New Orleans - day three.

Every morning before the opening session of VBS, the kids would have some free time. Most would play games but every single morning a group would gather around the computer and watch Michael Jackson videos on YouTube. The kids LOVE him! They knew every word to every song and would dance along - MJ had died just a day or so before we arrived but it was so much fun to watch them enjoy his music and talent. The kids wanted to pray for him and his family and one of the boys even dedicated his craft to Micheal Jackson!During the group session, the drama and worship team did a great job at keeping them engaged, leading them in worship and teaching them about Jesus.
Andy and Alicia were in charge of sports and they did a great job! It was super hot outside but I never heard them complain once and the kids had a great time!
After VBS in the morning, the team split into two smaller teams and went off to two different worksites. Team one headed over to Leonce's house to scrap up tile (more on him in the day four post) and team two (me) went to a house in Violet to lay down ceramic tile. There was no one home at the time and we never met the owner, but the owner's brother, Edward (who lives next door) stopped by towards the end of our day to express his appreciation for helping his sister and shared a little about his experience during Katrina. He told us how he and 15 or so co-workers almost lost their lives in the flooding. They were working at the refinery and were trapped in room and barely made it to the roof before the water flooded in. He said that his home and all the homes in his neighborhood were completely underwater. Here are a few work shots of the work...

And here's the team two with Edward just before we left.
We managed to finish about 1/2 of that room in the few hours we had - the next day we sent a small team back to finish it. Kristi and I also did a short prayer walk through the neighborhood - just praying for the people who live there. It was really cool!

This house was across the street and has a red X on it - indicating that it's scheduled to be involuntary demolished by the city on grounds that it is abandoned. Homes all over the city have that posted on them. You couldn't really get too close to any of the homes in this area because they were all infested with wasps - but that seemed to be the norm at all the worksites. The team became pretty use to them after awhile.

This particular block had a lot of vacant land...

This is what appears to be a frog in the back window of a car.

This was just around the corner....and huge pile of trash and a boat.

After leaving Violet, both teams went back to Gentilly to clean up before heading to Uptown for a prayer walk and dinner. This area of New Orleans is beautiful. The homes are old and have so much character and charm. If I ever lived in New Orleans, this is where I'd want to be!

This is where we had dinner! We also came here last time I was in New Orleans - very cute place with lots of charm and amazing food! Their shrimp quesadilla is to die for!

Coming up...day four!

New Orleans - day two.

Day two was an exciting day because it was really more like day one - our first full day! On tap was VBS at Excite Summer Camp in New Orleans East. We did that everyday (except one from 8am to 11:30am) followed by a tour of the city. Here's the gang getting ready to head out. What you can't see in the picture is how hot it was at 7:30 in the morning and the disgusting smell that emanated from the trash cans just to the right of the door. It was BAD and later when we moved them to the street for trash day - we discovered at least a million maggots - pretty gross. Here's Kristi, Robin and Becky - ready to go!The first time I went to New Orleans, our team worked on renovating the space where the summer camp is held - so it was awesome to see it being used! Here are Aaron, Aaron and Tanya doing some drywalling...
And the finished project...

And here's the multi-purpose room that our team painted and installed insulation and ceiling tiles in 2007...
And the finished project where the kids play and do crafts every day...

Within minutes of arriving, a few of the girls fell in love with Kristi's hair...

After the kids arrived in the morning, we went into a morning session with a little worship and skit time...The kids were broken into crews and split off into different areas - here they are doing crafts (which I was in charge of...)So much happened with these kids - it's hard to wrap it up. Needless to say, they all have a story about Katrina and how it has affected their families. Some kids had to move away because their schools have yet to reopen, or they went to live with another parent, others are dealing with abuse, gangs, drugs, and the fact their entire support system was gone instantly. We were told that a lot of the kids were accustomed to having their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. all within the same block or two - a really solid support system. But then after the storm, that changed and a lot of them were left with just immediate family in an unfamiliar area. These kids have experienced death and destruction in a way that most of us will never experience and it didn't take long for these kids to make a huge impact on our team!

