Finally food...

After Gustav our Parish offered disaster relief food stamps. Sarah and I did not qualify for food stamps before the hurricane because somehow I make to much (who knew). So even though I made enough to not get food stamps Sarah and I were still struggling to have food. We did not go hungry but our fridge and freezer were pretty bare (and the cats were looking pretty tasty). After Gustav we had to throw away everything in the bare fridge (we were out of power for 5 days, so the food had actually kind of cooked in the fridge then rotted). The disaster food stamps are meant to replenish the food you lost in the hurricane, but for us it will be a replenish of food we need.

In order to get the disaster food stamps you must appear in person for an “interview” along with all you financial documents, and legal paperwork. The only problem was the fact that each Parish only had one center open to serve that parish. So I found out the center for our parish opened at 6am. I decided to get there at 5am to be sure I was not stuck in the long lines that had plagued the centers the last few days. I arrived at the center at 4:58am and after driving around for about 20 minutes finally found some fellow line goers. Together we asked police, security guards and national guardsman where we needed to go to wait in line. I went the way I thought we were supposed to go and found myself down the barrel of a Guardsman’s M-16 who claimed I had just entered a secure area. After pleading my case to him he escorted me out like I was a POW, gun a few inches from my back. No harm no foul, but I did check my pantys to be sure I had not wet them. Nope..All good. Next I try going up this escalator…Up I went until I was welcomed by a booming voice again informing me I was in the sites of a gun and I needed to turn around. Time for another leader..I’m done. So after walking around for a while we finally found the right area and started a line on the side of the building. We waited and watched as the line behind us grew longer…oblivious to them was the struggle we had endured to find the place to start the line.

I was in and out in less than 30 minutes thanks to the hard work of the social workers who were working 50+ hour weeks…THANK YOU! But I’m glad my wife did not have to be one of you…Emma and I would miss her after all! Sarah and I are going to try to split the stamps into 3 months worth of groceries, and hopefully by then my delivery job will have picked up and be helping the budget.

Top Ten things I love about New Orleans

10.) Sitting in the bath tub at the back of the apartment and feeling the tub shake a bit when a large vehicle goes by on the street in front of the apartment....Its like a mini earthquake.


9.)The great cooling breeze that comes before a hurricane...Ahhh


8.)Sitting on the porch watching the cars and vehicles going by...Also a good breeze


7.)Street Car rides...again with the breeze in the hair...I don't know who loves breezes more..Me or my daughter...She goes crazy for a good breeze.


6.)A free ferry ride across the largest, almost longest, most powerful river in America...Ahhh the breeze.


5.)Going to the river to see the ships....good breeze there too...


4.)Po-Boys..Mmmm...though I have not had one in a few months


3.)No matter where you go to eat it is always good


2.)You can get anywhere with public transportation and walking.....I like to try to walk places then when I can not get back I catch a bus..


1.) Being able to drive to work, and around the city on a scooter

Being a Dad top Ten

10.)Bragging about Emma's Development


9.)Watching Emma play in her ExcerSaucer


8.) Talking to Emma and having her talk back


7.) Listening to Emma laugh (she can "belly laugh" now)


6.) Picking up Emma from a nap and seeing that sweet contagious smile


5.) Dressing up Emma in pretty dresses and outfits


4.) Seeing the Joy in Sarah's eyes when I take Emma on a Daddy date


3.) Daddy dates


2.) Taking a nap with Emma while she holds my finger


1.) Looking at Emma and knowing she is Sarah and my sweet baby

All is well in NOLA

Sarah and I returned from the wilderness of South Carolina on Saturday not really knowing what to expect to see in our beloved city. We have never lived in a city prone to evacuation, much less one that was almost written off as a new marshland 3 short years ago. We returned 2 days after the city "re-opened" to find streets filled with leaves and branches/trees, street lights on the ground, signs blown over, and people cleaning up. There were long lines and full parking lots at the stores that were open, and many parking lots that are normally packed, were eerily bare because the stores had yet to receive their shipments of goods or workers had not yet returned so they could not open. Store parking lots that had not reopened since Katrina were used as staging areas for power crews, relief services, and city sponsored evacuation return locations. We also returned to our apartment to find that some things in the fridge had heated up to a point that they had exploded (biscuit can, milk jug, mustard), but were cool now that the power had returned. Life is not easy in a post-hurricane city, but it is great. We missed our city of a year and a half as if we had been born and raised here. What is it about a city that can do that to you?? We could name off things we love, but I do not think that "things" are what we love about the city, its the city we love, its Gods leading and continuing to spur us on to live a life for him in the city so that the lost people of the city can see and hear that the Lord is good. While we did not sustain any hurricane damage at our house, by the grace of God, we do feel the pain of the people who did lose something in the storm, all the residents of the city lost something this week, We lost the chance to live and love in the city for a long grueling week. May God place his hand over Cuba, Florida, and the rest of the gulf as Ivan comes this way. God is a great big God and he holds us in His hands!!