Monday, August 28, 2006.....We decided to sleep in this morning and, you guessed it, we couldn't. We were up at7:30am. Barbara started on the RV, cleaning it. I worked on the outside, emptying the tanks and cleaning up. I went in and finished up on the wireless system. I installed three wireless access point units around the building and I believe there will be sufficient coverage of the wireless throughout the building. Around 4pm, Barbara and I left to go to Slidell to return the light dimmers that did not work this past Saturday. Then we stopped at Sonic Drive for a diet cherry limeade and a chicken wrap. We got home to relax and get ready for tomorrow and the memorial at Shell beach.

Tuesday....the one year anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina. The Memorial service will be at the MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet), where the road ends at the water's edge. The memorial is to start at 10am so we left at 830am. We were there at a little after nine, even getting a little lost. There were very few people there but mostly the networks with the reporters and cameramen. We found out that (1) The Governor wasn't coming, and (2) It was not going to start until 11am or so. It was “or so”! They had to wait until the earlier services were finished. They finally arrived at 11:30 and they got started. The memorial was fabricated by a welder from Arabi, the city where the church is located. Some of the people at the church knows the welder. The memorial is a gold metal cross with a metal
likeness of a distressed headshot of Christ. It is placed just off shore on private property (ACLU can't do a thing). In addition, there is a granite upright slab that is dedicated to the victims of Katrina and Rita. Three of the names were the Aunt and Uncle and Step-Mom of Jill Millet....Helen Meyer, Earl Meyer and Shirley Meyer. The program was taps, a few words from the dignitaries, a blessing from the Priest, reading of the names and throwing a wreath into the gulf water. It was a moving tribute and many of the people were moved to tears. All the networks covered the proceedings. Fox Network was there and they interviewed Jill and one of the former teams from Virginia called and said she saw her on the news. Once the wreath was cast into the water, a local club shot a very old cannon. Once the ceremony was complete, the people didn't leave right away as they stayed and visited and shared their thoughts with each other. We left and stopped with Pastor at a Po-Boy place and got sandwiches to take to Pastor's house for lunch. We had a nice lunch with Pastor and his family and went back to the RV, stopping first at the Snowball place for a couple of Snowballs. We arrived at the church and finished loading up the RV and hooking up the car. We said our goodbys (yes, there were tears) and took off. It was bittersweet. A big part of us wanted to stay and work longer but it was time for us to leave. We had grown very close to some of the people (Tammi and Kevin, Laura and especially the Millets). We left at around 3:30pm and headed toward Baton Rouge. We drove until 9pm and arrived at Alexandria, LA after stopping at a couple of Cracker Barrels (an old country store and restaurant). We were looking for “stocking stuffers” (miscellaneous items on sale). We arrived at an RV park and settled in for the night.

Wednesday.....Up at 8am, had breakfast and took off. We drove for a couple of hours, stopped at another Cracker Barrel for a few more items. We shopped at Wal-Mart for sandwich fixings and headed out. Barbara made sandwiches and we had lunch on the road. We arrived outside of Dallas at around 3pm and found our RV park. We talked with Shawn, our son, and set up our visits between his photo shoots. We drove our car around a little to get our bearings, again stopping at Cracker Barrel for a few things. We went back to the RV, settled in for the night, watch “Flight 93” and turned in for the night.

Thursday.....time to do laundry and catch up on my blog. Barbara worked on the laundry at the RV park and I worked on the computer do a little catch-up work. We left the RV park and looking for a Nail Shop and a place to wash the car. I dropped Barbara off at Wal-Mart for get her nail and feet done and I went to wash my car. After the two tasks were done, we did a little shopping. This evening, we met with Shawn and Tim for a visit. We went to a Mexican restaurant for my birthday. Good food and we had a great time catching up on all that is happening in their lives. Shawn has been very busy with his photography business with the Mavs dancers calendar and the senior yearbook pictures. Tim will be retiring next year, which will be his 20th year as director of the Choral. It was a good visit. I am posting this tonight as I don't know when I will be online.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt

I will start out be saying this is a long post but a lot of things have happened this week.