After our first day of VBS came to a close, we had a quick lunch and then headed out to tour the city. We made a stop at a gas station along the way and I discovered this gem - a pickle in a bag.

Have I mentioned it was hot in New Orleans?? Because it was hot!! Suffocating and oppressive are two appropriate adjectives.

Here we are at Lake Pontchartrain - this thing is huge and played a large role in the flooding during Katrina. The storm surge came through the canals and ended up here which had no where to go except back onshore flooding the Lakeside neighborhood.

We continued the tour and I saw this school - which you can't see the other side of the building but it's pretty damaged. The sign reads "Registration 8/17/2005" - the storm made landfall on 8/29/2005 - it was a sad reminder that a lot of progress is still to be made.

Next stop was the Lower Ninth Ward which was completely wiped out.

This is a memorial that shows the different water levels throughout the city...

Most of the homes in this area have not been rebuilt. We saw a lot of empty foundations, driveways, and overgrown lots. The wall in the background of this picture is the levee that broke when a barge came smashing through...

Here's an aerial view of that - you can see the barge on the right hand side just above the levee.
This is another view...crossing over a bridge which shows the levee today.There is some progress in the Lower Ninth thanks to Brad Pitt and his organization "Make it Right". They have been building quite a few homes...

They are all elevated, colorful, and unique...

This was a house near where we were staying. It seemed like they raised it themselves...

I have more pictures from the tour but it started raining pretty hard so they aren't that good. The rain was welcomed through because it was hot - I don't know if I've mentioned that yet.

Before heading out to the French Quarter that night - Leanne, Grace and I ran to the grocery store and I saw this. I thought it was disgusting at the time but I now have a new found love for shrimp. Even WHOLE shrimp that requires breaking off the head and peeling it. Who would have thought I would ever say that...they'll be more on that transformation later.
And of course, a trip to New Orleans is not complete without a stop at Cafe du Monde! They have amazing beignets which are covered with powered sugar and are just delicious!
I think Jessie was raising the roof. I'm not sure.

And finally, wrapping day two - here is the St. Louis Cathedral. It is absolutely beautiful, especially at night! Later in the trip, I was able to go inside - those pictures are to come.

Another morning of VBS and work on 2 different homes awaited us on day three.

New Orleans - day one.

It's been about 3 weeks since I've returned from New Orleans and I've yet to blog anything about it. I can't stop talking about it with anyone who expresses even a remote interest in what we did there and I've uploaded 200 pictures to Facebook but I find it hard to put the experiences into words - perhaps I think I wouldn't do them justice. So my approach will be a slow one...taking one day at a time.

The trip started at an ungodly hour - 2am on Sunday morning to be exact. In order to get an affordable flight, we needed to leave out of San Diego super, super early and on two separate flights. So that meant that we all met at 2am to caravan down to SD so team one could catch their flight around 6am. Team 2 (which I was on) left a little later - around 8am.

Waving goodbye to team one...

Catching some zzz's at the San Diego airport in some comfy rocking chairs...

After a brief layover in Houston we arrived in New Orleans! Here we are waiting for Christopher, Andy and Charlie to pick us up...we stepped outside and were nearly killed by the heat and humidity so we waited in between the sliding glass doors...

This is where we stayed - good 'ole Gentilly Baptist!

After we dropped off our luggage and got settled, the whole team headed out to dinner with Janet (who's amazing...more on her later!) We went to The Italian Pie which had calzones pretty much the size of Italy! And it was run by a Vietnamese family which was awesome!

While having dinner we noticed a little something going on outside....

It was our "Welcome to New Orleans Thunderstorm" and it was AWESOME!!

People in the restaurant thought we were crazy but we couldn't pass up playing in the rain!! And what rain is was - we were completely soaked after just a few seconds! After dinner we headed back to Gentilly Baptist and talked about what was in store the next day - our first day of VBS and a tour of the city.

