Anyway, even though I had slept later I really wasn't ready to tackle the day yet, so I snuggled under the covers and turned on West Wing content to just relax. That's when I heard the car coming up the driveway. Actually, I heard the unmistakable sound of a car's tail pipe scraping the bottom of the driveway as the rest of the car headed up. Being the early hour (for me) that it was, I wasn't looking forward to having to answer the door but nothing happened. No knock, no sound of feet traipsing across the porch, nothing. Figured it must have been the electric company reading the meter and resumed my West Wing enjoyment.
It wasn't until after I was up and getting ready for the day that I received a text message, "Your Katrina house is on your deck." I raced to the door, flung it open and joyously took in the site of this:
This is a Katrina Cottage Bank...you can see the slot in the roof line where change can be put. Last Thursday at our Youth Ministry Team meeting I had shared the idea of building a Katrina cottage bank (idea ripped shamelessly from the PC(USA)'s One Great Hour of Sharing) in which people could put their change as a fundraising venture for our Mississippi Trip's. The youth will be coming up with a calendar, like the one from One Great Hour of Sharing, that highlights something we take for granted here that the people in Pearlington have to live with everyday. An example is taking a shower with water that doesn't smell like sulfur. Anyway, that was Thursday night and fabulously talented friend N created and built this fabulous bank, delivering it to my house this morning. What joy!
The morning also brought a letter from a local TV station that went like this:
I am pleased to inform you that because of your outstanding community volunteer service, you were nominated for the 2009 Jefferson Awards presented by us.
What?! Oh my goodness. It doesn't matter that other people were chosen as the finalists, just the fact that someone thinks that the efforts that are being made for Mississippi are honorable is enough, enough, enough! It was not a typical Monday...thanks be to God!