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.

There have been many trips that I have gone on and later regretted attending. I can tell you that this trip will not be one of them. Today Art, a group of students from Drury College, Steve(camp coast care employee), and I reroofed a ladies sandwich shop. Louise Ramsey was so moved by the power of the Holy Spirit in her life that she was almost moved to tears twice while thinking about the groups that had come out to fix her roofs (her house as well). Though the destructive forces ravaged this place. I would wager that the Holy Spirit has moved more here since the hurricane than before. Her joy and thankfulness refreshed me.

Karaoke Night

It is currently karaoke night at Camp Coastal Care.

Me + Ella + mudding = the whole day

Every sheetrock joint in the house has been mudded. But the first stage of mudding must be followed by sanding and a final mudding. So there is still a little more to do, but we have come so far. We said goodbye to Regina and David and Ian.

Noelle gave a really lovely and BRILLIANT homily tonight.

Everyone we do meet asks us to tell their story to the people back home.

Another thing I was thinking about is how cool it has been to have the opportunity just to be around Americans from all over the country. Just because I am normally always around people from Georgia(Tech draws ALOT of in-state students).

Well, Ella and I are going to sing "Goodbye Earl" as requested by our new Michigan friend- John.

still miss Minnesota...

a new job for a new day

Today was a total change for me because I went to a whole different site, working on the dry wall installation in a house completely flooded by Katrina. Though I'd never touched gypsum board before I learned on the job a bit about cutting, installing, and mudding it (though my skills couldn't rival those of those who'd been there longer, to say the least :-) ). anyways, a very good experience and a chance to see damage that happened in the flooded areas as opposed to the areas that sustained only (if such a word can be used with a hurrican) wind damage.
After the day at the house was done, Noelle took us all on a drive through the coastal areas, which--even though I'd seen it before--had changed little since November when I had seen it. Along the beach the buildings were a mixture of heavily damaged but standing, demolished by the waters, and essentially missing. I think some of the most hard-hitting ones were those homes that, while still largely standing, had been ripped open exposing the once private rooms to the view of any passerby (like us).
I'm sad in many ways to be leaving tomorrow because I feel like I'm finally developping skills that would be useful and help me work more efficiently. However, I am glad with the little bit of work that I have been able to do, because--just as Noelle so correctly pointed out--each of our work is just a little, but all added together it can produce big results. and now, having come here, I know just a few of those people whose lives will be improved by those results.

Preacher Lady

Whew. I lead Evening Prayer tonight and gave a little homily about passing on the word about this place. I really do feel like it is our duty as people who have recieved the gift of being here to let others know about Camp Coast Care, the terrible state of the Gulf Coast, and the work that we can all do.

Leading prayer was fun, as always, but now I am tired and have a tummy ache (an innocuous one, don't worry!).

Lest you think Noelle is just napping and eating bon-bons . . .

What pantry doesn't need a daily organizin', I ask you?

Noelle, Cathy, and friend load up for the local senior center.

Noelle posted about Cathy ("jackass of all trades") the other day. Cathy wants to make sure her senior friends aren't forgotten during this post-Katrina time. With Cathy and Noelle on the job, they won't be.

On the homefront

This morning we had to bid farewell to our Minnesota chums(pictured left: The Atlanta-Shakopee, Minnesota Friendship Force). Amanda wrote about them in the previous post, and I can't add to anything she said about the experience. We had a ball and did good, hard labor. What grace! What a gift! God-speed, Minnesota!

I'm holding down the fort at Camp Coast Care today. CCC asks that anyone spending over 3-4 days here work on the CCC site at least once (instead of going out to one of the work sites). My homefront daily duty is - wait for it - trash duty! Woo-hoo!

No, really. I've waited for this day ever since friend and habitual CCC volunteer Gini Peterson told me about it in January. See, you get to drive around on a 4-wheeler with a trailer hitched to the back, load up all the garbage on campus and take it to the dumpsters. They had me at "4-wheeler." I've already ripped through camp, poppin' wheelies and hook-shotin' 50-lb bags of garbage into the dumpster on the after-breakfast run. One down. Two more meal-garbages to go (or is that meals-garbage?). I'll have someone document the moment and post a photo later (because you do NOT want to miss seeing this).

Give me some 'bow

So we just finished a little pow-wow with the Minn. crew.

We went around telling jokes-- trying hard not to laugh too loudly so as to not disturb the fellow campers (specifically the retired policemam on night duty)

Our Minnesota buddies leave tomorrow morning. They will be missed. I remember the first morning sitting on the bleachers waiting to be assigned to a job, and 20 minutes later there were 9 of us piling into a mid-sized SUV.

