The Cousins Final Report for Friday Work

We arrived at Lena’s with only the finishing touches to do. Bruce and Marv completed the baseboard in the bedroom, rounded the corners of the railings on the porch and attached the cabinet doors. The kitchen looks great finished, and Lena is really happy and ready to move in. Her daughter will come for a few days and help her get back into the rooms. Even without moving in, Lena cooked a fabulous six-dish lunch for us, including homemade bread and not one, but two deserts. She’s been wanting to cook for us all week, and she really did it up!

Mike worked on a platform at the base of the front steps to make it easier for Lena to reach her car when it is wet. He also made some very sturdy engineered brackets to support the window air conditioners.

Ina Marie and Pat spent the morning cleaning up the messes we’ve made in construction and talking with Lena. She’s enjoyed having us here. We will see her on Sunday and will visit again with Carmen, her daughter, who is bringing video of before and after the hurricanes. They have lots of stories to tell.

We have all had a wonderful week and have made some new friends. We have met several people who are friends if Lena’s and all love her and say nothing but great things about her. She us truly a character and she is someone special. We will miss her (and she, us) but know she will always gave a warm smile and an open door for us.

Pat Blaikie, The Cousins Journalist,

Submitted Saturday morning, February 23, 2008

A Home is A Home

I came with the intent of learning, working and helping others. I have learned so much about the community of Dulac. I have learned how to mud sheet rock, sand it , cut sheet rock to frame in windows and put on the metal stripping and so much more. I have learned what a wonderful group of youth and adults that we have on this trip. We worked as a community to help another community.

I recall a children's book A House Is A House. It talks of a shell is a house for a crab, a cup is a house for tea, etc. This trip made clear to me to be thankful for my home. The people of Dulac have homes that we may feel are not in good enough condition to be a living place to call home. But over the week I realized that Dulac is their community, a place many have lived for generations, a place in their hearts that they call home. So when we see the devastation that this area has seen from hurricanes and the havoc that it has played on their homes in the realizing that :a house is a home", no matter it's state of condition, we must help them work toward bettering their living quarters the best we can.

As I worked on OUR home, as we call it, I sand the walls with careful work as if it was my home, because I care about this family and their home. They deserve the best work that I can offer. I feel as if I have left my fingerprint in this house that is to become once again a Home for Toni.

Patty

Team photo

Well, the week is winding down, although most teams are finishing with a sprint.

We got a lot of great work done this week and met a lot of great people as well.

Here 's the best of the team photos taken this morning.

Short flight, hard landing

So yesterday started well, I was finally feeling better after my fight with the flu. After our workday was over Leann and I headed into Houma to pick up my rental car. Eddie and I wanted to get to the airport today without taking anyone away from their work. As I exited her car and jogged to the Avis office, they were about to close for the day, I slipped on some trash and fell on my face. I had a nice ride in an ambulance to the Terrabonne Parrish Medical Center where they diagnosed me with a broken nose. We returned back to the community center about 11:00pm. I am very glad to be going home today!

Janine

Rex is dog tired

Happily exhausted. I think that might be the best way to describe how I feel now. We’ve done quite a bit of work on our assigned home. We’ve demolished and rebuilt a bathroom while the other team members finished the front living room. Such a great experience this has been. To come so far across this country to meet, not strangers, but friends we hadn’t met yet. Martin and Toza, the couple who own the home we’re working on, joined us for dinner and our gathering after. We shared stories of our lives and histories, we shared music (Martin played guitar with us and sang us a beautiful song in French) and we shared a sense of being a part of this place. To be welcomed as visitors is nice, but to be welcomed as friends and made to feel as though you belong in a place far from home is fantastic. As they were leaving us for the evening, I told Toza if they ever wanted to visit in California they had a place to stay. Instead of the usual “Oh, thank you, that’s nice of you to offer, she grinned at me and said, ”I know”.

That’s just how it is here, it’s like you’re family from the moment you arrive.

I just want to say hello to my son Royce, too. I’ve missed you and your sister so much. But when I get back Monday, I’ll have some terrific stories for you.

Tomorrow is our last work day and I have mixed feelings, to say the least. There is so much to do, a week doesn’t seem like enough. I’ll be glad to be back in California Monday, but I can’t help but think that I’ll be feeling a different kind longing for a place where I have friends I just hadn’t met yet.

