One amendment to my last post: it looks as if my move in date has been pushed back. It may come as soon as next week but is more likely to be August 15. This has been a disappointment as I have mentally already moved out and made plans for my new place. But perhaps this is God's way of teaching me patience or perhaps I will find some great furniture or a bed in this extra time. I'm choosing to look at the positive side and I'm taking the extra time to work more on my book about life in a camper. :)

It's been an eventful few days here in New Orleans. I spent most of Saturday and part of Sunday afternoon driving, literally, all over New Orleans. I went to several second hand stores, furniture stores, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Linens and Things and every other place I could think that might have furniture that is cheap. I can't say I even found anything that if I had the money, would be worth buying. So, we are still at square one. It's probably for the best. I am still not exactly sure of how much space I'll have and I know my living room has an awkward layout.

Yesterday I thought I had found an incredible answer to my bedding dilema only to learn one more time that if something sounds too good to be true, then it is. So I am back to square one but will at least have a twin mattress when I move in so I won't be sleeping on an air mattress or on the floor.

I found out last week that I will be going to New Jersey toward the end of August to speak at a church near Atlantic City. I am very excited for this trip as I will be flying into Philadelphia and then driving the rest of the way (about an hour). I have only been to Washington, D.C. and part of Virginia and have for a long time wanted to visit more of the east coast. I will have a bit of time on Friday when I arrive and Monday before I leave to check out some of Philadelphia and I am looking for suggestions on places to visit.

We are in our last week of National Project here in the city and it's hard to believe. We've had a great summer and our interns have done an amazing job. It has been great to be around the kids during day camp and I'm going to miss that part of my job. I am thinking I may start helping with our high school youth group come fall.

My final days in the camper are finally here and I am busy packing, washing clothes and making a few final memories. I have been told my home will be sold, and I'm feeling pretty good about that. I know there may be some saddness but all in all it's time for it's life to end here.

Today is both Andrew (my oldest brother) and David's (my uncle) birthday. To each of them, I want to say "Happy Birthday and I love you very much." What a blessing each of you have been to me in so many ways. I am having a small chocolate dessert in honor of the day because I am not able to be with either of you.

Today's chapel on poverty went relatively well. I don't see it becoming a full-time thing anytime soon, but the students seemed to be following what I was saying and I think it all came out rather well. Thank you to everyone who prayed!

Just a quick update tonight: tomorrow at 10 a.m. I am speaking to our National Project teams about poverty. Each day a different staff member does a chapel for the groups and because Sandy is with our youth at camp, I am filling in. I have heard her give this presentation at least 20 times and it is a subject that I am finding increasingly interesting, especially the fact that God put so much emphasis on the poor and oppress in his Word. But hearing a talk and giving one can sometimes be very different. Please pray that I would have the right words and that I would be able to explain these issues at a high school level so that they will begin to think about the depth of this subject and how it affects them. Please also pray for a peace about the whole thing. While I have come along way since my days in high school, I am still not always 100 percent comfortable with public speaking, especially on such an important topic with a lot of areas for question!

It is a beautiful day here in New Orleans and seemed unseasonably cool and dry when I left the camper this morning. Ah, the camper. Only 23 more days until I finally have indoor plumbing again! You have no idea how excited I am!

For those who don't know, I will be moving into the quad at the beginning of August when Mission Year, some of our interns, move out. As many times as I was there during the rebuilding process, I can't for the life of me remember the details of the inside. I am hoping to make a trip over there this week to check things out.

This is a photo of my new kitchen taken sometime during the remodel process. Once I get moved in I'll put up some before and after photos because the transformation is simply unbelieveable. When I was here with a group in October 2006, we helped to board up the windows on this house and we put locks on the doors as squatters had begun to spend time here. The whole unit, which is a 4-plex, leaned some three feet off it's foundation and had to have some major structural work done before construction could begin. It's hard to believe that this beautiful apartment once looked as it did.

I love all of the light that comes in to this place and I am perhaps most excited about the balcony that I have wanted for so long and will finally have. It is right off my bedroom, which is on the front of the unit and looks over the skyline. I am planning to have plenty of flowers and perhaps space for a grill.

