Blitz Build

This week I have been at Lagniappe working on their first attempt at blitz building a house. I arrived Wednesday and settled in. Thursday I spent 3 hours at Lowes picking up lumber for the house we were going to work on and watched a crew pour the foundation. Friday I helped build the subfloor on top of the foundation (from 9am to almost 11pm) our teams also arrived friday afternoon. Saturday our teams helped build the frame and start sheeting the sides of the house. Sunday I rested. Monday we began sheeting the roof, I built a deck, and we passed inspection. Tuesday we wrapped the house, put on shingles and siding, and installed windows and doors. All of the exterior of the house is complete in only 4 days!

The teams were composed of college students who are all involved with RUF(reformed university fellowship) on different campuses. I supervised the painting of siding and other things, screwed in boards for the deck, but mostly ran around getting stuff/supplies that were needed on the worksite-even meals.

My favorite thing about this week was seeing how we had an impact on the community. The house we built is on one of the main streets in town and people were constantly driving by and cheering us on. The fire trucks would drive by, honk, and turn on their sirens for us. The local paper and news station came out to do a piece on our work (I was interviewed for the paper). The community is so encouraged to see people still coming and caring about them and in turn want to do what they can for us. Many people stopped by to check out our work. Some construction workers even stopped by to tell us what a great job we were doing! Other people stopped by to bring us donuts, coffee, homemade bread, snacks, etc. My favorite part of it all, was being able to talk to the sweet neighbors who came out when we were working late into the night to tell us to keep hammering away and don't worry about disturbing them because they just wanted this family to have a home.

This week has been wonderful, but I can't wait to be home with my family and get some much needed rest.

Foy on the Today Show

For those who check on my website, sorry I haven't posted anything since Lagniappe. I am planning on posting about my summer over the holidays when life is a little slower paced(hopefully). In the mean time...
This was aired on the Today Show on November 27, 2007. I thought it was neat that Foy student union is famous. Foy was also featured in Oprah's magazine.

Trying to beat the Heat

Today is my last day to work at Lagniappe! I head out tomorrow morning for Tupelo, MS to visit a friend and then I am headed to Auburn on Tuesday. I am sad to leave because I know I will come back to Lagniappe throughout the year but it will never be exactly like it was this summer. Even though I'm sad to leave, I am glad that I am headed back to Auburn and will be taking classes for my major. No more core classes! I'll write a more detailed summary of my summer on sunday.
Today is so hot! The heat this week has been helping me want to leave because it is so unbearable! It is 9am right now and partly cloudy. The heat index is 100 degrees plus intense humidity! A sweet older friend from the community (his name is Jules) came to the church this morning to warn us about the heat and then started walking around the facilities telling our volunteers that they shouldn't work. Haha! Our social worker jokingly told him to go next door to the high school and tell them and don't talk to the volunteers. :) Not that we want our volunteers dropping like flies, but this week is our last big week of the summer and it would be nice to get some things completed. Please be praying that everyone will take time to drink plenty of water and that we will all stay safe in these working conditions.

Just for Andrew

Tonight's blog is a special blog just for Andrew McGinnis who is 3 years old(maybe 4?). He reads my blog everyday with his mom and I cannot wait to go visit the whole McGinnis family when I get back to Auburn.
Andrew, I hope you are enjoying your new baby sister and are having a fun summer. Thank you for praying for me and for the birthday card! When I come visit we will have to make a trip to the park. I love you and can't wait to see you!!

Some funny things

Here are some funny things that I've noticed while working at Lagniappe:

1. You know you are dirty when you rinse off in a mud puddle and actually feel cleaner!-- Yes, this has happened to me many times and probably to anyone else that has worked at Lagniappe.

2. You know you're dirty when you're showering and the water coming off of you is browner than the water coming out of the faucet!-- I know you're thinking "duh". I'm serious however. The tap water here at Lagniappe is a dark tan color. It is completely drinkable, but a little slimy.

Canoeing!

Saturday, Lagniappe paid for all of the staff and interns to go on a 4.5 mile canoe trip so we could have some time away from the worksites in order to rest (somewhat) and have fun.

