Final day of work!

Today we had a rainy final day of work in Nashville! We were working on 4 separate projects. Marylou and Marty were finishing up painting at Leon's house!

Jeff and Andy went to Richard's house to finish up the drywall!

David and Susanna went with Jim, a skilled craftsman that works for PDA, to work on tiling a bathroom. They spent literally all day there (got there around 8 and didn't get home until 7!). They had a great time, did a great job, and were even given cd's that Jim has recorded in a studio of his bass playing!

Here are some photos of their work!

The rest of us (Brian, Keith, John, Aly, Maddie, Kayla, Mark and I) went to Ed's house:

 The flood waters rose all the way up to a foot from the ceiling of his house. Due to this, after the floods he had to raise his house 7 feet (as you can see in the picture!). We needed to do a couple of things in his basement. 1)Empty out all of the debris into wheel barrows and take it to the dumpster. 2) Move around the dirt so the the floor was level.

 3) Take the gravel and wheel it into the basement (back breaking work!!!)

 4) Spread the gravel out so that it is nice and level!

All done!

The slogan of the other mission group working upstairs :)

This evening, we wrapped up our programs with a discussion on God's lyrics (referencing psalms of course!). We then were each given a notebook that we used to write down the "lyrics" of our life with God (our faith testimony!).

Also, Keith and Mary Lou worked on making our sign for the post inside the church! 

Can you guess what it will be?!

An oriole bird!!!

 

Easily the coolest sign on the post! Great job guys!

Now, our drivers are in bed resting up for the long haul tomorrow! The kiddies, Jeff and I are staying up late and hanging in the "blue room" so that we can sleep on the ride tomorrow :) Can't wait to see you all when we get back! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers! Good night!

Work Day 2!

Today we all got a lot of work done and it was very satisfying! My favorite part of today in particular was being able to meet and talk to the home owners! Now that it has been 14 months since the flood, it would be easy to overlook the need that is still here, but hearing their stories of the flood and how they were homeless for months really puts things into perspective.  A homeowner said to us that even though this has been really hard and trying, they are grateful for the way it has brought people together, not only in the community, but from across the U.S. We are blessed to be here to help!

Jeff and Brian's team went back to Richard's house today to continue work on drywalling, caulking, and adding shoe molding to his basement. Here are some more photos from  Tuesday as well as completed work photos from today!

Dry walling experts!

Finished caulking and adding shoe molding!

Keith and my team went to THREE job sites today!

First we went to Bob's house to add sealant to the grout in his new tiled basement floor!

Beautiful!

 Then we went to Derek's to demo his bathroom! We are experts at reverse drywalling!

John's hammer holes made a heart in the drywall!

All the drywall is out! Time to remove some nails and vacuum!

 Finally, we went over to Leon's to seal tiles and help Mary Lou and Marty finish up some trim work that they have been doing an excellent job on!

Overall, it was a very productive day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Program, Water Park, Dinner and a Tour!

We are slightly more than halfway through our trip and we are having a blast!

Last night we had our first program. Our theme this year is "Measures of God's Love". Our inspiration for this is being in Music City, of course! Tuesday night we talked about how God has a steady rhythm that he plays for us throughout our lives and how we need to listen to his rhythm and follow.

 Here are some group shots from last night's devotion...

This morning, we woke up at 8 and cleaned our living areas before heading out to Nashville Shores water park!

We had a great time bonding and enjoying the gorgeous day in the park!

After the water park, we came back to the church for a special dinner purchased by the church for us. Joining us were the PDA workers as well as our homeowners!

We finally got to meet Lisa, the owner of the house where we fixed the crawl space! She was SO nice!

 After dinner, Jim (our hospitality coordinator) gave us a personal tour of the whole church and its history! What a beautiful church with a storied background!

The Santuary (and you can see Jim in the bottom corner!)

Notice how the windows are mostly frosted with a few clear windows in the shape of a cross! Beautiful!

This is their columbarium! It is a gorgeous and unique design!

 Mid-tour we had another group photo shoot!

The "cute" photo

The "silly" photo!

 We ended the night by celebrating Aly's birthday!!!! Happy 15th, Aly!!!

Back to work tomorrow!

Work!

We were sent to three different work sites today! Marylou and Marty (Brian's AWESOME mom!) went with a PDA lead worker to a house that had a "punch list". They had some finishing work to do around a house that was nearly completed. This was perfect because they were able to get home in time to get the food ready for the hungry troops later that night!

Jeff, Brian, Andy, Mark, Kayla, David, and Susanna went to a house that had insulation and dry wall to install. The homeowner's name is Richard and he has EIGHT dogs!

Andy and David hard at work!

Wouldn't be Nashville without a cowgirl hat!

Keith, John, Maddie, Aly, and I went to Lisa's house. We discovered quickly that when they said we had a "crawl space" to work in, they meant crawl... mostly flat on your belly, unless you are John who has super human crawling monkey like abilities!

 First we had to pull out the old plastic that was put down on top of the mud/rock floor to keep the "vapor" (moisture) from going up into the house.

 Then we measured, cut, and spread new plastic down in the crawl space!

 Then we went in and hung tons of insulation up in the floor....

It was a long day, but we got the job done!

We end tonight with the first part of our devotional program followed by ice cream sundaes! Sweeeet!