Weblog » Archives » May 2006
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Thanks for the memories
By the grace of God, a group of volunteers and amateur construction workers touched the lives of many residents of New Orleans as we showed them the love of Christ. We traveled over 2,000 miles and met dozens of Christ… -
Rounding third and heading for home
We are just south of Bluffton on I-75. The rest of the group has just pulled into Probst Central. The weather in north west ohio isn't much different than when we left. Suppose if we wait 5 minutes it will change.Our … -
Dayton
We finally arrived in Dayton. It seems that Grandpa Probst was taking it easy on the Black Beast.Anyway, we are in pretty good shape on time and should be home around 7:00.Even though we took our meal to go at Arby's, t… -
Breaking up is hard to do
The group stopped for lunch in Louisville. It was thought that those with larger bladders should get there food and head back on to the freeway. The black terror (Probst van/trailor) took on Jim Tharp and we are headin… -
Are you pondering what I'm pondering?
I think so, but if we drive on driveways and park on parkways, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere.As we travel I-65 toward Nashville (ok, so weren't just south of Nashville), it is interesting to ponder how generations p… -
The Craig's depart
We have stopped just south of Nashville long enough to wake everyone up, get pictures and say goodbye to the Craig's.The weather is very nice today. Lots of sun and low 60s have made the day great for traveling.Thanks fo… -
Bright and early
Everyone in the group was up before 5:00 this morning so we could hit the breakfast buffet at Shoney's by 6:00. Everyone must be eager to get home and see their mothers because no one argued about the early schedule.As l… -
Bedding down for the night
We have arrived, again, in Birmingham AL. We drug ourselves into town at 9:30 tonight. The day has been long and most of us are still dirty with drywall dust. The Gardendale church has only one shower so there is a lo… -
Mississippi is too big
Our patience is running thin with the six hour drive back to Birmingham. It probably has a lot to do with getting up at 5:00, driving for two hours and then sanding and painting for another 5 hours. Then we have to get… -
Onward
We have finished our work at Joe and Betty's so we went for a drive along the coast. We saw a greater amount of damage along the coast. The first baptist church of Gulfport was ripped apart by the storm surge and wind.… -
Mid day
We have stopped lunch since we have been having trouble getting primer to keep the painters going. We are over half way done with the painting so it should be easy to depart by 2:00. We will then have a six hour drive … -
Gulfport MS
We are here in Gulfport and after a few u-turns through 'dead end' streets, we are reviewing the work to be done at Pastor Joe and Betty Pilates' house.The storm did serious damage to the roof so they needed to have seve… -
Goodbye New Orleans
We havejust crossed the I-10 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain and a bit somber as we remember the images of what we have seen.Demolishing a house that has been lived in for 30 years and sat vacant with flood damage for 9 m… -
Early departure
Thanks to a rousing rendition of Give God the Glory by Betty for our 5:00 wake up call, we are basically ready to roll. We have already cleaned the facilities, ate breakfast and packed the vans. All before 7:00. We ar… -
God's timing is perfect
On Thursday morning, I contacted Pat Lee of the New Orleans Area Quilter's Guild. She sent a gentleman, Dan LeBlanc, over to the church to pick up 6 of the sewing machines and quilting supplies to take to their sewing g… -
Sight seeing
Since we had busted our buns at Gerald's this morning, that left an entire afternoon of nothing to do. hummm, what to do, what to do??? Hey, let's head to Bourbon Street!!!! Most of the crew piled into vans headed for… -
Main mission accomplished
For those of you who were not trying all day to access xanga, they decided today would be a good day to move all of their servers and leave us with nothing to read nor any way to post. Thanks Xanga!! Regardless, we sti… -
Stress relief
Dave Bunge, Lukas, Greg, and Drew Probst turned off all the lights in the gym and started throwing a frisbee at each other. Not too worry, the frisbee has a light in it, so there shouldn't be any 'lost time incidents'. … -
Full day of fun
Today was a long and hard day with temperatures reaching up to 86 degrees with 70% humidity. It felt like it was over 90 and that is too hot for us too early in the year. The group is very tired tonight but in a good… -
Another Birthday!
