Month: April 2012

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2012 Day 2 – Lorin laying around on the job

Editor’s Note: Lorin came up with the title for this entry, and was quiet amused with herself 🙂

Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. I shared that verse in Mon. night’s devotional. So why was I lying down on the job today? Well, actually, I was lying under the house trying to nail hangers to the bottom of stairs. I felt like we were trolls hiding under the house. Carol suggested the Wicked Witch of the West. There we were lying under the house with our feet sticking out. There may be a picture somewhere?.?..

What a joy to be here serving in Biloxi! We had another wonderful day of beautiful weather. My group started with staining boards again, then graduated to nailing hangers. We actually got to use a real hammer and nails. Last year I only hammered in 3 nails and then went with a nail gun to avoid hammer pits in the siding. I was actually sad when we ran out of hangers to nail. Tomorrow we may get to nail the boards we stained onto the stairs that wrap around the front of the house.

Lorin, happy to be hammering

We spent the last part of the day figuring out how to layout the sub-flooring to prep for the bathroom tiles. This bathroom is going to have the laundry room right next to the tub. I guess you could toss you dirty laundry in then have a nice long soak in the tub then pull out your warm clothes from the dryer and get dressed. How convenient!

It’s been such a fun and busy time. God has been good . A.W. Tozer says: O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and truly wish you could be here to experience all the wonderful moments.

Lucky us. We were treated to Aunt Jenny’s Catfish Restaurant for all you care to eat fried catfish, shrimp, and chicken. Compliments of Habitat! We also had fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, hush puppies, and fries. We did have non-fried food: the sweet potatoes were awesome, and there was coleslaw, biscuits, and banana pudding too. Southern hospitality, sweet tea, and non-sweet tea-what we think of as regular tea.

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end of the work day 02

As suspected… there probably will be less video and pictures in the coming days. This always happens, and it’s a good thing.

James, our primary photographer, has gone from a newbie of wonder, to now a newbie of wanting to work… That’s a good thing.

Team was split all over the place working on different aspects of the project.

Art, Pam and Roy working on a cantilever support in the back.

Trey and Kenny

Kenny worked with volunteer Trey, from local William Carey University. They teamed up on some of the trim in the back.

Peter continued his education on Southern charm with Miss Tomme, who made what would otherwise seem like orders sound like requests drenched in Sweet Tea.

Chris, James, Mo and Tommy continued work on the inside, hanging and trimming doors.

Millie continued her community service to Steve, working on the front stairs after their fake scare about the 1/8″ difference…

Carol, Gary, Lorin switched between working with staining and helping the Millie/Steve/Diane crew on the front stairs..

Okay, we’re showering and then off to our special dinner with the HFH affiliate.

Updated (final?) Brad walktrhough video of the LEEDS house?

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Good morning day 02

Devotional
After a morning devotional by Gary H, we’re on our way. He taught about how running a mile under 4 minutes mile was once considered an impossible feat, but since it has been broken, has been passed at least 18 times. His encouragement was that somethings that once were extraordinary slightly more commonplace and we take them for granted. Access to the Creator of the universe through prayer, is something that we should appreciate more.

Prayer
Speaking of prayer… there was a group of four women visiting from Pennsylvania, who are making their way where they feel that God calls them, praying as they go. Today was the day they were led to the same place, and we were mutually encouraged, in fact a few of us received prayer from them.

Ken, our host, talked about how important he finds for all of us to pray, where people came alongside of him at various times in their life for prayer and support. How often people, including himself, overlook the importance of frequent “common” day-to-day prayer.

Steve’s Stairs
As we drive out to the site, Steve’s discussing the best way to drop 1/8″ from each of the “stringers” (the zig-zag patterns that we rest the stairs on). Saw? Router? As realization falls over Steve, there’s a chance he and Millie might have to re-do their work from yesterday… We delight that Millie will have another opportunity to experience patience and grace working with Steve.

