Mississippi Moments: A House Blessing

When a major MDS project is completed, a dedication ceremony called a House Blessing takes place. We have been working on a new house construction project and this week we had the Blessing, even though the house is not really totally finished. There were 2 reasons for us to plan this dedication at this time. This is our last week of work and also one of the couples in our group who has worked on the house for the whole 3 months of the project, had to leave a few days early.

Waiting for the program to begin

A House Blessing is a semi-formal event organized by our MDS unit. Guests and participants included Miss Mattie, the house owner, some members of her family as well as some of her friends and neighbours. Officials from “Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi” (R3SM), the agency spearheading disaster recovery in this part of MS and who MDS has taken direction from, were also present. The program consisted of a few prayers and readings, 2 songs and comments from a number of individuals. MDS always makes 2 special presentations at these events. A Bible is presented to the new home owner as well as some type of quilted wall hanging donated by one of many church ladies groups from the US. We were able to present a very special hanging. Pat and Elenore had created a beautiful quilt just for this occasion. It represented our prairie home and was given to Miss Mattie. She loved it, immediately stating where she was going to hang it.

Strong appreciation for the work of MDS was declared by many, including R3SM and Miss Mattie’s daughter, and neighbours expressed thanks that Miss Mattie would be moving back to the neighbourhood soon.
Later Miss Mattie told us that this house would always remind her of the huge amount of love that was shown to her and her family and that although she won’t remember our names, “we’ll always be in her heart.”