A few things I remember 6 years later:

• the weatherman saying, “a little jog to the west.”
• preaching Sun, Aug 28 to a small group of people who mostly had their bags packed for a nervous trip north.
• seeing my family drive away into the endless stream of cars heading north.
• the 3 hour drive that took 9 hours.
• the sound of generators running from miles around.
• the smell of pine sap, sweat, and bar oil. It’s forever burned into my nostrils.
• the trees. So many trees.
• 10 weeks without electricity.
• MRE’s and Southern Baptist cooked pastalaya.
• Countless volunteers, I wish I could remember all their names, who cooked, cut, constructed, & deconstructed.
• Rice crispy treats!!! Our church received a call, “Can you take the contents of a truck from TN?” “What’s in it?” “Not sure.” It was a truck load of rice crispy treats. Took forever to get rid of them. Still have night mares about rice crispy treats.
• Saying good-bye to friends who had to move away.
• The heart breaking sights and sounds in the city of New Orleans & the Gulf Coast.
• The day my family came home :)).
• Laying down in my bed for the first night with electricity and realizing the trees were no longer there to shade the street lights.
• Hearing people say Katrina was a good thing because it helped me realize I needed God and needed others.

This van was left in our church parking lot by a St. Bernard resident.