There are people you meet who impress you with their quiet strength and dignity. I want to introduce you to two of them, a couple who came into Gallery Furniture looking to furnish their house in New Orleans.
There's more to the story of Melvina and DeWitt McMillian looking for new furniture. They left New Orleans two years ago when Hurricane Katrina blew in. Melvina says it was the first time she had ever left New Orleans for a storm, but as she put it, "God gave us the sense to get out."
The couple expected to spend a day or two in a hotel. Things did not work out that way. Their house had nine and half feet of water in it, and the water stayed for thirteen days.
The McMillians stopped in Orange, Texas at first. They could not find a hotel room and were directed to a shelter at a church there. A woman came into the shelter and invited them to services at another church on Sunday. They went and met a man who offered them a house, rent-free. This Good Samaritan even put them up in his own home while getting the other house ready.
Then Hurricane Rita blew in and the McMillians were evacuated again, to Houston. The house in Orange was damaged by the second storm, so they stayed here.
Now, after two years, their home in New Orleans has been repaired -- rebuilt really -- and they are moving back next week.
Melvina says she came to Gallery Furniture after browsing our web site at GalleryFurniture.com. She was just looking, she said, but she decided that she'd buy everything at Gallery Furniture after she saw the beautiful furniture in the store and the reasonable prices. Melvina says people who helped her, Matt and Boxer, let her take her time and pick out just the right furniture.
Next week Gallery Furniture will be delivering living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture to their home.
The best way to end this posting is with words from the McMillians. Melvina says the last two years prove that "God is good."
"We're coming back," DeWitt says.
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