Sunday, August 20, 2006...Early up to be ready for a full day. We had a youth group come in to help with worship and they were slow getting started but was OK in the end. Pastor preached a good message. After the service, we started moving the vehicles around to make room for the trailer coming from Pastor Randy's house. I moved our RV out and parked it on the side of the church. I then moved the two donated RVs to the front parking lot. Pastor's old Cadillac was still in the back and had not been moved since the storm. I got the forklift, lifted it in the front and dragged it out to the side of the church. Someone will call and have it towed away. We temporarily hooked up our RV and headed to the airport to pick up Tony, who is coming down to work on the sound system. We picked up Tony and headed to the French Quarter and met Pastor Randy, Jill and Collin at Landry's Seafood restaurant Co to eat. We had a good meal and visit and, for desert, went to Cafe du Monde for coffee and Beignets. Then, we headed to the church but first going by some of the destruction. A couple of teams arrived (four in each team), one from Michigan and one from Boston. The Michigan team was included three people that were here only four weeks ago. At the church, Tony got a first look at the church and the problems ahead. We cranked up the borrowed soundboard and found that it had also been “fried”. We don't know what happened but the electricity here is not “clean”. Anyway, now we have to decide what to do. We finally got to bed so Tony can be ready to try to solve the church's sound problems.

Monday......Since the food tent is not open today, Barbara decided to join Tony and I as we search for parts and supplies. We went to New Orleans Music Exchange to start our search and found what we needed there and at a reasonable price. On a side note.....the JBL speakers that Randy purchased several years ago was purchased from a music store in Challmette, LA. The music store was lost in the storm and the man, Ralph, that sold him the equipment was now working at the New Orleans Music Exchange.....After 3-4 hours of talking, looking and discussing what to do, we finally walked out with new amps plus a lot of other equipment, including a small soundboard to use until the other one is repaired. In addition, Tony met a gentleman that seemed to know the speaker systems and he hired him as a consultant for the next day. The team from Boston helped a lot by running the cables and snakes to and from the sound booth and stage. Mike fixed a place for the control end of the snake on the stage. Since we didn't have lunch, we went for a big meal for dinner at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company. Then we went to the Snowball place for a stuffed snowball. When we returned to the church, we found out that the Michigan had gone out and started gutting a home without our permission. It was for a family that had been at the VBS when the Michigan team hosted it. When they had started, we reluctantly let them finish as much as they could as to help these people. The reason for the concern is we have a list of first-come-first-served people and their names was not on the list. They will work on the home after the food tent is closed. The Boston team will be helping some.

Tuesday......early start since Tony is leaving tomorrow. Tony started working on the equipment and getting things set up. Tony took the covers off the speakers and looked inside to see the damage from the water (the water level came up 6 inches on the bottom of two speakers). He thought there might be a chance that they were OK. Brandon (the consultant he met at the music store) arrived at 10am and they started. The Food tent is open today and we needed food so I drove the truck to Second Harvest Food Bank for a load of food. We had the largest number of people come through the tent for food since we have been here, almost 500 people. For lunch, Tammy made a special meal in honor of Tony being here.....GUMBO! Tony loved it. The afternoon brought some good news. Pastor had a visit from the top people from Operation Blessing and he gave them a tour of the building....when he walked into the sanctuary, music was pouring out of all the speakers and it sounded great....Randy had tears in his eyes as he listened. This was the added blessing as the speakers were expensive and they worked perfectly. Today, we found out that my sister, Dawn, in WA had to go to the hospital. She is scheduled to have surgery soon on her thyroid. We are continuing to pray for her. By 5pm, everything was working and Brandon, who was a good choice for help, left. We went to WOW's for wings and then to a frozen custard place for dessert. We saw a little more of the destruction, including the 70-foot shrimp boat (it has burned and they are cutting it up and half of it has been hauled out).

