What I Learned While in New Orleans

Bridge underpasses are still home to displaced Katrina homeowners.

I guess I didn't really expect to see much change from the last time we went down to New Orleans since the last time we went it looked like Katrina had just hit a month prior, but there was an inch of hope inside of me expecting to see at least schools and businesses reopening. No such luck. Where are these kids going to school if the ones we saw are still condemned and boarded up? Maybe that's why we saw kids on their bikes and having fun in the streets while we were working in the neighborhoods during school hours. It's just not right. And to see that President Bush and the President of Mexico and Canada were all in the city the same week we were was just a little humorous to me. Did you know that Canada was there helping the city of New Orleans immediately after Katrina hit before our own government was?

Because pictures of the neighborhood homes would have looked exactly the same as the pictures I took on my last trip, I didn't take any new ones. (It still looks like Katrina hit a month ago.) So, here a couple of me and my husband working on the floor systems to 5 houses that will be built in a couple weeks for the Jimmy Carter Work Project.

My husband, Andy

Working with my own tools and tool belt this year.

Some of us from the team also had the unique opportunity to meet the new homeowner of a house that we built 7 months ago and gave him a gift basket from members of Lancaster Indie Arts. I brought with me some awesome handmade items that LIA members Rachel-Marie, Maggie Mowery, Cinda Collins, Vicki Gertenbach and I created to help add a little love to the new home of a Habitat owner. I had no idea who it would be given to or how I would get it into someone's hands at the beginning of the week, but by the last day my husband had the awesome idea of tracking down the family of the last house we did. So we asked around and found out that the new owners were staying right across the street from their future place. So, we not only got to see the progress of the last project we worked on, but got to meet the future owner of it as well.

Gift Basket with goodies from Lancaster Indie Artists

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the hearts of the locals who didn't let this tragedy affect their outlook on life. Everywhere we went, we were thanked with the deepest appreciation. And it wasn't always on the job sight that we saw this. I ran into Walgreens one day after working and got to the register to purchase my item and didn't even say a word, but as the cashier handed me my change, she thanked me for the work that I was doing there and may God bless me. (It wasn't until I got into the car and told Andy what happened that he pointed out it was pretty obvious with my dirty work clothes and my not-so-pleasant "glistening" odor that she knew what I was doing in New Orleans. Ha ha!)

And then on our last day our whole team was invited to a woman's home for some home cooked crawfish.

"You just bite down and suck it out!" she said.

And she not only wanted to feed us, but offered her FEMA trailer to us to use as a place to just sit and relax, use her bathroom, watch tv or even check email. Her generosity was overwhelming that day, and what a blessing it was to watch her attitude and see her heart as one who can still give love and offer what she has left as a lesson in making this world a better place by "being the change we want to see in the world."