having fun in new orleans at the Irish Italian parade. :) 

my ridiculous blood blister. ouch! no joke, this sucker hurt! 

me and my wall...I love my wall! 

ninth ward...it has yet to be touched as of our visit in march. 

getting ready for demolition work. Oh yeah! I'm pretty sure we are all smiling, can't you tell? :) 

demo work is so fun! 

Crawfish and Crab boil at the home of Terry and Bonnie. We worked on this home (seen in the background) for a good part of our time in Delcambre. Terry sure did know how to cook these bad boys. YUMMY! 

Heading to Chucktown

Today was our last day at Terry's house. He cooked us another wonderful and amazing crawfish boil and it was YUMMY!!!!! Seriously, I don't know what I'm going to do without all this good food that I've grown accustomed to. :( And all the wonderful people. Glen, the shrimp expert, asked if he adopted me if I could stay. And I said yes, so he adopted me. So...I'm not leaving after all.

Just kidding. :)

Overall, this has been a project of the heart. Digging deep to remember why I joined this program and what my purpose for being here is. I struggled against a lot of things, health issues, work issues, emotional junk all -- what made it worth it was the homeowners. The popel in this part of the country are so hospitable and warm. I had no idea! If it hadn't been for this program, this magical adventure called AmeriCoprs, I never would have met so many wonderful people and experienced so much new culture.

I'm off to enjoy my last afternon with the kids that we tutor twice a week. It will be hard saying goodbye.

Grace and peace.

Almost Done with Louisiana

So, in just a few short days, my team and I will be packing up and leaving the wonder that is Louisiana...
On the way back to Charleston, we will be stopping in Gulf Breeze, FL to stay the night with my wonderful Grandpa (HI GRANDPA!!!). He has agreed to take in my team for the night, isn't he wonderful? We will be arriving back in Charleston sometime on wednesday and then begins.... SPRING BREAK!!! YEA! Unfortunetly, I have no plans as I am po' and didn't set anything up. However, there is always the beach and plenty of sleep to get caught up on. Yea!
After break, we will be preparing for a short trail building project somewhere in South Carolina--location TBA. That will be about a 10 day project after which we will be heading out to NASHVILLE TN! Seriously, the only place I really wanted a project and it will be our last one of the year. We are going to be working at a camp called Easter Seals which is for children and adults who have mild to severe physical disabilities. We will be camp counselors, living, eating and having fun with the campers. SO EXCITING. My only goal is to meet Keith Urban. I feel confident about this happening. I've already started training my teammates to recognize his voice, so if he happens to be somwhere around, they'll be able to recognize it and call me immediately. Also, I am putting together a collage of his pictures, so they'll be able to recognize his face as well as his voice. I know what you're thinking, I'm a little obsessed, but really, I just think it would be awesome. :)
OUr project here is wrapping up well. On Monday, Terry (one of the homeowners) is going to do another crawfish boil for us. Can you say YUMMY? It's crazy to think that our time is almost up, but I think we are all ready to be done here. :) Pictures to come once I get back to Charleston and my own computer.
Until then, love to all!!!

ISP fun

Last weekend we went to work at a Crawfish Etufay (no clue how that is really spelled) Cookoff in Eunice, LA. It was awesome. The food was incredible. Naomi, JOy and myself were able to help out with the judging and so we learned lots of interesting facts about cooking crawfish and what makes good etufay. :) One of the judges was a local TV news anchor and he was a lot of fun. Also, the mayor, Lynn, was awesome. Every other minute she was asking if we needed anything and if we had enough food. One of the neat thigns was that there was a live Cajun band and they had an area for people to dance. So, we got to watch all these super cute, older couples show off their moves on the dance floor. It was awesome. In fact, this past Thursday night, Meredith, JOy, Alena and I went to a Cajun and Zydeco dance class in Lafayette. We're pretty much professionals now. YEAH RIGHT!!! I had no idea how complicated the dancing was. We can pretend really well though. :)

Today (and tomorrow) we are working at the Acadiana Medieval Faire. It's been pretty fun so far, we've had the chance to talk with a lot of the people working the different booths and doing the various performances... Once I get to Charleston, I'll put some fun pictures up.

Also, on Friday we were able to tour a shrimping boat. One of the neighbors of a house we are working on, Glenn, took us to his friends boat and explained the art of shrimping (which is a dying industry). Delcambre, the town we have been working in, was founded because of the shrimping industry. It only has 937 homes within the city limits and out of that total, only 32 did not get water in their homes during Rita. CRAZY! I'll tell you what, these people are so tahnkful for us being here and they continue to show us so much hospitality. It's been a wonderful project because of that. Work has been very frustrating due to lack of supervision and lack of supplies. Only a week left. We have yet to hear what our next project will be (after spring break). But odds are, we will be heading back to the Gulf Coast. :)

All for now. Miss you all very much. If you get a chance, give me a holla.
Grace and Peace.