So, I took two weeks off to come up to Louisville Kentucky to take part in the 5^th annual Millard Fuller Legacy Build. Millard Fuller, together with his wife Linda, were co-founders of both Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing. The Fuller Center is hosting the Legacy Build. About 135 volunteers from around the country have converged here to offer their time and talents to help rebuild 6 homes for 6 families here in Louisville. One great part about events such as these is that they are really a big reunion week for old and new friends who have worked on other builds around the country and around the world.

     I arrived last week, the week before the build, in order to help with the preparations . One of the homes, which was included in the build at the last moment, needed extensive demolition work and major structural repair before we could even begin working on it. Floors rotted out, bearing walls eaten by termites and even though a new roof had just been installed, rain was rushing it at the dormer who's side walls were no longer there.

     Early in the week I received a call from good friend Larry Winger, the leader of the famous Kairos Carpenters and corn farmer from Lafayette, Indiana. He asked if it would helpful if he came and helped since the weather forecast called for rain and he would be unable to plant any crops. Not sure if the snow on the ground had anything to do with that or not.   It turned out that the Fuller Center needed a piece of equipment brought over from Indianapolis, a ten foot long metal break, which he was able to pick up and bring with him. We had a few fun days together tearing out all the old and putting back the new on the house at River Park . The worst condition was one ceiling joist that had about a two inch sag in it. We got my friend Jack to help out (as in hydraulic bottle jack), cranked her up and sistered two new 2 x 12s to the side of the culprit, took out the jack and up it stayed. Around ten o’clock on the first day Larry was there, I was asked him if Cheryl (his wife) had gotten lost. You see, normally when the Kairos Carpenters are in town, Cheryl comes around to all the sites with coffee and donuts. It was great though, having the opportunity to work hands on with my friend. Normally, we are both running around but don’t actually get a chance to work together.

     On the weekend, 2^nd son Bob drove over from Columbus, Ohio. He is a mechanical engineer for Honda’s safety testing facility. Before he arrived, he checked out things to do while in L’ville on the internet and came up with Mega Cavern, the only underground zip line course in the world. There is gigantic man made cavern from 30 years’ worth of quarrying limestone . 17 miles of roads thru the place that trucks would come and go moving limestone. Bob got tickets for us, and he and I and friend and fellow Alabamian, Crystal (who is from Opelika, not Huntsville) had a blast on the 6 zip lines.

     Also on the weekend, took time to visit my "Uncle Ed" McCord. I hadn’t seen or been in contact with Ed since I was living at home with my parents as a teenager. Ed was a friend of my Dad’s. Both worked for the Gubment at No Such Agency (NSA). Their was a 25 year age difference between my Dad and Ed. He was like the older brother that I never had and was my advisor. Ed was from Lexington, Ky originally and is living there now. He used to play guitar and sit on the floor of my parents living room and sing songs for our family.    My sister Anne googled Ed’s name and come up with a phone number for me and I was able to meet Ed and his wife and youngest of five kids. Even for the short time we spent together reminiscing about his friend and my Dad, it was so great .

     On Sunday night, we had the opening kickoff meeting for the MFLB. Met the local sponsors, homeowners and Fuller Center staff and board members and local clergy. Also, the first lady of affordable housing, Linda Fuller was there and will be working together with the volunteers on rebuilding the six homes.

     I had asked when I signed up for the house in the worst condition. I love doing rehab work on houses. My request was denied but they assigned instead, three very capable house leaders- Orie and Kenneth Lehman, two Amish brothers from Indiana, and another seasoned veteran, Jim Tomascak from Minnesota are going to work on the house. The house I was assigned is for Miss Kim and her 5 kids and is in pretty good shape and we stand a good chance to complete the rehab work during this week. We were doing finish painting on the first day already. We have a good crew with us that includes Bob Abel from Maryland. Bob and I both worked with Crystal Manoske in Peru, South America a few years back.

The homeowner and her older kids (she also has 6 year old twins and a 3 year old) worked with us today. Kim is so excited.

      My phone/camera has been acting up all week, so I apologize for not more pictures. I will include more next week. That’s all for now-   Ciao-   Peter