Our final day here, and did we have some huge expectations for ourselves. We had a punch list of 32 things to accomplish in four hours. I didn't think we would ever get it all done, but the teens knew I wanted to, so after morning devotionals they scarfed down their breakfast and flew to their workstations. It was a lot of clean up work. We planted more in the peace garden, killed some fire ant mounds, (and boy do those hurt when they bite!), edged around the ferns and Father's walkway, cleaned and organized all the tools, watered everything we planted, (And timed how long it took so they could make an appeal to parishioners to come every day and water until the new landscaping is set.), laid soaker hoses thru-out the entire grounds, and planted some more palm trees by the entrance. Not to mention the tedious, yet necessary mini jobs and "power washing" of the sidewalks. The teens proved me wrong though, and got every bit of it done.
It was overcast until around 11:00am when it started raining buckets. We had to stop at noon anyways, so it gave us a chance to see if the river rocks and the swail in the garden were going to hold up. (They did, but we found other trouble spots for the next group to help them fix, since we didn't have any more rocks to fix them ourselves. We ate lunch, got our showers, pre-cleaned the building, and met back in church to discern the week with Father Doug and Sister Kathleen. They were overwhelmed with the generosity of the nurseries who donated the plants and with the the "donated" labor we provided. We talked about how the newspapers are saying that New Orleans doesn't want anyone else to come down and help, and how very far from the truth that is. We all felt very honored to have been able to help, especially when Father told us that we weren't just helping a few families, but the whole parish and community as well. They have us each a prayer card with the date of our trip and a note of Thanks. It was so nice of them to gift us, when we have already received so much.
After our meeting, we boarded the bus, with it still pouring rain, to head for our swamp tour. (I'm thinking, "Lovely~large alligators next to our open air boat in the rain! What could be better?") God taught me to have faith though, because it stopped raining as soon as we pulled off the exit. The teens loved it, and our boat saw a ton of alligators. (Yippee! for marshmallows and hot dogs.) The captains were informative, and scared us a little when they decided to run up on a tree root, but it was still fun. We left the tour and ate dinner at Schaeffers. It was really good, and they even saved a room for us this time! We tried alligator (again) and a lot of seafood dishes. They were all great.
After dinner we came back, cleaned and packed for the morning, and had a few minutes of free time. We ended with a final prayer service in the church and distributed our peer affirmations. It was a great night~with a great group of people.
We sent the teens to bed and then cleaned up the church and packed all of our supplies. It will be nice to get home to our families! (Miss you Taylor and Gracie!) Julie & Patrick, we are glad you made it home safe, Emily~Good luck in the tourney, and Leslie~have fun at the wedding. We miss you down here!
Please keep us in your prayers for a safe journey home.
It was overcast until around 11:00am when it started raining buckets. We had to stop at noon anyways, so it gave us a chance to see if the river rocks and the swail in the garden were going to hold up. (They did, but we found other trouble spots for the next group to help them fix, since we didn't have any more rocks to fix them ourselves. We ate lunch, got our showers, pre-cleaned the building, and met back in church to discern the week with Father Doug and Sister Kathleen. They were overwhelmed with the generosity of the nurseries who donated the plants and with the the "donated" labor we provided. We talked about how the newspapers are saying that New Orleans doesn't want anyone else to come down and help, and how very far from the truth that is. We all felt very honored to have been able to help, especially when Father told us that we weren't just helping a few families, but the whole parish and community as well. They have us each a prayer card with the date of our trip and a note of Thanks. It was so nice of them to gift us, when we have already received so much.
After our meeting, we boarded the bus, with it still pouring rain, to head for our swamp tour. (I'm thinking, "Lovely~large alligators next to our open air boat in the rain! What could be better?") God taught me to have faith though, because it stopped raining as soon as we pulled off the exit. The teens loved it, and our boat saw a ton of alligators. (Yippee! for marshmallows and hot dogs.) The captains were informative, and scared us a little when they decided to run up on a tree root, but it was still fun. We left the tour and ate dinner at Schaeffers. It was really good, and they even saved a room for us this time! We tried alligator (again) and a lot of seafood dishes. They were all great.
After dinner we came back, cleaned and packed for the morning, and had a few minutes of free time. We ended with a final prayer service in the church and distributed our peer affirmations. It was a great night~with a great group of people.
We sent the teens to bed and then cleaned up the church and packed all of our supplies. It will be nice to get home to our families! (Miss you Taylor and Gracie!) Julie & Patrick, we are glad you made it home safe, Emily~Good luck in the tourney, and Leslie~have fun at the wedding. We miss you down here!
Please keep us in your prayers for a safe journey home.
posted by Lori Anne at 3:36 AM
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