Wednesday.....The Food Tent was today, Tony worked to clean up all the final things on the sound system. He then started working on the lightning. Tony set up the lights and focused them. We had to get a controller for the lights so Barbara joined Tony and I and we went to Slidell to the music store (the owner of the Chalmette store had now re-located in Slidell). They didn't have the controller so we ordered it for second day delivery on Friday. We found out that my sister, Dawn, will have surgery today for the growth on her thyroid (it is not cancerous). He headed back to the church stopping first at Home Depot for cords and then to First Catch (a fresh seafood place) for 2 dozen crabs, some potatoes, corn and sausages which they had just boiled. We came back to the church and set outside eating the boiled crabs, first time for Tony. Tony then headed inside to wrap up the little details (it took him a little longer than we thought – we were rushed) and came in, showered and we left for the airport. We got him to the airport on time....he got a lot done and Pastor was very pleased with what he got accomplished. We found out that my sister had come through the surgery with no complications. PTL We also heard from Tony that he had a yogurt before boarding and after about 30 minutes, he started feeling bad and through up everything. I guess the combination of milk products and the crab is not good.

Thursday....The Michigan team left early this morning. They almost got the home, they were gutting, finished. The Food Tent needed more food so I made a trip to the food bank for a load of food. When I returned and got ready to unload, Barbara was there with the fork lift. She has gotten pretty good moving things around. This is the first time she was taking things out of the truck. What she didn't know was that ABC was doing a piece on the one-year anniversary of Katrina, Pastor Randy's relief efforts and they took video of her on the fork lift. It will be on ABC Good Morning on Monday. Once we got the truck unloaded, I headed into the church to start working on the finishing touches of the sound system. The rain started....I mean it came down in buckets....the hardest we have seen it rain since we have been here. Everyone got drenched when they came in. Tony didn't get both monitors hooked up. When I started, we had a lightning strike very close and it ended up blowing out one of the channels on the monitor amp. Long story short, I finally got all the sound working with the mikes hooked up and identified, the monitors working and the stage cleaned up. The cleaning was done by the Boston team. We talked to Dawn and she was feeling better after surgery. God is so good. Tonight, Barbara and I invited Pastor Randy and Jill to dinner. We went to Ruth Chris Steak House and had a great evening of food and talking. We have become very close to them and it is going to be hard to leave next week. After dinner, we went driving along the lake front but it was too dark to see anything. We made a date to do a little touring on Sunday after service.

Friday....Barbara worked in the Food Tent, using the fork lift to move product around. I started working on the lighting system and found out, after working for several hours, that we needed new light dimmers. It was too late to do so that is slated for tomorrow. A group of about 50 young people from God Chasers came by and some went to gut some homes and about 15 stayed and helped us cleaned the church for Sunday and some worked in the tent. Tonight, we went to The Sweet Fire and Ice restaurant with Mike and Francey (she is leaving early tomorrow). Kenny, Jan, Kelly, Adam and Melissa was also there. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday....The Boston team left early this morning...They were a good hard-working team and will be missed. Barbara and I opened the Food tent. Julie arrived last night and along with Angela (a local), Steve and Laura, we worked the tent. We had a couple of additional locals help us so Barbara and I headed to Slidell Music for the music dimmers. We received the light controller (a day late) via UPS. We returned and replaced the dimmers and found out the dimmers was not compatible with the controller. We had to replace the new dimmers with one of the old dimmer that had only three channels working. We had also heard from Pastor Randy that he wanted to have video working so he could have Praise and Worship with Hillsong video and show the Katrina Dreams video. We had to run the cables for the lighting and video from the stage to the soundboard in back. We had to make a quick run to Home Depot for a couple of connectors. Long story shorter, we finished up a little after 9pm.

