I came to Tuscaloosa just over three years ago to help rebuild the town that had been hit with a tornado in April of 2011. Originally the plan was to move the Fuller Center from Louisiana to here. As it turned out, I ended up working with the newly re-booted Habitat affiliate here instead. For the first four months that I was here, I lived in the basement of my friend and boss at Habitat, Brandon Kastellor. The other day, Brandon told me of a conversation that we had had that I didn't remember saying, but he said that when asked how many houses did I think we could build in the next few years together, my answer was fifty. Well, guess what? We did it.
     Well, not just Brandon and me . One group of the many, many that have come to volunteer with us over the years is a group from Lafayette, Indiana called the Kairos Carpenters. It is led by a couple, Larry and Cheryl Winger. This past week was their seventh such visit with us, just here in Tuscaloosa. They brought about 25 people with them, many repeaters. Larry is a corn farmer but has been leading this group for over twenty years. He invited me to go on a mission trip with them to Zambia, Africa last January and again to Guatemala in January this week.
      When Larry spoke with Brandon the week before arriving here, he had said that he may have to just bring the group here and then turn around and go back to finish harvesting the soy bean crop. Fortunately for all, their son Andrew is just as hard a worker as his dad, and he finished up in time for Larry to be able to spend the week here with us.
     Many of those who come to help are couples. Don Johnson and his wife Shirley have been with us many times. Don is 75 years old (not going to say Shirley's age) and they have been married for 50 years .
     Cleet and Boo are another beautiful couple that came along to help also. Cleet is a contractor bactk home and it shows. He spent most of the week crawling around on the roof, setting the pre-cut roof rafters (we don't need no stinkin trusses), installing the roof sheathing and then 30 lb. felt paper over that.
      Speaking of pre-cut roof rafters- So, Brandon is very skilled and talented in figuring out the size and amount and angles to cut up a stack of wood on the ground and then once the walls are raised, they pass up these stacks of wood, and, bingo, they all fit. So, we tried to prepare as well as we could before the group shows up to build kind of a landmark 50th home. The Friday night before the Monday start, all of the roof trusses are cut and stacked in piles on the ground. The footprint of this future home for the Kirkland family is 28 feet deep by 50 feet long with a two foot overhang. That night, Brandon receives a revelation. He had done all of the calculations for all of the cuts of the hip roof with two gables on the front for that footprint . OOOPS, said the revelation to him, I forgot to figure in the six foot deep porch at the front of the house (the roof hangs out over the porch).   Well, like I always say, it ain't a mistake unless you don't know how to fix it, and fix it he did. Lucky for us, 84 lumber company was open Saturday and they had 28 foot long 2 x 8's in stock (not a real common item at your local Home Depot). Most of the pieces that he cut were still usuable, and he just had to cut two more longer pieces of each set for the roof to come out correctly, which it did. See picture.
      Great build all week. Coupla donated lunches for the occasion, Chick Fila one day and Newks another with coffee pastries by Panera another morning. Cheryl Winger always makes sure that we have coffee and snacks during their stay with us. One lady from their church back home made many bags of cookies that lasted throughout the week.
      We also had two dedications this week. Cretia Craigs house at 110 Juanita Drive was dedicated at 830 Friday morning and the rehab for Ms . Jennifer was dedicated at 11 the same day.
    The Wingers treated staff members to a farewell dinner at the new Dreamland. A good time was had by all. Only problem is how short weeks like these are. Don't blink or you miss it.
    Oh, and I had a nice 63rd birthday party on Tuesday night with friends and family in one of the homes I helped build those three years ago. One of the homeowners was being a rascal, and after many attempts to work with her, it was foreclosed upon. Instead of letting it sit empty, two of our staff, Mary and Anna have been living there. Anna put together the special surprise party for me.
     As my son Alex and I head into Thanksgiving week, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have such good friends and fellow servants of the Lord around me. That's all for this week. Hope all of you reading this have a great Thanksgiving and hope to see you here again soon. Roll Tide!