more sponge

finally i must say that god is sovereign all of the time. within the frustration and the joy, in and out of my strengths and weaknesses. i am amazed and staggered. oh at this moment i cannot think of a way to help those suffering in the south. i am financially limited most of the time so contributing fundage is an expectation i cannot meet, but no excuse. i have gone to new orleans only one time.

i went about eight years ago with one digamus dawg-darren hawk. we decided to stay at saint bernard's, which by the way is under a massive amount of water, i believe. we had decided to drive through the night and get down to the city by three the next day. we went to the campground first to get a site and then to the city for dinner. we left the majority of our belongings in 'olivia,' darren's blue volvo station wagon. thinking security. walking back from dinner i noticed what looked like someone hanging out at the wheel of his car. 'wouldnn't it be crazy/hilarious if someone broke into your car?' we had heard that n.o. was kind of ridden with crime...but sure enough as we walked closer to the car, our stuff-backpacks, shoes, clothes, journals, money, et cetera was stolen or spread across the sidewalk. insanity smacked my brain, disbelief and anger. we did not know it, but we had parked our car in the freak ghetto.

...i am back, i have been away for around a week or so. had to stop in the middle of my story of new orleans. today is actually wednesday september 07. back to it. we flagged down a cop and filed a report of our stolen belongs. decided to make a go of the trip, despite the fact that we had no clothes, toothbrushes, socks or second pair of shoes or moolah (my $$$ was taken, darren had his on him). we had a good time and made the most of our experience. i fell into the green swamp and we snuck onto a huge huge huge ship like vessel, climbing a rope ladder up a hundred feet or so, walked around and found no one on the ship. i do no think i've told anyone of that. super dooper sketchy thing to do.

i became really upset about losing my journal/sketchbook. i was mad and felt like god took away something very valuable to me. little did i know he was about to turn my thoughts upside down. a few months later i was out and came home to a message on my answering machine. it was the voice of a woman, andrea who said that she and her husband we from new orleans and would be up in chattanooga @ the choo choo for a marriage conference. they were interested in meeting with me and believed they had some of my things. i flew off the handle, could not catch my breath, called darren screaming. i remember he got mad because he thought something really bad had happened to me. several weeks later we arranged for andrea and her husband jay to come visit me. i made sure darren was going to be there and sure enough they had my journal, not my black sketchbook. jay was/is a contractor, doing construction/renovation at the time on the ghetto. he said that he had noticed all of the stuff in dumpsters piling and overflowing each day and kinda knew when new stuff appeared in the trash. he noticed a book with an envelope sticking out of it, with my name and address on it. he gathered up the few things lying around the area and brought them home. they began the process of tracking me down. amazing i being in chattanooga, them going to the conference. professing believers, andrea admitting that she' d read my journal and had been praying for me. crazy crazy times!!!

so i was thinking...could i track andrea and jay down? i don't know, they wrote down their address and phone number and i did try to call, but no connection to n.o. i can't make out their last name, so i haven't been able to do a white pages search. they may have moved out of n.o. years ago, considering my time there was in 1997 or something like that. but they did say anytime i wanted i could visit. wish i could help them out somehow.

i have been sick sick sick. all i have been doing is traveling between my bed and the couch. i have gotten my fill of katrina and the despair. i am completely overwhelmed, flabbergasted by all of it. the media coverage feels misleading at times. i feel frustration with the feds, but you know i have had a whole lot of time to write in my journal. facts and quotes. i feels better than this even. yesterday i talked with jen kring and she's moving back up to chattanooga from lakeland flordia in about four to six weeks. cannot believe that bit o' news.

mom found a want ad from a job at memorial's heart institute, may apply, need to apply today. pray that i am motivated, pray that i become well enough to put together a kick ass resume. i don't know i'm most definitely conflicted by the whole thing.

this is my no waste wednesday, being at work even though i am sick. not gonna waste another sick day on this b.s. summer flu crap. i have got to forget about myself for a minute.