Tuscaloosa, AL - Habitat for Humanity (Post 5)

Today was our last day working with Habitat for Humanity. We were all eager to finish the projects we had started and made progress on throughout the week, but at the same time disappointed that our time with Habitat was coming to an end. Along with the progress on different projects at the work site, we saw our relationships with one another continue to grow. One of my favorite aspects of this trip has been the way we all work together and it shows during our work days. Kenton and Madeline finished off their week long project of constructing every single window box. They installed all 13 window boxes which they started on Monday: measured, cut, nailed, stapled, caulked, and painted. They both worked extremely hard and kept their patience the entire time, which you can definitely tell by the end product. Jon, Kyle and Cody spent most of the day waterproofing and putting siding on the tool shed for another home that is currently under construction. The three commented on how each of them did a great job and put equal effort for the end result. Lauren, Alyssa, Bridget, Jamie, Hannah, Shelby and myself (Jessica) spent most of the day inside the house. We were accompanied by another future homeowner, Jennifer, who is living next door. She was very excited the past two days to see that the foundation for her home and the tool shed that the boys were working on had made so much progress. Jennifer has a strong work ethic and had to be kept up with while working. Stephen said that is the best kind of homeowner.

In the morning our big project inside the house was to give the entire inside a second coat of paint and to touch up areas that needed it. We hope that future homeowner Cassandra will be excited and surprised tomorrow when she returns to see her house is painted! The second coat was on right in time for lunch.. and speaking of lunch, today we got to go out to lunch at Jason's deli with Stephen and Lisa. They recommended it to us earlier in the week, so we took an extra long lunch break and indulged in sandwiches and sweet tea! There was also a make your own ice cream cone machine and I'm not going to say some people had more than one ice cream cone, but we did. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful Alabama weather. It was very refreshing!

After lunch, the window boxes continued to be installed, the shed made further progress (with Shelby's help) and the inside crew returned to touching up paint and prepping the floors for flooring to be put in. This process included sweeping off the surface of all the floors, nailing down a black tar paper base and then screwing a heavy sheet down to attach the actual tiles to. Working in teams, this process went very quickly and by the end of the afternoon, that project was complete as well. While we were there today, a concrete crew was also there pouring the driveway and sidewalks. To our disappointment, we were not allowed to put our names or handprints in the wet concrete.

After our final hard day of work was over, we cleaned up the site like each day before and took a picture of our last moments in front of the house. This week our mission was to spread hope and I think it is safe to say mission accomplished. After serving in Tuscaloosa this week, I feel hopeful that I have not only helped to create opportunity and a better living space for the people's houses we worked on, but also advanced myself. The strength of the people like Cassandra and Jennifer who are working so hard to put a roof over their families heads after losing so much and having so many reasons to give up is inspiring and gives me hope that I can do the same for a family someday.

We couldn't get enough of Stephen and Levi this week, so we invited them over for dinner tonight and the boys grilled us hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. It was delicious and let me tell you how awesome it is to be able to enjoy the weather again!! We played a few rounds of mafia and Egyptian rat screw before hiking up the path to a warm campfire. Growing up my family went camping several times a year and the campfire was always my favorite part. Tonight was special to me because I got to share with my new family something that I have always enjoyed doing—sitting around a campfire just enjoying each other's company.

In our reflection tonight, we had to pick one person who surprised us this week or really made an impact on us. Another topic was how we were going to take aspects of this week back home with us. Finally, we all got to share a special part of ourselves with the rest of the group, information on our Greek chapters. The consensus of our discussion on Greek life individually and as a whole was that it has done nothing but enhance our lives and continually better us as men and women. Our letters, creeds, and ideals may be different, however there is a common goal of leadership, scholarship, sisterhood/brotherhood and service. I can safely say that every individual I have served with this week can say he or she possesses those four qualities and I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the Greek community at Mizzou, or part of the first ever All-Greek ASB trip. This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life thus far… and we have one more day!!

Tomorrow is our free day. We are traveling even further south to New Orleans, Louisiana for what we are hoping is a great food experience and to get another culture experience.

I must go now because it's raining, it's pouring and all the other participants are definitely snoring! Goodnight ASB!

Post trip: We all made it home safe and sound! We had a blast, made memories for a lifetime, served others, and grew as a family. "Yoohoo, family!" We cannot wait to "Bring it home" and serve in Mid-MO!