Friday, July 27, 2007

To Blog or to be Blogged...?

Simple answer: blog Jordan!
Here's the man himself pre-gaming for a Saturday morning material run:

As we Move Along...

Its Friday afternoon and I have spent the whole morning for the most part sitting here in the office. I checked on one job to make sure the teams knew what they were up to and thanks Michael, one of our three dedicated drywall intern guru's that have made this summer possible and us extremely productive the problematic cieling looked smooth and good it was an easy stop. Ruth is typing up our work orders for Monday morning. That right there is a profound statement and testament to how far this place has come. All of last summer and not to mention probably just a few weeks ago that would have been a Sunday night activity. We would have spent all of Saturday scrambling to see where we are on projects and what new projects we need to get into in order to keep everyone busy and productive Monday morning. This Friday is also sweet in that we have just finished with Group, an organization that sent us 300, yes 300 kids to work for four weeks straight. That adds up to around 1200 high school kids that worked and stayed busy working on projects. The amazing thing is that they didn't just do clean up or painting they framed houses, roughed in electrical and plumbing, drywalled, built porches and plenty of other skilled skilled labor. We often had down to the job and amount of teams that we had to keep busy just enough supervision to work on the houses we needed to. Given, it wasn't a well oiled machine of knocking out jobs left and right but it was amazingly smooth and productive with very few hic ups considering the task of keeping 1200 high schoolers busy on construction, real construction projects. Writing this amazes me with what has been accomplished and dealt with especially considering where we have come from and are now capable of. We would not have been capable of that task any sooner that when they showed up on that Sunday in June. Last summer it was only me scheduling work and Conrad making sure teams knew what they were doing on job sights with our interns treading water as furiously as they could to keep this place afloat. Much of the change is thanks to Ruth organizing the chaos of running 20 to 30 projects a week, Andrew, Doug, and Clyde being extremely capable and flexible with running our unskilled labor to build houses, Group sending us skilled site coaches and being good at what they do, and our interns actually being able to run teams and teach how to do skilled work. 1200 high schoolers stayed busy and did productive correct work. Talk about one of the largest answers to prayer Lagniappe has seen. Again it is one of the many answers to prayer from support to concrete, from staff to passed inspections, from trucks and trailers, from the right job dropping in the front door to community members being involved in the church, plugging into the church, and tasting grace for the first time. And the list can go on and on so much so that it is hard not to be one of the nine lepers that didn't come back and thank Jesus for healing. This is simply because the answered prayer has been so much and often. As Curt always says, that is the magic that makes Lagniappe, we pray for rain and pack an umbrella because we have seen Him answer prayer so often. It is not that we have great faith but because God has been that faithful. We thank Him continually but it is hard to keep up. So it is Friday and I will probably have tomorrow off, a full day off for the first time in a month and a half. Please keep us in your prayers because God is faithful and has been answering prayers more than we even know or can keep up with. Lagniappe continues to be a place where God is at work in very obvious ways and straight blows are struck every day with crooked sticks. High schoolers finishing drywall is just the surface of that type of amazing work that God is using to advance His kingdom down here in the Bay but no small answer to pray. So on this Friday as Group gets ready to be done with there 2007 run with Lagniappe and the most ominious weeks of our calendar pass the whole purpose of this blog is just to be thankful, thankful that again the Lord has used us beyond what we are capable of so keep us in your prayers but also include prayers of Thanksgiving because all your prayers have been answered for this place over and over again.

Mockingbird Cafe enters in Ikea Small Town competition

Although Bay St. Louis endured the worst hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, the resilience of the people in this town shines throughout the town and the rubble. This small town art community persevered and people in the community are working to restore the art and rich culture present in this community. Alicein and Martin Chambers- owners of the Mockingbird Cafe- located right off Main Street- entered a video in the Ikea Business Small Town Video Competition. If you go on the following link you can see the amazing video that really captures the culture and artsy nature of this town. Feel free to vote and give it five stars too- make sure you register so you can vote. Link: http://ikea.shycast.com/contestant/152/

Howell House Cruising Along

The Howell house teams are led by Doug and Thomas- staff and intern of LPC. This week the roofing was completed- see shingles on the roof with the ridgevent, porch railings and stairs were installed and more. Thomas working to cut the spindles for the porch railing. Electrical rough-in was also done this week. If you look closely you can see the yellow electrical wire. We are moving right along with this house- and it is so exciting to see the progress each day and week.

