Two weeks ago we welcomed a group from Ransomville free Methodist church from upstate New York. They are by Niagra Falls and took two days to drive the 1,000 miles in their two 15 passenger vans to be with us. The group was led by two alpha males. One of them, Ed, who is a fire chief, reminded me that the other, Pastor Bill, was not the leader. He is just their pastor.
     The other group that stayed with us that week was a group of two . Anna Kung was here with us back in May and had a good time and came back and brought her friend Sarah. Anna is of Chinese descent and works in NYC. Sarah lives in Indiana. Anna told me that she found God in Tuscaloosa while she was here in May and she wants to come volunteer with us for a year instead of going to London.
   The two groups melded well. Both stayed at Y's Acres. One person in their group had been with us before and was raving to the group how delicious the meals were going to be. One of our ever-shrinking staff here at Habitat Tuscaloosa was office manager Heather. She used to prepare caseroles for the groups that stayed at our camp. The Health Dept doesn't permit cooking at the camp, so Heather would make them at home and the groups just had to heat them up. One of my personal favorites was a chicken and spaghetti dish. Mmmm, good. Unfortunately for everyone, Heather got another job and now Sara Lee is preparing all the meals.
     During the week we did a lot of preparation and pre-build getting ready for the big day Saturday when we would stand the walls up . We also completed the saferoom in the middle of the house. Made all of the wall section components, kings and jacks, window frames. corners, gozintas (the parts where one wall goes into the other) etc. Gail also cut all the rafter pieces for the roof from the template that Brandon made for them.
     Half the group that week also worked with Joey on Jennifer Miles home at 115 Juanita.
     Saturday came and we were ready, kind of. Werent quite expecting the large turnout. We had about 60 people show up to help the wall-raising. One group of mostly women came with friend Tollie Meggs, a fellow Capstoner, who leads a group called Out of the Boat. Tollie loves Jesus and is also a person whose words and actions are the same. She told me a few weeks ago that she would bring 30 people and that she did. Her group mostly painted the whole house. It is not built yet, but they painted all of the siding that will be installed on the house and then just touched up.
   There was another group of thirty or so that came from Church of the Highlands . They mostly framed the house. We got all of the walls up, interior and exterior,a nd all of the ceiling joists and band boards. Set the massive pre-built parch beam, and the first few sticks of the stick-framed roof. At four oclock when it was only Brandon and I left on the job, Brandon was asking how could they leave and not see how the roof pieces fit together. This roof is a shed in the front with two gables on the side and one on the back. All pieces fit like a glove, naturally.
     Last week, two new groups picked up where we left off. 1st United Methodist from Lawrenceville, Georgia was led by Sam. Sam, together with Jeff and two of the young ladies had been here before. The other group arrived on Tuesday of this past week. Dave Werges is pastor of Crossroads Lutheran Church in Osage, Iowa. Dave has brought groups to work with me since 2005 in Biloxi, Texas, Louisiana, for 26 times. This was their first visit to T-Town. Dave's wife Elayne is also with him on this trip as well as son Kevin who helped our Mennonite friends with the installation of the metal roof on the house .. They are staying at the camp with their new 5th wheel. Rachel was a young lady in their group that was on her first mission trip.  
     We also dedicated the Faith Build house, new home for Ernestine Burrell, this past week. Volunteer house leader Ben Ashton received his golden hammer award and I got him in trouble for my quick post pictures to facebook. About 15 of the Lawrenceville young ladies were all kneeling and praising Ben with raised hands and I snapped the picture and direct to FB. Someone (I thought it was his wife but turned out to be his mom) commented ,"Is there something going on I need to know about".
      "If it rains, I don't care, makes no difference to me" is a line from the Doobie Brothers song. Saw them Friday night at a live concert at the Tuscaloosa amphitheater courtesy of son Bob as a Father's day present. It was raining a bit but we had some ponchos so it made for an unforgettable experience. Bob sent me the tickets by email and I had to figure out the qr reader, that little black squiggly thing to show the box office . I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to find the thing at the gate but it turned out alright. Like I always say, no need to worry until you have to. Doobie Brothers were great.
     Brandon left for two weeks just after he helped the frame day Saturday. He's taking his new 5 week old son, Everet and the rest of his family to Utah. He left me a two page, single spaced list of stuff to watch for. It's been Brandon appreciation week and I look forward to his soon return, although he really deserves the break. And, as tradition would have it, I've got to have some "Peter was here" surprise for him when he returns next week. It came in the form of a phone call from a local builder, Bill Lunsford. He asked me if I would be interested in some leftover fibreglas columns and caps and bases. They were perfect fit for the columns on the front of Ms. Dallas new home. I really hope that she (and Brandon) like them. I really did try to call Casandra for permission before setting them on Saturday (got voice mail). They'll be fine. Trust me, I'm a doctor.