picture I found

Hey, Garrett!

Uf, golly-- I need to know if Ms. Mary has made a decision!!

Ella, I lost your e-mail address, but I'll get it from someone.

P.S.- Today I showed up at 12:00 for the 11:15 service (daylight savings), and I said alleluia by a mistake(first time during all of lent, i promise)

hey guys,

how are you all? I miss you all so much, and our time down in Miss.
I am now back in England, and it is so good to see my family and friends again. I have been for the past three days telling my stories of the trip and the people of Miss.

Everyone here finds it hard to imagine such a disaster over there, but they are so amazed with what is happening. Im very annoyed with myself, i managed to come all the way home leaving all my photos sitting on Chris's computer, so i havent been able show people where i have been.

But when i get them i am gonna put some up on here to show you guys(Noelle, Amanda, Mary, Peter, Rob, and Lucas) pictures from the rest of my trip in America.

Well, i hope to hear from you all. It is so strange, i just felt a little bit empty for a few days after our trip. I am so thankful i got to meet you guys. I will be lying in bed and just burst out laughing thinking about 'uf golly' and 'oh yah, dont ya know', you know what i mean Amanda and Peter. We laughed so much. And us trying to mix the dam mud.haha

anyway, must go now, otherwise i'll go on forever.

Mo' pictures

While there's a lull in the action (Ella? Peter? Lucas? Robert?), I thought I'd publish a few more pictures of our week at Camp Coast Care. Enjoy!

Amanda, the "Mad Taper/Mudder"

Once in a while, we got to eat.

Yes, we traveled like cattle, worked like dogs, and slept like logs, but it was always worth it!

Crew chief, Minnesota "Uf, golly" Dave

check-ing in

slept soundly in a soft bed? check.
took a very very long hot shower? check.
spent all Sunday afternoon in my pjs? check.
ate food prepared by someone else? check.
returned van? hell yeah check.
have told everyone who will listen what a wonderful trip and wonderful group we had? check.
thanked God for a great experience? check check and check.

withdrawal

So I've counted 8 little bruises on my legs. I don't know how I got them, but I treasure them.

My right eye was terribly swollen Sunday morning. It's gone down a little. I guess it's just from having such sensitive skin--- when my skin gets dry it reacts like this.

I laughed today and realized it was the first time all day I had laughed, thinking that in Miss. by that time I would have been more like the 10th time.

I've caught myself twice saying "uf golly." I'm still not sure I use it correctly. But considering Dave made it up, it may not matter if I use it correctly.

Basically, I'm ready jump in a car and head back to Camp Coast Care right now!!

I don't want to be one of those people who says their feelings would best be described in a poem. BUT there is this poem by ee cummings. To me it's a poem about how our lives are linked and connected with the people we meet.
I will always carry these people in my heart-- Regina, Ian, David, our All Saints' team, Minn. team, and old man John.

i carry your heart with me


i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

After the storm

Working on Regina and David's home last week included sharing stories and pictures, as well as drills, sheetrock dust, and torn fingernails. Here are a few of the photos Regina took right after Hurricane Katrina hit Pass Christian and Long Beach.

Pass Christian street after Hurricane Katrina

Regina and David's home (living room/dining room)

Police station damage

Regina and David's mailbox is in the foreground. See the white house across the street? It belongs to their next door neighbor. The storm moved the house off the foundation to the other side of the street.

Home

It's been a long day, but we made it home safe and sound. One of the kids noted as we pulled into Atlanta how odd it was to see a city intact - no great swaths of crumbled buildings split by trees or wet gooey junk piled up along the streets. We all take too much for granted. But you can't live your life frightened of instant destruction or second-guessing how you'd react if your life and the life our your community had been swept away. Life continues. Intact. For now.

We will continue to post experiences and feelings of our week in coastal Mississippi because it will take some time to sort out. We saw too much. We heard too much. It would be impossible to sum it all up neatly and sign off.

Photos and thoughts will fill this site for a while yet. I hope that what we tell and show here makes the impact of Hurricane Katrina more real to you. I think each of us - Lucas, Amanda, Ella, Robert, Peter, Noelle, and I - would encourage you to go down and see for yourself what happened last fall and what is happening now. There are so many ways to help. There is so much need.