*update* on arrival at the site, we find out that Brad was kidding steve about being 1/8″ off…
Steve calls Brad a “turd.” Millie lost sleep last night over having to redo them… 🙂

Dinner
Tonight, we’ve been invited to dinner from the affiliate. They said that we’ve been a loyal group, returning year after year, and they want to thank us. Plus it’s a nice restaurant! We look forward to meeting the CEO of the affiliate and some of their staff. We’re going to eat a little bit lighter at lunch so we can partake in this aspect of Southern Hospitality…

Okay, on our way to the site. We moved Roy from this car so we could wait for Millie and Steve could receive prayer. When he leaves, he asks, “you going to miss me?” I reply, “of course.” “Aw nuts, see yaaaa!” he laughs as he exits….So today, we run the music a little louder in the back…:)

Thanks for your support.

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Lorin up late to share of her first day at the work site

It’s lights-out time at our housing center. Lorin stayed up, almost lost her writings and stuck it out because she wanted to write something on the blog for you guys.

Well, we are on our 2nd day in Biloxi and have finished our first day of work in Pascagoula. I’m blessed and amazed by the number of wonderful people here who are willing to volunteer their time and efforts towards this project. It’s encouraging to see God working through the team and others so that His love is expressed in the work of our hands.

We are working on a special type of Habitat home. It’s called LEED home and I think it stands for Leader in Energy and Enviroment Design. The home has some extra bells and whistles that make it energy efficient and that helps save the future home owner money and helps out the enviroment at the same time.

Our group worked on making stairways, installing doors, adding trim, completed a wall for a storage shed, made a platform for an HVAC unit, and stained boards for the deck. The weather is great! It’s cool and a bit breezy and everyone is enjoying it.

We also got to meet the possible future owners or partner family. They currently live in the neighborhood and Jackie, her son-in-law Demetrius, and her nephew Jamarius all worked side by side with the team putting up. It’s exciting and all went well. Even when Jackie lost her cell phone and was really bummed we were able to find it in the supply truck in the returned tool bag. She’d forgotten it was in there. She was able to return to the site and pick up her phone. She was relieved and could go home with peace of mind.

It’s been great to renew aquaintances from last year and to make new ones. We’ve been praying for 2 new friends, Diane and Tomme, who are here for their 3rd year. They are praying for parents in their area to become involved with their teens at church. They’d like the parents participate with their children instead of merely dropping them off at the church. They are both wonderful hard working women who are trying to serve the Lord.

All for now. Lorin

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Day 1-Work site

Saw our old friends Brad and Paul…it was like coming back to family.

Brad greeted us with a big hand painted banner, and a trumpet blare of questionable skill.

It was a great way to start the week.

We’re working on a special kind of house. Habitat has always wanted to use energy efficient options in their homes. It saves the environment, but also saves the homeowner costs as well. Leeds is a special energy rating system for structures in the U.S. We’re working on such a house.

It not only goes over the construction materials, but we learned this week, it can also have to do with the construction site and practices. We’re being encouraged to use less plastic bottles (we have our own water bottles) and are creating less waste.

Brad goes over some of the aspects of the home in this video (thanks to Art for shooting it, and Gary for editing it [from Los Angeles])

We got to work with two women that are staying with us from Northern Mississippi, Diane and Tomme (pronounced “Tommy”), and we’re learning a bit about Southern Hospitality.

We also got to meet Miss Jackie and two members of her family, J and Demetrius. Miss Jackie grew up about two blocks away from here.. and has seen the neighborhood go through a number of changes. She thinks it’s on its way up, and hopes that she’ll be considered for this home when it’s finished.

Some other videos from the day..
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Carol – reflections from Day 1

We just got back to the center where we stay, most people are trying to squeeze in a shower before dinner in a few minutes. Carol takes the time to write something on a 3×5 card….

I’m blessed by the prayers and support of my Evergreen Family and my missionary support group. it is a blessing to be able to serve here in Mississippi.

Praying that God will use me to make a difference in the people we meet.