The highpoint of the week came on Friday this week. That was the day that we had the dedication of the rebuilt home of David Cook in Brookwood. David was in his home last year when the tornado came through. He saw the walls and windows heaving in and out just before the whole house collapsed on him. A section of the roof fell on him and he was trapped until neighbors and friends came and dug him out from under the debris. He was truly fortunate not to have been counted among the 41 people who perished that April 27th in Tuscaloosa. The concrete slab of his original home was intact after all of the debris had been hauled away, so we used that as a foundation for the new home. Brandon tweeked the design a little though and squeezed in a safe room in the location of one of the bedrooms. Mr. Cook is not married and will be living in the home by himself so that a two bedroom is big enough. Usually on the days of our dedications, there are lots of TV cameras and crews to report on the good news that one more family is back in their home, but David requested that none be there for his and we honored his request and for that it was a much more intimate and family and friends gathering. David's Mom, Virginia, was there as well as the head of the Chamber of Commerce. He announced that there is another check for $65,000 waiting for Habitat at their office. A local contractor, S.T. Bunn also donated the paving of the road down to the house (see picture).    
     This week also we had a group of 30 young folks (and adult supervision) fromCentral Reformed Church in Oskaloosa, Iowa . Hmm, sounds like Tuscaloosa! They mostly worked on two homes. The Jemison's is almost blacked in. The group (mostly the guys) installed all of the plywood sheathing on the hip roof, followed by the tar paper to make it water tight until the metal roofing is installed. Also they finished up the saferoom plywood and steel with the B.A.S.'s (Big screws) and the side walls of the house both sheathing and 1/2" blue styrofoam board. It was H-o-t again this week but the group toughed it out. A bunch of the young ladies worked with new staff guy Stephen Scott and finished the trim and interior painting at Robert Johnson's soon-to-be-new home also in Brookwood. Brandon has been relating some horrow stories about the inspector out there and says that we probably wont be building any more homes in his juristiction, thank you.
     We also had a group of Baptist men from Mobile, Al. work with us thru tuesday. They were a great help also. Lester was 76 years young and was unstoppable. Stanley is a roofer extraordinaire- he oversaw the kids on the roof and also one day helped out at the Lions Den and install the last cupla pieces of that metal roof.
     Our construction director is off for two weeks, leaving me in charge. Brandon made up the schedule for 3 weeks before he left, so it shouldn't be too bad. We've got plenty of work and a big stack of materials and 3 houses to work on and plenty of volunteers coming too. One little catch- tried our Home Depot credit card today and oops seems to be turned off or something. That should be fun. Making bricks with no straw.
     Me, I'm going on vacation in first week in September. Going to build 10 houses in Peru with the Millard Fuller Legacy Build. Looking forward to it. That's all for now-   Ciao-   Peter