Rex,

BCK does the town

The BCK (which stands for Best Christian Kids, aka Bodie-Christian-Kaitlyn) delivered ice cream to all the work teams today. We had a chance to take a look at all the great work that everyone was doing, and we even videoed our visits! Pastor Linda and Miss Cheryl tag along with the group, and are greatly entertained and inspired by all the 10 and 12 year old opinions and insights. The team has been learning a lot about the bayou and marsh region, and looking out for Great Blue Heron, which Pastor Linda really wants to see, and seems to miss. We’ve gone shopping lots of times for food for the group for lunches and breakfasts—how do you figure out how many bananas for 2 days for 42 people? It’s a real art and it’s taken all 5 of us to figure it out. We had a great closing devotion tonight, with Carl leading the prayer songs, and our guitar ‘orchestra’ of Dave, Patty and Rex leading other songs. It’s a big work day tomorrow, with everyone trying to get their jobs done in time. Today there was lots of rain, and lightening with thunder all last night, so there were little lakes all around us when we got up today. Gene and Elaine Hill had to move their trailer because it was in the middle of little lake by morning, with floating fire ant hills. We’re having a great time as a church family! Pastor Linda

The Crawfish 5

Our team (Bill & Lea, Dave, Carol, and Carl) has been working on Jimmie’s home on Bayou Grand Caillou. Mostly we have been painting the exterior, but also have patched a hole in the floor, put trim around a door, and fixed the toilet. Jimmie and Adele have been home the whole time, as well as their rat terrier Nana, so we’ve been getting to know them over the last four days. Jimmie said he’s really glad to have us around, since they don’t get much company except when his momma comes over (he’s confined to a wheelchair and it’s difficult for him to get out.)

We also met one of his cousins who came by with a friend to clean the three alligator gar he’d just caught. We got to meet the neighbors on the other side too, who were preparing their crab traps to go out crab fishing. Crab season here is much longer than in San Francisco.

Monday through Wednesday we had good painting weather (no rain.) But last night a big paint. We did some work inside in the morning, and then were able to get back to painting in the afternoon.

Carl

The Cousins Thursday, Lena's daughter

We were greeted as usual by Lena's smile. Since we seemed to have some sun peeking through after last night's storm, Mike immediately started in the second railing on the front steps. STEPS FINISHED by noon! Ina Marie and Pat, master finishers, completed upper and lower kitchen cabinets, and with that we are ready for the doors in the morning. Marv and Bruce installed trim on all the cabinets. All these details are making it really look great.

Midday and all of us were thinking about food, when along came the younger kids of the group with ICE CREAM!! What a great, timely surprise.

After lunch, Ina and Pat decided to take the afternoon off. Marvin, Mike and Bruce did some carpentry work, finishing the bedroom floor trim and other details.

About 3 PM Marvin came over to get Ina and Pat because Lena's daughter Carmen and Husband Bruce had come from Mississippi to meet us. They were delightful with great stories of Mardi Gras in Houma, tug boating (Bruce is a Captain) and family. We shared family photos and stories, took lots if pictures and left with Ina Marie abd Pat laden with strings and strings of Mardi Gras beads.

Tomorrow we will be treated to Lena's cooking. No breakfast needed with the fabulous menu she has planned: Ris'e feve (rice & peas), shrimp gumbo, red beans and rice, crab cakes, home made bread and chocolate cake. Can we take her home?

Pat Blaikie, our journalist

I scream, you scream, we all scream....

Today the children, Pastor Linda, and I finally got to see the houses everyone is working. What a lot of work everyone has done, and what a lot of work remains to be done. Jim said today that he wished he could have one more week to do all that he would like to do. Bodie was our videographer as we visited the houses and distributed ice cream cups as a treat for our workers – and the homeowners if they were there. It was great fun to see what our church family has been doing for the past few days.

Every story is so touching. It is so hard to imagine what it was like to have two hurricanes go through and destroy so many homes. Most of the houses we are working on were flooded by Rita, but one house we visited today was not flooded. It was destroyed by the rains that came if after Hurricane Katrina blew off the roof. The owners of that house will be joining us for dinner tonight. They are members of the Houma tribe and we are looking forward to hearing more about the tribe from them.

The best part of this week has been meeting the people who were affected by the hurricanes and hearing their stories. Even after two and a half years, it is part of the healing process for them to be able to share their stories over and over again. I feel privileged to be here to be part of that process.

Cheryl 2/21/08

California Cousins

Mon: Arrived at Lena’s around 3pm Monday. Surveyed the jobs and decided to Mike would continue to work on the laminate floor with Ina and Pat as moral support/gophers. Marvin and Bruce took on the completion of kitchen cabinets. Lots of engineer discussion lead to a decision for corner cabinet placement that works well with Lena’s stove.

Trial and error lead to success on Mikes flooring job. Two boxes needed to complete the job.

The engineers will create a great corner area with a stained plywood side, stained to match the cabinets. Lena said she’s very happy we are here. She is a real sweetie.

Tues: The right tools make all the difference, ah yes! Once we had them we hit full speed.

Marvin and Bruce worked on kitchen cabinets, upper and lower. Solid!

