Taos, NM - Habitat for Humanity (Post 4)

Today started just as expected, sore bodies from yesterday's work and plenty of sunburn to go around. Cara came in for her daily 7:30 wake up call that nobody really responds to...the best part of breakfast was seeing Emmitt walk in late and pack himself a lunch without realizing today we got a homemade meal by a special guest, but we'll talk more about that later. Everything else was pretty swell for breakfast, especially seeing all 12 of us healthy ready for a full day of work. Sun screen today was a must, and between croakies and watch tan lines, we are obviously an attractive group.

We met Mark at the work site and today he brought along a concrete mixer. Everyone's faces lit up knowing we wouldn't have to mix the concrete by hand once again. Today we really got to hang out with the Air Force cadets a lot more. We also got to meet Adriana Mares, the woman whose house we are building. She was so sweet and wanted to get her hands on anything she could. This is probably the only time we would see her all week but her dedication towards the house definitely showed. After a couple hours of work, we met her back at the parish center for a home cooked meal (yes, she was our special guest).



This meal had no comparison with the restaurant we went to last night. Frito pies and sopapillas for days filled our bellies and then Adriana and Susan truly filled our hearts. We learned all about the process to become a Habitat partner family. It is crazy to believe that 90 percent of people in Taos can't afford to buy a home, sometimes leaving Habitat as the only option. Adriana told us her story and expressed her trust in God. She extended her gratitude to all of us volunteers. It was cute how nervous she got while speaking to us. She is the adorable person we have all met and her compassion hit home with all of us. We were also lucky enough to have raised money to buy Mizzou shirts for Adriana, her two kids and the Habitat team here in Taos.



After many group pictures in their new Mizzou swag, we were off to the site once again. Sadly, Adriana couldn't join us and the Air Force crew went to work at the Habitat ReStore. It was fine though, Mark found plenty for us to do. After getting on scaffolds and playing with mud, we were able to finish three windows at the house. Then, we got to truly leave our mark by adding our pawprints all over the newly dried concrete of Adriana's soon to be shed. We even added the Air Force group's names in there, hope we didn't spell any wrong. Oh but we're not done yet, we had our rest at the end while looking at the mountains from our site, so we felt that another hiking trip was in need for these triumphant tigers. Also, on the way home, we saw a Speed Hump (yes, we said hump) sign, one that Cara could not ignore so we honked our horn until Nick stopped and we all got out to make the locals feel as awkward as possible.



Yesterday, we were at a super steep hiking trail and the other side looked like it would be fun too. Some of us were tired, so they stayed back to hit up the plaza once more but the hike lead to quite an interesting journey. The trail was easy so we splunked and became bush-wackers in order to get a better sense of the mountain. Each time we would go higher, our thought was always "oh, I'm sure the view will be great up further up the trail". It wasn't. There were trees blocking every spot we went to and eventually we had to go down to regroup for dinner. We saw many dogs along this journey and older people who seemed to be more physically fit than we could imagine. The walk down was even funnier than the walk up, especially when Sara took a tumble, bouncing and all. No injuries though, don't worry mom. Some would think falling might make you tired, but Sara figured it was time to go bananas. On the way down everyone was just excited for what was next, DINNER! Only a five minute drive and three Beyonce songs later, we were back at the church and dinner was on its way.

Before dinner, some of us got to know the Air Force crew better over some soccer and frisbee. We effectively all got worn out and Dani even learned to catch frisbees without freaking out. Woo! Alexus trying to kick in Uggs could only be outdone by Cara's complete disregard for catching frisbees. This led us to what we have all been waiting for, gourmet grilled cheeses. These were not just any grilled cheeses, but to truly be gourmet they were the most intricate ones every seen. We got to pick from an array of toppings from avocados to bacon and even ham and turkey were added later (thanks Sara). Then, there was also tomato soup as well as chicken noodle soup. Fun fact: if you add them together, it tastes like Spaghetti-O's. Cara also blessed us with her impressive Kool-aid skills to go along with the meal. Shout out to Sydnie, Nicole and Kelly for such a delicious meal, fit for a king and all of our queens. To end our day, Cara and Nick took the kids out for some ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

When we walked into Baskin Robbins, their looks were of sheer terror. Tweleve people, all demanding ice cream. Alex's heart was momentarily broken when they did not have banana's foster ice cream even though the SIGN SAID IT (not mad though, just hurt). This pain was quickly ended by some lover's ice cream that had raspberry and chocolate to mend Alex's heart. We all talked for a while as we waited for Morgan to finish what seemed like only two bites of ice cream...but we digress.

Finally, the car rides of today have shown why Ice Princess is the place to be. Between 90's throwbacks and Beyonce sing-a-longs, the car is always rocking. Sorry Black Swan, you're not as cool (pun intended). Today was a great day, and Taos is continually showing why New Mexico is the state of entrapment, as told by Father Clement.

Overall, we have a good time. Hope this could show you a little of what we did, although it'll never be as funny as listening to Kelly laugh.

Peace and blessins,

Alex and Syndie
XOXO

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