We're Back!

It has been one week since our team has returned from New Orleans, and I just can’t get out of my head how much still needs to be done.  Not just cleaning up the mess, but restoring faith and community.  It’s shocking as I go through the pictures that were taken that this was 6 years ago, yet to the people living there it seems like yesterday.

 My new friend, who goes by the name Houston, put this trip into perspective for me as he thanked me for coming, “ You didn’t have to come here Mrs., but we're sure glad you did.  Even if you only pulled one nail out of the wall that is one less than I would have to.  God’s got plenty of people He could’ve sent and He chose you to be here today”.  

Our team worked on a house in the 7^th ward.  The owner, Mr. Lyle and his wife have been living in a FEMA trailer since September 2005 right next to the house he grew up in as a child.  We spent 2 days putting the finishing touches on their home and we were happy to learn that they are now moved in. 

These little moments with people let us know that New Orleans wasn’t about the number of people displaced or dead, but it was about actual people, one at a time, each with a different story to tell. Each and every story touched us in some way that brought us vividly into New Orleans as these residents saw it, post  Katrina.  Stories about duct taped refrigerators,  stray animals roaming the streets, about love and loss.  We left New Orleans with our hearts swelling with love for the people there.