We've got...
our inside jokes(swallow)
our secret handshakes(or little fives/givin' some 'bow)
our own made up or not made up(it's debatable) phrases(uf golly!)

just wanted to let ALL Y'ALL in on one of the biggest perks of coming to volunteer....fellowship with each other.

Good day

Sorry I havent posted since Tuesday.

Today was great. First let me tell you about a conversation Mary and I had with Regina yesterday---- she said that Tuesday was the first time she had had fun working on the house- ever since the beginning when she came back to see her house mucky and moldy. That was so good to hear. Good to hear that we could light her world at a pretty miserable time.

Oh and by the way--- in between hanging dry wall and mudding those dry wall joints, I have taken on the task of teaching Ian how to high five. He has progressed amazingly. He will now lift his hand and slowly move it towards mine when I put my palm out to him. He is such a great smiley kid, a breath of fresh air amid all the serious construction.

Today was purely mudding. Mudding the dining room ceiling, mudding in the ladies room, mudding the hall way. Ella and I of course sang.... the whole day. We have a really good time.

We added a team member today from Michigan. He is an expert- a contractor or a foreman-- im not sure. He is a really fun guy too. (Man arent my adjectives amazing?)

Well Im tired.
Meng.Out.

today was a great day yet again, we are really making progress on the house, it is really coming together.
We decided we would go and get some lunch from the local 'shell', and we ate our lunch out on the patio in front of Regina and Davids house.

Today was a sad day also, as it was our last day with our new friends, 'the minnissotians'(uf golly), i have enjoyed hanging around with them for many reasons, mainly as now they get teased for their accent, and my engish accent can have a little rest.

We had some laughs today, especially when Rob asked Amanda and i if we would hold up the sheetrock while he screwed it in, well, this was both funny and exausting at the same time, as Rob kept dropping the screws.

The trip is really passing by, but it has been such an eye opener for me, especially as i am viewing it all from a 'foreigners eyes', it has been such an experience just help the people of long beach. I really encourage all you guys reading this to come on down. There is still loads to be done.

nite nite

Of po' boys and sheetrock and mud

De-lish po' boy sandwiches for a hungry, hard-working crew.

Here's the all-chick crew who hung the sheetrock, taped, and mudded a back bedroom (now dubbed the "Girls' Room"). Amanda, Mary, Regina, and Ella - job well done!

Amanda and Ella tape and mud the ceiling of the "Girls' Room." Add this to your resume, women!

The hardest part of the week - saying goodbye to the Cooper family.

Today was our final day at Regina and David Cooper's house. It's amazing how much can get done in four days. When we walked in Monday morning, almost no sheetrock had been hung. Now, all rooms - walls and ceilings - are done. Regina and David worked right along side of us throughout, and baby Ian kept us amused and cooing.

Regina brought her Hurricane Katrina pictures on disks for me to add to our photo collection. My plan is to upload everything to Flickr online - once I do that, I'll add the link to this blog, so that everyone can see what an incredible story we've been a part of this week.

Open for comments

We are now open for comments. It was brought to my attention that comments to this blog were restricted to members only. BUT. I've re-set it so that it's open to all. We know you're thinking about us - let us know!

Still Roofin'....

Today we got a lot closer to finishing up the roof that Peter and I have been working on. We finally got done with all of the carpentry work that needed doing and have moved on to roofing. It's a tin roof, so its not nearly as big a pain in the neck as it could be. Sandra, the lady who owns the house told us today that she had gotten so used to coming home and seeing a hole in the roof she doesnt even see it anymore, and now that it's fixed, she's suprised every time she drives up. I'm looking foreward to seeing our finished product tomorrow!

One more thing

I promised to give a shout out to my new friend Garrett, the gourmet chef here at CCC. He makes a mean rack of ribs, from what I hear. What's up Garrett?!!

This morning, we let Garrett sleep in and a few of us took care of breakfast and lunch unattended. Most major emergencies were averted. The muffin bars and oatmeal were delish.

I want to be the first

...to tell you about lunch! Today, I went and picked up the drywalling crew at Regina's house and we all went out for po' boys. Regina showed us a place at a gas stations near her house where the shrimp was fried and tasty and the Co-Colas were icy. Good stuff.

Another great aspect of my trip to the Outside World was that I got to see this great house that I've heard so much about. Regina's place looks great and the drywall is nearly all up and mudded. Oddly, Amanda is fairly well mudded, too, as it seems she had the hair gel and the mudding compound confused this morning.

