Home Stretch

I am back from an awesome week in Tennessee! It was definitely not what I expected, but the Lord still used the week to speak to our group in different ways. I don't have any photos yet, but if I have time when I get some I may add them here.



Our group was working for a family just over the Kentucky/Tennessee border. The first day we arrived and were given our project list: build a back porch with a roof and replace a broken window with a door to access the new porch; replace two wide windows and reframe them for narrower windows; cut, frame, and install two new windows in an exterior wall; and mud and paint a living room. It seemed like a lot, especially in the ever-present, oily mud that covered their backyard, but we trusted God that we would accomplish exactly what He wanted us to. It became very evident that first day that our entire team could not focus on the projects at one time, as the family of 8 included two young children that were constantly getting into our workspace, taking our tools and getting mud on all our stuff. So it then became necessary for one to four people to babysit, and most of us rotated shifts to deal with 8 year old ADHD Zeb and 5 year old attention-starved Kayla. I do not mean to sound pessimistic or hateful towards the children, for they were definitely a product of their environment, but "deal with" is probably the best phrase to describe the experience...yes, it was that taxing. Day 1 concluded with us having built the deck of the porch and finished the mudding in the living room.



Day 2 started off bright and early (too early for most of our team's liking...hahaha). The girls (minus one) spent the day inside painting the living room a very pretty teal-ish green color, while the menfolk and the remaining girl continued work outside by installing a railing and getting the new door ready. I was asked by Julie (the house's matronly figure) to help with an additional project, which I agreed to, although I was a bit skeptical. (We found throughout the week that the family kind of exploited our presence, adding tasks for us that weren't on our project list that they easily could have done themselves.) So I spent the morning of Day 2 painting polka dots on the lower half of LeeAnn's bedroom. LeeAnn was Julie's 13 year old granddaughter, and she was completely capable of doing the painting project herself, but she spent the majority of that morning in her bedroom with me, sending and receiving text messages on her BlackBerry. Yes, that's right...a 13 year old in an "impoverished" household....with a BlackBerry. And we thought this family was poor!



Day 3 was our day off from the worksite and we went whitewater rafting in Kentucky on the Cumberland River. It was INCREDIBLE!!! I was scared the whole morning but once we got on the river it was so fun.