Mike continued the not-so-easy task of installing laminate flooring backward. (A method he unfortunately inherited from a previous volunteer. This method requires frequent mental health breaks).

Ina Marie and pat began the staining of cabinet doors. At the end of the day upper cabinets were indoors, stained and flooring finished (and documented on film).

Wed: Arrived around 8:30 am to Lena’s smiling face. She is enjoying our time here as much as we are.

Ina stained kitchen cabinets and with Pat varnished cabinet doors. Cabinets will be varnished tomorrow. Lena did the honors on the last of the doors.

Bruce and Marvin installed the lower corner cabinet and trim all around. It is looking GREAT!

By noon Mike had finished the decks front steps and started on railings.

The afternoon resulted in Mike’s completion of one side railing on the front. Other side started and will be completed tomorrow. Thanks to the expertise of our resident engineers Lena now has really solid upper and lower cabinets in her kitchen. Staining thanks to Ina Marie and ready for tomorrows varnish. Pat varnished the cabinet doors, which are now ready for installation.

Tomorrow Lena will have put together, nice kitchen. Good thing. She’s cooking for us on Friday.

Hang 10

“Hang 10” is our team name.

Why? Because there are ten of us.

Because we come from California.

Because we hang sheet rock.

Because cool, dude.

Every team has created its own cheer. Our cheer is:

Hey dude!

What do we do?

Make sheet rock rock.

Besides hanging sheet rock, we have learned how to mud it, sand it, tape it , then sand it again. We learned the importance of “measure twice, cut once.” We learned that a new window, set in place, still needs pieces of sheet rock cut carefully to fit around it, and strips of metal edging held in place by many nails. By pounding nails we learned why the name sheet “rock” is apt.

Our team has six adults and four youth. This morning team (adult) and the four youth went on a swamp trip. When they were asked if they saw anything different, they replied with “everything.” It was flat. The weather was cold and windy. They learned the difference between a bayou, swamp and marsh. It was eerie and weird, with hanging Spanish moss and creepy trees. They saw the last remaining grove of Cypress trees still living, and they have little spikes under them coming out of the water. They saw oil rigs and man made oil canals. They learned about a way to catch fish called “cast netting” One of them said that there must be a lot of wild life here because they hunt almost anything that is possible. They saw a dead alligator. They saw lots of blue herons, and it was cool to see them flying around in their natural setting.

The youth came back to the center after their trip. We all had lunch, and a short devotion together as a team, and went back to work in our job sitefor the rest of the day.

-Susan Sargent

Bodies' s Swamp Day

Day three since arrival

Today i went on a swamp tour with Cheryl, Pastor Linda, Katie and Christian. On the tour we saw lots of birds, trees, and dirty water, but no aligators. After we went on our tour we found a picnic table and had lunch. We enjoyed good conversation and a great time. Tomorrow will be another adventure in Louisiana

Hey Y'all!!

Hey Yall what up in California where there are no bugs!

It is day two in the great state of Louisiana, and everything here is going swell. Did you know that Louisiana is the number one state in oil production? Crazyness i know! Also in Louisiana there are many critters that the youth are not found of such as; snakes falling out of trees, ant that will make you strip, ( the only way to get them off of you is to take off all of your clothes), Aligators that you can not out run and oh yeah, them DANG MOSQUITOS! It is a totally different world out here, this really is an eyeopening experience.
It was our first day on the job today, but unfortunately we were not able to work for long. The day started off with breakfast as a group, fallowed by meeting in the church for orientation, later on the group leaders went to vist the sights and got acquainted with the families whom homes are getting restored.
Our house needs quite a bit of work, we are going to be able to demolish a bathroom and try and rebuild it all with in a week. Now I have to tell you all about the man of our house Martin. Martin is this great fellow with great stories. He had this one about how he had a racoon that would fallow him around and do what ever h said he was trained and tamed to do what Martin wanted. Martin would call for the racoon to get in his truck and he would listen. While he was in the truck he loved to play with the windows so he would ride e street with the racoon rolling up down the windows. The neighbors would get a kick out of it.
Well now it is time for us to go do group bonding, sing songs, and get to know people better. Stay updated with our trip by checking the blogs daily. Talk to yall tomorrow.

In Peace and Love ,
Kelly Corrine

Here At Last!

It's so hard to believe that, after all the months of planning, we are actually here in Dulac! After three days in New Orleans, I picked up Lea and Bill, Jim and Patty, and finally Dave and Sue S., and off we went to Dulac. What a great time we had seeing everyone on the team at Big Al's Seafood, a great favorite of the locals here. I had my first encounter with a boiled crawfish, and it was not a pleasant experience - for either of us!




