A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day...08-31 thru 09-01-05 ~ Katrina ~ A Nation in Prayer and Sorrow

DollyCali; Billie; Aquamarine; Mama_bear; Dutchess; Just Amy | August 31 - Sept 1, 2005 | Dolly Howard

[DollyCali]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, Dutchess, Aquamarine, DollyCali ~

Free Republic’s Finest
Pray For America

Our Country suffered a devastating blow this week with Hurricaine Katrina. It is so hard to watch the pain and suffering from our citizens. BUT….WE WILL PREVAIL because we are a society that lends a helping hand. Please stop here and share your thoughts and prayers.

We are heartened by all the threads offering support… Many of us are personally involved with local relief efforts… Some come from small communities who have deployed two to three trained disaster volunteers. Larger communities send more. The bottom line is....WE ARE here for our fellow countrym men and women.

The same thing is happening all around the United States. We are just of a few small communities but you add them up and thousands are helping set up shelters all around the country, providing food, water shelter, comfort and support. This is the United States at its best.

We now offer prayers for all the victims of this terrible disaster and GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!

Isaiah 33:2 -- O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

James 5:15b -- The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

The Levee Breach

NOLA SWAT Team

06-28-05 ~ Hall of Fame #12

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 08-29-05 Military Monday 08-30-05 How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[JustAmy]

OMG ... those poor children in pictures #2. I cannot imagine what the little girl is feeling. The little boy in #3 is precious. What a wonderful smile.

So wonderful that the citizens are finally getting food and water.

[Billie]

Just heard from my friend Fred who DID EVACULATE to his daughters in Jax.
He may also eventually be able to return to his home in Miss.
Something to smile about today!

That is wonderful, Dolly! Indeed, some good news in all the sadness.

[Billie]

Good afternoon, Miss Pip.

[Billie]

See what you can do with only one background and different widths of that table border! Pretty, Amy! Answered your mail in FR mail instead of regular. Hope you can *understand* it!

[Billie]

Thanks, Tonk. Thank you, Amy.

I am sitting here looking at more and more pictures, and my eyes just won't quit tearing.

[Billie]

Oh, please God, let Dora's family find her and all come out of this safely.

Hushpuppie, I read your post from yesterday, and see these heartbreaking pictures (not just the animals, of course, but my heart goes out to them along with their owners, because they are so very helpless. I want to rescue each and every one of them myself) :(

[Diver Dave]

Amen, Billie and Amy, to those prayers and beautiful graphics.

Thanks Dolly for the continuing updates. PTL indeed for the message you received from Mississippi.

More groups of rescue personnel and equipment from Northern California enroute to Gulfport. One C-5 last night from Travis AFB and a caravan of emergency vehicles and personnel driving the 33 hour trip as we speak.

Sacramento NBC affiliate, KCRA 3, conducting a telethon for the American Red Cross to raise funds for aid to the Gulf region.

Lifting up in prayer all the rescue/recovery personnel. May guardian angels protect these folks from the terrorist type element stalking the devastated areas.

[Billie]

Dolly, please take a break! You can't keep this up again all day today, and the weekend, too!

[Billie]

Thank you, Dave. The rescue workers need our prayers to keep them going, too. This is so reminiscent of 9/11, and the tireless efforts of all those who worked so feverishly searching for survivors.

[LadyX]

- - OOPS!! Wrong image!!

Well - - -

Okay, better, but here is how we really *see* you - -

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We so appreciate your dedication to being informative and helpful on any given day, but you have gone above and beyond the call this week, ensuring we have vital information in one place.

So many posters have jobs, restricting the time they can spend here, and you make it effortless for them to keep pace with the rapidly changing events.

Knowing I speak for all who come to The Finest Room,
I warble the applicable lyrics from that show:

"Hello, Dolly!
Well, hello, Dolly!
It's so nice to have you here
Where you belong.

I never knew Dolly
Without you, Dolly
Life was awfully flat
And more than that
Was awfully wrong."

One of our long ago traditions of a sort, as Billie can confirm, was in exchanges during the Whitewater Years on FR when Pharmer Phil showed us the light..:))

When SocksC. (underbed@WH.gov) was our source for the real goingson in the White House and was injured fleeing for his life, he ended up on Phil's Pharm in CA to be nursed back to health.
I of course sent phlowers to Pharmer Phil and Marion - phlox and phorgetmenots.
Thus was born deliberate misspelling of "f" words - phor you - phorhevinsake - Phorum - Phree Republic?

I therefore accord you, Dolly, not with a 'showy' bouquet today,
but a bunch of these - -

~ ~ ~ Phorgetmenots for the Unphorgettable Dolly ~ ~ ~

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If any are offended by my use of humor this day, it is intended only to highlight our appreciation for Dolly's extraordinary efforts on our behalf.

Like all of us, I struggle from moment to moment coping with the things all over my beloved South that are unfolding before our eyes...alternate wanting to weep aloud with streaming prayers of thanks for all we so often take for granted.

May God have mercy upon and comfort all of those affected...

~ LadyX

[Billie]

I am going to take a break - will be back later this afternoon. Thanks, FRiends. What a fantastic group FReepers are.

[DollyCali]

Thank You Ms. Maggie!

How very sweet of you to make up this clever "thank you". I do appreciate it.

