grace.kindness.peace.disruption.pain.processing.rinse.repeat.have a nice day.

We're doing great down here in Mississippi. The weather has been cool and without humidity, allowing us to work hard for the last three days. The house I've been working on has almost all of the drywall hung. We would have finished hanging the drywall today, but we were pulled off to help jack up a woman's house. Now I know what you might be thinking. "Jack up" in the kids' slang these days typically refers to causing damage, or at least causing the object to be in something other than its normal state. In this case it refers to lifting the house to be 50 inches off the ground. Yep, that's the big 5-0. It is hovering around 38″ on one end to 45″ on the other right now. Thankfully the ground is uneven so these discrepancies don't imply that house has broken into two (or more) pieces. It is completely possible that the house will end up in two pieces, but we hope that does not happen.

We can't believe that the week is almost over. Tomorrow morning will find us on the road headed north. We're not quite sure where the setting sun will find us tonight. We're debating a trip into New Orleans to see the down, the damage, and the food. I'll let you know what we end up doing. It should be quite the adventure.

We've arrived. Fifteen hours of traveling has landed us in the midst of Camp Katrina, a jumping off point for work projects in the Waveland, MS community. Our team consists of ten people. Once again, the world is small. One of the ladies on this trip went to high school with my father. Crazy.

When we arrived the camp director interviewed us briefly to determine our skill set. We'll be assigned to hang and finish drywall, lay tile, paint, lay floorboards, cook, clean, and do pretty much whatever is needed based on the answers given in the interview. Through all of this we are expectant: God is going to meet us here. Our posture of service puts us in the position to hear from God as we serve him by serving those in need here in Mississippi. We're excited to serve. We're excited to hear from our Creator. We're excited to love the people of Waveland, MS. The result will be better homes and changed people from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

My current situation has confused several people, making it worthy to explain to the world. Yes, it is true that I am in Indianapolis, IN, my city of residence. Typically road trippers do not return to their homes before the end of their trips. Yet again, I am an exception. I am on a short hiatus from my road trip to co-lead a group from my church down to Waveland, MS to clean up from hurricane Katrina. My team, my co-leader, and I will drive down to Mississippi on Sunday, work for the week, and return the following Saturday. I knew of this opportunity when I set off on my road trip and have planned this little time out from the beginning, though the details were worked out just this week. When I arrived in Seattle to see the Dillons, I learned that Rachel's car¹ was still in Chicago where she has attended graduate school for the last year and a half. They've been trying to find a way to get the car to Seattle, but have not had the opportunity to drive it out themselves. When I heard of their dilemma, I offered to drive it out to Seattle for them. After all, I have spare time. So where does this leave things:

• my car is resting nicely at the Dillon's in Seattle
• I flew on "buddy" passes from Seattle to Portland to Chicago on Thursday
• once in Chicago, Brad's father picked me up in Rachel's car which I then drove to Indianapolis
• I leave on Sunday morning for MS and will return the following Saturday
• I'll stay around Indy for a couple days before beginning the trek out to Seattle in Rachel's car
• When I arrive in Seattle I will ask myself just what was I thinking shortly before getting in my car to continue my road trip

So this about sums it up. I hope this clarifies things for my viewing audience. I've been informed that there is Wi-Fi at Camp Katrina so expect posting from there. I wish you all well. And yes, I'm counting these miles toward my road trip.

¹Rachel's car is both Brad's and Rachel's, they are one.

Yep, back in Portland I am. My friends the Dillons have set me up with United Companion travel tickets to get back to the midwest. I've never flown standby, so I have a lot to learn about patience and security. I could probably turn this post into a lesson on how flying standby provides lessons on life, but I'll save you the pookie.

So far today I've done the following:

• showered (always a good start)
• twice not gotten the go-ahead to sit down here, as opposed to standing by
• was administered my own personal, private security check … cough (j/k … partly)
• flown to Portland from Seattle to have a better chance to get to Chicago
• consumed four shots of espresso (two for every unsuccessful flight attempt)
• met Jim Wallis – babbled, but didn't look like a complete fool … do complete fools know what it looks like to look like a complete fool?
• eaten a delicious Washington apple

So that's today. The goal is to arrive in Chicago, get picked up by Bill Dillon, and finally drive Brad and Rachel Dillon's car to Indianapolis where I will happily reunited with fellow Colts fans.