Month: May 2013

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2013 Day 4 Summary

Big. Diverse. Day

Women’s Build
As mentioned before, Pam and Millie would be attending today’s part of the Women’s Build. Sending them off to get a ride with Denise was a bit like sending out our kids to their first day of school. We prayed for them and sent them out.

Turns out they helped in some pseudo-leadership roles, taking their skills that they had learned from the other team members over the years.

Interestingly, Millie was interviewed by the local news station and spoke of her faith

They had a great time and enjoyed getting to know their fellow workers, and they represented our team on the house we’ve been working on this week.

Miss Peggy and Miss Rhonda
The remainder of the team was split over two sites, Miss Peggy’s and Miss Rhonda’s

Miss Rhonda lives by herself in her childhood home. Her parents passed away close together and now she is trying to get her house in better shape. She is already energy conscious but with this weatherization program, she will be benefiting immediately from technology that will reduce her utility bill. We found out that she loves cats and turtles. Yes, she connected with Steve and Shirley, our resident turtle owners. Miss Rhonda’s going to be volunteering tomorrow at the women’s group

The rest of the team stayed at Miss Peggy’s, the home we worked on yesterday. We continued working in the attic and doing other weatherizing improvements. For the second day in a row, we were treated to a scrumptious meal. She cooked us Catfish, Spaghetti, Ribs and Chicken as well as a dessert.  We also gifted her with an attic ladder to replace the broken one we had been using.

We ended the evening with a time of sharing and worship. It was a great day. We commented that although it is fun and exciting to work on building a new home, the intimacy we feel while working on occupied home-rehabs far outweighs our initial trepidation.

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2013 Day 4 – Women’s Build. Millie’s on the NEWS!

News Story from Millie on News!

PASCAGOULA, MS (WLOX) –

Starting Friday, more than 10,000 women across the country will lift up hammers and drills and help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. It’s part of the seventh annual Women’s Build Week, sponsored by Habitat and Lowe’s.
One jobsite is located in Pascagoula. Lowe’s employees were part of Friday’s mission.
“For me, I like to help any way I can,” employee Monique Stewart said. “And for a company to put up so much effort to help the community that’s in need, to me that’s a big thing.”
Several volunteers from Keesler were here to lend a helping hand, including Major Sandy McDonald.  
“As active duty Air Force members, we always try and participate in community activities and so we decided to come out and spend a little time with Habitat for Humanity,” McDonald explained.
The women are also making a spiritual connection on this day.  Millie Liao is from the Evergreen Church of California.   
“Evergreen’s been sending teams each year just to love on the people here, to show people the Lord’s love for them, and to bless the people who come in and inhabit these houses,” Liao said. “It really provides a home for them, you know, it’s more than a building.” 
All the volunteers working on this Habitat project say the same thing. They get a personal feeling of fulfillment from helping out a community in need, but they also gain something else that they can use later in life. 
“It’s actually hands on, learning how to properly swing a hammer, and learning how to use the drill, learning how to use the saw,” said Adele Lyons with Habitat for Humanity. “Just becoming very familiar and comfortable with those tools that they can use later on their own without help from anybody else.” 
As part of the program, Lowe’s has donated more than $1.7 million to Habitat projects across the country the past seven years.
Copyright 2013 WLOX. All rights reserved.


WLOX segment on the Women’s Build HFHMGC from SGV Habitat on Vimeo.

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2013 Day 3 – The video

As half the team is asleep, and four of the guys are screaming and groaning at the Denver/Golden State game…

We give to you Gary’s video of the day!

All this and lunch too!

Also: Preview for tomorrow:

We’re very excited that the Pam and Millie will be joining the Women’s Build

They’ll be working with teams of women in the local area on the build! It’s a really exciting last minute development

The rest of our team will be split over two houses, doing the rehab of both.

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2013 Day 3-Summary

Itchy itchy itchy

Another good day, this one at the home of Miss Peggy. Everyone here, is called “Miss…”

We were running a little bit early, so we drove past the old Connor’s Gardens homes (where we had worked a few years ago). They’ve added storm shutters and gutters. Someone from Habitat said they were likely over half sold already. While we were trying to find the neighborhood, we accidentally went into another neighborhood half a mile north, with smaller streets, and comparable, but slightly smaller homes. The homes we built aren’t as isolated as we thought.. a good sign.

When we arrived, Miss Peggy greeted us, and well, watch the video, which includes Heang’s debut devotional. A good start to the day.

There were a few aspects to increasing the energy efficiency of Miss Peggy’s home.

-Insulating every area that we could find. Around outlet covers, lighting fixtures, air ducts and the hot water heater.