It has been therapeutic for me to research out info and share. I am basically going to other threads & a few of the radio/TV stations websites in the Gulf area

[DollyCali]

Can't hear ya Billie, speak up!!!

;-)



A SWAT team drives past flood victims waiting at the Convention Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005. Officials called for a mandatory evacuation of the city, but many resident remained in the city and had to be rescued from flooded homes and hotels and remain in the city awaiting a way out.





Engineers in Gulfport, distribute ice and water to people in the parking lot of Crossroads Mall in Gulfport, Mississippi September 1, 2005.



Three U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft offload equipment in support of relief operations for Hurricane Katrina at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Aug. 31, 2005.

Misc

FOX Reporting that police and National Guard are trading fire with unknown people... 3 people KILLED at the SuperDome last night... Multiple Rapes, Robberies..

Coast Guard matters:

57 air craft in area
27 coast guard cutters
3 210' medium endurance cutters onway
7 buoy tenders there
5 more enroute
3 aids to nav. teams on way to mobile

also references statute that coast guard are also law enforcement officers

very broad authority and can assist in any way requested

@@@ The Alabama National Guard will send an additional 1,400 and Army and Air National Guardsmen to Mississippi on Thursday.

The additional troops will provide security to Mississippi officials and will help the state re-establish communication networks. The Alabama Guard will also send 40 members of the 20th Special Forces to Louisiana to help with search and rescue efforts.

The National Guard Bureau announced today that by Wednesday afternoon, 10,000 Guardsmen will be on duty in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. By Thursday, there will be 20,000.

The additional troops will be assisting disaster relief efforts in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The Alabama National Guard currently has about 800 personnel supporting civil authorities here in Alabama, and another 800 military police, engineers and aviators are performing missions in Mississippi. The additional 1,400 troops will bring the number of Alabama Guardsmen who are supporting disaster relief operations to 3,000.

Columbus, Ohio (8/31/2005) — The Ohio National Guard is preparing to deploy approximately 1,500 soldiers and airmen to assist in the Hurricane Katrina rescue and recovery efforts. The units will provide security and general support in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana
The deploying units include:

437th Military Police Battalion (Columbus)
1-148th Infantry Battalion (Company sized units in: Bowling Green, Delaware, Lima, N. Canton, Urbana, Xenia)
371st Corps Support Group (Kettering)
73rd Troop Command Task Force Command (Columbus)
269th Combat Communications Squadron (Springfield)

[LadyX]

You're most welcome, Dolly.
Apparently most of America is getting in step with efforts to assist.

A major radio station in Augusta, Georgia is at a Wal-Mart location live, collecting donations for aid. Television coverage periodically, and that just showed a boy of about 8 dropping in his handful of change.
Sweet way to demonstrate how children can be made to feel a part of this horror and "DO* something...
No positive help, financially or emotionally, is trivial...

On television last night was an interview with a family of 12 with assorted relations to one another and ages, displaced from New Orleans. They were rescued from an upper story after being trapped, and had to flee with NO possessions, bare feet and all - hitchhiked to Atlanta, finding it difficult to get help quickly - and went on to Augusta.

Strong Bible Belt action there, a church taking them under their wing. They are being housed, fed, supplied with necessary clothes and materials, and will be helped to ""find a new life."
They have nothing left in NO, and will literally be recreated.
Their testimony will have an impact upon the persons with whom they come into contact.

There will be millions of such stories and testimonies to the grace of God and of His children to one another in the midst of tragedy, countering the sight of the lawless rampaging.

[DollyCali]

In times of trials for us,we grow if we allow the experience to enrich us. In times of trials for others we find out our true nature.

Are we critical, judgmental...

are we heartbroken & willing to give up something to help others?

God provides us many tests in life, doesn't he? I am going to need to skee-dat for a bit.

Prayers continue for the sick, elderly, young & all in need in the gulf region. Prayers for the men & women in various official/rescue/help roles. May they have strength, courage & resolve.

May the thugs/looters/criminals be eliminated so rescuers & help can go forward. NO is sounding more like Fallujah than a US city.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

http://www.auxpa.org/releases/auxaction/083105a.html

The Coast Guard has sent a preliminary request for volunteers from the Auxiliary nationwide to participate in Hurricane Katrina. Notices are now working their way throughout the Auxiliary communication chain, asking those Auxiliarists who are physically and mentally capable to volunteer for what is expect several weeks of "arduous clean-up" efforts.

[Texagirl4W]

Love your post, Lady. We still have to laugh even though the news is bad. A friend sent this to me this morning and I had to laugh:

59 and Pregnant

A woman went to the doctor's office, where she was seen by a young, new physician. After about four minutes in the examination room, the doctor told her she was pregnant. She burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall.

An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down and relax in another room.

The doctor marched down the hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 59 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"

The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

(God bless President Bush.)

[auboy]

AMEN!

Beautiful graphic and comforting words, Billie.

[LadyX]

I love that, Texagirl..:))

Yes, it is no help whatsoever to sit down, throw up and then fold our hands and maintain a solemn, dour face, and say,
"Woe, oh, woe--"

Being strong in times of trials and adversity has many faces. I do believe God would have us interject some degree of normalcy; whatever that is to each of us.

=========================================

[Aquamarine]

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. ~ Isa 40:31