This week we said farewell to the Taves family. Frank and wife Caralee, son Kirby (3) and little sister Mandy were the house parents at a home bought by the Mennonite church here in Tuscaloosa just after the April 2011 tornado. Frank is the second such family that we have met. The house parents sign up for a year of service. They in turn host young men from their church who come from all around the country to volunteer six months of their time, and in our case, we have the blessing that they work with our local Habitat affiliate. Most of the young men are in their early twenties and most come from families that are farmers. Hard workers all. Humble. Don't say much, but man, they do a lot. How many Mennonites does it take to, oops, never mind, it's done already is the joke one of them made up and many a truth is told in jest.
     Most of our staff has been invited to their home for Thursday lunch . MMM! It's amazing that all the single guys are able to remain thin eating like we did. Everysooften, some homemade cinnamon rolls would make it out to the site.
     The Mennonites have been our go-to guys on installing our metal roofs on all of the homes that we build here. For a straight gable roof (two sloped sides only- front to back) the old record for installing the sixty or so 3 foot by 16 foot metal panels was two hours. When they heard about it, the record went down to an hour and a half. Not bad for some volunteers, eh?
     The hello in this weeks title goes to Miss Mary, whose last name I will get for you next time. She had come with a college group last year sometime and had a great experience working with us. She signed up with Americorp National and has taken a position to work with us for one year. Mary is from Massachusetts.
     The other hello of a new volunteer goes to Ms. Anna Kung, who came for two weeks from NYC, and felt called by God to come volunteer with us for a year also, instead of going to London, as she had originally planned .
     The two of them will be staying in an completed but unoccupied Habitat home until November, when the new owners will move in.
     This past week we didn't have out of town volunteers working with us again. Brandon set up the schedule this week for us to do this and that instead of working on the two homes that are under construction. We own two 55 foot trailers (like the kind you see going down the highways) that we use to store tools in one and materials in the other. Since they are set up on Juanita Drive, they will act as storage facilities for at least another two years, as we have another thirty or so lots upon which to build homes on that street. We have been working little by little to make order out of chaos in these two trailers. Last week we just bout got it, with signs and getting rid of stuff that didn't belong in there. Now to maintain the order is the challenge we will face daily.
     We also this past week celebrated the dedication (for about the 5th or 6th time) of Jennifer Miles home at 115 Juanita . Lots of tears. Frank was awarded his golden hammer award as well.
     Been lovin this 100 degree weather this past week. Not! Come on, fall season!
     New topic. Looks like next year, for my three weeks vacation, I will be going on mission trips to Gautemala (in January with Larry Winger and a Global Village group), Honduras in late June, Nepal I'm not sure when yet, and oh yea, just cause I can't count so well, Bart Tucker's hosting a Biloxi reunion build in August of 2015 that I can't miss too. I am researching setting up a fundraising page to help support my habit. You've been forewarned.
      That's all for this week. Luv ya'll. Peter