Tuesday (Photo Time!)

Today was our first official workday on site. I was so excited to get to work! There were four photographers each with an assistant, 8 editors, and a large prayer team. The prayer team was there to talk to the families while they waited for their photos to be edited. It was a great idea because the prayer team really got to learn more about the families and hear their stories and later share them with us.

Bein silly
Andre doin' somethin' crazy :)

grrr

hard at work editing and textin' lol

We must have been looking at somthing funny

We really weren't too busy the first day. To my surprise I was actually able to take some of the family portraits instead of just editing. I've never been in a setting like this before, even to just watch and see how it's done. So I was definitely nervous. I wanted more for these pictures to turn out amazing for the families than I wanted to snap pictures of people. One of the first people I had the opportunity to photograph is the person I will remember most from this trip. Her story is powerful and I will absolutely never forget it. She deserves her own post though so look for a post named "Ms. Sonya" to read about it.

Luckily with the day being slow I was also about to go out into the Sanctuary where people were waiting to talk to some locals. I met a woman named Annie Montana, pictured below:

Annie was one of those people you can just feel the warmth coming from immediately. A woman you wished was your grandmother because she probably whips up the most comforting meal when you're sick. You can see the warmth and compassion in her eyes. Her story goes a little something like this:

Annie was one of the last to evacuate before Katrina. She asked her husband when it was announced that it would hit New Orleans if they should leave the area. He responded with a "Heck naw I ain't leavin' my home. It'll blow over like it always does." Annie described that, that was just how her husband is; stubborn. As the days went on and the reports grew more and more serious her family in Florida convinced Annie and the family to seek shelter from the storm with them. So that's what they did, they packed up everything they could and headed east in three cars. One carrying Annie and husband, the other Annie's son, and the last Annie's sister and husband. A trip that normally would have taken 3 hours took them 14 1/2 hours. The traffic was bumper to bumper and her husband suggested they turn around several times. They stayed on track though, Annie knew they needed to get out of the city and that things were going to go from bad to worse. Halfway through their trip to Florida Annie's son's windshield wipers broke. Remember, he's driving alone, through a hurricane. Annie started to cry as she told me her fear for her son's life. The thoughts of the events she endured five years ago were still fresh in her mind. She watched through the rear view mirror as her son was able to still stay on track. She cried and she told me God did that. God made sure her son could see enough to make it to Florida safely. Annie never once said God destroyed my house in the storm, God broke my son's windshield wipers; she never questioned "why?"

I heard countless stories like that this week. It really changes your outlook, it really changes you. The last thing I wanted to do was come home and listen to the same old thing. Deal with the same old laziness. Same old negativity, that I knew would inevitably happen.