-CFL light bulb fixtures and ceiling fans to decrease the need for a/c

-redoing the insulation in the attic.

The attic work meant working with fiberglass, and it was hot and stuffy. We have no idea what the work must be like on a normal (HOT) day. It was raining like mad on us in the morning, and it still got warm in the attic, especially when they turned on all the ceiling light fixtures….

Needless to say, even though we were briefed, we still got a lot of fiberglass in our skin and everyone’s itching.

Everyone googled different ways to remove the fibers.. you might see video of some ideas later…

After a long day up in the attic, Craig and Chris went for a breezier job making insulation around the light fixtures with Eric.

Oh, and to our surprise, Miss Peggy made us some Red Beans and rice and got us some fried chicken. It was a pretty substantial lunch, ending up with some vanilla and pecan ice cream, was very gracious of her.

Oh funny thing, Roy’s shoes fell apart. The same thing that happened to Peter in our first year. The sole of his boot just fell off. He stopped by Walmart tonight and picked up a new pair.





Dinner
Dinner was different. Every year we’ve had a team+friends dinner at The Shed, but this year, we tried Darwell’s. Food was good, but company was even better. Matt, Eric, Heidi, Brad, Denise and Paul joined us from Habitat as well as Ken & Dawn, Elizabeth and Paul, our host family.

We lost Elizabeth and Paul(ie) for a bit as Elizabeth’s best bud, Millie, and Denise took the kids across next door to the local fire house and got a special tour. The kids burst in later, with Paul saying that the fire station was “the most beautiful place in the world.”

We’ve really developed good friendships over these years, some with people we met today, others that we consider practically family. And it comes naturally. We don’t have to force it.

Thank you God for the opportunity, thanks so much.


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2013 day 3

We are covered in shards of glass.
Worked on weatherizing an existing home for miss Peggy, who made us a great  lunch with fried chicken and red beans and rice.
Over half the team went into the attic to remove fiberglass insulation and seal loose air ducts.
We’re covered with fiberglass fibers and are itchy.
But we’re minutes away from our showers and a team dinner with our Americorps staff
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2013 Day 2-Craig’s meeting with Calvin

I was blessed today to be reunited with Calvin, one of our Habitat for Humanity friends.  Chris and I prayed for Calvin last year and I alone two years ago.  After experiencing the passing of his wife, Calvin was obviously in mourning and seeking the comfort of our Lord during our visit last year.  However, this year, his demeanor was much different.  Today, the Lord demonstrated his goodness as Calvin shared that God gave him a new wife, Kim, who he described as a nice Christian woman.  As Calvin shared about the joy in his life, he repeatedly acknowledged that God was good and despite difficulties, God helps him move forward day by day.  Calvin is selflessly providing for his new family; Kim, her two kids, and Kim’s father.  Chris and I rejoiced at this beautiful testimony and seemingly renewed sense of purpose in the life of our friend.

To God be the glory for the great things He has done.
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2013 Day 2-Video of the day!

Gary’s Video mastery has produced another video for you..




Another blessed day of work on the job site.


Cut a little short due to continued rain but very productive day. The evening we were blessed at our worship time through sharing of testimonies, singing, and a communion sharing by Brad (our friend and supervisor from previous trips).

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2013 Day 2-A good, but very very rainy day.

Site

Called ahead to Paul to check if we were still on this morning. Storms dropped a lot of rain, but we were cleared for the morning.
Roy gave his devotional this morning, encouraging us to do all things for the glory of God. We put down the cameras and went to work….apparently without any morning stretches. We kept Heang away from Steve so that he’d learn “other” skills. 
Calvin
While we were there Chris and Craig ran into Calvin, a friend we had met a few years ago. They had the opportunity to pray for him again. The threads of our lives keep interconnecting. The theme for this week seems to include seeing long term impact. Of a major storm’s devastation, of Habitat’s assistance in recovery, our friendships with people we’ve met every year. God continues to show us the big picture.
Buildin’ and Workin’
Trying to stay ahead of the storm, we raised almost all four walls, and began sheeting them. 

Rain Rain, go away
The rain returned with strength. We quickly packed up all power related equipment, clearing the deck, and ducked under, and cut our workday by a few hours.

Prayer
Since it was our last day on site, we prayed for it before we left. We prayed with/for our Americorps staff, and spent some time in silent prayer, blessing the home.

Happy Birthday Roy
After the storm, we went to Quakes for ice cream frozen custard. Pam said to make sure we identify it as such because Roy likes it better. Roy has celebrated his birthday for the last few years with us in Mississippi. Later, he told us as much as he loves his family and friends, it’s been special experiencing it out here. Still don’t understand why, when it’s his birthday, he treats us.