Blizzard warning???

HI everyone,

I am sure no one is reading this due to the fact you are shoveling snow. I do not recall a blizzard warning being posted before. It is usually a snow advisory or a winter storm warning. I suspect you guys really got a real dandy of a storm. I spoke to Charlotte's dad today and he thought you got 10-12 inches. The storm reached way into the south. We went to bed with an 80% chance of storms, some to be severe. We did not even get rain.

It turned out to be exceptionally beautiful today. It was sunny and 81 when we left church at noontime. As you all would expect, we really did not mind missing out on the blizzard.

We ate at Waffle House on the beach. We walked out on Key Combs pier after lunch. This pier was new before the storm, then badly damaged. It is mostly repaired. I estimate it projects into the water about 1000 feet. People were fishing. One party was having luck. They had 2 catfish and a stingray. The kids got to see their catches. The beach was active today with quite a few sunbathing. The water is off limits to swimming here due to debris in the water. The sand has been cleaned up impressively.

Charlotte and the kids will be going to Mobile for a homeschool outing tomorrow. It is a museum exhibit. I will probably be nearly finishing Ron's house by next weekend. I am doing doors and trim. I finished window trim on Sat. He is having Lowe's do the cabinets and countertops. I suspect this will not be ready when I am finished. It is not hurting my feelings that he hired them as they ordered a quartz countertop. Lowe's guarantees all aspects of this project if they do the whole job.I also have to repair the enclosed porch interior this week.

We are all good, but Rosa has congestion associated with teething and is quite uncomfortable tonight.

Charlotte and I will be going to Mobile on March 14. We have tickets to see Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio( the founder of the Passion youth conferences) and Matt Redman. Chris Tomlin is probably the most influential writer and musician in contemporary Christian music today.
He is definitely my favorite and we are excited to be able to be there. We will also be going to David's Bridal to try on Charlotte's dress for her sister Amanda's wedding in Mobile that day.

We were able to visit with both mission groups here this past week. What a blessing it was to see all of them and see their heart for helping. Both groups traveled at the same time and both had to deal with hard travel both ways.

Keep in touch, call or write anytime . I'm fixin' to go to bed. See ya'll!

Brian and Charlotte

Beach Site View

Well on Monday morning around 8:00 am we see a large backhoe and 8 semi-dumpsters arrive in our neighborhood.
They removed the house that is condemned and is between us and the beach. Don't worry, we won't get a beachfront property since there is a surf shop that is rebuilding on the beach.

We do see more of the beach than before. It was very sad to see someones house being destroyed. I guess the people that were staying here did not own the house. Either way it was sad to see this. Ethan said, "It's a sad day for that house. Is daddy going to put a new one there?"

It took over 30 dumpster loads to remove the house and garage. They actually finished with the removal on Tuesday morning. We also hear pounding in the neighborhood. So someone else must have been inspired by this.

We have a new neighbor that moved in on Saturday evening at 9:30 pm. We hope to meet her soon. It's good to see that there is activity happening all around.

Brian and the two older boys are finishing up that car port that they were building this afternoon. Then it will be back to finishing off Ron's home.

Charlotte

Welcome to friends

Hello to everyone.

As I write this on Sat. Morning, there are two unrelated mission teams coming down from Central WI. One is a large team from Believers Church in Marshfield. They will be helping move Service International's operation from Long Beach to New Orleans. I believe Service International wants to operate there as it will be easier to recruit volunteers and due to the large need. The other team is from the Colby Zion Lutheran Church. This team will be helping with medical needs and home rebuilding. The Colby team will be staying less than 3 miles from our camp and my job site is near the Long Beach Service International camp. We will be looking forward to seeing many of our dear friends.

Please pray for these mission teams that God would bless the work of their hands, that they would be able to spread the love of Jesus Christ to the hurting, that God would fill their hearts with love and compassion, and that they would bring home a renewed zeal for their purpose in life.

The boys and I are pulling out of Ron's job to build that carport today. It is a 22 X36 structure. It is our goal to build this in 2-3 days.