We parked our cars and then were shuttled up river where our canoes were. During the bus ride, the driver told us that we will pass under two bridges and on the right after the second bridge is where we would be picked up at 3:30. We proceeded to get off the bus and into our canoes and headed down river. This picture is from the first time we stopped because some of the boys were enjoying dumping people out of their canoes. :)

We continued to head down river and continued to be dumped out of our canoes. Next we stopped for lunch on a sandy bank, but we soon heard thunder rumbling in the distance and decided to proceed down river, passing the first bridge. Not much later, we had to pull onto an embankment because it was storming too hard. There was lighting striking all around us and rain pelting our skin. The storm soon eased up, we got back in our canoes and continued down river, stopping for a couple of rope swings along the way.

After we stopped at the 2nd rope swing, it was close to 3pm, still sprinkling, and we figured we should hurry and try to find the 2nd bridge where we were supposed to get out. We were paddling furiously and singing to keep a good attitude, but we were always expecting to see the bridge around each river bend and it just wasn't appearing. 5pm came around and we finally saw the second bridge! However, our rejoicing came too soon. There was no sight of a spot for them to pick us up at. We all pulled over and one person had a phone that wasn't soaked by the rain and/or dunking and we called the canoeing company. They told us that we had passed our pick up spot by about 10 miles!! Luckily, instead of having to paddle 10 miles upstream they had another pick up spot 2 miles downstream and would be there waiting for us. In the end, we paddled about 16 miles over 6 hours and were sore and worn out, but it was a blast!

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)

Home Visit

This week I get to start doing home visits to people who Lagniappe has helped. I am so excited about this! Our goal when doing these visits is to follow up and maintain relationships with the people in the community. And seeing as Lagniappe currently has over 800 work orders, there are more and more families that have been helped by Lagniappe, thus a growing need to maintain these relationships. Here's one story of a relationship that God has blessed me with:

Two weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart getting pictures developed and while I was in the craft section, a woman that worked there started a casual conversation with me (how are you? Where do you work? Where are you from?). After I told her that I work at Lagniappe and am volunteering all summer she began to tell me how thankful she and the whole town are for all of the volunteers and the work we are doing. She then proceeded to tell me her story of how she survived hurricane Katrina and broke down in tears while doing so.
This whole community is still hurting from the storm. You can see the pain and weariness in the eyes of people around town. Most are thankful for the volunteers, but some are bitter and can’t get over the fact that such a thing would happen to them. No matter what the people’s attitudes are, I love talking to the locals and building relationships with them. One of the things I like to do to get involved in the community is going to a local coffee shop and visiting with the owner and the regular customers. I also enjoy going to 2nd Saturday (all the shops downtown stay open late on the 2nd Saturday of each month and have snacks for the customers, everyone is excited and there are many opportunities to talk to the shop owners).
Last night I had to go get some things at Wal-Mart and I stopped by the craft section to visit my friend. Please be praying for my relationship with her to grow and that I would be a source of encouragement for her while she is facing these hardships.

I am ready for the week to start! Sunday we have 300 volunteers coming in and they will be here until Friday night or saturday morning. This past week was a semi calm week because we only had 110 volunteers. All of the volunteers were gone by this morning so I was able to put their tools up, go shopping, and then head to the beach. We also have 2 interns from last summer that came back to help in the tool crib so this week is going to be smooth sailing. :)

Lagniappe has about 400 active work orders (meaning we are in the process of getting material and workers for these jobs) and another 400 work orders in our computers that we will hopefully get to soon. Lagniappe is also building several houses fully funded and worked on by Lagniappe volunteers. We have started building 3 of these houses. One is being framed this week and the other house is getting a foundation. Our third house just got approved so teams will be clearing the land to prepare for the foundation. It is so encouraging to see these houses coming along!

