Dottie, posting on kimbalya's blog

Another hot day in New Orleans!! We've been having a great time working in the Musician's Village, located in the upper 9th ward. The first day I worked with Angie, Kirsten and my new BFF, Cynthia. Cynthia is a lawyer from Annapolis MD. We did some caulking, sanding, and painting. The second and third days were much more exciting. My team, consisting of Kim, Sam, Cynthia, and Fran, a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, and I, worked on siding the back side of the house. Cynthia and I were designated "cutters". We were in charge of measuring and cutting all the pieces of siding. We were given a quick lesson in how to use the "avionic clippers". Chicks with power tools!!! We had a few "do-overs", but were quickly deemed "avionic masters" by our other new BFF, Rocky. Rocky is a New Orleans resident and medical student at LSU-Shreveport. He is a fine young man and will make an excellent doctor. We had lunch with Rocky on two of the days and learned of his family's experience with Hurricane Katrina.


It is once again an awesome experience, and I am reminded of the many ways in which I am truly blessed. I have so much. A home, a job, Lindsey, Jay, and Lucky, Bill, my many great friends, and of course, the best sister in the whole wide world. Love you, Julia!! I have never worked so hard, yet had so much fun!! I can't believe everyone isn't volunteering! It is so rewarding when we are all walking to our job sites and the local residents stop us to thank us for all that we do.They stop their cars in the middle of the street just to say "thanks". That is all I need to keep me going when it is 90 degrees, and I am sunburnt, dirty and soaking wet with sweat.

I've met some great new people on this trip. Angie and Kirsten are special education teachers at Eden Prairie High School, Sam is a retired teacher, Rose is a paraprofessional and Kim is a teacher at Oak Pointe. All of these people give of themselves selflessly, and are great to work and play with. It goes without saying that Chris Kreie is the greatest trip organizer in the world, in addition to being WAY hotter than Eric, especially when he wears his "Gilligan" hat. Kudos, Chris, you're one million and I am proud to be a "Kreie baby". I'd follow you to the ends of the earth to volunteer! You still owe me a big ass beer!

VIVA NEW ORLEANS!!!

As the sweat rolls......

New Orleans is an amazing place....amazingly HOT!!! I know that has been a common topic in our blogs, but seriously, you cannot even imagine the sweat pouring off of our bodies!! We are sweating in places we didn't even know existed.

Last night we had an awesome dinner at Jaques Imo's! I had a chicken pontalba something or other...and it was unbelievable!! Worth every penny!! Great restaurant...I'm not sure Kirsten was too into her food, but she definitely was into her Greyhounds!! Needless to say she was pretty tired by the time we hit Bourbon Street.

The last two days Kirsten and I have been siding a house. Yes, you heard me...Kirsten and I are putting siding on someone's house. She and I were even in charge of our crew on this task. Believe it or not, it actually looks good. We need to thank our professional cutters, Dottie and Cynthia, without them we would be nothing. We now know how to use a "speed square." How many of you can say you've used a speed square?? It's been a blast working on the house.

Today we ate a quick lunch on a 2 X 4 in our usual shady spot next to the dumpster and the gutted out flooded repair garage (lovely smell of motor oil doesn't do much for the appetite) but it's our favorite lunch spot. We didn't have much time to chat with our usual lunch buddy "Rocky" because we took a quick trip to the lower ninth ward. This was the hardest hit area from Katrina. Even almost two years later, it is practically a ghost town. We saw houses that were absolutely destroyed and ripped off their foundations. Many houses had already been bulldozed over and all that was left was the foundation. We saw lots of messages that homeowners had left spray painted on their houses. They said things like, "Home, this was my home." "Roots run deep." It was a very emotional experience. It made the devastion even more real to us. It makes Kirsten and I feel so fortunate to have the homes we have back home in GoldenValley and Minneapolis. Our houses even have the same exact floor plan. Kirsten and I are cosmically linked through our homes! So, it has been great to be here building them together! The new people we have met have been great! Fortunately we were quickly accepted into the Eden Prairie group, and we have made many new friends from other places. We are humbled by the charity and generosity we see around us. Rocky is here on a short break from medical school. We met a man today who lives in New Orleans who takes vacation time to help this rebuilding project. Meeting all of these wonderful people has encouraged us to keep doing projects like this in our own community. As hot and tired as we are, we feel energized and full of hope.

Madeline, I hope you are reading this because we have a lot of great pictures to share!! Take care and see you all soon!!!

Angie and Kirsten

Day 4 in New Orleans

I woke up to a hot humid day down south. Someone said we broke some sort of record high of 97 degrees on Monday. Getting up with nine others and getting organized for the day felt like youth hostel days this morning. A crew was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and getting other lunch food together. We got to our Musician's Village work site about 7:30 am and went over a bunch of safety rules with a group of about 200 volunteers. Next we were all assigned to different projects. I've enjoyed going back to the same house to work on each day. Great color...a salmon colored Habitat House. I'm out of my comfort zone working on this house. I need a lot of instructions, but I feel like I'm a pretty good team player. I'm learning some new construction terminology to impress my son and my father. I'm glad I'm here with other like minded people who want to make a difference. I love talking to people from all over the U.S. Some of the work I've been doing over the last few days have been hammering, measuring wood and assisting Carla with the power saw, moving giant pieces of wood here and there, nailing in connectors after measuring, and drinking a lot of water. I look forward to working on this house tomorrow and working at the animal shelter on Friday. I'm halfway. Time is running out. Thoughts of my next volunteer adventure is flowing through my mind. I'm interested in continuing volunteering in the cities. I've got the volunteer bug.