The camper has been a good home. It has taught me about what I can live with, and especially without. As I began to load my things up to bring them here from Iowa it was hard to think about what I would really need as I have not used any of that stuff for almost a year. But I think I have also learned that people just aren't meant to live in travel trailers for very long and that makes my new home so much more appealing and so much more of a blessing. I look forward to sharing moving photos very soon!

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."
-Psalm 40:1-3

This past week has been amazing and God has clearly been at work. A team of 10 from Castle Rock Community Church left New Orleans at 5 a.m. last Thursday morning and began the long haul to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

We have been helped my so many, more than 11,000 to be exact, from across the nation in these three years that have followed Hurricane Katrina. So many of our homeowners and people that we have talked to have said that they are so grateful for the help we have offered and that if a disaster was to hit somewhere else that they would be there to help. So, we took that to heart and decided that it was time for our church to begin to "repay" for all the help we have received as we work to rebuild.

When we set out I knew who everyone was, but I didn't really know anyone on a deeper level. That is one of the things I love about missions trips. You have an amazing opportunity to get to know those you go to church with, or in my case, also those you work with. And there is probably no better way to get to know people than to travel more than 18 hours in a car with them.

As the day went on, I began to wonder what we were going to be doing on Friday. We still didn't have any plan or any potential projects. So somewhere in Arkansas I started making phone calls. I called the crisis pregnancy place in Cedar Rapids because they had been flooded but they were taking the 4th of July off. I asked the woman if she knew of anything else. As it turns out, one of their board members was an associate pastor at a church that was flooded. About 30 minutes later I received a call from that church's pastor and he was so excited.

He said the timing of my phone call was such a God thing. He had recently gotten off the phone with a woman who had been in tears because she had been working on gutting her house for the past two weeks and was exhausted and overwhelmed. He prayed for us and gave me her information. When I called her you could hear in her voice that she was overwhelmed. I assured her we were prepared to do whatever she needed and we agreed to meet at her house the next morning.

We arrived around 11:30 Thursday night and it was good to be out of the van and in a bed. It was also good to be staying with my parents again much sooner that I thought I would be. The next morning I called Lisa, our homeowner, and she was clearly still tired and a little apprehensive. I told her we would make it easy for her and we just wanted to be there for her. As we drove closer to the flooded area you could tell it was pretty bad, but it didn't seem to compare to what we had seen here. Then we turned a corner and it was as if we had been time warped back to New Orleans. The piles of gutted things on the curb, the water line, the muck in the streets and the smell....It was unreal.

When we arrived she was there talking to her neighbor and when I walked up we gave each other a big hug and she cried. There are perhaps no words for that moment. I feel that a hug and an encouraging word is what she needed at that very moment. I introduced her to the rest of our team and we took a tour of her house and talked about what needed to be done.

She had done an amazing amount on her own. Everything was cleared out of the first floor and most of the walls were torn out as well. She still had some things in her basement and that needed to be power washed. She'd had about 6 1/2 feet of water at its highest point and the infamous water line was clear all around her house.

So we dug in and started working. I took Ms. Helen and Ms. Bertha to the mall to stand in the Red Cross line for Lisa and made a hardware store stop. After lunch our first news crew arrived. We had sent an e-mail to each of the local stations and the newspaper and several took us up on it. The reporter and camera guy were both from Maine and had been brought in to help with flood coverage. It was fun being on the other end of the media, although I think I still like being on the media end. :)

Soon thereafter the other crew arrived. I spent a good chunk of the day handling that and making sure everyone was where they needed to be and had what they needed, but that was good and I was learning how that provided opportunities for others. We worked until about 5:30 the first day and decided we'd be back the next day because there was still much to be done.

Saturday morning we arrived back at Lisa's and several friends of mine from my church in West Des Moines came to help as well. We had a blast on Saturday. I ended up on the business end of a garden hose more than once as we scrubbed Lisa's house to remove the waterline and muck. A few of our group went to Parkview Evangelical Free Church in Iowa City to help there and ended up at a home that had not yet been gutted.