In not too much longer, they'll be able to paint and move in to their beautiful newly-refashioned home. The folks taht did this hard work, Amanda, Mary, Robert, Ella and the Minnesota crew should be very, very proud of a job well done. I am certainly proud of them!

still on that roof

Yesterday I worked again on the same roof I'd mentioned in my last post, though now we're all working more faster than the first days now that I think we're all getting the hang of what's going on a lot better (at the very least I know that I am). We've got now all the beams in and the broken ones reinforced so at this point we're ready to apply the decking that we cut out yesterday just before leaving the site. It's finally looking like a roof again. I think before too long that we'll be able to finishing this project up.

Today for a change of jobs for me I volunteered to stay at the camp and help with the tidying up around here, thus I get to drive a 4-wheeler over the camp collecting the trash and driving it out to the dumpster. A dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Besides, when I'm not driving that around it gives a chance to try to help do any other random tasks that are needed. Who knows what's up for tomorrow!

This morning Art and I worked to fix a roof that was damaged. We did a good job. This afternoon I worked back with the others at David and Regina's. About 4 pm we were notified that four professionals (guys with construction skills) had just checked in to camp and were chomping at the bit and were on the way over (grammar?). I thought they were going to be aghast when they saw our work. Much to my delight and surprise they said that we were doing fine. Dinner featured Noelle's tasty pineapple upside-down cake, nummy. After lights-out some of us hung out with our good friends the Minnesotans and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. It seems that they are really curious about the different appropriatenesses of the words "y'all" and "all y'all". It seems kind of difficult to justify all y'all's use though I know all y'all's use is definately more appropriate than y'all's at certain times. I regret that the whole time we were outside playing music, telling jokes, laughing loudly, etc. we were next to the Rector's camper and had to be told to keep it down lots of times. Hopefully he was not trying to go to bed at that point. Snores abound throughout the gym as I type and mine long to leap from my nose. Goodnight to all y'all.

"Ceiling" the deal

"Ceiling" the deal
Originally uploaded by iread2k.

Mary secures the newly-installed ceiling, inhaling all manner of white dusty stuff. Ah-choo!

Sheetrockin' Robert

robert at work low
Originally uploaded by iread2k.

Robert perfects the fine art of drywall in Regina and David's kitchen.

Ian and his girls

Ian and the girls
Originally uploaded by iread2k.

Amanda and Ella pose with homeowner Regina's young son, Ian. I don't know who entertains whom the most throughout the day!

Still here

Hello again.

I'm still here at CCC, only today I am officially jobless. Seems like there might be some light carpentry (hanging an office door, installing moulding) for me to help with, but I think they're just placating me.

I guess I should have expected this, but there's not a lot for me to do around here, since different volunteers take care of the kitchen and food tents every day. I've done those jobs and now I need to step back and let someone else do them. Me? I'll just blog.

The students are having a great time. I had no doubts that this would be a great, flexible and willing team and I was right. I love being right, especially about this kind of thing. I love my job!

Parents (and daughter and husband): Everyone is safe and happy, no injuries or arrests to report. Hooray!

Brilliant!

Mary and Noelle and I are discussing how to use the adjective "brilliant." And how I guess AmeriCANs can't use it properly.

ANYWAYS. Today was fantastice, perhaps brilliant. Same house, same group + some distinguished ladies from Idaho.

I started out shmearing/mudding and sanding. Then Mary and I moved to hanging drywall with one of the house owners, Regina.

It was good to work with Regina, just to humanize the whole experience.

i definitely felt more purposeful today, which is good for me.

We just finished our group night prayer. We left laughing. Seems like every conversation, project involves laughter which is such a blessing.

I'm gonna go.... talk to new friends.

Evensong Star

Lucas provided the music for our Evensong service tonight. Note Ella, Noelle, and Amanda cheerfully singing along with the rest of our congregation, as Lucas strums. (Sorry it's a little dark.)

Praying for sheetrock

Today Amanda and I hung up our mudder motions and moved on to drywall duty. We worked with Regina, the homeowner, to put the sheetrock up in one of the back bedrooms. After an hour or two, we'd claimed it as "the girls' room" and chased out any of our male cohorts who tried to move in on us. (Actually, they were busy in the living room and master bedroom, so they didn't trespass often.)

