We ALMOST got the checks...

Well add it to the list of complications surrounding almost everything you try to accomplish since Hurricane Katrina...When we called our insurance company and found out they had actually already issued checks to us for our claim, they were surprised we had not received those checks. The checks were cut on March 2nd, and I called on March 13th. Concerned they were lost in the mail forwarding system (the checks were sent to our destroyed home), AIG strongly suggested we stop payment and have the checks reissued. I agreed thinking it would be best considering our experiences to date with forwarded mail (sometimes a 6 week delay). In a bitter sweet turn of events, the forwarded checks finally arrived yesterday...BUT they were already cancelled in the insurance company's system so we have to wait until the new checks, issued today, arrive. I know it's only 1 more week, but it would have been nice to get the checks in the mail to our mortgage company before the April payment is due...

Oh well, we're still THRILLED they are REALLY paying us as evidenced by the checks we received. Please pray for swift delivery of the new checks and offer praise for God's provision to us.

Livin' in the real world...

Naturally Smart You're a naturally smart person. Your intelligence comes to you naturally, rather than from instruction - and you are better with applied or more real-world things... which comes in handy, here in the real world. 40% applied intelligence 60% natural intelligence

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Hat tip to Scott at Transformatum.

WalkJogRun

I, at one time in my life, exercised. Yes, I know that may be difficult to believe but it is true.

Sometimes that foolishness involved running/jogging long distances. There were many times that I had to loosely guestimate how far my runs were based on how long they took or we would hop in the car and drive the proximate route to come up with an estimate.

This very, very cool hack of Google Maps is a route planner and a distance/speed calculator and it takes the guesswork out of route planning. You basically connect the dots and it calculates your route distance.

FROM THE http://www.walkjogrun.net/ WEBSITE:

How does it work?

Click on the map to set a starting point. Then keep clicking from point to point to draw a route. Click on any of the markers for your route and see how far this point is from the start and what the estimated time would be for a given speed.

Building a running community

You can save your maps by clicking on any of your markers and hit "Save Your Route" to add it to the database. Next time you or anyone else looking in your neighborhood is looking for a route, they will see your pin.

Anyhow, its very cool; check it out. If I ever start running again, I'll use this tool to plan routes. In fact, instead of sitting here reading/writing about it, I should actually go get some exercise.

B

What's the trouble about this place?

“… What’s the trouble about this place? Not that people are quarrelsome --- that’s only human nature and was always the same even on Earth. The trouble is they have no Needs. You get everything you want (not very good quality, of course) by just imagining it. That’s why it never costs any trouble to move to another street or build another house. In other words, there’s no proper economic basis for any community life. If they needed real shops, chaps would have to stay near where the real shops were. If they needed real houses they’d have to stay near where the builders were. It’s scarcity that enables a society to exist… if I can come back with some real commodities --- anything at all that you could really bite or drink or sit on --- why, at once you’d get a demand down in our town…. You’d soon get people coming to live near --- centralization. Two fully inhabited streets would accommodate the people that are now spread over a million square miles of empty streets. “

The Intelligent Man in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce describing Hell.

Does this sound familiar to anybody?

It sounds to me alot like much of America.

And certainly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I can see how scarcity and suffering has forced people back into a certain level of community. You're alot more likely to visit with your neighbors when you know you both have similar needs and sufferings.

I can't decide whether abundance, suburban sprawl, the great-white-flight, air-conditioning and drive thru everything have killed community or if the lack of true community has driven the growth of our culture of convenience.

Thoughts? Please share.

THEY PAID US, THEY PAID US, THEY PAID US!!!!!!

2"There is none holy like the LORD;
there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
3Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
4The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
6The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
8He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's,
and on them he has set the world.

1 Samuel 2: 2-8

After our adjuster submitted our claim a few weeks ago, we have been wondering what the status of our claim was. We made some calls today and got word that they (the wind insurance company) have processed the claim and approved the settlement for 100% of our policy value! They claim to have already sent the check, but to our old address. They are issuing a new check to be sent to us at the Leavengood's.

This is a huge, enormous, tremendous, GINORMOUS weight lifted off of our shoulders. Thank you all for your continued prayers in the matter. And please, please, please offer thanks to God for his goodness and mercy and abundance and his pleasure in lavishing us with this gift.

