Your appointment with the Homeowner Assistance Program Service Center is confirmed.

We have just received the sensational information packet from the Katrina Homeowner Assistance Program. Coincidentally, it contains a print-out of exactly the same information we have printed-out from the www.mshomehelp.gov website. Yet again, we are encouraged to 'pre-apply online' so that our visit to the Service Center can be 'significantly shorter.' However - the website still tells us that online application will not be available until April 17th -- the date of our appointment.

"Due to limited space, we ask that you bring no more than one guest. Please note that no child care will be available at the Service Center."

A darned shame - I was hoping they'd set this thing up like a pre-home-game block party.... But alas.... Thankfully, Mom has volunteered to take in the kids for the afternoon on Monday so we can actually be there for an appointment. We would be at a complete loss without her -- especially since this appointment happens to fall on Easter holiday and the beginning of Spring Break when both of the boys are out of school for the week.

I find myself giggling at the confirmation sheet included with our information packet. I think this is definitely one of those giggles which could point to some sort of mental lapse... but how bizarre it all is really. Really. Here at the bottom of the sheet where it lists the pertinent information such as 'Service Center Location' and 'Appointment Time and Date' - it continues on with "Damaged Street Address"... And if that's not enough, next comes "Damaged City"... and, finally, "Damaged Postal Code". I think that has to be one of the most ridiculous -- and most apt -- inadvertant descriptions of our post-Katrina world I have come across thus far.

Yesterday, I was able to talk to my friend Dan, who is still trying to repair his house in Slidell, for a little while. He says he's tired of hurricanes, hurricane damage, and FEMA trailers. However, he has come up with a practical plan for evacuation during the next season where he has found a way to take all of his newly installed interior doors with him when he leaves. He says he has truly learned his lesson -- and never again will he spend months waiting for doors after his house is totally wrecked by some freak disaster.

This morning I was surprised with a phone call from Heather in Long Beach, MS. I don't get to hear from her much since she lost her cell phone a couple of months ago. She calls from what's left of her parents' house in Pass Christian. She is still trying to find someone to tear the remnants of her house down so she has room to start building a new one. She says the SBA told her that they have approved a loan for her -- but they have yet to tell her the amount that was approved. In the meantime, she's just astounded that she has survived every time she has gotten into her car so far... Katrina zombies aren't the best drivers.

We're looking forward to our Katrina Easter. As mom so aptly pointed out recently... We've had our Katrina Thanksgiving & Christmas.. Our Katrina New Year's... Katrina birthdays... Katrina Mardi Gras... We live in our Katrina houses and eat off Katrina plates and wear Katrina clothes. On this Katrina Good Friday - we pulled the Katrina mini-van over to the side of the road when the clock turned to 3 o'clock and paused for a moment of silence... and then let the kids run on the Katrina beach for the first time since Katrina August.

On the long walk back to the car I realized that I wasn't really paying attention to the empty lots or damaged houses anymore... (I admit that every scrap of clothing buried in the sand gave me a chill -- but it was a passing thing... I know someday soon all of that will be gone. If we don't clean it up -- nature will.) What struck me really was that things will never be the same. We aren't going to return to some time before the hurricane... There is no 'recovery' -- there is no 'rebuilding' -- there is no 'renewal'... Only starting over.

And then a passage from my favorite book of the Bible, the Book of Revelations - the Apocalypse - came to mind:

"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...Behold, I make all things new."

I remembered then - for the first time since it happened - repeating that phrase in my head over and over: "Behold, I make all things new" - that morning of August 29th as I watched the water rise from the window of the unfinished bedroom upstairs.

The fact that it all comes back to me today -- means a lot.

Happy Easter, all of you.