While we measured, cut, hoisted, and drilled slabs of sheetrock to the room studs, we got to know more of Regina's story. She and her husband have a cutie-pie 11-month old (who was - duh! - 4 months old when Katrina hit - imagine it!) named Ian. There are three older children, ranging in age from 16-22. Yes, quite an age gap in the children. Regina's family - including some of her siblings - are currently living in FEMA trailers just north of Long Beach, as they repair their houses.

The family spends every waking minute working on rebuilding their lives and trying to survive in the meantime. Regina's a dynamo and prides herself in her construction skills (hubby watches little Ian all day). She has a positive outlook and a great sense of humor - both of which come in handy for her right now.

Tired. Achy. Dusty. Gnats up my nose. AND we almost finished the "girls'" room today! All in all, job well done.

Roofin'

Today I went with Peter, Mike, and Mike's daughter Vivian to repair the roof of a house where a tree fell on it. There have been many headaches with the job like trying to make all of our replacement rafters and cripples line up correctly. It's even worse since there is only room for two people on the roof at the time and its still a pretty good squeeze. But, we're getting it all done steadily, and hopefully we'll be a lot closer to closer to being done by the end of tomorrow's workday. -Lucas-

Roof repairs

Today like yesterday I worked on the straightening up of a roof that had gotten hit by a tree over by the Gulfport airport, except today for the first time we got to meet the lady who lives there and has been living there with a tarp over part of her house for the last six months. She was so nice, even offering us oranges as we were about to leave for the day. It just strikes me how despite everything that has happened to her she and no doubt other costal residents are in remarkably high and even cheerful spirits. Hope we can make a lot more progress tomorrow and get that tarp off of her roof for good soon.

Day 2

I am learning so much here in Mississippi. Yesterday and this morning I hung drywall but this afternoon I went with Art, from Grosse Point, Michigan, to help reroof a house. Everyone here is so appreciative of the help that we offer. Noelle and Ella are cooking chicken I am going to go see how its going.

Lunchtime again

I slept like a rock last night and didn't wake up until the lights came on this morning. It felt great!

Today, Ella and I are staying in camp. She's in charge of registering any new volunteers and signing up residents who need work done on their properties. In addition, she's also helping with odds and ends around camp. Last time our dear Ella was spotted, she was sporting blue paint and professed to be having fun with sign painting. Let's hope she reports back later!

I'm on kitchen duty today. We've finished lunch preparation (salad bar, yum!). I'm the proud mother of a delish pasta and bean salad made on the fly, no recipe in sight, in proportion for about 8,000. It is a lot of pasta salad. I look forward to seeing how the mudders and the roofers are doing today.

I've met great folks today, including Cathy, a resident of Long Beach who calls herself a "jackess of all trades". I had to get her to repeat the title so to be sure I heard her properly. She works with a day center for Elderly folks, helps take care of a kindergarden class as well as taking good care of just about everyone around her, especially those of us at Camp Coast Care, where she has been volunteering weekly since August.

I continue to be awestruck by people like Cathy, whose great big hearts keep them caring for everyone around, despite their own trials.

And Cathy, she doesn't handshake. She hugs.

Anybody out there?

Feel free to make comments - even just a "good job, guys" or "hope you showered before dinner" would be welcome. We're not needy or anything. Just wondering if anyone's out there.

Disclaimer: No member of the All Saints' Campus Ministries group was responsible for the emptying of the original contents of the azalea "vase" pictured.

See? They CAN work!

clearing the rubble!!!!!!

So Amanda has just shown me how to Blog, which is going to be very useful to me from now.

We are having a great time, it was a shock to see the devestation on the coast for myself, i dont think you can truely imagine it until you see it there in front of you. The people here are in such good spirits, and are doing a great job to gradually rebuild their homes.

myself, Amanda, Mary and Rob had a great time today with some other groups helping do the 'mudding', and drilling of walls. The girls had fun making 'the clay', which took about three attempts. But finally we wre all on our way, and by the end of the day there was such significant change.

It is all going so well so far.

so fresh and so clean clean

The afternoon portion of the day was more successful in terms of "mudding." Mudding is the term they use for scaffolding the joints of the sheet rock together. We came back from lunch with our pre-mixed mud in hand ready to "shmear." (shmear was the ladies term for it). We sang, oh, we sang. Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, and just whatever came to our heads.

This house we are working in is just one story. It has about 4 rooms and I think 2 and 1/2 baths. Regina and her husband and her 11 month year old son live there. They were there the whole day, helping out. It seems they have become sort of experts in house repair. They are also finding out how poorly some parts of their framework and such were built.

