we worked all day yesterday. Check back later and see the pictures of putting the tent up. I have to go right now to finish breakfast and drive to P'ton. I have volunteers in New Orleans coming this weekend and I move back there tomorrow morning to buy groceries. For once it will be simple to order food. Because we cleaned out the fridge for evacuation we simply need "everything." Shopping will be simple, if expensive.

Monday Morning

The day is up and running. About the only thing I have time to say for sure right now is that we are telling people that Ike and Gustav won't affect our current projects for Katrina. The money the church got for Katrina will be spent on Katrina. We're going into Pearlington today to get te tent back up so the community won't think we've abandoned them.

Send money. Send it today. Plan to come. Come twice as much as you did before. Help finish Katrina recovery. Help the people of Texas, too. Double your efforts.

The Night I Fell in Love with New Orleans

My husband, Beaven, travelled to New Orleans several times on business in the 80's and 90's. I used to say I wanted him to take me there. "You don't want to see this city," he told me. "It's dangerous and dirty. The porter who takes the trash out carries a gun when he does it." This didn't stop my curiosity and I planned a trip with our daughter. When Beaven saw we were serious about it he decided to go with us, I think for our protection more than anything.

We went. Yes, it was kind of dirty in parts of town. And there seemed to be an emphasis on consuming massive quantities of booze. You could tell this was the perfect place for college fraternities to party. On our last day, Sunday, you could smell vomit on the sidewalks. I mentally crossed New Orleans off my list. Been there, done that.

As of today, I've lost count of times I've visited New Orleans. I went to my first Mardis Gras parade last year. And now, in God's special sense of humor, I live in New Orleans.

This is one of those times when I'm so glad I have a video to show you. And when this goes into the book I can only hope I find the words to do the scene justice. Let me take you back a week or so to Friday, August 29, 2008. The third anniversary of Katrina. The night I fell in love with New Orleans.

A couple of days before, the TV started showing the projected path of a new hurricane named Gustav. All of them, the Weather channel, CNN, ABC, CBS...I watched them all and they all agreed that it was coming and it would be big. My boss sent out word to evacuate all the PDA camps. Most camps have two managers but the other manager for New Orleans wasn't expected for another two weeks. So I did most of the evacuation stuff by myself. While I was packing up the logistics crew arrived to strap down the new shower trailer with metal hurricane straps.

I received a call mid-week from the Project Homecoming staff. This is an agency that partners with us to find rebuilding work for our volunteers. They had a party planned for Friday, August 29th to celebrate the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. They wanted to know if I would still be there to unlock the doors because they still planned to party, hurricane or not. So while I was packing up laptops, files, copiers, blackberry phones and food then carrying it all out to my truck, they were bringing in food, helium balloons, door prizes and a banner that read, "Recover, Rebuild, Rejoice!" Like my daughter said, it was "In for Katrina, Out for Gustav."

The Project Homecoming staff was a little worried if anyone would come and with good reason. The city was supposed to be leaving. There would be a mandatory evacuation order the next day. There was even a city-wide ban on parties that night. But nobody seemed to care. They came. Bringing in plates of fried chicken and potato salad. I looked in the parking lot and saw a small group of old black men with well-worn uniforms and musical instruments unloading a truck. It was the Tremme neighborhood band--veterans of many a Mardis Gras parade, I'm sure.

We ate and laughed and hugged and bonded. One gentleman named Rodney thanked me for all that we had done for him. He told me in great sincerity that his home,(and he told me his address right down to the street number), was always open to me. And I knew he meant it. A few people left now and then with polite apologies of packing up to leave town but for the most part they partied like they didn't have a care in the world. Gustav who?

Then the band struck up "The Second Line" and we danced. One woman swung her mother's wheelchair out from under the table to parade around the room. Older women showed us how to wave a white handkerchief while we danced. Like a loving grandmother convinced their child would catch on eventually, they showed us we could use a napkin if we didn't have a handkerchief. This was the Big Easy at play. The people whose philosophy is "Let the Good Times Roll." This was the night I fell in love with New Orleans.

The "D" stands for Disaster

Saturday morning we went to Houma. I guess you could call this Ground Zero of the hurricane since the storm went directly through the town of Houma. We went for two reasons. They told us that both the camp and the camp manager's house were destroyed. "Destroyed" is a dramatic word. Not "damaged", not "hit"--"destroyed" as in not useable and have to either be scrapped and started over or totally re-built.

And that's what we found.