Sunday....our last Sunday....the service went well with the new sound, new lights and new video hookup. Everyone seemed to like the new setup. Pastor called Barbara and I up on the platform to express his gratitude for our being here. It was nice of him. Pastor preached a good sermon. After service, Pastor Randy, Jill and Collin took us out for lunch in the garden district. The garden district has some very beautiful homes (some private areas we could not go in and expensive even for California). We had a good lunch and then we toured the lake front area and drove around looking at some of the destruction. We came home to the RV and they came in and we visited. It will be hard to leave them. We found out that my sister had to go back to the hospital because her calcium was too low. They got it regulated and she went home feeling better.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt

Monday, August 14, 2006....Justin and I started taking down the temporary stage so the new one could be built. Pastor and Jill had decided on the design of the new platform, so some construction of walls had to be done. Taking down the platform took half the day.....This is a free day as there are no teams here today and the food line is closed. So, Barbara and I decided to go across the river to the Wal-Mart and do a little shopping. I needed some new boots as my old ones are worn out. Justin Remick went with us. This trip took awhile as we had to catch the ferry back and forth. We returned to the church and did a little stocking to get ready for Tuesday opening. Pastor called and they were returning from their visit with Little Randy and his boot camp graduation. A new team of 6 guys came from South Carolina. They were here around the end of June......and they were happy about the AC.

Tuesday......The food line opened and it was busy. The South Carolina team worked on the food line along with Barbara, Justin, Steve, and myself. AND it was HOT and MUGGY! But we survived. The SC team had also received an offering at their church before they came and needed to go to Wal-Mart to purchase $1,200 worth of diapers. This trip took them a few hours as they went to and from Wal-Mart on the ferry. Mike ordered all the materials for the platform and started and finished the walls around the platform. So, we had until Saturday afternoon to finish the platform for Sunday's service.

Wednesday.....Pastor returned and Paul and he took the truck and went to Baton Rouge to pick up some things for his home that he had ordered. We started working on the platform. Pastor called during the morning and said that he just found out that he had to perform a funeral on Friday at 12 noon. So, we needed to get the platform done before then. Well, that changed our timing. Meanwhile, the SC team enjoyed working the food line as they got to meet and interact with the local people. Back to the platform......Mike and I worked until 10pm trying to get the joists set up. Finally, the day was over.

Thursday....the South Carolina team left early in the morning so there were no one to work the food line except Barbara, Justin, Steve and one of the locals. We continued on the platform and while Mike leveled joists, I started to install the ¾ inch plywood sheeting. Meanwhile, Paul and Pastor went out to Pastor's house to install some doors and do some miscellaneous work to get the house ready for move-in. We worked on the platform and got all the plywood sheeting installed and some of the Sheetrock up but quit at 6pm as we were bushed. We still needed to clean up and remove some of the old platform and install some more sheetrock. At 11pm, a team from Alabama arrived for the weekend. They had been here 3-4 times before and they come in for a few days and work long hours hanging sheetrock.

Friday....We started early to get the church ready for the funeral. The Alabama team started hanging Sheetrock and all of us got the sanctuary cleaned up just in time for the funeral. We set up the sound equipment early in the morning and played music while we were working. About 30 minutes before the funeral, the soundboard went out and stopped working. So, Pastor had to perform the funeral without music or mikes. I went out to the tent to help the few work the food line. At about 2pm, it started raining and it RAINED! We got caught with the food uncovered. We got soaked when we covered the food with the tarps. We had a river running through the tent and then it stopped. We uncovered some of the items to re-stock and the rain got us again. As we covered the food with tarps, we got soaked again. We had to stay under the tent as the lightning was close and hitting near around us. The rain finally stopped and we were able to close the food line. By the way, you should see Barbara drive the forklift. She is getting pretty good at moving the pallets around. Next, she wants to unload a truck of food. Since the soundboard is not working, Pastor got on the phone and found a replacement but it is about 30 minutes away in Slidell, LA. So, Barbara, Boomer, Cuddles and I jumped in the car to pick up the new soundboard replacement. Once we returned, we went across the river to do our wash. After that, we were invited out to Pastor's house to view the new furniture that had just arrived today. The furniture was beautiful and the house is just about ready. A few minor things, such as closet hardware and pantry shelving, is needed for a full move-in by Pastor and Jill. Mike went to the airport to pick up Francey who is going to be here for a week. So, ended a busy day.

