It’s been nearly four years since Julie Nelson lost all her possessions in Hurricane Katrina and found herself in Dade County.

“It definitely changed my life forever,” Ms. Nelson said. “I had to lose everything and stand with nothing and with all the distractions gone ... I had to start over. It was kind of like being reborn. I found out who I really was.”

Now Ms. Nelson, 42, is planning her next move. She is going to Eureka Springs, Ark., where her mother lives.

“Also, while visiting my mother about a year and a half ago, I met somebody. So I have romantic reasons.”

But the decision to leave was hard, she said, and took more than a year to make. She will miss everything about Dade County — from the people to the mountains. Her time here has helped shape her future, she said.

lost after katrina

Ms. Nelson and her family fled New Orleans and scattered across the country. She initially fled to Cloudland Canyon State Park for what she thought was a temporary stay. She often visited the Dade County Library and used the Internet there to check e-mail and communicate with friends and family.

A Lookout Mountain family took her in for a few weeks, and she applied for an opening at the library. Before she knew it, she said, she was feeling at home in the North Georgia hills.

Ms. Nelson had worked at the library for about eight months when officials asked her to create a mural for the building. They knew she was an artist — she studied art in Chicago before moving to New Orleans.

She also started teaching art at Trenton Methodist Church.

“When I’m teaching, I feel that is my purpose,” she said.

One of her students, 6-year-old Joanna Rosenbalm, said Ms. Nelson is a good teacher.

“She lets us do fun stuff,” she said.

Ms. Nelson’s work with children led to working with teens, said Lecia Eubanks, director of the Cherokee Regional Library .

“She has done an excellent job of bringing the teens into the library, especially the portion of the population that hadn’t been regular library users,” she said. “She is a cool adult and kids need to see cool adults.”

finding her future

Ms. Nelson said her time in Dade County helped her find her future. Because she was allowed freedom to use her creativity, she discovered through working with teens that she wants to teach the. Now she plans to get a teaching certificate.

Even though she found so much happiness in Trenton, she said coming home at the end of the day to an empty house left her longing for more. She is excited to have a partner when she moves, but she will miss the life she made in Dade County.

“You go to the grocery and you know everybody,” she said. “It is peaceful and friendly and feels like family.”