Our first stop Saturday morning was to Kevin's house about fifteen minutes from the camp in Houma. When we drove up, it didn't look too different from what we knew we were looking at--an older, used single-wide mobile home. Then we noticed the roof was gone. Then we walked around to the back of the house and saw that the entire back wall of the house was simply gone. The walls between the bedrooms,kitchen and bathrroom were gone, too.


We started bagging stuff up. One group took all the clothes they could find and brought them back to the camp. We've been washing clothes ever since. Another group wrapped up the glass and delicate collectibles. Then the last group just bagged stuff that had to be trashed. We found a few photographs that we tried to lay out to dry. I noticed they were all recent pictures. Kevin's family didn't have anything older than 3 years because they lost everything once before.

After lunch about half of us went to the camp in Houma to help clean up the camp.

the tents had been blown away so swiftly that pieces of them were caught in the trees. Most pieces were blown so far away that we didn't even try to find them. There was talk of "what if"...but I don't think we could have saved them no matter what. What if we had strapped them down with the metal hurricane straps? I think the wind would have just shredded the plastic.






The large tents are usually used as a dining area for most camps. But the Elks Lodge had built a building for us that they plan to use after we leave. So the former dining tent was being used for storage.

We are starting to think how we can bring things back to a condition for the work teams we are all expecting the middle of September. Fortunately, the Houma people will have a dining hall. They don't have anywhere to sleep, though. They can probably sleep at the Luling camp while they work on getting Houma back up. We did this in March of 2006 when we helped build the Houma camp.

There was talk around the staff that we needed to take care of ourselves for what we would see at Houma. I did this by emailing everybody in my address book I could call on to pray for me. And, gol-durned if it didn't work. I was able to work without being overwhelmed by the horror I was seeing. Right now it's so hot and humid that I operate on automatic sometimes. I just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. We're getting ready to evacuate for Ike. Now that we're prepared we'll have time to take down a couple of our tents. If the Houma tent had been taken down it would have saved Jesus a lot of money. So we've been emptying the storage tent most of the day. It was a chance to weed out stuff that really needed to be trashed. (AND I've learned a new word Canadians use for when they throw something away. They "turf" it. I asked Mary where the word came from and she couldn't tell me. In fact, she ended up very puzzled over the word. One of those words that are just part of talking. Canadian talk. I'm sure Texas doesn't have any words like that.) Taking the tent down was actually the easiest part. Gravity, you know.

So, thanks to the folks that prayed for me. It made a difference. We're still washing some of Kevin's family's stuff. I may go to bed early.

Homeless again

We're planning to evacuate again this Wednesday but now we're more experienced and it won't be as hurried or frightening. For now, we're packing and moving things around and I really need to go do that. But I promised Sarah and Essie videos which I will download here and write explanations later. One picture's worth a thousand words, I guess.

I have been helping inventory the empty trailers and part of getting them ready is cleaning them. I think in the last couple of days I've defrosted about four refrigerators. I feel like the defrost queen. However, I'm kind of enjoying it. There's something kind of creative about watching ice melt. Don't understand it myself, either.

I've moved to a new trailer again. The AC finally wore out in the one I've slept in for the last 2 or 3 nights. The only setting that works is high and I freeze to death at that setting. Any lower than high and the coils freeze over and the durned thing stops cooling at all. I have to shut it of and let the coils thaw out...more defrosting fun. My HVAC guru/husband says it sounds like it's low on freon but I can't find a sticker that tells me which kind it uses. One type of freon would be easy to replace but the other can only be purchased and recharged by a professional.

But, with the evacuations and moving and sorting out what to evacuate next, I'm just plain sick of moving stuff around. I can't remember what, if anything, I left in New Orleans. I didn't bring that many clothes since I thought I'd be here for a couple of weeks and maybe go home before I got a camp assigned to me. I purposely didn't bring a lot because it seemed like I had too many clothes the last time. But not this time.

Anyway, here's video for the grands. I want to show you what we did Saturday and I hope to post that tomorrow.

Getting ready to see Houma

Saturday morning we'll all go to the Houma camp to help Kevin and his family. Not sure exactly what kind of help we'll be. They told us to bring mud boots and bug spray.

