helping mrs. paula

this past saturday while tori and jd were at a student ministry retreat, vicki and i took our three youngest kids and her parents down to new orleans to give an elderly lady (in her eighties) a dresser and a couch my mom told us to find someone to give it to.

a friend of ours was working on the sheetrock in her home, and noticed that she was using a couch and dresser and a bunch of other furniture that had been in the flood. mold was all over it. he learned that she had a renter living in the house who died (an elderly gentleman), and she was stuck in the house with his corpse floating in the water for over a week. there are so many stories like hers in new orleans (on in this case, metairie). but we were able to help this one - and we're planning on going back to give her a dining room table as soon as we can land one.

i'm so glad we we able to have my six-year-old with us. to him, mrs. paula is probably not going to be a "hurricane victim" but a lady her met who has a cool ramp to run on (she's living in a fema trailer in her front yard, and has a wheelchair ramp on it that lincoln played on the whole time we were there." but it will be a part of his life forever - he met her, was with us when we prayed with her, and he hugged her when we left.

this story isn't over. mrs. paula was very moved by the kindness we showed her. she's pretty well turned off by tv preaching, and she's never been touched by church or christianity in a tangible way like this was. hopefully this will open the door for us to continue to show her more and more of God's love until the day she crosses the line of faith.


mrs. paula and lincoln and our friend brian


lincoln giving mrs. paula a hug