Another day, another...deck?

Well, it is Saturday and I suppose I have nothing better to do than to sit at the Mockingbird Coffee House and blog.

I had a successful week out on the site! We're still working at the same house as last week. This week I had thirty volunteers total, only ten of which were I directly responsible for. It was a small group from William and Mary college. Two of the student had been interns on staff here at Lagniappe during previous summers. I was good to have them with me because the rest of the team had little to no experience. Nonetheless, we hung drywall on Monday because the finishers were coming in to work on Tuesday. Lagniappe found it is cheaper and easier to sub-contract out the drywall finishing than it is to do the work with volunteers. I'm pretty thankful for this because in Pearlington, when a house was ready to be finished, it was a three week job, nearly fifty buckets of mud were used, and the jobs were never finished very well. More than once I just got tired of three weeks of sanding to just remove the globs of first-coat that was put on by inexperienced volunteers and would just have them paint it as it was.

Back to Lagniappe.

Tuesday we jumped in on deck building. Unfortunately Tuesday was difficult because it turned into the team watching me as I cut and hung stringers for the stairs, and got posts cut off the right height. Some jobs it is just better if I do them then try to teach someone else how to do them.

Wednesday I lost all my volunteers to another project. They were taken to another site and started building a house there. The neat part of this project is that it is a house that we took down this summer. Piece by piece, it was taken apart, labeled, categorized, and move to another site. Once at the new site, every part of the house was gone through, all the rot was replaced - and on Wednesday this team worked with a local contractor to start rebuilding this house under the shade of a huge live oak down near the water. I think it is a pretty great project because the homeowners were willing to spend the money to maintain and restore a little piece of the history that is Bay Saint Louis.

Wednesday night the team took me to New Orleans. We went to dinner at a local BBQ shop (I wished they had asked me where to go. Then maybe we could have eaten somewhere that the food is actually good). Once in New Orleans, we went to an old German bar on Bourbon St. It was a fun environment, the music was alright, and a Sprite cost me $5. We didn't get in until late and I was exhausted the next day for sure!

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful. I think Moose was having a bad day both days, because she was being a real bitch. Nearly every time that I would call her or tell her to do something, she would just sit or lay down and watch me. It is pretty frustrating when she does that. Especially when she's stopping traffic because she decides to have her defiant moments in the middle of the road. Oh well, I forgive her.

Overall, it was a pretty good week. Some bumps in the road but nothing worth writing about.

Ok, funny story just happened. Right now.

I'm over at the Mockingbird Cafe, drinking coffee. I may or may not have passed gas a few minutes ago (I'm claiming nothing) but magically, there was suddenly a very ripe stench that appeared around me. Well, just moments after the owner of the coffee shop came in and walked over behind me and reached over my shoulder to remove a poster that is on the wall next to my table. My favorite part of this is that I have a picture hanging on the wall in front of me in which I can see my reflection along with the things going on behind me (for those of you who want to be international spies, you understand how important spotting your perifs are). Well, she hovered over me for a second, made this contorted face of disgused, reached up and held her nose while she was removing the poster off the wall. Also, she may or may not have thrown up in her mouth. I would have missed the entire show if it had not been for the picture on the wall. As a result, I feel the need to give a shout out to CSW Photography. Thanks for trying to sell your pictures here at the Bird.

And I apologize to those of you who did not find humor in that story at all. I know Janice did, so Janice. That one's for you.

Tomorrow I'm leading worship at the Church. our normal worship leader is off on some unspeakable adventure and which makes it my duty to fill in. I'm excited. I think we have a good set and we certainly have a great group of musicians. After church I have a birthday party at the local bowling ally for a five year old who's house I helped build in Pearlington. I'm looking forward to that - I think it will be a really great time! I love that this job gives me the chance to be a part of people's lives in such a personal way. Each house, each family, and even each day just gives me the chance to live the gospel toward others. I've learned a lot about how to love people. Yet there is so much more to learn!

As always, thanks for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for this area, and I could personally use prayer for my personal finances. I love what I'm doing but it does not pay much and with the pressure of school loans, the cost of the road trip home for Christmas, and just the everyday expenses of living in this country - money is always extremely tight. So pray that I either win the lottery (after Mississippi starts having a lottery that is...) or that I can just continue to learn how to trust the Lord that He knows how many hairs are on my head and is able meet me and take care of me where I am. Empty wallet and all.

Until next time. Peace!

There is too much. Let me sum up.

Living and working in Bay St. Louis, MS is certainly a change from Pearlington, MS. The most obvious is change is community. I actually have more than one friend. More than one person to see and hang out with every day. It is great to have guys around - good guys that I can bounce stuff off of and just have real life and real friendship with. I happen to live with two of them. We have a nice yellow house (dubbed the Yellow Submarine) at the end of a very quiet street. We would probably never get any visitors if it were not for our killer array of DVDs - namely The Office and Arrested Development - or our dogs. All of my friends know that deep down they only come to the house with hopes that Dizzy will snort in their direction. The screened in wrap-around porch should cement our house as the coolest hangout in the Bay come spring time. You heard it here first.

I drove home for Christmas break. My beautiful and wonderful puppy decided to eat a patch of burrs in the middle of Virginia which allowed me to experience what it is like to have a sick dog in the car for a few hours straight. If you have not done this, it will change you. I assume children might be a fair substitute if you don't have access to a puppy.

But home was good. I really love the Bay but I needed to get home and see my family. Doing this type of work is pretty draining and I just needed to be away from here for a while. It was great to see everyone, but the goodbyes were particularly difficult after this trip for some reason. It is good to be back though and trust me, it is a much nicer trip in an twenty year old 4Runner than it is on a twenty-five year old motorcycle. Been there, done that.

So, this is our first week back from Christmas break and it has been a great week. I've been working on a house just north of Waveland, MS. This week I planned to focus on painting the house and building the front and rear stair landings but this team has been amazing. They've not only painted the house, but they've also insulated the house, built a set up stairs to the house, and are finishing up the drywall right now. All this on a house that is 12 feet in the air! Teams like this are the ones I love. They come down with hearts to serve, and leaders who are able to keep the team moving. It has been great!

Moose is doing very well. She loves this site and loves being around the teams. This house seems to be especially good for her because there isn't much traffic and there is a large bayou right behind the house. The team really likes her and at any point she someone to throw the ball for her at her bidding. She's a spoiled little puppy, that's for sure.

It is pretty hard to jump into the idea of starting a blog - So much is currently going on in my life that it would take pages and pages to catch up on my thoughts and feelings. So for now, I'm going to start with a new slate. Check back every few days to catch up on the life of Jeremy in Bay St. Louis. Also, check into the Lagniappe Church website to catch up on more pictures and a more church-wide view of what's happening here in the Bay.