Day Two
Our group started the morning bright-eyed and bushy tailed to donuts kindly bought for us by Mama T. After a healthy breakfast we started to the site of the house started by Mizzou's own Alternative Winter Break. Half the group was upstairs with Mary working on finishing touches to the house like removing paint from the floors and the other half was underneath the house in the crawl space.
Claire:
This crawl space was not what I expected. You never hear anything happy about crawl spaces and they are usually the center of horror movies, but this crawl space was large and brightly lit. We started out painting and insulating the space to keep electricity bills down for the future homeowners. Then we started in with our trench. When told to build a trench, most of our group looked at Greg like it was an impossible task. The ground was littered with rocks and we were given an assortment of hoes, shovels and a heavy pickax to break the ground. However, the trench was our first team activity. We accomplished something in an incredibly short amount of time that seemed so daunting at the beginning.
Makenna:
After collectively working on the trench downstairs, a few of us wondered upstairs to see if Mary needed any help cleaning up. It turns out there were several doors that needed paint attention. We split up in groups and attacked the doors and their moldings. With all the doors open and the freezing cold air rushing in, our fellow peers whom dressed for warm weather, froze! Thankfully, the music was bumping and the conversation was flowing smoothly so the time passed quickly. When lunch came, we took it as a much needed break. After food, we continued back at work upstairs and downstairs. Eventually, we all ended up in the crawl space, taping, sealing and cutting plastic to cover the basement, all the while laughing and joking constantly.
Claire:
Sometimes it is tempting to cut corners on work. Especially when it is hard work that you've never done before. Our group kept each other motivated and worked 110% to make that house the best we possibly could. It took a moment to stop and think that even though we were working on an underground crawl space, we were a vital part of this house being livable. Without the work we did on the house it wouldn't be livable. And as much as that house will mean to that family it will also mean a lot to us. That crawl space was where we all made eleven new friends. Eleven new people with similar values who enjoyed service. Eleven individuals who were all called to do a week of service for different reasons, but ended up on the same trip working together for one reason. And that reason is our legacy and our pawprint left on Alabama.
Makenna:
When the workday came to an end, we all headed back to Trinity Camp with heavy eyelids. At Trinity Camp it was a naptime for the ladies and what was supposed to be a twenty-minute nap turned into an hour and a half snooze fest. We were awoken to Patrick informing us/sitting on Claire that company was here for dinner! The entire board from Marion County Habitat for Humanity had come to eat with us! As we stumbled half asleep into the kitchen, we met the board members and two future homeowners of houses we would be working on. Before we dug in, the women of our group were invited to sit in on a Women's Build meeting. As we all sat there, it was evident that these women on the board were incredibly passionate about their next project. Marion County's Habitat for Humanity is hosting their first annual Women's Build this May. A Women's Build is a Habitat house entirely constructed by women. Being in the presence of such strong hearted and caring women was inspiring to our group. Immediately following the meeting we were blessed with the definition of Southern Hospitality…cookout food! We all stuffed our faces—including Joe and his five+ hotdogs/pulled pork sandwiches. I think we all can agree, the people whom we have met on this trip, thus far, bring an irresistible smile to each of our faces due to their loving hearts that make us feel at home every time they are around.
Claire:
This morning Hailey posed us a "thought for the day", this is it. I was half asleep when she said it, but it I interpreted the sentiment as living your life as the person you want to become. Do the things that make you happy and you're proud of. Building a house to give someone a hand up is definitely something that is making me feel like my life has a purpose. I am using my time and resources to help out the good people in life who deserve it. This is how I want my life to be and these are the moments I want to remember. These are the people I want to spend my time with and this is the place I want to be. This is it.
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