When Communicate Love is Evident All Around

The only thing that could get us out of bed at 6am was the allure of chocolate gravy that we would be feasting on when we arrived at Hamilton Methodist church this morning. We then began to lather our eggs, bacon, sausage and biscuits with the delicious southern speciality. After breakfast, we headed back over to Twin Park to help out grandma, grandpa James and Ricky Joe restore the park to pre-storm glory. When we finished with that it was finally time to see the house we would be helping to restore. As we approached the compound we couldn't help but notice the yard was littered with trash and leaves, but the home had a quaint plantation-style column array supporting the front porch. We began by splitting up into teams, with one focused on raking leaves and trash clearing and the other focused on nail pulling and cabinet removal. While raking leaves may sound like an easy task, it was not. They pesky tree trash completely covered the yard. Leaves were almost a foot deep! The front porch was littered with trash from the previous home owners. As teams moved inside, there was much to be done. There were hundreds of nails needing to be ripped from the ground. Luckily there were a few strong, handy women there to get them out. However, the kitchen cabinets proved to be the most difficult task. All of the screws were striped and rusted, making them almost impossible to get out. What should have been a one hour tasked ended up taking a full day. It probably would not have even been if in weren't for Blake " Screw Master" Toth. We ended our work for the day and headed back to camp to get ready for dinner at Aromas Cafe. Kay Kay, the Paula Dean of Winfield, prepared a great dinner. We were served Lasagna, salad and some pecan pie and chocolate cobbler for dessert. We were also introduced to another southern delicacy, turnip greens soup. It was so good, we had to ask for the recipe. We have seen southern hospitality at the finest these last few days and are grateful for all that the community has provided us so far. The people here definitely "put the 'u' in Guin".