Day 26 – “I’ll Be Back”

Wow, what a change in temperature, I even had to find my light weight jacket! This is what we have been waiting for, a day that is 63, overcast and breezy – perfect day for roofing! We brought out the Lull, (I was in charge of measuring and drilling the hole for the pin – pic below) and the crew on the roof got moving today while the temps were low and lovely.

We were really motivated and didn’t stop for a morning break, we wanted to get the home under the roof by the end of the day but alas, we had to stop at noon since the corporate office was getting a donation today and we were honored by a photo op with the Executive director. Our site supervisors made lunch for us today and this tied up the two weeks of work in Lake Placid. What a wonderful experience!

We got back to the camp and all did some preparations for a group dinner to mark the common mission and fellowship we have experienced. We worked hard but also had a great time getting to know the other Care-A-Vanners and the work site team. Buck, Mike and Frank were so great humored and willing to teach any of us about any part of the project we wanted to learn. This experience has brought Paul and I closer to each other and closer to our need to give back to others. It has moved us to look into projects closer to home so I encourage anyone looking to give in a meaningful way to look at their local Habitat organization or ReStore run by Habitat. For those at home, habitatbucks.org is where we will start investigating when we get home. In the beginning of this two week venture, we learned that Habitat does not GIVE out homes but DOES give the potential homeowner the tools to be successful in home ownership. They have to have a critical need, have good credit, have a full time job, and invest over 400 hours in classes and sweat equity to help bring their dream home to fruition. They also have a mortgage and pay Habitat back – Habitat really does pay it forward! Every day after devotions we say to each other in the circle “Habitat is not a hand out, but a hand up”. After learning the process, this is the very essence of what Habitat does every day. We are sad to leave this group of fantastic people and have really enjoyed working with each of them as well as sharing our leisure time with them. We will be back!

Headed North tomorrow, first stop is Horse Creek Winery, Sparks, Georgia