Last week we finally passed final inspection on one of our homes. It was the only new build and it was in the taping and mudding stage when we got here in January. A lot of our volunteers spent time at this house, and got to know the homeowner well, as she came every day to watch the progress of her home. Every day she called Kerry for one reason or another, but often it was to say Thank-you. She has been waiting a long time, she really didn't believe she would ever get a new house, and she was very excited when she got the news that she could move in. She lived in a house trailer that got crushed when a tree fell on it in the tornado. FEMA wanted to give her a new trailer, but the town said her property wasn't zoned for that so they couldn' t go with that plan, so they contacted MDS and asked if we could build her a house. That all started back in June or July of last year, and now finally she could move in. So far she hasn't got her furniture yet, and so without a bed, she probably isn't sleeping there yet, but I am sure she spends the days there. She started moving in some of the small things as soon as she got the word. We had a house dedication last Thursday evening.
She cut the ribbon , and then Kerry presented her with her house keys, and she went up the stairs to unlock the door. The rest of the evening took place inside as we did the blessings, a devotional, presented her with a bible, a book, a wall hanging, and an afghan, and some songs. We ended the evening with coffee and carrot cake and lots of visiting and laughter filled the house. After we left we got a phone call from the homeowner thanking us for all we had done, and for the evening.

Guess I haven't let you all in on what has been going on here lately. Time flies when you are having fun!! We have been busy, houses are getting finished, at least as far as we can finish them before we wait for inspections and we have been filling in with other smaller jobs. The volunteers keep coming and we have a lot of new friends in PA. Actually last week we had a bunch of college kids in from Ontario, so at least we were better represented then. We have had good groups each week, we have enjoyed them all.
The top photo shows our group from 2 weeks ago. A great bunch.
This second photo is the group from last week, half of them being the college students from Ontario. Another great bunch.

Like I said, we have been filling in with smaller jobs, like roofing, repairing ceilings inside homes, and more extensive repairs if needed,
and we have been sending crews out to the new tornado area and they have been doing lots of chainsaw work. There is lots of tree and debris clean up to do out there, and the trees are huge. All the debris gets hauled to the road and all along the roads there are large piles of branches and wood.

Often once the roofs are shingled there is some repair work on soffit and fascia that needs doing as well.

Another week has gone by and another group picture to show you. We had an energetic group here last week and this time the ladies outnumbered the guys. We are outnumbered by folks from PA, though last week we were helped out a bit by another couple from home who came to join us. It was a fun group though. We had some older folks from one area of PA, and a group of girls from another area. There was lots of chatter and laughter, and we got the projects furthur along. We are about done on 4 houses and so there was lots of touch up jobs, and lots of cleaning done by the ladies. There were cabinets installed, and much progress made. Kerry and I were gone from Tuesday night till Friday morning. We flew to Florida for MDS meetings and so we missed out on a lot of the fun at camp.

Some of these girls had sisters that we got to meet when they came to out site in Livingston TX a couple of years ago, and so Kerry was showing these girls pictures of their sisters from then. Of course, that led into showing pictures of the farm, house, and kids and grandkids.

The girls also enjoyed singing and sat around the table and sang hymns from their hymnbook. And then they got out their accordian and sang more fun songs, and one guy from the other group had brought his guitar and so he came out and joined in with them. They had a lot of fun together teaching each other new songs and singing together. The rest of us sat and enjoyed the music and sang along when we knew the words .
The girls got it into their heads that they would decorate pillow cases as a souvenir of their time here in Alabama, and they then decided they wanted everyone to sign their names on these same pillowcases, so Friday afternoon a lot of time was spent signing pillowcases before time for departure.
It was a good week, and a fun group of volunteers, and it was hard to say goodbye at the end of it. In fact, the girls called back to let us know they got home safely, and confessed the many of them had cried after they had to leave.

We are starting to see signs of spring all over the place these days. These flowers are very tiny and grow close to the ground, and I don't know what they are but I saw them one day as we were checking out one of the houses and so I decided to take a picture.
These little blue flowers were close to the other ones, and yes, the dandelions are blooming as well. I have also seen some very tiny white flowers but haven't taken pictures, nor have I taken any of the daffodils that have popped up lately.
We have noticed too that some of the trees are starting to bloom and so on Saturday afternoon we took a drive to see how much spring we could find. We saw a bunch of these huge trees just covered in gorgeous, large pink blossoms. Again, don't know the name of these, but they are beautiful!
And we saw other trees blooming pink, but with much smaller blossoms, on boulevards, along the freeway, and on yards and in parks. We think they might be some kind of cherry blossom, but don't know that for sure either. And then there is green grass happening too. Looks like and feels like spring.

Our fourth group has come and gone, and houses are nearing completion. We had 2 separate groups from PA again this week (all our groups seem to be from there) and we got to know a bunch of new people. We had rain again a couple of times, but lots of the work took place inside so that didn't slow us down much.
The new build out at Leeds, AL is moving right along. This week it got vinyl flooring put down in the kitchen and bathroom, doors hung, and laminate put down in the rest of the house. Lots of painting of doors and trim was done as well.


Outside is pretty much done, but we went over there on Saturday to check up on things and decided to cheer things up a bit and hung a couple of pots of pansies.
This next house is the crooked, challenger, house. This week they finally finished mudding and sanding and it actually got painted and flooring put down in the kitchen. Cabinets have been bought and will probably get installed next week. We have a cabinet maker coming.

Taking a break from all that sanding!
One other house that is nearing completion got carpet installed by Home Depot on Wednesday, and then on Thursday the volunteers started painting and putting up the baseboards. The electricians were there and lights got put up and other things electrical got done and the finish line is getting closer.

It is raining again----it had been a few days since the last rain, so I guess it was time. It is mild though, but hopefully we don't hear any tornado sirens. I am a bit gun shy when it comes to that, having to get up in the middle of the night and go and huddle in the church is not my idea of fun nor does it let me relax about the weather. We were spared this time, but other areas were not. But I want to show you a few pictures of what went on last week here. It was a BUSY week, with LOTS of volunteers, but lots of FUN and LAUGHTER, and much accomplished again. We are definitely moving the houses along.
Remember the shingling job I showed last week. Well, this is the finished roof. Looks much better don't you think, and the owners should be able to stay dry underneath. The owner sometimes sat in his truck and watched the work happening with tears running down his face, he was that thankful and amazed at what was going on.

Once that roof was done, we moved to another on near by. Look at the picture and tell me, just how many volunteers does it take to strip shingles off of a roof? It was getting close to the end of the day, and most of these had run out of work at their jobs for the day, and so we had a lot of help on the roof. Some just preferred to stand on the ground and watch. The folks in the neighbourhood watched with interest as well at what was happening there. I think we were the entertainment for that day.
Work continued at other projects as well with doors being hung,
and painted, in the house that our volunteer is standing in front of.
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Another house we have is called the "Challenger" house. It used to be called the crooked house, because when the first group went to work on it there weren't very many straight walls. It is better now, but when the drywall hangers went to work it became known as the Challenger house, because there were still not too many straight areas. EVERY piece of drywall had to be cut to fit. Last week, and the week before, there was a lot of taping and mudding going on and progress is being made.
there also were a couple of kitchens installed last week in two of our homes, thanks to some expert craftsmen.
More roof repair,
and finally, a picture of our group from last week. That in a nutshell is some of the goings on from here.