Keepin It Cajun: Ending With A Beginning

Our Thursday began at Royal Palm Lane, where there was simply a cement slab and a port-a-john. The slab will eventually be hidden by a brand new house that is going to a homeowner named Kim, who we had met during our Sunday orientation. If you've been keeping count, you'll know that this is the 4th homeowner that we've gotten to meet this week - on most H4H trips, you are lucky if you even get to meet one.

Before we began the day of work (as we waited for the wood to be delivered from Lowe's) we circled up and did our daily "cheer" that the Flagler Affiliate has established as a tradition. We all hold hands and say that Habitat is "not a hand out, but a hand up." Following the cheer, I introduced a little game to the group, that I originally was taught by the Hilton Head Affiliate back in Spring of 2009. This game is called "The Tick," where two clothespins (ticks) make there way around the worksite for the day. John and I started with the ticks, and then the goal is to sneakily clip them on to someone else without them noticing. Then at the end of the work day, whoever finds themselves with a tick will get heckled for as long as the group can keep it coming.

While the ticks served as a major distraction, with Dom getting really into it and trying to stick me several times, we were able to focus and start making progress on Kim's house. I was wrong in saying that we'd be working on floors, instead we did the pre-wall framing of the house, where we built headers for the doorways, as well as laying beams on the outside perimeter. The sun was making a pretty steady appearance and someone nearby was cooking up something that smelt incredibly good all morning. Everyone got pretty involved on the site, with people getting to use a circ-saw and table-saw for the first time as well as a sawzall. The morning went pretty quick, and we were done with all of the wood that had been delivered by 11:30. We got a chance to sign one of the headers that was going up, leaving our mark on Kim's house. We circled up to get ready to head to the Affiliate Office for pizza and Joanne's homemade strawberry shortcake, but not before Paul and I fell victim to being stuck with the ticks.

At the office everyone got pretty quiet as we chowed down, and then it was time to go. Joanne and John couldn't stop complimenting the work ethic and attitudes of the students, which was great to see. In fact, the Affiliate already invited CNU back next year to participate again - we'll have to see what next year's chapter officers think about making a return trip vs. a new adventure. Everyone lined up to give John a hug, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach, hanging around the church, eating our BBQ chicken dinner, doing some reflection activities, and of course by closing out the night with another epic game of mafia.

This morning, we got to sleep in till 8:15, with an anticipated "wheels up" time of 9:00 for a day in St. Augustine. It's supposed to rain this afternoon...should be interesting..