The house across the street hasn't even been gutted. I walked over and looked in the window to find the ceiling in pieces on the floor over matresses and other things you'd expect to find in a house- shoes, books, etc. There was mold all over the walls. Regina said she didn't think they were coming back, but that she saw the owner there just today.

I wonder if I would come back. I think I would. The priest today said that his daughter said jokingly that they should put prosac in the water. But these volunteers have so much joy that I think it's been rubbing off.

I've got to figure out now how many 8x4 and 8x12 we need to buy to cover a little over 5000 squared feet in sheet rock!

finished lunch

We've finished lunch and are about to head back out to our house. We are sheet-rocking and mudding. Mary and Ella and I are in charge of mudding, and it has not been without some trials some tribulations. (haha!) We just can't get our mix to stop hardening up. But this time we are goin out with pre-mixed stuff, so I am confident and pumped to say the least.

We are working with some very fun, funny, skilled gentlemen from Minn. and one from Illinois.

I will say I do wish we were doing more manual labor, something more strenuous- that requires less skill. But it's fun anyways.

Later.
Meng. Out.

Morning assignment: Georgia meets Minnesota

Robert, Ella, Amanda waiting to hit the road to the work site.

Amanda and Mary stir it up - um, to no avail.

We have a hilarious work crew - Ella, Amanda, Robert and I latched onto a group from Minnesota, and while we are getting serious work done, we're laughing a lot as well. The chicks spent the morning mixing mud for seaming the drywall - didn't get very far, as the unmixed powder kept turning to rock on us as we added water. Come to find out, it's too humid here to use the mixable kind (thanks, guys!), so we're bringin back ready-mix after lunch.

Robert's hanging drywall - all very exciting. More laughs this afternoon, I'm sure!

The morning report

I've been here at "camp" all morning, sorting canned goods and preparing for the lunch onslaught. The rest of the group left for a work site before I got a chance to hear where they were headed. I am looking forward to seeing what they've seen and done. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't go with them, but the mold and manual labor are no good for you-know-who.

It is so quiet around here without the other 100 or so folk that populate this place.

Up early

Looks like my internal clock got me up a little too early. Lights are still out although a few folks in the camp are stirring. I slept pretty well last night thanks to my earplugs. I'll be curious to see how the rest of the group fared.

Said Morning Prayer and I'm ready to go!

But first, I need to find something to eat...

Hi

Hey y'all, this is Robert and Amanda. This place looks really swampy and fun. There's some serious Jenga goin' on. We are about to go look to see if we can get some serious bridge goin' on. Lights out at ten (11PM est). Lights back on at 6:30. The gym is divided in half. One area for sleeping and one for eating/dominating bridge games. All for now, more tomorrow.

Alive and well!

We made it, all in one piece. The van ride was blessedly uneventful, although we are all crmmed in. Camp Coast Care has changed a lot since I was here in October, but the good news is that the changes are because people seem to need the emergency services less and less.

The weather here tonight is pretty. Cool and dry. Let's hope it stays.

Tomorrow we'll find out what we'll be doing, but until then, sleep is in order. It has been a long day.

And we're off -

It is okay to be jealous...

Gone Coastal: A Mission to Mississippi

I have a huge white van parked in front of my house! Most assuredly the coolest van ever. And the big news everyone has been waiting for: IT HAS A CD PLAYER! Whew, the trip is saved!

I hope everyone is packed and ready to go. We're going to be crammed in like sardines since we are also taking five big bins of canned goods generously donated by the parish, but it will be good to get comfy and get to know one another.

See you tomorrow!

Pack the rain gear

Weather-chick, here. According to the 10-day forecast for Long Beach, rain is on its way to the area and will last through next week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 50-60% chance of precip, Tuesday, Thursday - 20-30%. Looks like slickers and rubber boots will be the fashion de jour for at least part of our time there. Keep an eye on the weather here.

UPDATE: Looks like the massive rain predicted earlier has dissipated. Rain Sunday and Monday, but rest of the week only 10%. Just keep checking the link above to get current conditions.

Hellooooo friends and family and parishioners! Welcome to Episcopal Campus Ministry's blog about our mission trip to Long Beach, Mississippi, where we will lend a hand in post-Katrina cleanup. Please check in with us next week as we reflect on our experiences and tell about some of things we do while we're there.

If you are interested in checking out the place where we are going, please visit Camp Coast Care's website: http://www.campcoastcare.com/ It is a great organization that has been doing some amazing work since the early days of the Katrina disaster.