I just talked to my mom, who said that she thinks the worst of Hurricane Katrina has passed through their area. As far as they can tell now, about 200 trees broke and fell down on the land, but none hit the house, which is a mercy. Some shingles got torn off the roof, but nothing else seems to be wrong with right now. If that was the damage in Hattiesburg, I can't imagine what the coast and New Orleans look like. We're very worried for some good friends of ours down there right now. The levees and pump system failed in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where Desire Street Ministries (www.desirestreet.org) and a couple of large housing projects are located. According to the news reports I'm reading, that area has completely flooded and is now under six feet of water. Obviously, the whole city will have a difficult road ahead, but the Ninth Ward in particular has a very high poverty rate and the people there are really going to have a hard time. Many of them didn't even have a way to leave the city before the storm hit. People with insurance will eventually have their belongings restored, but there are probably more than a few people in New Orleans who have literally lost everything they had. It's very sad.