Coming along nicely at Russo's

If you look back to pictures from last time I posted on Russo- you will see this same picture- minus the block with just the rebar chairs. Andrew preparing wood for floor systems and giving Group Work Camp volunteers a lesson on the saw. Andrew has been out at this site all week laying block for the foundation. The block will then be filled with concrete as well as the trenches- creating a stable foundation for the Russo House. This is a tedious process so Andrew and team- job well done so far!

Progress at Cox's

The Cox House is coming along- Mr. Earl Cox has completed finishing all of the drywall and Clyde was laying tile with some volunteers inside and working on the porch and stairs. Here are some pictures taken of the Cox site yesterday as Group Work Camp campers worked under their fearless leader- Clyde

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Try not to be jealous

Shrimp Boil. If you weren't here, or you are allergic to shellfish, you missed out. Big time.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Saturday, July 21, 2007

depot days

frank and susan underwood, lagniappe church attenders, had a great booth at the depot days festival featuring their metal art. it was a beautiful booth, very well decorated with cute frames and art.
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depot days

  cammie chapman and keri norwood enjoy the festival in bay st louis, ms
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Friday, July 20, 2007

Green Home Visit

This past Monday Pastor Curt Moore did a home visit for Lagniappe at the Green Family Home. Lagniappe has been helping the Green’s get into their new home for some time now, and we are happy to say that they are now in their home. Soli Deo Gloria. Pastor Curt giving Ray Green a new Bible with the family name on the cover Mrs. Donna Green Their daughter Desirae Their grandchildren, Hayden and Ashland The Green Family Home

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Roof Work Continues

The roof at the Howell work site has continued to go up for today. We can only hope to finish tomorrow and pray that it doesn’t rain. Soli Deo Gloria Howell as of July the 19th The roof begins to go up on the other side Getting some yard work do for Mrs. Mary Howell The Volunteers that have been working on the Howell House this week

Lagniappe’s Forklift

Lagniappe was having a hard time unloading a loading big trucks and trailer. So Lagniappe now has a brand new forklift to help solve this problem. Soli Deo Gloria The LPC Forklift Jordan taking it out for a test drive Dropping its first load at the Rodges Work Site The volnteers at the Rodges work site were happy to get the load of drywall

Pillars start at Rousso

With all the rain in these past few weeks we here at LPC have found it hard to keep the work moving at the Rousso work site. But it has stopped raining long enough for Lagniappe to start working on the pillars for the house. Soli Deo Gloria Putting on the cement Just added another block to the pillar We still have a long way to go We also still have to pump out all the holes

Cox

Lagniappe is now in the process of dry-walling the Cox House. Lagniappe has been building Mr. Earl Cox’s house in partnership with Camp Coastal. It will be a two bedroom house. Soli Deo Gloria The Cox Work Site. The house is nine feet about ground level Some of the Group Work Camp workers enjoying the deck The living room One of the bedrooms Mr. Earl Cox, his dog Rexie, and Pastor Curt Moore

Thayer

Lagniappe is now in the process of dry-walling the Thayer House. Lagniappe has been building the Thayer’s a house in partnership with Camp Coastal. Soli Deo Gloria The Thayer Work Site One of the big jobs at Thayer is added a ramp for the house This picture was taken last week in the living room of Thayer That same room on week later A view out the front door

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Roof Comes On

Today at Howell with all the trusses now up, Lagniappe has begun to add the roof to Mary Howell's House. We here are so very thankful that there has been no thunderstorms from keeping us working. Soli Deo Gloria Howell as of July the 18th The covered deck
The team nailing down the roof New sheet of plywood going down As of right now only half of Howell has a roof Don't fall Right down the middle