Well, aside from the impending doom of this oil catastrophe off the coast and the smell of oil that has begun to hang in the air, things in New Orleans are going well. We continue to raise funds for our kids to be able to go to Kids Across America (KAA) and to be able to have student participate in our vacation Bible school this summer. It's been a slow road, but God is faithful and I know he will provide for our young people.

I am now deep into my planning for a visit to Iowa at the end of May and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been setting up meetings with friends and supporters and I'm really looking forward to being with the family for a few days as well. I'm getting very excited about the photos I'll be taking for my friend's wedding and it seems like I find new ideas online almost every day.

Right now it looks like I'll be in Cedar Rapids May 22-23, Des Moines the 24th, Cedar Rapids again the 25-26, Des Moines the 27-30 and then back to Cedar Rapids for part of the 30th and the 31st before heading back to New Orleans. So, if I haven't gotten ahold of you yet and you want to hang out, send me an email and let me know! I'd love to see as many people as possible while I'm back!

Financially, the need continues to grow for monthly supporters. I am about 50% supported on a monthly basis, but the surplus of one-time gifts has run out and my account has been negative now for about 2 months. I have felt the increasing pressure of needing to raise money and it is beginning to eclipse the ministry I am involved in as it is becoming more of a full-time job to raise support. Please continue to pray that God will provide, as I know he will.

I look forward to seeing many of you when I'm back in Iowa!

Planning for this summer is well underway and I have been working on our t-shirt designs. We've settled on this one, although I'm not sure if it will be so red or if it will be more crimson. The rebel theme was chosen in part of because of the Lecrae song of the same title. It talks about how if everyone is sinning, then it is no longer rebellious to sin. Therefore, to be a rebel you need to follow Christ because that is the only form of rebellion left. We are going to tie the theme into everything we do this summer: VBS, daily devotions, training for interns and teams, etc.

We currently have a great need for more students to join us this summer. The money that comes in from our summer teams helps to support several staff members and right now we have less than half of the amount of students we really need for the summer.

In order to be more flexible, we have opened our second week (June 12-19) for individual high school students to come down. This means they don't have to come with a group. We feel this will be beneficial for those students who want to come but their group is planning a different trip, going to Challenge or just not going anywhere this summer. Students will be supervised 24/7 by our staff and that includes overnight. Essentially they will be put into a team with other students when they arrive here.

So if you know any students or whole youth groups who may be interested in National Project here this summer, we've got a spot for them! You can contact me for more information, or you can contact Ms. Joan at 504.523.5556. We'd love to have you here!

I'm also excited to let everyone know I'll be back in Iowa May 21-June 2. I'll be taking photos for my friend's wedding (YAY!) and would love to catch up with lots of people. So, if you'll be around let me know and we'll hang out!

Things have definitely improved since the last time I wrote. We had a great two weeks of an event we called Blight Busters, which was a labor-intensive neighborhood clean up. We had some 200 volunteers in over spring break and we spent that time getting everyone (staff included) out into the neighborhood. We cleaned up empty lots by picking up trash, removing debris and cutting grass. It was amazing to see how many neighbors came out to see what we were doing and were truly appreciative of what was being done.

That time also gave Pastor John an opportunity to meet the guy who is now in charge of the drug activity in the neighborhood. While the encounter started off a little iffy, it ended with Pastor John explaining why we didn't want that going on in our neighborhood and giving him a chance to find out that the two men had a shared interest in at least one thing, the show 24. It's amazing how when we take the time to get out and serve God will open doors to use us.

Just this past Sunday we also had a wonderful Easter celebration. We used a building down the street from us so we weren't so packed into the church building, but we love the growth and it is a blessing to have outgrown the space that we have. We are still praying about a potential move to a facility vacated by the Catholic church following Katrina. Please pray that God would open and close doors accordingly.

Following church a whole bunch of people gathered for a crawfish boil, which may not be your traditional Easter dinner, but we had a lot of fun. It was a great time of food and fellowship on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

First you have to put the crawfish in a container and fill it with water and salt to get them to, umm, clean themselves out.

This batch had several really big ones and Ruby got brave enough to touch one of the tails.

I never realized that, for the most part, the crawfish aren't red until you cook them. I'm personally not a huge fan, but it was fun to see the whole process.

And I couldn't resist adding this photo. This is baby Cecilia and she was being adorable so I took advantage of the opportunity.

Other than these two big events, things have been pretty quiet here lately. One of the big things that I am working on now is support raising. I have recently fallen behind in my funding due mostly to lack on one-time gifts with no increase in my number of monthly partners. It was been disheartening to have to spend so much time focusing on how to raise the money, but I know that God will be faithful to provide.

I am actively seeking those who would like to become monthly supporters. Even $15 or $20 a month would make a difference and would help ease the stress of consistently being in the hole. It's never been easy for me to ask for money and God has taught me so much about the generosity of others and relying on Him through this whole process. Thank you so much to all those who have partnered with me and those who continue to do so. God is doing great things here in New Orleans!