We could learn a lot from Oregon.

As a welcome back to blogging post, I thought I'd post a few pictures from my recent trip to Portland. Last month, I spent 6 days visiting family and enjoyed some gorgeous weather while I was at it!

Although I looked, I didn't spot any members of the Roloff clan. Driving through Hillsboro near the farm - so pretty!My favorite street in Hillsboro - It's beautiful in the summer, but AMAZING in the fall! If you've never been to Oregon, you really should make a trip up there! Besides being incredibly green, there's also no sales tax! A total plus.

Gorgeous Man, indeed.

Thanks for the link Laurie!

I guess we'll never know.

I love spontaneity! And last weekend was exactly that! I got a call from Jessica on Friday asking if I wanted to drive up just past Santa Barbara to go wine tasting. I would never pass up an offer like that and I happened to be free so before we knew it was Saturday morning and we were heading up the 101!

We decided to make a stop at the Camarillo Outlets to check out one store in particular. I've been wanting to buy a new purse for awhile and decided to splurge on a special one and I absolutely love it! The store itself was a madhouse...I've never seen that many people crammed into such a small space. You literally couldn't turn around without bumping into someone!

After braving the lines and making my first official Coach purchase we grabbed some lunch and kept driving north until we reached gorgeous Santa Ynez and the Gainey Vineyard.

We enjoyed a good wine, great conversation and absolutely beautiful weather!! After we were done at the vineyard, we drove just a few miles down the road to Solvang! I've have been wanting to go to Solvang for awhile now and didn't even realize how close it was. What a cute place!

Having been to Denmark, it was fun to see all the windmills and just how similar Solvang is to the real thing! We ended up grabbing dinner at a little Italian place and then made the drive back to L.A.. Overall, I had a wonderful day hanging out with Jessica, enjoying nature and the reminder that California really is a beautiful place! And no one but Jessica will get the title of this blog...but that's okay. Just know that little phrase somehow managed to produced lots of laughter throughout the day!

I totally recognize that guy.

My dear friend Mrs. Dr. Jack (who by the way provides amazing Lost reviews) recently told me about a website that is now one of my favorites. So naturally, I wanted to share it with all of you. It's Criggo.com and it's a compilation of odd or funny headlines or newspaper stories, such as...

Enjoy!

I don't think this counts.

I saw this truck over the weekend and immediately pulled out my phone and snapped this picture. Notice anything off? Anything missing? Anything that might be on the unofficial side? Let me zoom in for you....

Yep...a handmade license plate. How awesome is that!?!?

You have got to be kidding me.

What better way to start a Tuesday morning than with something that left me completely disgusted and shocked. Ladies and gentleman...what's worse than a bald baby girl?? Well according to these crazies...nothing. Which is why they created Baby Bangs. Please make sure to glance through the FAQ's and how to wear section - because as you'll see it's perfectly acceptable to use hairspray on a baby.

Bummer.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve truly been disappointed – but that’s where I am right now. I just heard from CSULB and I wasn’t admitted into the Counseling/Student Development Program. I had been thinking about this particular program for almost a year and really had my heart set on going back to school in the fall. I feel like the Lord just slammed this door shut – which ironically is what my friend prayed at our small group last week. Hmm…thanks Jessica :-)

Anyway…I’m totally bummed and I can’t hide that but I have faith that there is another opportunity somewhere out there. It’s only a matter of time before I find that open door.

On a more positive note, I had a very clear answer to prayer yesterday. Christopher had sent out an email letting me (and others) know that if we wanted to go back to New Orleans this summer, we'd have to let him know this week. I had been praying about it on and off and Wednesday after I got the email I was praying again and then on Thursday the coolest thing happened…God answered!

At work, I walked into a conversation some co-workers were having about what? New Orleans.

When I got home, I decided to watch a tivo’d episode of Little People, Big World and where were they? New Orleans.

And after I watched that, I started reading a book for small group tonight which was set where? New Orleans.

So I think I have my answer - New Orleans here I come!