Larry and Cheryl Winger, leaders of a group called Kairos Carpenters, based in Lafayette, Indiana arrived ahead of their group of 17 volunteers on this past Saturday. We had arranged for them to stay with their group at a place called Green Acres. It is owned by the Phifer Corp
 and they have offered the facility to groups of volunteers who come to Tuscaloosa to work with Habitat and other organizations to rebuild some of the 5-7 thousand homes that were destroyed by the tornado that hit here on April 27th of this year . I have had the privilege of working with Larry's group on numerous mission trips since 2006. They brought groups to Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, Ms. to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and also to Bridge City, Texas to do the same for homeowners affected by Hurricane Ike in 08. I joined them also in Yazoo City, Ms. in 2010 at the start of my on-again-off-again tour of 50 states. At least two of the couples who have worked with the group over the years have been married (to the same people) for over 50 years. Don and Shirley Johnson and Curtis and Rene Schultze. Rene didn't make it this trip- they are from Mason, Texas and are near the wildfires there so Rene had to stay back to not keep the home fires burning. The original plan was to finish framing the third home but the weather didn't get the memo and it poured down rain both Monday and Tuesday. Fortunately, we had inside work on Teddy and Rosie's house across the street and also put together the drying rack under cover at the carport at Dana and Bob's home (all three are on the same street) . My son Paul was down for the same week and he was not to be stopped by the rain- he set up the scaffold at the back of the house in the rain to get ready for Wednesday. On Wednesday, the skies were clear and we set at the task to finish the framing of interior walls ceiling framing and started on the stick-built roof framing. Why not pre-made trusses, you ask? Because Brandon (my old friend and new boss) likes framing and we saved $118. I actually am enjoying learning framing hip roofs. The ladies of the group painted the whole house of Hardi siding- it wasn't installed yet, but all of the lengths of siding were painted (using the new and improved and freshly constructed drying rack). With the two rain days, we didn't get as far as I would have liked to get on closing the house in, but that's life.  I joined the group for dinner a few nigh

 ts at the camp and thoroghly enjoyed the good home-away-from-home cooking and the fellowship with new and old friends. Larry is planning a return visit to T-town in March. This trip they were originally planing to work in Joplin, Mo but after trying to set up something for them to do for a number of months, the final word was that they would be sorting clothes. They are not the Kairos Clothes Folders and at the last minute were able to shift over to Tuscaloosa. Lucky for us. It was great to work with both the KC and my son Paul again. Paul remembered a number of the people in the group from when they were both working in Biloxi . The following week, we hosted a group of volunteers who came all the way from California. They were with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. The leader of their group was a woman named Carolyn. She was formerly a PE teacher