Bayou La Batre

Our two oldest sons returned today from a short trip to Bayou La Batre, AL with a team from our church. They traveled with several men of our church to help one of the members of a sister church repair his business. Just as important as rebuilding places to live is helping those who have lost everything to have employment so that they can afford to rebuild their lives.

I have included several pictures that my sons took while they were there. They were busy with repairs most of the time, but they did give some good pictures to help us see the problems that the hurricane has left for those that live in the area.
This is the team that went. My two sons, Sergei and Zhenya, are the two young men on the left of the front row. Sergei is seventeen and Zhenya sixteen. Reports from the team are that they did very well, helping out where needed and doing lots of work. It always makes a father's heart glad to hear that his sons are doing well.

These are some of the shrimp boats, the life blood of the town. As you can see most are damaged, some beyond repair. It is not clear how many can be put back in service. Any that are not mean lost jobs for those that work on them.
Though it may be hard to see in this picture, there is a barge deposited on dry ground that was carrying cars. Not sure what the story is there.
This is the sign shop the boys helped repair. It was flooded to about three feet in depth. Other than the repairs, the main concern was that government was going to condemn the building as they were condemning all the building with four feet or more of water in them. That would mean waiting months for it to be rebuilt. That would mean lost jobs for those who worked there.

This is where most of the work was done. They basically replaced the bottom parts of the walls, insulation, sheet rock, etc. and did other clean up work.

The eleven plus mom, dad, grandma

Whenever, I look at one of our pictures, I marvel at how God has brought us all together. His ways are mysterious and yet he glorifies Himself through the weak things of this world. In each life here is a story of His grace. Some came through births involving difficult pregnancies and life threatening deliveries. Others came via lots of paperwork and trips around the world, where we were helped by God's people in other lands. Some came through the pain of disrupted adoptions. Yet through it all, God has assembled a family which we attempt to parent for His glory. May we do so faithfully.

A Nothing Beginning

The title of this Blog is Nihilo, meaning nothing. I do not know what nothing is. But, as R. C. Sproul says nothing is what teenage boys do. Being the father of nine teenagers, I understand that now. When I ask them what they are doing, the most common response is "nothing." So whatever teenaged boys (and teenage girls) do, that is nothing. However, I suspect that most of the time they are not really doing nothing. Since they seem to make a lot of noise doing it.

So what is this Blog really about. It is more about the God who created everything out of Nothing. The God who has brought a man who hated Him and hated children to be raising eleven children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Talk about creating something out of nothing.