It’s our last day in New Orleans and somebody turned up the humidity over night. We were in full sweat by the time we had the trailers unloaded. The women stayed back at the camp to fulfill our group’s cleaning duties. Each group takes a turn throughout the week. It’s only an hour of time. I commented to one of the women that it was a little sexist to just have the women do the cleaning and she said, “we’re realistic. The projects that the men are working on (kitchen, bathrooms) require the most time.” But we messed up and took the wrong trailer. The trailer we had was full of donated furniture for Julie. The trailer the women had contained the tools. Hey, we’re tired!
With Mark’s “help,” Art dug into the kitchen. The kitchen floor has very nice ceramic tile that survived the flood and Julie wanted to keep it. It’s in beautiful shape, but there is no tile where cabinets once were and the new cabinets do not fit into the same “slots.” So Art has had to modify many of the floor pieces to get the tops all level for the counters. The new cabinets we purchased the other day, surprisingly, were taller than the standard counter height, so Art had to cut each one down. All of this has delayed the project, but Art’s amazing skills are winning the day. By late afternoon, the counter tops were installed and the sink was being put into place. I left late afternoon to fly home, but am confident the kitchen was finished shortly after my departure.
By mid afternoon, toilets were seated and the plumbing was getting hooked up. Doug, who has been handling the bathroom fixture installations had the tub surrounds in and was caulking the edges. Julie’s “FEMA castle” has a shower that is just big enough to turn around in. She mentioned the other day that she looks forward to being able to take a bath in the bathtub and just relax. I’m confident that will happen this weekend. It’s the little things that make a huge difference.
Don spent a better part of the day installing hardware on the interior doors. John did the woodwork in the archway and was going to try to get folding doors hung. We also bought flooring for the master bedroom and hoped to get that installed.
Julie, Cathy, Christi, Sue, Elizabeth, and others tackled the yard again, giving it a thorough raking, removing vines and branches from the back fence, and making it look more like a yard than a post-flood mess. It’s interesting that, three years later, very little is growing in the back yard. Virtually all of the plant life is essentially dead. It’ll be interesting to see if the air that gets to the soil after the raking starts to generate new life.
Flowers also got planted in the front of the house and a couple of planters hung. As Christi said, “the outside just needs a little color.” The green and the flower color make a difference.
Christi had been planning some window treatments for the past couple of days and Elizabeth and I were enlisted to hang rods. Julie has some beautiful drapes that she’s been waiting to use and they look nice hung on the windows. Elizabeth, who is getting married soon, now is an experienced curtain rod hanger, so there’s no reason her new home in California won’t be adorned with fine window treatments. Using the screwdriver to hang rods, Elizabeth developed a crippling blister about 1/8 in. in diameter on her right hand. Consideration was given to taking her to the emergency room, but it was decided she would be OK if she didn’t use the hand for about a month. 
We had our last carport lunch this afternoon and Elizabeth led us in a very nice house blessing ceremony in the den. Linda presented Julie with a prayer shawl, we prayed for her and she for us, and tears were shed.
We then went back outside for a group photo and got it in just ahead of a storm. When the rain finally cut loose, we got an old-fashioned southern thunderstorm with a lengthy deluge of rain. All of the cleaned windows are now not so clean.
The Ice Cream Man situation reached comic levels today. A renegade mercenary showed up this morning, no doubt looking to move in on Ice Cream Man’s territory. Elizabeth, in a Christian way, told him to get lost. Then Ice Cream Man showed up just before lunch. He was “done with his route early.” Elizabeth, our self-appointed Ice Cream Man liaison (she speaks the language), indicated that he was too early and might return around 2:00. He returned at the appointed hour, in the middle of the rainstorm. Most braved the storm to make their purchases. I’m going to miss those afternoon ice cream sandwiches.
At 4:30, I regretfully left for the airport. I felt bad leaving everyone to finish up and wish I had decided to stay around and finish with the group. I feel like I abandoned them, but have to admit that my own bed will feel good tonight. The group is planning a 4:00 a.m. departure for Illinois Saturday. It’ll be a long drive to get them home Saturday evening.
For my part, it was a distinct privilege to be able to spend the week in New Orleans helping put Julie in a position to move back into her home after three years in that trailer. Yes, Julie reaped the material benefit of our efforts, but we were the real winners in this mission because we got to do what the Bible teaches us and make a difference for someone in need without any expectation or desire for return. We got to be God’s hands and take care of one of his children. There is no better feeling than that.
Here are photos from the day’s activities. Some extra ones from the last day. Christi said she would take photos after everything is cleaned up so check back in a few days to see those.
Gary
View of the back of the house. The extension on the right is the family room/den. The sheet metal box on the back of the wall is the water heater housing. The open door on the left is the entry to the master bedroom. It’s worth noting that the air conditioner survived the flood and does work. Julie says, “I don’t know how long it will work, but it works now.” There is no doubt it will have to be replaced.
View of the front, south end. Can’t get a shot of the entire front because the FEMA Castle is in the way.
Arch before John started working on it. The arch connects the dining/living room with the family room/den. View is into the den.
Cathy sands the finished arch.
Debbie cleans the outside of the bay windows. A couple of hours later the thunderstorm would take care of that glistening glass. John’s saw station is in the background.
Cathy strikes a pose while raking the backyard. Note how dead all of the vegetation looks.
Elizabeth bustin’ sod so flowers can be planted in front of the house.
Sue and Elizabeth planting the flowers and discussing weddings. Though I didn’t catch all of the conversation, Sue got rather animated at one point and I heard “Bill,” “his friends,” and something about behavior at the reception, though I didn’t catch enough detail to put the story together.
Doug hookin’ up the crapper.
Don installed hardware on all of the interior doors and adjusted them so they’d close properly.
Linda cleaning the same window she cleaned yesterday. Seemed to be a strange fascination with that one window. At least she’s not walking around with that mask on the side of her face. I was starting to get embarrassed for her.
Mark “helps” Art in the kitchen. Art told me later that he got more done in the 15 min. Mark was asleep than he had in the previous day and a half of Mark actually involving himself in the project. But don’t tell Mark. He thinks he actually made a difference in the kitchen and we don’t want to burst his little bubble. He’s very sensitive.
The first countertop.
Countertops installed, Art drops in the kitchen sink. Shhhh, Mark’s still sleeping.
Window treatment in the master bedroom.
Our last carport lunch. That is one hot and tired group of people filled with the joy of “doing unto others.”
Elizabeth leads us in the house blessing ceremony in the den.
Linda presents Julie with a prayer shawl representing “all of the prayers that have gone into making this possible.”
The group that converted Julie’s house from studwork to a home in five days (l-r back row): Mary Long, Don Long, Ed Burns, Doug Naatz, Mark Petersdorff, Julie Newman, Cliff Beck, Linda Burmeister, Art Osburn, Dennis Burmeister, John May, Gary Parr. Front row, l-r: Debbie Beck, Sue Stroup, Cathy Johnson, Elizabeth Hones, Christi Osburn. Not shown: Anna Martell, who flew home Thursday, and the hundreds, and maybe thousands, who prayed for us and for Julie and donated money, supplies, and furniture. If you look closely you’ll see the Lord’s presence in all of this.
