One Down...

Wow. I can’t believe that our first spike has come to an end. Like most of the people in my group, I have been through a lot and I am so happy to have made it through. My biggest accomplishment to this day is to say they I have started something in my life and followed through with it. I have been afraid of that for a long time. If it weren’t for the 10 people in my life for this bumpy ride: Derek, Shiny, Ian, Jeremy, Christina, Jo, Jenna, Sarah, Leia, and last but certainly not least, Ashley, I would’ve had a far different experience. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week was amazing! Lauren, our supervisor for the past couple weeks, put me inside to put up drywall on the ceilings. It was pretty awesome! I worked with a man named Abraham and he was pretty neat. We started in the living room, and then worked our way into the kitchen, followed by the hallways, then the bedrooms and lastly, the bathroom. It was such a confidence booster for me to have that chance to start that project in the house and be able to finish it before first round was over. GO ME! I also had a chance to work on putting up walls. I am so good; I can do dry walling in my sleep! I am a pro at using the drywall jack. It is a device used to raise big pieces of drywall up to the ceiling. I used one for three days! Today I was able to bring the jack over to Neil’s house and give the Job Corps group a demonstration on how to use it! That would easily have to be one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Working in construction was certainly a test for me because I normally wouldn’t be caught on a construction site. I had the chance to be involved in all stages of building a house, such as putting up frames of the house, assisting with numerous tasks such as blocking and cross-bracing, siding the house, and many other duties.

OH! I can’t forget about Miss Pat, Miss Courtney, and Miss Bertha. These three women deserved all of the gifts they receive in life. They have hearts of those that are so familiar in my heart. I felt very comfortable working along side these women and their families, and other numerous homeowners and volunteers this round. If Habitat for Humanity asked me to come again, I would most certainly do it again.

Tonight, Leia and Derek are cooking dinner and then we will be heading to the Job Corps appreciation ceremony. We worked with a great group of people from different Job Corps campuses this week and I loved the fact that we could all work together. We even got some of them interested in joining AmeriCorps NCCC! After that, I don’t know. Most likely some much needed sleep because tomorrow we have our trip to New Orleans to visit the levees and see Miss Pat’s former housing location. I say former because if I am not mistaken, she mentioned that it’s not there anymore. We are leaving back to Denver on Tuesday morning to arrive on Thursday. So long Lafayette, Louisiana, Happy Holidays, and see you in Tucson, Arizona for round two!

~ Shawn