We are nearly complete with Ron's tile. They did not order enough tile. I was able to complete this project for 50% of Home Depot's price.

The Kids and Charlotte participated in a Home School workshop yesterday.

Keep in touch.

Brian and Charlotte

a stormy morning

Hi everyone

If you watched national weather, you would have noticed that coastal LA, and MS were having storms. At 4:00 A.M. I woke to thunder. I heard a warning on the radio and checked the internet.

We then all moved into the house, folded up the awning and put everything away. Our county was in a tornado warning and still is in a severe thunderstorm warning. It stormed hard but we are fine. We got a lot of rain. The tents are probably wet.

Are you all watching the story about New York's snow? Can you imagine 12 feet of snow?

It may be a record for their state. Maybe Chris and Chase can run their snowmobiles there.

Just wanted ya'll to know we are safe.
Brian

an awesome weekend

Hi everyone,
We had an awesome weekend.
On Sat. night,
Brian, Nicholas, Joshua and Samuel went to Winterjam at the Mitchell center in Mobile, Al. We saw Jeremy Camp, Sanctus Real, Hawk Nelson, Brit Nicole, Steven Curtis Chapman,New Song,and more. Wow...What a great night of praise and worship of our Great
God!! There were over 10,000 in attendance. The arena was packed to capacity. Charlotte and the smaller children went to Chucky Cheese for pizza and fun. They even went to Krispy Kreme donuts. What a blast.

Last weekend, at the Winterquest retreat, the boys saw the movie Facing the Giants. They wanted us to rent it to see it. We stopped at Blockbuster and rented it. Wow.. What a great movie. It is a must see. Please everyone, rent it and be inspired.... It is not just another piece of trash from Hollywierd, in fact it is from a church in Albany Ga. You will not be disappointed.

Chris Tomlin will be in Mobile, Al on March 14. Charlotte will be ordering tickets tomorrow for the two of us. We will have a date night enjoying great praise and worship.

We pray regularly for all of you. We miss you but at the same time are having a blast serving God here on the Gulf Coast. Keep in touch. We love hearing from each of you.

Brian, Charlotte and the Children

End of a Great Week

We have budding photographers in our family since there is all of this beauty blossoming around us. They are doing pretty good. We wanted to share a few of them with you.
All of these pictures were taken within a few feet of our camper. This one is actually the sunshine coming through a mini blind on the wall. Told you they are getting creative.
This one did not turn out the way they wanted it to, but I think it's still cool. By the way all of these pictures where taken by Nicholas and Joshua. The other boys are also working on looking around. It is quite fun to see them discovering God's creation. Not only the large items, but also the little normally unnoticed items.
Our family is going to be attending a Winter Jam (Christian concert) in Mobile, AL this evening. Artists included to perform are Stephen Curtis Chapman, Hawk Nelson, Jeremy Camp, Sanctus Reel, Brit Nicole, and a George Bush impersonator. We are going to go with CLCA. It should be a fun evening.

Brian is finished painting at Ron's house. The custom tile work in the bathrooms is nearly completed. The next project is installing 1500 square feet of ceramic floor tile. This will be fun. The boys are going to be helping on this project. Everyone should be busy.

Thank you Peggy for being such a blessing and helping our lives continue in Colby. We appreciate you greatly. Maybe a three day weekend? We would find some pad for you to crash on.

We also wanted to inform everyone that my baby sister Amanda is engaged to Nate Abney. He will be a great brother in law and uncle. We are excited to welcome him to the family. Everyone in the family is involved in the wedding. The date is September 15, 2007. It is going to be soooo beautiful during the fall.

Hopefully your weather is getting better. I know it has been down right nasty. The forecast looks warmer. It could be worse. In New York State they received over 80 inches of snow this week. How do you shovel that? It's way over my head. Wow!

Brian wants to rub it in how nice it is down here, but I know ya'll don't want to hear about it anymore right now. SO I won't. Bye for now ~ In Christs Love

Field Trip and Ms Maureen

Hello Everyone,

These pictures are from our field trip in Mobile. We attended a Roman camp and discovered many hands on exhibits. The little people had a blast.

