A Well Deserved Day Off

We had a great time in New Orleans today. We can't wait to see you all tomorrow and fill you in. We fly out of New Orleans on US Air flight 1256. We will be landing in Philadelphia at 5:00pm. Without traffic (fingers crossed) we will be at Prep at 7:30. We will call on our way to prep!

We didn't just influence a family, we influenced an entire community

Greetings from Bay St. Louis,
            We all woke up today sadly realizing that our last day of work has come, as well as Jermaine's (one of the americorps workers). We started off our day as usual, eating breakfast and heading off to our house. (Of course, it wouldn't be a usual workday without Sean hastily running to the vans becuase of his tardiness). Arriving at our well-constructed home on Union Street , we reunited with our fellow workers (Josh and Ishaan) and everyone swiftly picked up a brush and finished painting the siding. During the morning there were a lot of smiles, jokes and laughs all around the work site. We went back to our home for the week, St. Augustine's, for lunch with our two new best friends, Josh and Ishaan. When we returned to the work site we all got together to get a few group pictures before getting back to painting the house. We grabbed our brushes and were ready to finally finish the last coat and last minute touches to the trim. Some others jobs that were done during day were cleaning up the yard around the house, organizing & painting the shed and cleaning up the brushes. After baking in the hot sun, we all have the funniest tan lines. Then we went to the quaint little shops in down town BSL, it was great to talk to all the locals and hear thier stories of Katrina. They explained how much Katrina changed their lives and here is just one of the stories that touched our hearts.

"The Story" By: Shane Farrell
Sylvia, the owner of an antique shop in  Bay Saint Louis, told Josh and me this very intriguing story yesterday.
After Katrina, there was a group of volunteers at the Baptist Church down the street from the shop. There was a group of teens volunteering there. Their job was to go to houses that had been destroyed and clean up the rubble and check on the people. They were given the address of the house they were to work on that day. They went to the house and they saw the elderly couple who owned the house sitting on the front porch in rocking chairs holding hands.  The couple didn't say anything to the group all day. They just watched them all work. When they were about to leave, the old man approached the chaperone of the group. He said to him "Thank you for saving us." The chaperone just looked at the old man kind of confused. The man continued saying "My wife and I decided last night that we were going to commit suicide today because we have no children and lost everything we own." The chaperone was shocked and tried to keep himself together. They proceeded to go back to the church and log their hours at the address. While they were there, the person in charge came over and noticed that they were logging in.  Then they realized that the group had GONE TO THE WRONG ADDRESS!!! Chills ran up mine and Josh's spine. Honestly, I could have balled my eyes out in front of this lady.  It still gives me the shakes to share this story with you now. Really makes you think doesn't it...?

Much love to our family and friends, can't wait to see you all soon
Tara & Brooke

Jesus Is Our Router

All of us in front of the Mockingbird!

Morning wake up call was early today, as we went to mass at the seminary. After mass, we ate a quick breakfast before heading to work. At the job site, we once again met up with Ishaan, who was accompanied by another friend for us, Josh. We once again filled a dumpster with plywood…but today we FINALLY finished clearing the field. If you have been up to date with our adventure we have been in a constant grudge match with the fire ants. We have finally defeated the red army!  We trudged back to our house on Union St, where we proceeded to work on painting the house…until the storm clouds came. Once the rain started to pour down really hard, everyone packed it in except Jake, Kirsten, and Mike. The three were instructed to hang trim on the house in the pouring rain because according to Steve “I’d rather get it all the way done now.”And let’s just say they got that job done! Thoroughly soaked, they joined up with the rest of the group a few houses down the street to do interior paint work, as the contractors needed us to keep busy in the rain. Several of the boys decided to express their love for some of the girls by painting their names on their arms. After several hours of painting and cheesing (parents look it up), we headed back to the seminary for lunch. Most of us also used this opportunity to change out of our wet clothes. Back at Union St, the vans were split up. One went to the warehouse to varnish cabinets. This job was quite enjoyable because it gave us a chance to talk while still getting work done. The other van went back to doing interior work and managed to get two coats of paint on the ENTIRE house before calling it quits for the day. When the work day was done we all congregated back at the seminary to shower, and such, for we were all rank. Mrs. Donnelly took us all to a charming coffee shop called “The Mockingbird”. Here we heard the musical stylings of Wes Lee.  After his performance, he gave a shout out to all of us thanking us for our hard work. Everyone at the Mockingbird gave us a round of applause in thanks, and several went out of their way to talk to us about our work. It was a truly humbling moment. Two of the students bought both of Wes Lee’s albums. Overall it was a great day!