Saturday......The food line is closed today since the youth group and parents are going to a Water Slide park for sun and fun. So, a free day for Barbara and I. We decided to go look at a plantation. We drove for about an hour to the Oak Valley Plantation. It is beautiful. It was built in the mid-1800s at a place where 28 Virginia Live Oak trees had been planted 100 years previously. These trees made a natural arch leading up to the plantation house. The tree were spaced so that it was 1/3 of a mile from the road to the house. The house is in great shape and was restored in the 20s by the current owners. The original plantation covered 1200 acres but had been reduced to around 20 acres in the current configuration. The owners set up a foundation to run and maintain the plantation. There are tours, a restaurant and a gift shop. We had a relaxing day and returned to the RV around 4pm. The Alabama team was exhausted and decided to clean up and return home tonight. We saw them off and then we went outside and cleaned the parking lot, cleaned the sanctuary and got things set up for the Sunday service. We also set up the new soundboard....had a little trouble getting it to work but finally did it. Last night, we also found out that Pastor had set up to move the trailer from in front of his home to the church on Sunday. So, that means moving our RV and the other two RV s so we could get the trailer at the back of the church. The battery on one of the RV was done so Paul set us the charger so it could be started. They finally worked so we are ready to move them Sunday afternoon. So tomorrow will be busy.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt

Thursday, August 10 – a special day..... We sent all three teams out to finish gutting the two homes already started. Things went well today. We had a full day at the tent and with the gutting. Today is Barbara and I 35th wedding anniversary. Denise and Nolan recommended a restaurant on the Bayou. We went and had a nice dinner. As we were eating, an alligator was swimming up and down the swamp. We started with an onion ring appetizer and I had the “Shrimp Diane” and Barbara had the Stuffed Clam. We finished with a peanut butter cheesecake. 35 wonderful years and I pray the next 35 years are the same.

Friday......The two homes that we were gutting was finished today. The Santa Fee Springs was invited to a wedding on Saturday for the family of the house they were gutting. The family treated the team to a dinner. They are really creating a relationship. The weather was very hot and humid today. We did some cleanup work on the food storage line and the place is looking pretty good. Justin Remick is really working hard on the food line. Friday night, we went to a baseball game at Zephyrs stadium, a triple A club. They played the Omaha Royals and won. There was a fireworks show after the game.....a pretty good one.

Saturday.....The two teams, Miami and Virginia, left this morning, leaving us with only one team....The Santa Fe Springs, CA team. The work on the dorm is progressing very well. Paul is just about finished with hooking up the showers and has the flooring ready for tile....hopefully, next week. The food ministry went well, however, it started pouring rain very hard around 1:30. It rained so hard that we closed down the food line at 2:30. The Santa Fe Springs team went to the wedding in the evening and had a good time. It is really nice that the team could be involved with the family they were working with to gut the home. We went to Pastor Jill's sister's home for dinner tonight. We had Cornish hen, gumbo, sweet potatoes, a new vegetable Melo..something or other, oyster dressing and YES!!! banana pudding, my favorite dessert. Paul, Justin, Mike, Barbara and I were there with Kenny, Jan and there family. We went across the ferry to the Westbank for the dinner. Great dinner and we had a great time.

Sunday....A time for church. Since Pastor Randy is gone, we had Sonny Walls from Baton Rouge. A good service with about 80 people present. After service, we were treated to lunch with the Santa Fe Springs team and then we showed them a little of the destruction. They were a good working team and we will miss them. A little relaxing in the afternoon and a good movie on TNT.....Remember the Titans! We needed the rest. The work is hot but very rewarding. Working with the people and helping them is truly a blessing, even in the heat.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt

