Two men with only four hands...

We were up and out early as two members of the kitchen crew for this week joined us in the 7th ward. Cliff and Jim are two retired business men from Columbia, SC who travel often to provide cooking help for relief and disaster organizations all over the South East.

We stopped by a local bigbox store and grabbed a few pieces of tile as samples for Mrs. Phillip. We need the floor tile for her hall bath. She and her sister met us with their customary smiles and we set up for our day of work. A.J. the plumber stopped by to pickup the key for Mrs. Holloway's home over on Pauger St. He is beginning the plumbing rough-in as we move that project forward toward our Feb deadline. While I had a licensed plumber where I was working I asked him to survey a problem at Mrs. Phillip's home. A plumber came many months ago and rough plumber her house and the house of her sister Mrs. Phenix. In the process the "plumber" removed the waste line for the master bath and rerouted a waste vent. He did several more things, but did not complete the job, took Mrs. Phillip's and Mrs. Phenix's money and disappeared. I could not figure out how to reroute the waste line. Even after A.J. took a look and shook his head I am still baffled. It will take me an hour or so of lying under the house and attempting to form a plan. I know this, some how we will get her plumbing working as it should.

Cliff Spann & Jim McCallie are welcome to work with me anytime.

Jim & Cliff were a great help as they moved old materials to a house in process next door and swept the back part of the house clean for us. It was also great to have to men who love God and humanity. They are on a mission to give their lives away to others and that alone makes them men of honor. They are welcome on any jobsite I work on here or in any part of this planet.

Louis normally designs highways, over passes, interchanges and traffic systems, but on Tuesday he was converted to the official Team Woodshavings tile setter. Luckily, for both of us, the team before us had started the wall tiling project in the hall bath. Louis and I were able to pick up where they left off and push this part of the project toward completeion. After watching me set tile for a few moments Louis took over and I must say, for a civil engineer he makes a pretty good tile setter. Another essential life skill can now be added to his repetoire.Louis the engineer turned tile setter.

As usual, Mrs. Phenix and Mrs. Phillip cooked lunch for us. Tuesday they cooked lima beans, rice and fresh fried chicken. We sat in Mrs. Phenix's dinning room and enjoyed a true feast. Even better, was the time they sat with us and told us the stories of the neighborhood, their families and how Katrina changed their lives. These ladies are trully Godly beautiful women and they bless our lives each time we speak with them and work for them. It is indeed an honor for us to be able to help them rebuild their homes, their lives and their city of New Orleans.A small sampling of my big brother's handiwork.