DRC/Barron Ludlum

Louisiana evacuee Travon Williams, 11, helps volunteer Jeremiah Cole fold towels at Camp Copass on Tuesday.

Maxine Williams isn’t sure what’s waiting for her when she returns to her brand-new home in Thibodaux, La., she says. And while she fears what may have happened to the home she and her husband moved into just two months ago with her three children, Williams said she’s happy for one thing — getting out with her life and the lives of immediate family members.

For the Denton Record-Chronicle/David Minton

Denton Fire Department emergency medical technicians and University of North Texas Police Department officers help disabled and elderly Hurricane Gustav evacuees get off a bus from Lafayette, La. as other evacuees gather their luggage and belongings on Monday at UNT’s Super Pit.

This week is one that the McGees, a family from New Orleans, thought they wouldn’t see again so soon. Almost three years to the day of being rescued from the attic of their Eighth Ward home and being transported to the Louisiana Superdome for days before leaving for Dallas to escape Hurricane Katrina, Karen and Jimmie McGee were on yet another bus leaving their home due to a disastrous windstorm.

AP/Eric Gay

Members of the National Guard patrol the area along Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Sunday. Hurricane Gustav is expected to hit the area today.

It was hurry up and wait Sunday as volunteers prepared Camp Copass again for the arrival of evacuees from New Orleans and surrounding areas in the path of Hurricane Gustav. Volunteers chatted nervously as they waited; occasionally removing their cherry ball caps to wipe sweat from their brows and glancing out the window to watch for the bus carrying residents of Gulf Coast areas to the water’s edge on Lake Lewisville.

DRC/Britney Tabor

Christal Pierce of Sanger, her husband, Donald Pierce, her daughters, Leighann and Faith, and son, Mason tour Sanger's Butterfield Elementary School during an open house on Sunday.

SANGER — For months, 6-year-old Olivia Compton has waited with anticipation for the day Sanger’s Butterfield Elementary School would open its doors. Since April, the kindergartner has watched the construction progress on the facility from the back seat of her parents’ van along with her four siblings as they have driven by the site to take in the view. After months of watching, Olivia had the opportunity to set foot in the facility on Monday for her first day of school. The wait was worth it.

DRC/Al Key

Nine-year-old Erin Lawson, a fourth-grader at Paloma Creek Elementary School, gets her face painted by Denton High School cheerleader Cassie Freshcorn during the Back-2-School Bash at Navo Middle School on Thursday.

Families from communities along the 380 Corridor gathered Thursday night to celebrate the start of the school year. Party music blared from speakers at the Denton school district’s Navo Middle School as young children played tic-tac-toe toss, fought with balloon swords and munched on hot dogs and popcorn. Parents visited booths to gather information on programs offered by the district while some caught up with old friends and others made new ones.