Drew Probst is 17 today. Congrats!!! -
We're on a roll
Greg Probst, Lukas Probst, Dave Bunge and Will Brown went over to Carolyn Charles' house on Walter street and helped Jim Tharp and Jack Cramer finish our third house!!Greg helped Jack and Jim finish trim and Will, Dave a… -
House gutting
We have arrived at the house that the other team is working on. We are going to stop here for a bit and eat our lunch. After lunch, we will head back to the church and then over to Carolyn's house.The condition of the … -
Check it off
We have finished everything on the list for Ms. Gloria. She is still a long way from moving in but we have taken her a number of steps closer.We are waiting for her to come over and inspect our beautiful work before we b… -
On the job
Wow, what a bunch of go getters (slave drivers)!!! Ms. Gloria's crew got out of the lot by 7:30 this morning. This assisted them in beating half of the traffic to the bridge so it was only a 10 minute wait this morning. … -
Wednesday activities
The rising pattern has held longer than anyone thought, partly because Dave Bunge refuses to rise any later than 4:30. People are actually awake at that time?Today's schedule will be one final return to Ms. Gloria's hous… -
Gutting the house
Here are several pictures that were taken at the site in the ninth ward where the team had to take everything out of the house, right down to the studs. The man in the red hard hat is the nephew of the elderly woman … -
Birthday boy
Dan Craig turned 28 today. Happy Birthday, Dan!!! -
The pain is in the details
The gutting crew really thought that 3 hours would be sufficient today to finish the job. Unfortunately, the small screws from the drywall and the crud around the windows was more time consuming to remove than was the b… -
Call it a day
Very successful day, we hung 6 doors, finished Greg's 2 day door project, replaced all but a few of the broken windows, set a toilet, and installed a vanity. We still have one door to install, another vanity, and the re… -
Lunch is served
We are working on walmly street, hanging doors and fixing windows. Greg is still working on his 'special project' that he started yesterday. Four of the eight inside doors are finished, so we are making good progress.Tod… -
Sock day
In honor of National Lost Sock Memorial Day, our crew has decided to only wear one sock today.It is amazing what kind of useless ideas that can be fruitlessly created while listening to the radio while stuck in traffic. … -
Creature in the dark
Ever since arriving at the church, the single men have been bothered by some bizarre noises in the dark. We finally got the nerve up last night to photograph the source of our fear. GOTCHA!!!! After blinding the … -
Sleeping arrangements
Sometime on Sunday, a "salting ceremony" was held and each of us where separated into one of three rooms: couples, single woman and single men. Don't worry spouses, 'single' is a relative term.The single men were caught… -
Tuesday's schedule
You know how schedules are, but we are expecting the Lord to be with us. As long as the homeowners were able to procure materials, a smaller team will be heading back to Walter street to tape and mud the drywall that wa… -
Long Day
Wow, what a day!!One group put up drywall and lap siding on the west bank at walter street. The homeowner had to go and get drywall mud and mesh tape. It took her nearly 2 and a half hours to get the supplies so that w… -
Entering New Orleans
This is the bridge on the way in to downtown New Orleans, it appears that the right side gaurd rail should be a bit wider. A picture of the Sav-a- Lot along I-10. An example of the condition of many apartments… -
Team Picture
The Team arrived yesterday in good spirits and took a moment for a picture. -
Keeping busy
We have gone as far as we can for now on the drywall, so we are going to try our hand at lap siding. Something makes me think we should have worked outside in the morning. Oh well. -
Lunch
Our group has stopped for lunch. The ceiling is hung and half of the wall. We still have to mud and tape the joints. If we finish that in good time, we will put on some lap siding.We each packed our lunches this morni… -
Drywall
Jim Tharp, Jack Cramer and Will Brown headed to Walter street for Carolyn Charles's house to put up drywall in the front room of her house. A huge tree fell over on the corner of the house and the entire edge of the hou… -
Feedback
Please feel free to add comments or eprops so that you can encourage our group from where ever you are!! -
Logistics
Well we are about to head out, but we need to spend some significant time drawing on maps so that we can figure out where we are going. One crew is going east toward the Miss. river as it turns south, which is pretty clo… -
Workin' 9 to 5
Most of us are up before dawn this morning getting breakfast ready and finalizing plans for the day. We'll see if this rising pattern continues late into the week.We have had a bit of difficulty finding the kind of Inte… -
Talents unleashed
Our team wasted no time in separating our talents to the task. Dan Craig hopped up to the plate to figure how to get the industrial dishwasher to work. What a blessing that will be.As I write, Greg Probst, Dave Tharp an… -
Preparing for the Lord's work
We met with Kathy tonight who is the person in charge of the volunteer groups that tear down and rebuild houses. She made sure that we understood that safety comes first in our endeavor. Even though it is going to be hot… -
We have arrived
After an interesting drive along I-10, we arrived at the church that we are staying at. The state of the city is truly undescribeable. Nearly 8 months after the hurricane and there are many homes with visible storm dam… -
Hatiesburg MS
We have stopped in Hatiesburg, MS for a 'quick' tour of the visitors center and a potty stop at the gas station across the street. It just so happens that there is another Krystal Burger here, which has brought up some … -
Chunky river
What a coincidence, we just gorged ourselves in Meridian, and then we came across the 'Chunky River'. No, seriously, that's what the sign said. We were just lucking to not have a chunky river in the car after seeing it… -
Ate like pigs
Anyone ever hear of Krystal? We just stopped at Meridian, MS and ate at Krystal's. It is basically similar to white castle. The Probst clan and Jim Tharp decided to tackle "the steamer". It is a 24 pack of mini burgers. … -
Clouds
Lukas Probst found the cloud factory in Birmingham. -
Morning Service
The congregation of GVM UMC prayed for us on our journey and mission. The service was a discussion about the Da Vinci Code and explaining the holes in Dan Brown's fantasy. The historical evidence in conjunction with th… -
Breakfast of Champions
Through a stroke of good luck and some fancy driving maneuvers, McDonald's lost out to Shoney's for the mondo breakfast buffet. As usual the weak and elderly got in line before youngons, you know who they are.A fullfill… -
1st Leg Complete
After nearly 12 hours and 500 miles of driving, we have arrived in Birmingham Alabama. We are staying at the Gardendale - Mt. Vernon UMC. The church has a large gymnasium in which a stage is setup for Sunday's contempo…
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