Today the the larger team was divided into smaller work teams, and we are working on 7 houses this week. We will be painting inside and out, laying floors, installing ceramic tile, taping and mudding dry wall, building stairs on a ramp, gutting a bathroom, installing bathroom and kitchen cabinets, and whatever else comes our way.

Tomorrow the children, Pastor Linda, and I will be going on a swamp tour. It will be my first alligator siting, but some of the group saw one today. It was across the canal, but when it went into the water, our folks jumped back into their cars! Really, really fast!

Everyone is so appreciative of our presence here. It is a humbling and very fulfilling experience!

Cheryl

About yesterday....

Sunday was arrival day at Dulac Community center.

3 of 4 RVers arrived earlier, but the rest of the crew filtered in yesterday.

It worked out great... everyone arrived in time for dinner at 7:30, sothe whole crew got to sample the seafood at Big Al's.

The boiled Shrimp was fantatstic. Stay tuned for a post from kelly, who will tell you more about what happened today.

Greg

My Second Day Here

Today I went to see Mike the tiger 6.

Afterwards, we saw a LSU vs. Kentucky basketball game.

Then we went to see the old state capitol.

Later we saw The Mississippi River. I almost got wet.

I had fun.

Bodie

A day in Baton Rouge

We spent a very pleasant day in Baton Rouge today. The weather was great, no sign of the promised rain.

We visited LSU and saw the 2 Native American mounds on campus, Mike the Tiger, the old Louisiana capitol building, the new building, and threw some stones into the Mississipi river.

Tomorrow morning we pick up Carol G. near the New Orleans airport, then it's off to Dulac. Tomorrow is gathering day.

I got a message from Rex tonight that his flight from Dallas was canceled, so he will spend tonight there and join us tomorrow.

The forecast still shows rain for tomorrow, which should present no problems as the main goal of the day is to gather everyone in Dulac.

There are mentions of the Houma tribe here in Baton Rouge, so the tribe must have claimed a considerable territory at one time.

Greg

Soggy now, drier later

Folks,

We have a bit of rain here in Louisiana at the moment. The forecast has it lasting until Sunday, then some clearing starting Monday. This is perfect, as our work week is Monday through Friday.

People are trickling into the state... Cheryl was first on Wednesday, Linda and Alan yesterday and several groups today. The first time we gather will be Sunday in Dulac. Our family plans to do a little sightseeing in Baton Rouge tomorrow. (Gonna try to see Mike, the LSU Tiger).

Greg

We're Here!

( Eating at Ninfa's, Baton Rouge )

Here are some things I have learned so far:

1. alligators are called bayou puppies
2. there are lots of trees
3. bayou is a milder term for swamp
4. a bayou has trees, mud, and water

I think this will be a fun trip.

Bodie

Learning about the Houma people

Lee Ann's information about the Houma nation hooked my interest and I found that the tribal Council has a web site: http://www.unitedhoumanation.org It is very out of date, but there is some good material there, as well as in the Wikipedia article. It reminded me of the fact that there are so many small Native American groups in California and across the nation who have no voice. I am looking forward to the meeting that Cheryl has set up on Tuesday evening with the pastor and some of the Tribal Council leadership. This also has mean wondering... does anybody on the team or in the congregation have any connections with Native American communities in the South Bay area?

It was great yesterday to sense the excitement in our group about going to Dulac. Thanks everyone for the great food. Thanks Greg, Cheryl, Lee Ann and others for great leadership.

Pastor Alan

Getting Ready

I, too, have had a good time looking at recipes for Sunday. I have been assigned to fix a dessert, being an "O" and I never thought of cajun desserts. But there is a whole lot of them!!! I hope you will enjoy what I have chosen!

My best time, however, was shopping for jeans yesterday. I followed Lee Ann's advice, and Paul took me to his favorite thrift store, The Happy Dragon. I found two pair of jeans for $5 and some t-shirts for less than a dollar each. What fun it was! Today I will be packing my "new" clothes and fixing the dessert.

I've also been planning the activities for the children. We're going to have a really good time visiting museums, going on a swamp tour, making crafts for the homeowners, and helping around the community center.

Cheryl

Food for thought

I've been looking up recipes for our "Louisiana" potluck as a team on Sunday, and although I know that our trip is about more than food, it's fun to think of the experience we will have with new food tastes, and eating as a community every day. The bond formed by eating together around a common table is so important--Jesus knew that very well (and he did eat with people alot!) As I prepare, and pack, I'm aware that we will be a closer and wiser community when we return, because of our time shared together, working and playing and eating, and because of the good people of Dulac. I'm especially excited that we are an intergenerational team, working together for good. Thank you for your participation! Looking forward to Sunday when the whole team will be blessed and sent forth by the congregation. Pastor Linda

Last meeting before we go is on Sunday

The 4 RV teams are already on their way.

This photo is from the yard sale back in September.

Seems like ages ago!