This is the first week gang on friday morning 

This is the church 

This building is a mennonite church. It was left standing with alot of damage but maybe fixable. Mds has cleaned it out this week and we may make this camp in the coming weeks. They just in last year spent 80 thousand with upgrades and airconditiong. Luckly the air units where off and probably okay. Only problem was that one of the two got stolen after the storm. The building has been gutted and still needs washing. Will will try to get a firetruck to maybe rinse it out. The wall have cracks from the roof shifting but it may work. All but the pastor has fled the region for now but they may trickle back in after the power come on 

Hi to all. It is friday morning and most everyone is working at the sites . Some are working at base camp and cleaning up and building another bedroom. The weather is very comfortable out today. This picture is taken a few mile from a town named Buras. It is located 90 miles southeast of New Orleans. Yes almost in the ocean. It is very close to the end of the Mississippi river. Levies here have kept out the ocean since the early 1900s. They did not fail this time but the water came over the top. A storm surge high of 14 feet plus very high winds tore the areas into sticks. Small sticks.
The government says 4 people died but the locals say that is correct if you don't count the vietamese people. The damage is sever and power is still out in alot of the area. The mds site we are trying to setup has not power yet except small generators. All primitive camping sites are open. very open. Jo and me have been asked to fill in from the first of feb to around the middle of Feb. We will need much prayer. Some men are back trying to find there scrimp boats while most of the rest of the family are many hundres of miles away . Just what you need when you are looking at your empty lot or afew destroyed remains.
We don't yet know if we will have volunteers or not but we know the lord will provide. Once we are in the area we may not get a chance to post much for awhile. Things are going very well here in Bayou La Batre and much work is happning. Atleast 12 fema trailers have been sent to other sites which is always a wonderfull time. The clean up here is well along and the panic has subsided some. Still many not in there homes but most are staring to get out of tents and moving into fema trailers. We are sending the first week gang home at noon today and look forward to new recruits next week. All healthy so far. Luv you all Ker and Jo 

 

 

Hi its tues the 24. There seems to be so little spare time to get to the blogging. I have had some computer problems but may have it fixed.
The ride in on Sunday took us to New Orleans, a large Catholic church for the morning service, and a tour through the ninth ward. The ugly of uglies and you will see some of them. We had lunch at the french quarter and ran out of time.
We then toured the the wind swept part of the region following near or on the coast line. The scenes had changed some from Nov when we first saw them but still overwhelming. Okay will hope to update on thurs with more time. the eidses and the gang. 

 

 

 

Hi to all. we are one the way back to the bayou. Bayou La Batre that is. We left early yesterday morning the19th and drove some good roads and also some very ugly roads near Kansas City but got the job done. We stayed in Grain Valley Missouri last night, maybe a bit short of the goal but it will do seeing the weather cut our speeds down to 30kms at times.We got up this morning to a temp of about 0c and the roads in good shape. Made good time and had a very good driving day. High temp today 14c We are staying Brookhaven Ms. Had trouble getting rooms but ended up at a Hampton Inn. Had supper at the near by Cracker Barrel and now getting ready for bed. Everybody is mostly healthy and in good spirits. Take care to all
luv ker and jo and the gang.  

We are now in 2006. A New year with a warm start. Well, warm for us anyway. Still lots of snow but temps just below freezing most days with no sun. The Christmas season went very well with many gatherings and great food. Towards the end of the year we spent 3 days at the cottage with Erik, Amber and Hailey. The fishing was good(not great) and weather mild.
We came home just before the new year and
Jo baked up some new year cookies and we brought in the new year with our very good friends, Lon and Pat. Yesterday Jo finally got to
start doing things she really enjoys, sewing and playing, and dressing her little grandbaby. The overalls had been in the plans for awhile, but time had not allowed. Today I have plans to haul
soybeans so will update the site again soon. ker