Heaven Helper - had an inner child day....

Since Wednesdays are always hard, we started our day with toys in our mail bags.
Predictably, we then had to compare toys to see whose was bigger, and whose bubble blower had stars.

The work is going surprisingly well, considering....

"Considering what?" you might ask. Well, considering... that there doesn't appear to be a squarely hung wall or a level floor in any room of the house. Everything takes twice as long as it should.

Dathan and Vicki started to lay flooring and it absolutely refused to lock in. After stripping out the previously completed work, it became obvious that the wall was not true and the floor couldn't be set parallel to it. The previous group had tried to compensate for this problem by cramming pieces against the wall, and then trying to force in the new sections. Anyone who ever laid laminate flooring knows this does not work. Errors magnify as you cross the room, unless you get a true line going. The joints will buckle, and the panels will not lock in. Dathan has been the genius of the project. He devised the system of border screws to hold our first row in line, and he thought his way through every problem as the floor moved along. He's dynamic with a power saw, and he loves his new floor pulling tool. Go, Dathan.

Jack and Jordan had basically the same battle hanging doors. Apparently, the only consistent building technique is inconsistency. It took some real jerry-rigging to get the doors to hang in such a way as to open and close.

Mark and Breezy have been laying tile and placing bathroom grout. Yesterday, it was mud all over Breezy, today it was grease. Thank God the girl is just throwing away her tee shirts, because she would never get them clean.

We got through Wednesday, which is the hardest day. It's all roses from here on out.

Back tomorrow, from the "Highway to Heaven"...

Team Mission Possible

Our team is Eric, our leader, Connie, Mel, Jenna, Katherine, Jordan & Kyle. We are in St. Bernard Parish in Chalmette. Our homeowners lost everything in the flood and have been renting an apartment. They are hoping to move in to their remodeled home soon!!! We have been putting up drywall and mudding so far this week. We are taking the ferry across to our worksite from our church quarters here in Algiers. The area is still very depressed but we have run into several folks who say that our presence here is what continues to give them hope. The people are so friendly and appreciate us being here. Today is Jenna's 16th birthday and we celebrated with Twinkies. Our youth are working very hard. They are a joy. Thanks to all of you back home for your prayers and support. Mel & Connie

iRepair: words from Tara

Haven't had a lot of time to update the blog, but finally got a chance. Today, Cole and I constructed a knee bench for the bathroom, and later found out that we did it slightly wrong. After all that hard work, we were frustrated! I think it should be easy to fix, though. I'm getting pretty good at hammering nails and using the electric saw. I'm still having a hard time getting the hang of the electric screwdriver, though. Basically, I make mistakes and Cole fixes them. :) Abby put in a lot of hard work with the dry wall the past two days. She was very persistent in her work and hardly took any breaks. We finally got her to take on another job today, so she wouldn't get too bored. Gabby and Katie made a mistake with the first window they beaded, but by the second one, they looked like pros. I'm slowly learning that this week is just one big trial and error. :) Greg is ever so optimistic! Anytime that he or someone else makes a mistake, he just laughs it off, which puts us all at ease. It's much appreciated. Janel takes a bathroom break about every five minutes, haha, but she works really hard and plays hard after (she's always the first to suggest an ice cream treat!) We met a little boy today named Sam that decided to come in the house and help us out a little bit. Greg helped him push insulation in the walls. He looked like he was just happy to have something to do instead of sitting outside. Hopefully, we'll see him again tomorrow!

Club NOLA!!!!!

Well its Wednesday, "hump day," sorry you haven't heard from us, but we've been VERY busy. Our team consists of 8 people, Pete, Andy, Leigh Ann, Michelle, Brandon, Ryon, Amy, and Katelyn. We have been working on building a new roof for our house. The owner of the house currently lives in Texas, but we have had the opportunity to meet several neighbors, including her niece, who emails picture updates of the progress. We also met Rose on the first day of working, and she offered to cook lunch for us today. She made chicken, rice, and beans and it was delicious!!!!! :) So far, the work is a little slow due to corrections of previous construction. We had done several odd jobs while waiting to all get on the roof, including finishing the flooring, cleaning scraps, putting together a Mary statue that the owner had in her yard that was damaged during the storm, which will be a nice surprise for her :) On Tuesday, we were also awarded the Spirit Stick for volunteering for the hardest job!! :) Woohoo! Got to go for now, its almost dinner, then devotions, then sleep, but we hope to keep everyone updated with the progress on the roof!

Six of Hearts Day 4

Day 4

Morale High.

Today, we woke up at 7, had a good breakfast, and proceeded to leave for the house. Everything went as normal, we managed to do a large chuck of work on the bathroom, and we are only requiring one more wall and a ceiling.

Lunch went well. After being attacked by a savage horde of flies, we were able to enjoy our lunch in peace. We are continuing to plaster mud on the walls, and sand of the excess mud, and proceed to extend a wall.

Normal, if not highly productive day.

We are making more progress on the bathroom, progress in paragraph above. The owners dogs are very nice, quite the favorite among The Six of Hearts. The day is comfortably hot, with the occasional current running through the house. We have started working on the kitchen, increasing the size of the wall, and filling in the floor with quicrete(trademark).

We have two days left, and I believe we can get alot done in those two days.

Blackjack out.