Bubby's Thoughts

The wind has been really blowing tonight and it is causing the tarp and the boards holding it in place to make a lot of noise. I just hope the tarp will hold up until we get the roof fixed. Earliest appointment we have right now for the roof is in December. That is it for now!

After some problems getting into his apartment our guest has left to go live in his own place and he may even be putting up one of his friends.

We still have a hole in our roof and ceiling and we are waiting to get estimates to repair that damage. We are also still waiting on our insurance company to pay up.

Just wanted to put a quick note up here just in case anybody in cyberspace reads this.

God is good!

Well in a surprise move our friend who we have been housing got an apartment and will be able to move in on Friday. Eventhough he is still looking for a job FEMA is helping pay for his rent. I thank God that He gave us the opportunity to open our home to him just as our friend did for us in St. Louis.

My sister and her husband and their daughter are living with my parents (which is 4 doors down from me). It is weird, when I was a little kid I lived on this very same street in my parents house, my grandmother (Maw-Maw) lived in the house that I am in now and 3 doors down from my parents house my aunt (my fathers sister) and late uncle lived. I’ve always known that I would live in my Maw-Maw’s house…I would see it in visions and dreams. That is an interesting story someday I will tell it to the world!

Yesterday I went “sight seeing” in the Lakeview area which was one of the first places to flood when the 17th Street Canal levee broke. For those of you not from here and only have media reports about this subject Lakeview was one of the hardest hit when the levee broke. Lakeview was one of the richest parts of New Orleans and was mostly white. Some in the media suggest that only poor and mostly black people were affected and that is not at all true. This storm did not discriminate.

For those of you who may be reading this and have not been affected by a hurricane this season please consider going to my homepage http://www.xhortation.com/ and click on the American Red Cross banner and make a donation to help out the people who are still recovering. The American Red Cross helped my family and I in a very big way and I hope someday to repay them for their help in our time of crisis.

God is good!

Here are some pics of our new car!

This week has been kind of hard. Before the hurricane I was going to school, I had a routine. Now…I simply live. Nothing is the same here. It is like living in a different world. A world turned upside down. I have been depressed lately and I guess a lot of other people are to. I do not know how long it will take to fix the house. There is so much damage around here…I guess it could take months.

On the other hand we have a new car. Pictures are up in the gallery. I will post some in the blog soon.

We now are hosting one of our friends that has no place to live (we have an extra bed). I thank God we can help him out.

Once on 09-11-01 the world I knew died…the new world that rose up from the ashes of that day died the day Katrina hit.

It took some doing but we got a new car. 2005 Chevy Malibu the best part is the dark blue color.

This Sunday we will be taking in a friend who has no place to live. He is taking a bus to Hammond and we will pick him up from there.

I don’t know if I mentioned this but: I took a ride to go see the damage to the Superdome and the Arena. The Arena is in good condition but you can see the holes in the roof of the Superdome. TV does not do the damage justice. There are large holes in the roof.

Please say a prayer for Lifesongs 89.1 FM (that is our local FM Christian station) they are still off the air. I hope they will be back soon.

God is good!

Well I’ve been home a week and Sunday was the first day we had Internet access. Things here are very different now. Most stores and shops are closed but more seem to be opening everyday. Target in the Clearview Mall seems to be a popular destination for the army troops here, as is the coffee shop. I will post more pictures of the damage later. I am home, back on the Internet, and ready for the NHL season to start.

I have pics of the damage up. Go to http://gallery.bienvenu.us/

Well our auto insurance company totaled our car so today we plan to go look for cars today. We are hoping to get two cars. An adjuster came yesterday to look at the damage to the house and one is coming today to look a our possessions we lost.

I will not be going back to school until the spring semester…I just hope the school is ready by then.

I have put more pics of the damage up. Go to http://gallery.bienvenu.us/

Today we are going home! I have some pictures of the damage we have inside our house (see below). In one picture you can see sunlight coming from the roof. I do not know when I will have Internet access again so updates may not occur for some time (but I hope to have access when I go home). I’ve enjoyed living in St. Louis these past few weeks but it is time to go home and rebuild.

God is good!

Today we went to the St Louis Science Center. It was fun. We spent most of our time there in the Planetarium. After one of the shows I went and talked to the man running the show about a question I had. Later on as we were walking around he found us and gave us passes to eat lunch for free. (During our conversation I mentioned I was from New Orleans). Pictures from the Science Center can be seen at: http://gallery.bienvenu.us/

We found out that in addition to our car having water in it still; we also have damage in our house. There is a hole in the ceiling and rain water got in through it. Which means that every time it rains we will get more water in our house. We may have more leaks to the roof because the red lining on our roof is no longer there.

It still looks like we will be leaving St. Louis on Saturday. And we will arrive home on Sunday because there is a curfew from 8PM to 5AM. I really do not like the idea of the curfew…it feels like martial law to me.

God is good!