I got word today that really made me sad. Remember how excited I was the day I saw Hattie's Corny Dog stand open in Pearlington? It was exciting because it was the first commercial enterprise in Pearlington since the storm. The idea of having hambrgers and french fries sold within walking distance of the camp was only a small part of it. I was just so excited to see a place where people could spend money in their own town. Well, I heard that Hattie and DW lost their house to the flood of water that the storm surged into the town. DW is a fireman and they're staying at the fire station for now. That's the first person in Pearlington I've heard with bad news. But it can't be good for Quin Quinnette. Or the Fergusons. Both of them live on the side of town next to the water. Most of the houses in that neighborhood are built on stilts. But Quin and the Fergusons live on a concrete slab and undoubtably took in about four feet of water. The Fergusons, rememmber, is Chloe's family. I hate to think of them going through this again. They only finished their houses in the spring this year.

Lots of questions for God.

Time for bed.

Thursday report

Too tired to write tonite. The heat and humidity today was just unbearable. I stayed back to work here while others went to Pearlington. The Orange Grove tents here in Gulfport lost a few doors and the big dorm tents were damaged.

I hear the Pearlington camp will be OK. Needs a little work but manageable. We go to Houma tomorrow to see. We hear there's nothing left of the tents. They all blew away. Houma got hit the hardest. The Elks Lodge building is still there but the tents are gone. My camp in New Orleans and the Luling camp are fine. Maybe interesting words tomorrow.

pictures --words later

Some words as of 11 am...We found out that Jan's stuff in her car is OK. She hasn't had a chance to go see it yet but she hears that's it's all safe. ..Linda Freeman called to say her house is OK...slowly, slowly I'm getting word that folks are OK...still no eyes on the Houma camp....working right now to clean and waterproof this camp in Gulfport, getting it ready if we have to evacuate again. We're getting very good at something we hope we never have to do again.


Jan Rabe and Jane

Here's a video of the church parking lot in Meridian.....You will see Kevin Henry then his mother and his wife...then off to the side in the blue PDA shirt is Mary Wityshyn, Wilf's wife. They were talking about what Kevin was cooking for us that night. The recipe he's talking about is called Sauce Picon and it's made out of deer meat. The video then pans to show about half of the trailers he hauled to Meridian. The noise from the generators is really loud.



4pm report. I've seen pictures of Pearlington and things aren't too bad. The just plain old cool news is that the tents Jan and Mary spent so much time and effort to bolt,, screw, rivet and caulk together remained connected to their base made of wood. This means that when the water rose the tents just floated away to the woods....JUST LIKE A BOAT. I hear they're not too worried about picking them up with a bull dozer and driving them back home. I just think it's totally cool that they were so well connected because I've seen Jan and Mary work on them in both summer's heat and winter's cold. I know how hard they worked on them and how satisfying it must be that they stayed put together. It's still going to be a whole lot of work to get things back to normal. The kitchen took water and ruined the floor which is sad because they had just finished replacing it.


8pm report...I just now realized this is Wednesday. I might have stuff to say every day for a while. Lots happening and I know many will be interested in what's going on here.

We had an awesome evening. Yesterday was Kevin's neice's birthday. Angel was five yesterday. With the un-evacuation and hub-bub, we postponed the celebration to today. Kevin fried up the best shrimp I've ever eaten. When I asked him where he got it he said he caught it. Small boat and he said sometimes he can get 300 pounds in a good day. The whole Henry family came for dinner that ended with birthday cake and candles.

Short, small staff meeting afterwards...decided that most will go to Pearlington tomorrow to pull the pods out of the woods. I'm staying to finish getting Orange Grove finished. The goal right now is to get the camps ready for the huge influx of volunteers I knew would call PDA and say they're coming. I hate to miss out on helping at Pearlington but I know they need the stronger backs.

They've also figured they can house volunteers at other camps to work at the camps missing tents. Pearlington volunteers can stay here (or even New Orleans). Volunteers working in Houma can stay at the Luling camp. The push will be to replace the tents blown away or ruined. All the other buildings seem to be useable.

Now we wait for Ike. We spent most of the day getting ready for the next evacuation which should be easier now that we know the drill.

Homeless

Wow. What an adventure. I’m now in the fourth trailer I’ve had in five days. Trailer #1 was when I left New Orleans and went to the Gulfport camp to one of the many empty trailers in the Gulfport camp (PDA headquarters)...Then I slept on the floor of a church in Meridian Mississippi (ok, not really a trailer), then I had a trailer set up on the parking lot of the same church (I slept there two nights in a row) then this morning we returned to Gulfport and a different trailer here where I think I’ll be for a while at least. Based on the understanding that all plans are subject to change, especially considering Hurricane Hannah and then Ike. The staff jokes that we're looking forward to the "W" hurricane because they've pre-determined it will be named Wilf. Our Logistics Manager is named Wilf. That one will be a pussycat of a hurricane if it's anything like my friend Wilf.