We are praying that the weather ease up in the north. Lord, let there be mercy for all of our loved ones at home.

This picture of the lady is our hostess for our home. Her name is Maureen and she has had her surgery and is recoverying well.

We miss you.

Charlotte

Please Daddy!!!

Brian insists that Rosa does not have him wrapped around her finger, but after the boys went to bed, he got out a choc pudding and fed her the whole thing.

I guess we will need to pray for him.

spring is springing

Hi everyone

We are aware of the fact you are in a very cold weekend. Wow -35 wind chill. Maybe we could use global warming after all. As I am writing this draft, it is about 40 degrees and our wind chill is +35. That is a 70 degree difference. Our 1 month winter should be pretty much over. It will be in the 60's and dry all week. If anyone wants a break from winter, buy a flight into the Gulfport, MS airport and we will give you a good time.... Serious.

The picture of the tree in bloom above our camper was taken this morning Sun Feb. 4..Look for the bird in the tree.

I sprayed Ron's drywall on schedule sat. Finishing drywall in a whole house by yourself is a big job. My fun moment between all the hard work came from a conversation with Ron's mailman.
He has a walking route in that devastated neighborhood. He told me he is amazed at what we have accomplished. He said in the 8 months he has been on this route he has not seen such efficiency. He plans on recommending me to several people on the route.

He is experiencing the same thing I am, how people are really hurting and sometimes just need someone to listen. He shared a story about a younger woman just lingering around in a car for a long time. When he visited with her She confessed to him that she was seriously considering suicide. He was able to cheer her up and get her help. This just happened yesterday.
A victim on his route had workmen at his house. They found a body in the attic 1 week ago. It turned out is was a missing person from 7 years ago. It is believed to be a suicide.

Charlotte took the younger kids to Mobile yesterday on a home school outing with the local home school co-op.

Nicholas and Joshua will return from the CLCA retreat this afternoon.

Stay warm and be careful. Remember warm clothing if you must travel in case of trouble.

Keep in touch.

Brian and Charlotte and the kids

Update from Mississippi

Hi everyone.

We woke up to rain. We know you guys are in the deep freeze. I hope it ends soon for you all. We do not miss winter.

We are posting pictures of Ron's neighborhood after he returned 27 days after the storm. The top left is the view to the beach. There are 12 homes missing from this view. The bottom left is the razor wire that was installed by the government to stop looting, but mainly to protect the bodies of the dead. Even homeowners were not allowed to come past this point to check on their homes. The top middle of rubble is their neighborhood Longbeach Wal-mart or what was left of it. The house with trash in front is Ron's after gutting the debris .

Every time I visit with Ron he shares more about the tragedy. He lives 2 1/2 miles west of Gulfports sea port. It has many semis and barges for sea transportation. The picture of semi trailers are in his neighborhood. Yes, they washed inland West 2.5miles. They actually leveled some of the houses from their impact. 1100 trailers were washed inland. Some of these trailers were full of chicken being exported to Russia. They were cleaned up in November. Yummy!!

I mentioned the Death toll last time. Funeral homes were destroyed. Ron's hospital was needed for a morgue. He and his co-workers had to literally pile the dead into Freezer trucks. They had 1500 dead in 10 semi trailers just at this site. Officials needed to attempt to identify them.

We will forward current pics of his house another time. We will probably be doing a laminate wood floor in a new health food store sometime next week. Otherwise, I have been working very hard at helping get Ron back into his home. I am near completing the drywall. I have also been tiling the bathrooms and things are moving right along, except for Charlotte.

She has been stranded in the camper for 3 days. We took her van to the garage to get 3 repairs that it has needed and the parts have not come in. Then, I take the truck all day. It's a little stir crazy in the camper. But that is soon to change.

Nicholas and Joshua will be going on a retreat this weekend with CLCA. It should be a great time with God. Please pray for their safety and growth with God.

Maureen is having her surgery today. We will update you when we know something. Remember to lift her up in prayer.

We are all good and miss each of you. Keep in touch. Smile, spring is on the way!!

the Haines family.