Our work is done...at least at the first site we went to. All traces of the life that once was lived at this house are now gone. It is time to rebuild. The studs are exposed. The floors are laid bare. Most tile is gone. Ceilings are open to the rafters. It is a blank canvas waiting for a new life. We do wonder if anyone will actually come home. Or will it sit like so many of it's neighbors? Devastation is the model here. The area is called Gentilly Woods, an area built shortly after WWII for the GI's. It was a modest yet attractive neighborhood with curving street. Each house had, and still has, a distinct personality. Ravished though they are, the inner personnas still come through...through the muck and the mold, the mire and mess. And they are beginning to rise again. And we helped.
Today we will go to the other house on Coronado that needs an outdoor above the ground pool dismantled and nails removed from inside. We think of the house as Feliciana as "our" house. But Coronado needs us too....like thousands of others. But only one starfish at a time can be saved. And it is true, the starfish is ever so grateful.
Rob
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Katrina Came In..
It was all gone. gone with the wind and water...
2 comments:
When I first entered this house, it was just that, a house. A vacated, empty shell. As I worked through the day, it came to the point where ceilings needed to be torn down. I began in a front bedroom. I was swinging away, watching chunks of plaster and insulation fall. As I looked down at the debris, a single gold Christmas ornament lay unharmed. It was at that point this cold house became home. Tucked up in the attic, waiting to see another Christmas, this little ornament found the perfect moment to reappear. I will hold that memory for as long as God allows.
Keith
Yesterday after we finished the gutting and cleaning of our home, we stood outside waiting for Marci, the volunteer coordinator, to arrive so we could pack up the tools in her truck and come back to the church. While waiting, we spontaneously began cleaning up the outside. Dead bushes were pulled as well as thorny weeds. We discovered under the overgrown grass that the owners had placed brick edging in the front to delineate the flower beds. We carefully revealed each brick. The driveway was swept and trash removed. So far the only critter we had found was cockroaches, but there in the yard we found a salamander and a green frog...a nice change! Then we stood back and saw the difference. It was significant and satifying that we completed one house. One more day! God is good!
Post a Comment