Hi everyone!

Sorry it took so long to get you my next update, we’ve been really busy building!!! June 2 was the kickoff day for our 2 week blitz to build the first 6 houses in the subdivision. These past two weeks have been exhausting! I’ve worked Monday thru Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to at least 5 p.m. But you can tell all the work we’ve got done! Kight Lumber Company and News 25 cosponsored a house and had professional framers come in and frame it on June 2, and let me tell you that was the most amazing thing I’ve seen! A team of 20 framers started before 6 a.m. and had the house under roof by 1:30! Now that house is almost complete, the carpet and vinyl was installed late on the 15th. The other houses aren’t quite that far thought, the United Church of Christ/Diciples of Christ house walls just started going up on the 14th, we are going to set the trusses on Wednesday.  The Bussing and Koch house is ready for the drywall along with the Best One Tire house and the Havens house. The Old National Bank house’s drywall is completed.  I have learned so much from watching these houses go up.

I’m learning all the technical terms for construction, and it makes me feel like I’m learning a secret code. I’ve called suppliers and ordered gravel and other various things. The thing I didn’t really realize though was how much I’ve been learning. I’ve been leading groups of volunteers to do simple things, on the foundation, putting the sump pit in with the drain tile, then putting the gravel in, then gluing blue board (moisture barrier) onto the blocks. I’ve also lead on hanging insulation. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to the city inspectors and show them what sites needed inspected for what.

I’ve let others lead me a lot too. My main teacher is one of the regular volunteers on the Tuesday and Wednesday crew, Chris.  He is a retired oncologist I believe, and has been with habitat for several years. I would have never guessed he was doctor, he knows almost everything about building houses, and he is a very good explainer. He’s taught me how to layout walls from the floor plans, which I was amazed that I didn’t know how much work that was.  I know how to read the plans but I didn’t realize that I didn’t know how to actually apply them to build a wall. There is so much more than the dimensions on the paper, you have to think about how long your 2x4 is and how long your OSB (oriented strand board) is and what is the best way to build this wall section with the least amount of waste of the two. Then from the door and window openings on the plan you add 5 inches for a door so you have enough room for the frame and wiggle room to get it level and 3 inches for a window to have wiggle room to also make it level. That day was mindboggling! He has also taught me how to walk on a 6:12 pitch roof, or as he called it how to dance on a roof. Once I got up on the roof to help shingle he took me by my hand and we walked down the roof, and back, and down again, telling me the whole way to only step on things that were nailed down. Then he let go of my hand and told me to turn around in a circle and face him again. I thought in my head, “are you crazy?!” But sure enough, I did it, and without touching him or the roof for support.  Then I was finally ready to help with singles when someone came and yelled that it was time for lunch!

I know I am doing an internship to learn the technical aspects of the construction industry but the people I’ve met and the emotional side of my experience has been amazing! I’ve grown closer the Partner Families, especially to Rosie Watterson and learned her story. She was living by herself and was home during the tornado that went through the mobile home park. The tornado picked her up, threw her, and buried her under the debris. Her daughter, who is a nurse, rushed to Rosie’s home right after the tornado to find that her home was no longer there. She searched for Rosie and found her critically injured under a pile of rubble.  She didn’t wait for the paramedic or the ambulance, she knew how bed Rosie was and that she needed immediate medical help if she was going to live. She carried her mother to her car and drove her to the hospital where Rosie was given a less that 1% survival rate. But her daughter was not about to let them give up on her. She told the doctors that they were going to pump blood in her body until her heart stopped, so that’s what they did, a total of 114 pints of blood was pumped into Rosie battered body. Her chest suffered the most injury, and as a result, they had to leave her chest open to do so many surgeries that Rosie stopped counting and they would just wrap her chest up tightly after a surgery and put her in a room that was 90 degrees to keep her body heat up until the next surgery. She is a miracle. There is no other word to describe her.  And now nothing will get her down.  One day during the build, she was walking around her house (the Kight and News 25 house) and stopped to sit on her side stoop. A crew had just finished putting siding on that side of the house and left the extension ladder leaning. A gust of wind came and blew the ladder right on Rosie’s head. Thankfully I didn’t witness it, but more thankfully one man from that siding crew did and yelled for help.  There were 2 nurses working on the house next door and they rushed over to help while someone else ran and got the first aid kit.  I ended up taking her to the Deaconess Urgent Care Center where she got 18 staples in her head.  The whole time she kept saying to the doctor, “this is nothing; I’ve been through much more than a ladder on my head.”  And when the nurse asked her how bad it hurt she answered, “Not bad at all. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a 3.” After we were finished there she wanted to go back to the site to see what progress was made. I kept telling her that she just needed to go home and rest and put ice on her head and wrist (which was badly bruised from blocking the ladder) but she wouldn’t listen until Mike called and told her to go home.  I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about faith, determination and strength from Rosie. Every time I see her, she comes up to me and gives me a hug and then she takes me through her house to show me every little detail that has been added.

Another partner family, Kenny and Vikki Kindred break my heart every time I see them. Kenny is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease.  He is living off of the hope to move into his new house.  And for us, it is a race against time to get him in his house so he can experience having a home again with Vikki. And for Vikki it’s silently praying that the progress is slow so she can be with him longer. Everyone is in the mind set that he is hanging on to see the house complete and once it is, he can go in peace knowing that Vikki will be able to have a place to live affordably and to remember him. I will never forget the day me and Mike went to our shower supplier and got them a shower that was handicap accessible, and the supplier gave us a really good deal on it and we could wait to tell Vikki. When we told her, tears welled up in her eyes and her knees got wobbly and she was speechless. Then she said, “Oh thank you so much, oh thank you, thank you.” The look in her eyes was of relief. She knew that moment that we would take care of them and that things were going to get better, as much as they could.

Now that the blitz is over, we are going back to our regular build schedule, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday. We all got the day off today, which was much needed! Things should start to slow down, even though we have 6 houses from the blitz and started 2 more on Saturday. Even though the houses weren’t competed in the 2 week blitz, it’s okay because the water, sewer and electrical lines aren’t in yet. Right now we’re looking at the beginning of August for these first families to be in their homes. I will try to get you more frequent updates now that things will be slower! I will close with a quote from the back of a t-shirt that I saw someone wearing on the site recently that is so simple yet compelling…

“Love All, Serve All”

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