Lord willing, we should be receiving the check shortly. Please pray that it arrives swiftly and without incident.


Humbly,

Batch the poor, dusty beggar.

P.S.- On a less edifying note, I found the 'plumber' today and gave him a thorough, unmerciful, brazen, un-Christ-like tongue lashing. I was tempted to use a golf club instead, but somehow I managed not to. He of course offered more excuses and promised to 'be there tomorrow'. Please pray that God would convict this man of his error and lead him to repentance and faith. Also pray that God would lead me to repentance of my pleasure in delivering that unmerciful message.

A word about THE clock...

Many of you who watched Trading Spaces on Saturday night have asked about the significance of the clock on our mantel. It was hard to catch what we said regarding that clock so I thought I'd post a little about its meaning to us.

Batch's mom, who passed away from cancer in 2003 , believed in giving traditional anniversary gifts. Traditionally the first anniversary is the "clock" anniversary, so for our first anniversary in 2001 she gave us that clock- which ironically enough, sat on the bookshelf next to the fireplace in our old house. TLC/Edward had no idea the significance of the clock prior to the reveal. I don't know who to credit with finding the clock in the rubble and debris after Katrina, but Batch did not remember that we had found it, so seeing it on the matel was 'extra special' for him. For those curious, no, it does not still work, although we've had offers to repair it. We may repair it one day, but for now will just let it be a reminder of where we've been and how far we've come. God is faithful and chooses to remind us of His plan for us in tiny little ways--like a clock on a mantel.

Found another article....

... from the Mobile (AL) Register. Holly did a great job on this one too.

..."The house that we lost on the beach was an older home that we had
bought and renovated," said Holly Batchelder. "That is something my husband and
I enjoy."
...
"Our house that we lived in prior to Katrina was completely destroyed on
the beach in Gulfport," Batchelder said. "The house that we bought after Katrina
had about 6 feet of water in it. It's on the the Biloxi Back Bay. It's not
waterfront. It's across the street from the water."
...
"It is a different situation for them," Holly Batchelder said. "They don't
usually start with as little as they started with this time."

She said she and her husband and the Raths have been friends since their
days together in college at Mississippi State. She won't reveal details about
how each couple made over the other's living room; that's a surprise for the end
ofthe show, she said.

But she did let on that each couple wound up with a living room in which
they can live -- something many displaced homeowners in the area have not had
for months.

Now it's a matter of addressing some electrical and plumbing issues so they
can move in and continue working on the rest of their new-to-them house,
Batchelder said.

She and and her husband and their friends are grateful for
the helping hand extended by TLC and "Trading Spaces."

"I never imagined them being down here," she said. "We are extremely
thankful that they did, and we think they enjoyed it as much as we did."

The full text of the article here.

I am "the crown molding master"...

The show aired and the crew at TLC/Banyan Productions really outdid themselves. The final edit wasn't as cheesy as the episodes sometimes are. The depictions of the devastation here were some of the best I've seen. And remarkably, they even were able to make me come across as thoughtful and moderately intelligent (and some comments here and here on previous posts attest to this observation).

I am obligated however to pick on Brad. At the end of the show my shirt looked like it had been soaked in drywall mud and rolled in caulk, while his looked like it just came from the cleaners. How much work did you do man?

And of course, I must thank my wife for crowning me "the crown molding master".

WB in the SH

Nice work from the SunHerald.

Until then, homeowners Batch and Holly Batchelder of Biloxi will say only
that the whole experience was fantastic and they'd do it again, if asked.
...
"There is nothing we would change about the room," Batchelder said. "It's
beautiful. They really pegged us on our taste," he said of the Raths. "They
really did an outstanding job."
However, that room is all they've got so far.
The Batchelders are still living with friends, unable to move into their house
due to contractor problems with finishing the rest of it. They bought the
storm-damaged house after Katrina destroyed their beachfront home.
...
"We'd hoped to be able to be in the house and have a party," Batchelder
said, "but we're going to watch in our surrogate home with our adopted family
and try to make the most of it."

Read the article in its entirety here.

HB in the CL

She sounds so sound-bite.

"We were literally starting from scratch in the house," Holly Batchelder
said. She and her husband enjoy renovating homes but this is more daunting.
"Having one room done sets the tone for the rest of the house. It's very, very
helpful. It gives us some direction.