Bad attitude

I had an amazing weekend this past weekend! I went home for two weddings, for one of the weddings I was a bridesmaid. :) I also just found out that one of my best friends from Auburn is pregnant! Congratulations Alyssa and Carl!! God has truly blessed me with a content heart right now. It would be hard being happy for my friends that are getting married and having babies if I wasn't content with what is going on in my life and where I am. Even though I am so excited to be at Lagniappe for the summer, I've been having trouble staying positive.
When I came back from my wonderful weekend, there was a group here that has pretty much taken over Lagniappe. This team that came in, Group Works, is an organiztion for youth groups from all over the country to come together and help others. They are practically renting out Lagniappe for the next month, and things have been a struggle. There seems to be an extreme lack of communication on their part and our part. They have their own interns that were meant to be doing our job and I don't think they knew that us, Lagniappe interns, were already here doing those jobs. Needless to say, some people's toes are getting stepped on.
Even though I don't usually show my frustration on the outside, in my heart I am not a happy camper. Please be praying for me to remember that God loves me in spite of what a wretched sinner I am so that I can show that same love to these volunteers. And please pray that the staff here will continue to encourage each other and remind each other that we are here not only to minister to the community but also to the volunteers that walk through our doors.
To end this blog on a happier note, One thing that I am excited about is that the girl interns have decided to start praying together in our bunk house each monday and thursday night before we go to bed. We prayed together for the first time last night and it has really helped me feel closer to these girls and I am excited to know that they are praying for me throughout the week as I am praying for them.

Some pictures of the facilities

These are 3 of our 8 volunteer bunkhouses that are located on Lagniappe's facilities. Behind the last bunkhouse is the tool shed, where I work.

Just some bunks in the bunkhouses. Each bunkhouse houses about 44 people.

This is actually the guys restroom (I did not take this picture, it's from the website), but this is what both bathrooms are like. Bathroom stalls are up front and shower stalls are in the back. Showers are operated by pulling a cord to let the water out. :<

Here is a bird's eye view of half of the tool crib.This picture is from Lagniappe's website and was taken a while back so the tool crib is actually much more cluttered than this. We are looking at getting more shelving/storage.

Breaking Away

This week is my Saturday off and I decided to come to Fairhope, AL to stay with my grandmother, Mormor, and to visit my Aunt Elsa and Uncle Vince. I absolutely love Lagniappe but sometimes I feel like running far away. It becomes overwhelming with all the volunteers and the messes they leave behind. However, no matter how far I run away, I always find myself running back. One of the reasons I love Lagniappe is because it is a place for broken people. At Lagniappe we don't have to pretend we are perfect people, we say to each other "Its ok that you aren't ok because I'm not ok either". I think this is also a reason I go running to family. True family already knows that you aren't ok and loves you in spite of it all.

Wow, we've been checking in teams all weekend and the number of volunteers this week is going to be around 250. Next week we will have a full camp (350 volunteers) and camp will stay full until the end of July. I'm glad the numbers have slowly been increasing because it is hard getting used to so many people being here. It isn't that stressful during the day when teams are at their worksites but it is when they are all trying to check out or check in tools and when everyone is trying to shower or get ready in the bathrooms.

Monday nights we get a little break when we go to Bible study at a staff member's house. We are going through the book of Galatians, but won't be doing it this week because most of the staff is gone to general assembly in Memphis. Last week we studied Galatians 2 and discussed that the purpose of the law is to show us our sin and make us realize how much we need God's grace. I often think that I am generally a good person and forget how great a sinner I am. I am constantly needing to be reminded of my need for grace!

Weather Channel

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=6815&collection=videocoll26&nav=141&from=abramsandbettes%20
Lagniappe was featured on the weather channel this past thursday night! The whole feature was about Bay St Louis taking the hardest hit from hurricane katrina, how the city is recovering, and what the people's mindset is as we head into another hurricane season. I hope this video gives y'all a better idea of what our facilities look like and what the town looks like.
Just a little extra info, only 70% of the Bay St Louis residents have moved back since hurricane katrina.
Please be praying that God will give the full time staff and us interns the energy to keep up with the teams that are coming in on a weekly basis. Help us to also remember that we are not perfect and that we are broken people helping other broken people.
*I just fixed the link so it should take you straight to the video. Sorry about the confusion.

