I have arrived!

I am finally here in New Orleans, Louisiana to work with EFCA Katrina Relief! Those beautiful signs above were made by the Lewis kids. The Lewis family is my host family this summer and has 3 kids: Emily who is 12, Kara who is 8, and Caleb who is 7. I am actually in Mandeville, Louisiana, a town not too far from New Orleans. I got here yesterday at 4:45 PM, and was promptly picked up by Denise Lewis, my "mom" for the summer. I flew from Charlotte to Chicago to New Orleans, not exactly a direct route, but the flights were fine and my layover wasn't too long. After I was picked up, we went to Kara's softball game and Caleb's baseball game. After the games I pretty much just fell into bed after unpacking.

This morning I got to sleep in until 8, and then slowly woke up with coffee and banana bread. My official duties for Crisis Response don't really start for another week, but Mrs. Lewis called the office to see if there was anything I could do today to just help out and get the feel for things. I ended up driving to Trinity Church with a beautifully drawn map by Mrs. Lewis, where the Katrina Relief offices are, and helping a woman named Dorinda Bogran with copy and filing work. She gave me a tour of the church and the offices and rooms that Crisis Response uses throughout the week when teams are present.

At about 2:30 I drove back to the Lewis' house and met them at their neighborhood pool for a refreshing swim. It was about 90 degrees here today, so the water felt wonderful! The team who is currently staying at Trinity wanted to thank the Lewises and another family for cooking for them throughout the week, so they made us a wonderful gourmet meal of steak, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, strawberry-peach pie, and a delicious rice crispie-chocolate-peanut butter-log dessert. The Lewises went on to a homeschool graduation and reception, but I decided to head home since I didn't know anybody graduating. Crisis Response has multiple vehicles for taking out teams, but the little white pick-up had a flat tire, so I ended up driving a huge red suburban home. I've just been relaxing and catching up on email since then.

That's pretty much all that's happened so far... I will try to update as much as I can!