We had a bit of a light week with the volunteers- one group from Frederick, Md with about 15 in their group. So we divied (sp?) 'em up into 3 groups of five and worked at the old quadraplex with Paul, Cooks house and Robert Johnson's- both out in the sticks workin with DeWerken (Pete) and five with me working on the new East Quad. The block foundation was laid earlier in the week, so we had to pour conrete in the cells and in the base of the saferoom and also worked on building the storage shed, in which we stock all the nails, screws and fasterers for the job.   Chuck Hawley was the leader of the group. He has been on many, many mission trips with people not only from Md, but also West Va., Va., Ohio and Indiana and in the past the groups have been as many as 90. There was another Habitat veteran in Big Bernie and three ladies, two of whom were sisters- Mary Lou and (oops, sorry I forgot) and an adopted sister, Jeannie.   The three of them took ownership of the storage shed and got it dangerously close this week. They all were staying at a motel but while here, took a look at Y's Acres and expressed an interest in maybe coming back in the fall and staying there.
   Later in the week, on Thursday morning, a group of 8 men from Greenville, SC, show up . Thursday is our weekly staff meeting and when I got onsite at about 9:00, these guys were already going like gangbusters. Had the mudsill intstalled and starting to frame the floor system. Our Executive Director, Bob Johnson, had stopped by the site that morning also and had seen this group springing into action and asked me, "Who are these guys?"  Not their first rodeo. Jonathan and David Gaunt were two brothers who came with the group who have their own construction company and have been working together over 25 years. In their short stay with us, they completed the floor system and the majority of the safe room on the Major League Baseball sponsored house. Good thing that they left when they did, or the house would have been finished before the blitz starts later in this month. On Saturday, I had the day off, so I went to work on the Lion's Den. Jacob Koch, friend from VA was also down for the week and offered to help me for a few hours Saturday before he drove back home. We installed the deck and built and raised the first wall . After Jacob left, I kept plugging away at it by myself (living my motto- "steady pressure and don't panic and you can accomplish anything"). At about 4:30, the Greenville guys show up at camp, home from a hard last days work at Robt. Johnson's home out in the sticks, where they framed the deck there also. These guys are serious. So, Pastor Dan, comes up to me and says, want some help? I saw Jonathan with his sandals on and he looked like he was ready to do some serious relaxing before going home Sunday, but he came back too with the work boots on and their whole team helped from 4:30 to about 7:30 and we kicked some framing butt. I was so grateful. Their attitude of service is so inspiring. Especially, sometimes those who come that are skilled are sometimes hard to work with, but not so with the Gaunt Brothers. Two young men were also in the group, Philip and Andrew., who did a bunch of the nailing joist hangers (tedious) and deck nailing ( also not that much fun). I attended a bye bye breakfast with the Frederick group at Cracker Barrel and attended service on Sunday at Trinity Pres. with the Greenville group.
      Two great groups and it is our fervent hope that we will see them both again. Thats all for this week- Luv ya- Peter