Funny story

So, Sunday night I helped orient a team from Westminster Presbyterian and didn't think anything of it until this afternoon. We have so many churches named westminster that come to Lagniappe. Anyways, you'll understand when I tell the story.
Yesterday, Us tool shed girls were washing and cleaning out the Lagniappe church vehicles when a frazzled Katie Rhea drives up, jumps out of her car, and shouts, "why doesn't anyone around here answer their phones?! I have a kid in the emergency room with a screw through his arm". Of course, I drop everything I'm doing and follow her into the office while she looks for his insurance card information. The first question I then ask is "what's his name?" which she then responds... "Joel May". What?! Then it all clicks. The church that checked in last night is indeed the Westminster Pres. where Tom May is pastor. For those of you who don't know the May family...Tom May was assisstant Pastor at my home church, Community Presbyterian, a little over 7 years ago. Funny thing is I talked to Joel in the lunch line right before the incident happened and for a split second thought he looked familiar but didn't think anything else of it after I walked away. By the way he is 14 years old and taller than me by far. Little Joel is so grown up. Scary!For those of you interested in how the screw went through his arm, here's the story. He was working on hanging drywall with his team and had a screw on the tip of his screwgun prepared to work, when he saw a wasp. Joel tried to dodge the wasp and in doing so bent the arm with the srewgun and forcing the screw into his other arm. Luckily, even though the screw went all the way into his arm, it just pierced through the skin so he only had to get a tetnis shot and bandage it up a bit. This was the first accident this summer but I'm sure I'll have more stories like this to come.

Heat!

This week I got to use a blow torch! I love working in the tool shed! We have been learning all about the tools. The first couple of times we were getting tools for the teams we had to ask them to come into the shed with us so they could show us which tools were which. And then on Saturday we were shown how to use a blow torch! We cut a bunch of rebar for a team that is working on laying a foundation and now all we have left to do is bend the rebar. It was so fun using the blowtorch! I felt so powerful!
Sunday we went to the beach after church and I got burned even though I put on SPF 30. The fun thing about Lagniappe is that we are a little over a mile from the beach and from downtown Bay St Louis. There aren’t many shops open downtown, but there are several cute ones that I hope to visit. Most importantly, there is a cute little coffee shop that we got gift certificates to on our first day here. There are some bikes in the back of the tool shed and one day when we aren’t so busy, I want to ride bikes downtown.
I'm trying to make myself go to bed by 10:30 so I won't be tired all day, but it is hard. I am much more of a night person than a morning person. All this to say, it is past my bedtime and I'm making myself go to sleep. Night Night!

"rah-rah"

Today was our first full day of working and I am so tired. Lights out time for the teams at Lagniappe is at 10pm and that rule doesn't really apply to interns. However, I am going to have to make myself go to bed early because I am not much of a morning person.
As interns, we are supposed to have "rah-rah" to energize the teams who come in on a weekly basis. In the mornings my "rah-rah" level on a scale from 1 to 10 is about a 1.3. I can force a smile but I prefer not to talk to anyone until I've had a couple of cups of coffee.
Some of the ideas we've had to boost the "rah-rah" in the tool crib is to have Karaoke days where you have to sing your favorite song in order to check out your tools. Another fun idea is bagpipe day, where one of the "crib girls", Danielle, will play her bagpipe and perform a little concert before they can get their tools. I'm pretty excited about all this but please let me know if you have any other ideas!

I'm here!!

Well, after several trials yesterday morning, Ruth Ann and I finally arrived at Lagniappe! We got here last night around 9pm unpacked some, met some of the other interns, and then crashed into bed. We got up this morning at 6:30 and have had orientation all morning. The next 3 days we will be having orientation, learning everything there is to know about Lagniappe's facilities, our jobs, and Bay St Louis. Well, my break is up and its time for lunch! I'll give more details later.

I just thought y'all might want to check out the intern blogspot now that it is open to the public. :)
http://lagniappeinterns2007.blogspot.com/.

I'm officially a junior!! I had my last final SATURDAY morning, yes on the weekend!, but it is over now. I'm so excited that I can focus most of my attention on getting ready for Lagniappe. I leave on May 22nd and I think we have a few days of intern training before the teams start coming. I've been talking with the other interns over a blog that was set up for us to get to know each other and they sound awesome! I can't wait to meet them in person!
Lately, the thing that God has been trying to teach me is that I don't know what is best for me. The verse that I have found comforting is Isaiah 55:8-9.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
What a relief to know that God has his own plan for my life and doesn't follow my faulty plans!

Get ready!

Great. I'm addicted to one more thing that aids in procrastinating when I should be doing school work. :) One more week of school as of today!
Anyways...I created this blog in hopes of keeping all of my friends and family updated on the work that is going to be done at Lagniappe this summer. I am so excited about having such an amazing opportunity to serve and learn more about God at the same time! Lagniappe here I come!