Alabama Blog 5

“Wake up everybody, time to get up,” Lauren sweetly said around 6:20 as a few of the girls slowly began to move. Then came, “we need to be in the van in 12 minutes…” Only then did we begin to look a bit more active. We all scrambled around to get ready on time, but we certainly made time to try some of the homemade blueberry jam that Mary, one of the contractors, brought us last night. On top of the jam, she also brought us homemade salsa and pear preserves. We certainly are not going hungry down here. In fact, many of us may need some larger pants if you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift idea… We quickly piled into the van with bread and jam, coffee, and – in Lauren’s case – vegetable soup, and successfully made it to our beloved worksite by 7:15 ready to work. Upon arrival, we split up into two groups again – one to be sent to the warehouse and one to continue work on-site. The group at the warehouse finished what they started yesterday, which included disassembling the rest of the walls, removing all of the nails from the boards, organizing it into piles, and loading it all onto the trailer. Luckily, no walls came toppling over today; everyone is a professional by now J Back at the site, Cole went to work on building a fire while the rest of us received a detailed lesson from Greg, our contractor, about how to frame a home. After our lesson, we got to work measuring boards and utilizing the ever-popular nail gun. It seems that all of us, especially Joanne, fell in love with power tools today. In addition to constructing walls, we continued work on the safe room. We capped off and smoothed the top and also fitted the steel doorframe into place. Our Styrofoam frame is ready to be filled with concrete on Friday. Underneath the safe room is a small crawl space, and Alicia got to know it very well today. She reinforced all of the floorboards to add some extra stability. She’s a rock star. When lunchtime rolled around, we loaded back up into the van and picked up the rest of the crew at the warehouse, who had successfully removed each nail from every board and had worked up an appetite. We traveled down the road to Buttahatchee BBQ, and once again we received some delicious Southern cooking. From fried pickled to stuffed potatoes, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Teressa also met us for lunch, and we learned that 232 families were able to receive the meals that we helped bag yesterday. It is inspiring to know that our efforts are able to reach many people in the community, as many people in the community have reached out and provide us with such Southern hospitality. Once we were reenergized, we were ready to get back to work. Our whole group joined back together at the site, and we got to work assembling walls. By the end of the day, we had three-fourths of the exterior walls nailed into place. Something is to be said about watching all of us work together to raise a wall of someone’s home. Pulling our strength together to serve in any way we can is why we are here in Alabama, and it was a powerful sight to see our efforts manifested in the formation of a home. Oh, and in case any of you were wondering how Cole’s fire went… well, it didn’t. He struggled quite a bit, with no help from the recent rainy weather. Luckily, Lauren came in and showed him how it was done. They built a perfect fire to help dispose of scrap wood and other trash that could be burned. By the end of the day, Sean and Lauren each were covered in ash, and I mean covered. Ash-covered faces, cut-off sleeves, and orange “Super Foam” stained shirts made for a great looking group when the local newspaper showed up to take pictures and ask us some questions. I believe our photo will make Mizzou proud. The newspaper was not our only visitor for the day. The grandfather of the children who will be living in the house paid us a visit to check on the progress of the house. It was nice to talk to someone directly related to the family; it was a great reminder that we are not just building a house, yet we are building a home. After caulking and filling in gaps in the foam, folding up plastic, unloading a delivery of trusses, and multiple other tasks, we ended the day around 4:30 and had to hurry home to clean up as best and as quickly as we could in order to be at the First Methodist Church for dinner with one of the Habitat for Humanity board members and other members of his church community. We enjoyed a great meal, yet we were all exhausted from a long day. Tomorrow is sure to be filled with more hard work and great food, and we can’t wait :) Just cross your fingers for no rain! With love, Our one, big, happy, and a little sleepy Alabamily