Due to several different schedule conflicts I experienced this year, I began to doubt that I would be able to a Habitat project one of my 40 new adventures. I had decided that it would probably have to slip into my 41st year, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn recently that our church group had a work day scheduled for October 30. Hurray!!
The absolute minimum age for working Habitat projects is 16, so Victoria was the only child who was old enough to join me, and she decided she would like to participate. One unforeseen advantage of this whole "40 new things" undertaking has definitely been the opportunity to spend time with my kids doing neat activities. I'm not the only one in the family who has been exposed to new things; the kids have also expanded their horizons, and we've had the opportunity to make some cool memories in the process.
I woke up this morning very thankful for the unusually beautiful late October weather. Victoria and I headed out to the work site, having absolutely no idea what type of labor we would be performing. The housing development containing the work site is a brand new development in the northeast part of the city. The houses are not all Habitat houses, but a good number of the houses are being built by either Habitat or other similar service organizations. There were 4 different work groups today, and I'd estimate over 40 -50 workers. We were assigned to different houses all in different stages of construction.
The thing you need to remember about service projects is that ALL the work you do, whether is it administrative, building, cooking, cleaning, whatever IS service. It is all necessary. So, when 4 of us were selected to clean out a huge storage container (think cargo container) and condense its contents into the neighboring container, I reminded myself to not be disappointed. True, it wasn't actual construction, but it was a very necessary task. So, for two hours we cleaned, sorted, reorganized and moved every conceivable tool, building supply and odds and ends. When I first looked at the contents in both containers--in quite a state of disarray,---I thought, "He's crazy if he thinks this will all fit in one unit." But, we worked hard and got the job accomplished and, I must admit, it felt pretty good to know we accomplished something so substantial. Here we are hard at work:
With that task behind us, we were able to move on to some actual construction. We were tasked with cutting and installing siding for the trim on a porch. It was a slow process because there was a fair amount of notching that had to be cut out of each piece in order to fit corners and trim. Then the installing was actually the old-fashioned kind of nailing, no nail guns involved! I'm pretty good at nailing, but this project involved some bodily contortion as well as nailing. We were working on ladders on a small porch and trying to nail above our heads. It was a challenge, but I felt pretty good knowing I was doing a decent job. Before we knew it, our morning shift was over, and it was time to head out.
Here's a picture of the house we worked on. It is scheduled to be dedicated on Dec. 19. It is quite small, but for someone who has never been able to own their own home before, it is a great place to start.
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