A group of high school junior and seniors came about a year ago to work with us on Ms. Welch's home. They returned with 25 this year and helped to help us finish up on two homes and to start another.   The adult leaders, JD and Chris, are both pastors who planted a church in Nutley, NJ, within 10 miles of the New York City skyline. They have drawn high school students, primarily juniors and seniors and have formed a Christian athletic club within the school. They then have arrranged service missions during the summer. We were glad to welcome them back.
     The group worked on completing two homes- the first was for Suzie Cousette and her two sons at home under construction at 21 Juanita Drive . They may as well go ahead and change the name of that street to Habitat Drive- we just closed on a bunch more lots on that street last week and now have about six homes completed and another 30 or so upon which we can build for the next two years. Suzies home was started in June. It was kicked off with a big group from Capstone Church, here in Tuscaloosa. One of Capstone's members, Kit Morgan, wanted to do something special for her 50th birthday, so she invited family and friends to come and work with her for the day on this home. That was a month or so ago, and I think we framed most of the walls that day. This past week, we were completing the exterior landscaping and final touch up on the inside. So, about 8 weeks to complete a home, soup to nuts, all with volunteer help. (and paid subcontractors for all of the trades- electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc). Suzies home was set right up to an existing neighbors home, with just about a 5 foot wide side yard before the neighbors fence. We always try to divert rainwater away from the foundation of the homes we build and this was a challenge on this home . I had the brilliant idea, after we had graded the dirt away from the foundation, to cover the dirt with heavy black plastic and then cover that with small rounded river rock to create a maintanence-free band at the side of the house. The theory was that the black plastic wouldn't let the weeds grow and pop up through the gravel. Good theory, but. . . we had a torrential downpour the day after the guys worked so hard moving dirt and placing the gravel- and, although I know that when you sell a home the term "lakeside property" is usually a good thing, in our case it was not. The very same black plastic did a great job preventing the water from soaking back into the earth. Also, at the front corner of the house, a slight berm of dirt was left which in effect created a dam which helped create the lake. On one of her visits down here, my wife Lois commented to me that I have an easy job (working with volunteers). I asked her why she thought that, since for me, it is sometimes difficult getting a fresh new batch of volunteers every Monday, training them to be experts by Friday in skills that many of them have never done, and then having them disappear and the new group comes again on Monday- but what she said is that all the people who come to help come with a willing heart to do so . I guess that's so. Some of these young men, though, needed constant reminding of the tasks at hand. It's all rinse and repeat with new home construction. A series of repetitve steps. Show them once, watch them once,and off they go (and show the guy next to you) is the way it usually goes. Some of the guys here seemed glued to their cell phones. A couple of times I kind of kiddingly suggested that we get a bucket and collect all devices during work time. Anyway, for the "re-doing" of the landscaping, I asked for volunteers who wouldn't mind the hard and heavy work of re-digging, moving gravel and dirt to get the plastic out from under, etc. and to make a "dry river bed" of gravel- a trench that would allow any future lakes of rainwater, to instead make it's way to the street. 3 or 4 guys, in addition to JD came and did an excellent job of redoing the work. Sorry I don't have a picture of it for you. My brand new Samsung Galaxy III is on the fritz and I can't get any pictures till next week when the new battery shows up. JD was kind enough to e-mail me the group picture that was taken on the last day of the groups time with us, where they all worked on framing a new home for Ms. Tracy. Lots of scaffold setting up, wall building and standing up and by Friday- the roof was framed. Who are those guys?
      Looking forward to starting another rehab soon- this one is for a Home Depot associate and the home is a major remodel on which I plan to do an experiment and stifle my creative ideas. Wish me luck with that- I'll keep you posted. That's all for this week- Luv ya'll- Peter