Sunday, August 6th.....The day is good. We had a little rain to clear the air and cool it down a little. The team from Lancaster led worship and it was good. Pastor Randy preached a good sermon. After service, we went to eat “wings” with Pastor Randy, Jill and Colin. After lunch, we went out to their house to see the progress. They are almost ready to move in...just the little things need to be done. We left them to do a little work and Barbara and I headed to Sam's Club to shop for the kitchen. We unloaded everything and then we decided to go to the place where Steve took us a couple of days ago....someplace we had not been. It was amazing..
...the storm surge had literally swept houses from their foundation and moved them across the canal and slammed them against an apartment complex. Houses were on cars, on light poles, on a SUV and on a fire hydrant. There were six houses, all built by the same builder.....so much for the construction! As I was going back to my car, I stepped on what I thought was a brick but it was a package, covered with dust, of chicken that had been laying there for the past eleven months. It squirted out of the package and landed on my good jeans and on my shoes. It was only about a teaspoon of liquid but it was rancid – very bad smell....terrible. When I got to the car and got in, Barbara had to cover her nose and mouth with a tissue and we had to ride back to the RV with the windows down. When we returned, I immediately went into the Men's showers, stripped down and showered and then washing my jeans several times. My shoes was ruined and I had to throw them away. It even got on my hands and it took 5 washings to get the smell off. So much for my antics. Randy and Jill stopped by and we had a nice little visit before they headed back to Baton Rouge. Early to bed and ready for a new week.

Monday.....Since the food ministry is not operational today, all the teams went out to finish with their houses started last week. Randy came in before and greeted the teams as he and Jill will be leaving Wednesday to go to Little Randy's boot camp graduation. Since all the teams were gone, Barbara and I needed to do our wash so we headed across the Mississippi to an air-conditioned laundromat. We also did a little shopping at Wal-Mart. We returned around noon and the Pennsylvania team had finished their house and we re-assigned them to stock the tent for tomorrow. This team is leaving. We are going to miss them as they are good workers. A team from Virginia arrived this evening of a youth pastor, two adults and five young people. One of the group is an electrician so, hopefully, we can use his talents.

Tuesday....The Pennsylvania team left early this morning. We also had a team from Miami, FL show up at daybreak. They had gotten lost and ended up staying in their car and finally made it here. We fed them and sent them to bed as they didn't get any sleep as they were in a bad area. The Lancaster, CA team split up and are finishing one home and starting another. Pastor met with Barbara and I and informed us that Nolan and Denise were stepping down and leaving the ministry to work in the mission field. They have tirelessly worked for months in the leadership role over the Food Ministry. They are going to be missed. Pastor asked if we could step in until they get a replacement. Of course, we said yes, at least until August 30th when we are leaving here. If Barbara and I can do half as well, then we will be grateful. The Virginia team stayed at the tent and the Miami team went out with one of the CA teams. Barbara and I escorted the two new teams to see some of the devastation and when we returned, one more team from Santa Fe Springs, CA came in.

Wednesday.....A team from Youth With A Mission arrived to work only one day so the other teams were able to go out and gut homes. The last couple of weeks have been good as we have gutted a few homes. Late in the afternoon, the Lancaster, CA team left. This was a good team and we really got to know Pastor Sean and we developed a good friendship. His team of 38 were all good workers and we will miss them. Now, we have three teams 25 total. We finally got Internet here as a company installed a wireless system and so I can stay in my RV and send and receive messages. So, maybe, I can send blogs more frequently.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt

Sunday, July 30.....Since Randy is still away with Colin, we had a guest speaker this morning. The morning was sorta slow with no problems. I had to quickly make some overhead copies for praise and worship and then I operated the overhead machine for the praise team. The praise was good. We had a surprise visit from a young man that tried to surprise Randy. Even though Randy wasn't here, the young man presented Randy with an award of being the Compassion Ambassador. The young man was with a organization that was here very early in the disaster and met Randy.....they became good friends. He was sorry that he missed Randy but he had to leave because he was on his way to Israel for their crisis. Sunday, after church, we headed to Zea restaurant for lunch. We have really enjoyed going there. We just relaxed the rest of the day.

Monday......we overslept and didn't get up until 8am. Since we had no teams, the day was pretty open. Barbara decided to clean the Rv and I decided to string some lights in the hallway where the gutting tools are located. Steve came in and helped me. The Dentist clinic was open today so there were a few people in line waiting. We set up a cooler with juice and water for them. Paul and Justin continued to work on the dorms. Barbara finished with the RV and I needed to go to the post office to mail a couple of things. Jonny from Orange left his backpack and I need to mail it home for him. I also sent a couple of DVDs to the Indiana team. We had lunch in the RV and then ran a couple of errands....one of which was getting the dog's nails trimmed. We came back to the RV and watched a little TV. Tomorrow will be a big day as no teams are here to help give out the food. Normally, we have teams of 7-10 people to help....tomorrow, just Denise, Nolan, Barbara, Steve and me.......Keena may come over to help. We'll see how it turns out.