We saw Lisa relax a bit more on Saturday. By lunchtime we were singing songs from "The Music Man" and laughing. The weight of what had happened seemed to lift a little and we made the day fun even while we were accomplishing much. I saw a family that was out providing cookies and pop for volunteers, saw how Salvation Army and the Red Cross were out and about and saw FEMA making the rounds.

When we left Saturday night the street around her house was clean, her yard had been raked, the waterline was gone and siding looked brand new, her basement had been power washed, the walls were removed up to the ceilings, the bathroom had been gutted and cleared out and I believe that Lisa's mood had been changed.

Both nights we were able to spend time as a team and with friends talking and laughing. Cedar Hills Evangelical Free Church provided food for meals and some church members came to eat with us and brought food as well.

Sunday monrning we were at Cedar Hills for all three services and it was so good. Ms. Bertha gave her account of Katrina and what she had learned and countless people came up to tell her what an encouragement she had been. Each team member had great conversations and were able to talk to people about what they had learned either in Katrina or on our trip and provide the encouragement that eventually everything will be alright because we have the hope found only in Christ.

Lisa came to church with us on Sunday as well and it was great to see how our team truly adopted her and showered love on her. She was such a blessing to each of us and it was hard to leave, but I know that the friendship that was started will continue on.

This has been a long post, but there is just so much that has happened. I have strengthened relationships with those I work with, and made several new friends. I have seen God provide opportunities to shower his love on someone and see a life begin to change because of that. I have seen people encouraged in their suffering and those who have not been directly affected be challenged to get involved.

God is good, all the time and we are blessed to be able to see that each and every day if only take the time to look.

I Still Miss You
By Hawk Nelson
(Changes made in italics)

There she was, 5'7 a picture of my mother's mother
She showed me love, and all the ways of God
Her final days were spent in bed where she passed away
I won't forget her smiling face when she left us that night
But I still miss you

All the times we spent together
To hear you talk about the weather
I always prayed you'd get well soon
I wish my prayers came true
I know Jesus has the answer
And He's way bigger than the cancer in you
But I still miss you

If dreams came true,
just one more chance to talk to you
And thank you for the time you spent teaching me the truth
A girl back then, I've grown up, now I'm a woman
I can finally understand the things you said to me
But I still miss you

All the times we spent together
To hear you talk about the weather
I always prayed you'd get well soon
I wish my prayers came true
I know Jesus has the answer
And He's way bigger than the cancer in you
But I still miss you

I need some help to carry on
I need some strength to keep me strong...

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my grandma's death. The moment passed quietly as I stood in the mountains with my mom, grandpa, brother and uncle. It was one of her favorite places. The location of the photo above. It was a beautiful Colorado day with a slight breeze as we sat by the rushing Thompson River.

Pulling into the driveway Friday night and not seeing her sitting there or on her way out of the house was hard. Seeing reminders of her all over the house made it seem like she was simply out on an errand and would be returning soon. It was good to be there. To smell the familiar and see the familiar and to try and find ways to cope with the unimaginable.

In New Orleans I think of her often, but it's different because she was never here. We have no memories in this city. But going to Loveland, there are memories everywhere. The first Starbucks she took me to several years ago. The Grease Monkey, an auto body shop I clearly remember thinking was a restaurant. King Soopers, the drive to and from Fort Collins, the outlet mall, the old house by the new school, our "secret park," that has lost much of it's secret and the hospital where she died.

There is no avoiding the past when you're face to face with it. But it was good to be there. It was good to cry. It was good to be able to talk about her and remember her. That's what she would have wanted. It was good to be there with my own mother although as much as I miss Grandma, I cannot imagine what she feels. I cannot begin to fathom what losing my mother would be like or how I would cope with that. I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and the past year has been filled with a lot of learning. It will never be easy to know that she isn't coming back but the memories will last a lifetime and her love will be felt throughout our family forever.

I love you Grandma, and I still miss you.