New Mexico - Thanksgiving

Let's Get Plastered

Those of us that didn't wake up to a chorus of snoring woke up to a chorus of alarm clocks simultaneously ringing at 7:30 am.

One by one we prepared ourselves for our first full day on the work site. Although we stayed up all night telling one another "our deepest darkest secrets," everyone was in high spirits to begin the work on the Mares' home. As we waited for our site managers to come to the house, we belted out T-Swifts' "Blank Space." April also feed her string cheese to Boots!

Once Mark and Susan arrived on site, along with a few other volunteers, Mark showed us how to plaster the adobe walls. No one in our group had ever done anything like that before, and though Mark made it look easy, all of our arms were shaking after about a half hour of working.

By the end of our work day, we had completely plastered the master bedroom and the children's rooms with the first and second coats. We were extremely grateful for the space heaters Mark brought to site!

At the end of our work day, we spent a half hour scraping off the plaster from the tools so that they would be ready to go for the next day. It proved to be more difficult than we expected, but everyone put their best efforts in.

After we left, we had one hour to get 12 people showered and ready for dinner with Adrianna, Danica, Susan, Gerald, O'Ryan and Winter. Somehow we did it, but the last five people had to take ice showers because the heated water was gone.

Adrianna cooked everyone Frito pie and Gerald brought his famous salsa. Eating dinner with the family and the volunteers was lovely and touching. Adrianna opened up to all of us to tell us about her life story and how she came to apply for a Habitat for Humanity house. She brought the majority of the room to tears with her inspirational talk, and we were practically speechless at the end. Her love for God and her gratefulness to us and all the other volunteers reminded us once again why we are here in the first place.

Afterward, all of us helped stamp envelopes, and Danica showed off her sweet gymnastics moves!

As the night winds down, we are decorating Christmas ornaments for a Habitat for Humanity auction. We're all exhausted from the busy day, but we know it was all worth it! Hopefully tonight no one will snore so all of us can get a good night's rest.

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The New Mexihomies​