Tuesday.......Well, it is just us....working at the tent. Barbara signed people in and I went to the Food bank to get a load of food. I returned around 11:30 and unloaded with the forklift. We had a quick lunch and I got ready to return to get another load. However, this and that came up and I didn't get to leave until 1:30. I got just more of the same. I returned too late to unload since the tent was shut down. I redid the lights in the hall above the gutting tools with Justin's help. I added a switch to make it easier to turn on and off the lights. Justin worked in the tent all day and seemed to enjoy it.

Wednesday.......Again, no teams so it is us. First thing, I unloaded the truck and then I joined everyone in the tent to work with the Food Ministry. Justin and I worked together and we seem to enjoy each other's company. The heat index is supposed to be around 105 degrees. It is hot and humid. I didn't make a food run since we are getting about the same stuff each day. We have many pallets of food so I think we will not get anymore until we use up some of the inventory. However, we probably get a run now and then to replace things that we run out of. We had a nice lunch of braised chicken with veggies. The afternoon was more of the same..restocking and handing out the food and talking to the people. We closed up at 3pm. Justing and I then filled up all the generators with diesel. I then went online to download a word-type software program. I checked my email. I have been using wireless at a place about 2 miles away. I have also been checking out options. There are options but they are expensive. David Breckett, a new friend from the Ohio group, is a network guru and he did some research and it is still relative expensive ($160 to sign up and $100/month)....I will just drive a little. Back to RV to walk the dogs and look around the facility. We got to the RV and just relaxed for the evening.

Thursday....no new team yet....a team of 12 arrived around 2pm. Too late to help much at the tent. We decided to make a food run as we were running out of some can goods. I left at 9am and returned at noon. It cooled down a couple of degrees today but it is still HOT! The team from Pennsylvania showed up and immediately wanted to go out and gut a home. We had one home that was not finished so we sent them out and they only lasted a couple of hours due to the heat. We still had only the six of us but it all got done....busy....busy. Later, around 9:30, a team from Lancaster, CA arrived in two increments. Part of the teams arrived in four van...they unloaded the group and bags and headed back to the airport for the rest of the team. It was 11pm before they were all here and too late for a orientation meeting......tomorrow. Meanwhile, the toilets in the women's bathroom backed up and were now unusable....tomorrow.

Friday...ready to get things done....the team from CA had a couple of plumbers, a sheet metal guy and a AC guy.....Good, now qualified people. One plumber stayed here and worked on the women's bathroom, one plumber went with Mike to work on the duplex. The AC person worked in the dorm on the air conditioner. We put a good quantity to work on the Food Line and ministry. The rest of the people went out to gut homes....both were unfinished homes from previous weeks. The women's bathroom is now again working.....the team rented a professional snake and pulled out some paper towels from the drain. Later in the evening, we all went out for a stuffed snowball. The heat again is so HOT and HUMID. Oh well, it too will pass.

Saturday....two new homes to gut. The teams are enjoying this heavy physical labor, especially the younger ones.....they seen to love getting dirty and doing something destructive....with permission! I doubt if the teams will finish before they leave but we are getting the homes done. Tammy's father is getting worse (minor strokes) so we is leaving a few day so she can be with her dad. Both teams are stepping up and taking over to fill Tammy's slot. Both teams are very willing to work and not complain. We had four gutting teams out today, two new and two old ones. The two old ones was finished and the new ones had a lot of work done. The teams should be finished before they leave next week. We had a good crowd, around 400, through the line for food. We got through the day and I was starting to fill the generators when the skies opened up. I got a little wet until I went inside and found a poncho. We are now at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company having dinner......a poboy BBQ shrimp sandwich.....very good. They also have free Internet here so I will update my blog now and see you later.

Again........see you later.....Love you all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara Northcutt