"Everybody was really great, easy to work with. They were completely
taken aback by the situation down here," Batchelder said of the Philadelphia,
Pa.-based crew. "I think it was a good experience for them, a good experience
for us as well. ... One of those once-in-a-lifetime things you'll always be glad
you did."

Good job Holly.

Here's the link to the whole article.

Trading Spaces Air Date...

Although we have known the air date for a while, we didn't want to publish anything here until the schedule was available on TLC's website. "Trading Spaces: Kindness after Katrina; Mississippi: Southern Hospitality" will premiere this Saturday, March 4th at 8pm (central) on TLC. We have not seen the cut version, but have every confidence Kevin was kind to us and did a fantastic job on the edits. Please tune in to watch this very special episode, and join us in praising the Lord for His provision of this great experience.

Again, our sincere thanks to all who helped us get the house ready for the show. We could not have done this without each and everyone of you!

Luckiest People

The words of a dear friend today in regard to Holly and I:

"Ya'll are the luckiest people I know"

Her tongue was planted firmly in cheek.

By all indications, it turns out our Massachusetts plumber has been scamming us from the get go. He's very crafty. He latched on to a local contractor (who has done a good job for us) for credibility. He somehow also got a referral to us through our local church. He initially asked for $1,000 deposit for materials and immediately delivered a whirlpool tub, a regular tub/shower and a shower along with some copper piping. He then, based on all this credibility, convinced us to 'purchase' through him some additional fixtures and upgrades for some more money (up front of course). All told, we ended up into him for $5,600 and thus far he's only delivered the above mentioned materials and done a very small amount of rough plumbing.

We've been frustrated by his lack of progress the last few weeks and were turning up the pressure on him . He always had an excuse and so we began putting pressure on the local contractor as well. Long story short, today we discovered that John Tasselari has a record of fraudulent activity. He doesn't have a Mississippi Plumbing License. His Mass. license was apparently revoked a few years ago. He's has the notable distinction of being on the Foxborough, Mass. police 'most wanted list' for what appear to be 5 outstanding warrants.

So, please pray that we are patient and wise and charitable and submissive and patient and patient and patient in the midst of this setback. We want to be angry and get even, but I don't think that is the proper response. We could also use some help now in the plumbing department too, so if you want to pray for that, we'd be very grateful.

3Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5: 3-5

Virgil Willard Hayes

Not sure many from the MSMS period of my life read this, but Will Hayes passed away this week. Will was my roommate first year (1991-1992). I received the news Monday evening that he was in ICU and not expected to survive. The note below indicates that by then he may have already passed.

I am writing you to let you know that Will Hayes (MSMS Class of 1993) passed away on Monday February 13, 2006 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The visitation will be 5-8pm on Friday February 17 in Canton, Mississippi at the Breeland Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held at 11am Saturday February 18, 2006 at the First Methodist Church (across the street from the funeral home.) Cards can be sent to
PO Box 153
Canton, MS 39046

More information will be posted on the website (www.msmsaa.org) as it becomes available.

Sepideh Baghaii
MSMS Class of 1996

Whether you knew him or not, please pray for Will's family, that God's comfort and peace would envelop them in what must be an extremely agonizing time.

Batch

Permit Granted, Claim Filed

Well, we got the electrical permit we needed. Buddy is coming back down tonight to tidy up the remaining rough electrical work. I'll help him tomorrow do what remains to be done in the attic.

We also got word that the insurance adjuster has filed our claim. He submitted the claim for 100% of our policy value which is great. BUT, we aren't out of the woods yet as the insurance company must approve his recommendation.

So, please offer thanks that we've received the permit and pray fervently that the insurance company would see fit to approve our claim and pay the limits of the policy.

Batch

Electrical Permission

We have an urgent need for an electrical permit.

A very generous friend has donated his time and talent wiring our house for free. This has been a tremendous blessing and we are extremely thankful for his service.

However, he isn't licensed locally and we haven't been able to find contractors who are licensed that are willing to pull the permit for us. This is either because they're too busy to bother and there's very little in this for them OR they aren't willing to put their name on someone else's work.

So, we need someone who is willing to pull the permit. Please pray that the right person would materialize. If you know someone who is able and may be willing to do us this favor, please let us know ASAP. Without inspection and approval, we are not able to proceed with putting the rest of the house together (you can't hang drywall before you get approval).


Thanks,

Batch