I am so happy to be back on-line. Now I don’t know where to start.

I guess this means it will be a three-part book now. I had the perfect ending for it, too. I just have to trust that the new ending God intends to write will be even better. When I started this book I wrote a little sticky note on my laptop that said “God, this is your story. How do you want me to tell it?” Apparently God wasn’t finished talking.

I’m not finished, either, and I have a lot of things to say and questions to ask when I meet God face to face. But, by then, as I am promised, I will understand. I just try to be content to leave the conversation unfinished for now.

Basics: the plan now is to sit tight here until we get more info and permission to enter Houma and Pearlington. Everyone feels sure NOLA is OK but we haven’t actually eyeballed it yet. Our top priority will be Houma to get Kevin back up.

We have also heard the news that his mother’s house is OK. That’s a big weight off his mind. And a neighbor has salvaged some things from Kevin’s house that Kevin says will make a huge difference. The biggest problem after Katrina was leaving things in the mud for so long. If you can get the clothes washed soon enough they will be fine but if you wait too long there’s no salvaging them.

Our focus for now will be getting dining tents and sleeping tents back up and ready for the volunteers scheduled to show up on a couple of weeks. I would imagine my camp in New Orleans will be OK with minimal work needed especially compared to Houma and Pearlington. I hear that Houma had more of the storm than any other camp. We assume this means more damage.

OH!! I forgot to mention my new roommate. I can’t remember her name and she’s hiding under the bed for now but I’m sure we’ll get along great once she stops being scared of me. It’s a gray cat that belongs to the village manager at Pearlington. Her owner was home on leave during the evacuation. Jeremy the worksite mgr at P’ton took her with him but Jeremy also has a dog. So, with going back to the camp not being in the best shape and everything so up in the air, Jeremy asked if I would take her. So us two homeless chicks, swept from pillar to post for the past few days will bond for a while.

That’s enough news for now. More tomorrow. I’m just glad to be still for a while.

Thank you, daughter for all your words. I wouldn't trust my blog with just anyone. You did a great job. I probably didn't tell you the times I called to ask you to post was just to talk to you because I was a little scared. Sometimes the world can get too big for me too.

On the move again

Just had a very short conversation with Mom. This morning they packed up and headed south to Gulf Port, Mississippi, where they will stay until they receive further instructions.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the kind thoughts and well wishes. It means a lot to us all sitting at home, waiting for news. And I know it will mean a lot to the folks that are in the middle of it, once they get home to read it.

Elizabeth

More from Meridian

Mom’s going to have limited access during the evacuation, so I’m going to be her voice for the next few days. Just a quick note to all her friends of and in Pearlington. The good news is she’s been in touch with Dallas and she and her family and all her dogs are safe in Kiln, Mississippi. The bad news is Pearlington is under water. My dear sister, Emily, who can be just as passionate as our mother about people and places, is in an uproar that the news is not covering that part of the story. We’ve been watching CNN all day long and all they’re talking about is the levees in New Orleans. They sure make it seem like no one else is affected by this storm. Mom, on the other hand, can’t get any news at all. The TV in the church only gets local channels and they chose to broadcast their regular programming today. So while Gustav pounds the Gulf Coast, the only thing on TV in Meridan is soap operas.

First off, a small correction to yesterday’s post. There is only one family staying with the PDA staff at the church. It’s a large family – about 8 or 9 people. The head of the family, Kevin Henry, has already lived through Katrina. He and his mother lost everything, including their homes. In fact, that’s how he knew about PDA. They’ve helped him before. Since they had no place else to go, he asked if he and his family could stay in the church until the storm was over. They’re very Cajun. Mom says he sounds just like Justin Wilson. And they’re very friendly and very loving. Just as she expected, Mom has fallen in love with Kevin and his whole family. She knows if she ever asked, they would give her the shirts off their backs.

Everyone is dividing up the chores around there. Kevin’s a great cook, so he and Mom put themselves in charge of food. After a trip to WalMart to buy food and supplies, they returned to find everyone at the church standing outside in the parking lot. Not something you usually see in the middle of a hurricane evacuation. Someone had spoken with Kevin’s neighbor. High winds have destroyed his home. Again.

Mom says the weather there now is windy with some mist – not really rain. They are at risk for tornadoes, but the church has a basement in case some develop in the area. They’re all pretty bored – especially with nothing on TV. But there’s plenty to talk about. And lots of hugs to pass around.