Love ,

Bloggers Kirsten, Mike, Terrence

Pick-up Trucks, Snoballs, and Sarah Boddie

Same as every day other, we awoke from our slumber and headed out for a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, we all piled into our 2 vans and headed to the work site. We returned to the duplex houses to finish cleaning up the surrounding area and yet again bumped into our friends, THE FIRE ANTS! Despite the ensuing attack of ants, Brooke managed to save a whopping total of 18 frogs from the dangers of being trampled on. It’s been a mild week here compared to the normal Mississippi weather. Thank God!!! The temperatures are in the high 80s low 90s.

The boys fulfilled their life-long dream of riding in the bed of the pickup truck, rocking out to some CCR! From this, The Brohegans were formed. We were all reunited at our original site on Union Street to continue work on the exterior of the house.  We proceeded to caulk, paint and put up siding as usual. A few of us volunteered to clean up the trash at some of the neighboring houses and break up some boxes with sledge hammers.  After Lunch, we headed back for some more work! The exterior of the house is nearly finished. All the siding is now up after a long day of measuring and nibbling. Everyone is working in overdrive to finish this house.  Who knew we could ever build the most beautiful olive green house humanity will ever behold on this side of the Mississippi. (Yes, the pun was intended). Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this house will hopefully be done by the end of the week. After we called it quits for the day, we were treated to some snoballs, which are tasty treats consisting of shaved ice, flavored syrup, and ice cream. While we were at Razz’s, we met the 3 cutest dogs alive.

When we finished, we returned to St. Augustine’s and got all fancied up for our special night out. And what a night we had. We went to Darwell’s, which is a nationally acclaimed restaurant by Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  Steve, Dan, Chris, and Ryan, our contractors, even joined us for dinner which was a lot of fun. As we enjoyed our Southern cuisine, we were blessed by the musical talents of Sarah Boddie. Sarah, who is an aspiring artist, stole the show and the hearts of all 9 boys on the trip.  The Southern hospitality continued when Sarah and even her mother thanked us for our work with Habitat. As we partied in the van on the way home, the work of the day finally caught up with us. Still having the time of our lives and working our tails off at the same time. Tomorrow will be great! The house might finally be finished.
Good Night and God Bless from Ole Miss

Alex T, Alex Y, Brooke and Shane

Some of the boys with Papa D, the owner of Darwell's Cafe.

Technical Difficulties

We are having some problems connecting to the Internet at St. Augustine's. Posts to come soon!! Keep checking back :)

Watch Out for the Nibbler!

Wake up call at 7:00! We all put on our cargos and boots and headed over to the dining hall for our "continental breakfast." We all learned bug spray was necessary after last night at the beach. We pulled up at the worksite and were told to get back in our vans. We ended up down the street from where we were yesterday at the double homes to move all the scrap to dumpsters to make it look more like a neighborhood than a scrap yard. We all became quick friends with the biting ants. Ouch! Some of us then went with Mr. Gower and Ms. Loyden to the warehouse and loaded up a moving truck. Lots of hard work was put into that! We all were reunited at our house on Union Street and began caulking and puting up siding on the house. LUNCH TIME! Around 12:00 we all came back to the seminary in the AC and ate lunch! After we ate like vultures (haha) we went back to the worksite. We made a new friend Ishaan who lives here in MS he will be working with us for the rest of the week to get all of his service hours for school. It is so great because none of his friends came but he still did! He instantly became part of the Prep family. Poor Shane and Jake... they were sent down the street to assemble bunk beds. Shane said in his reflection today that he has learned he will never buy bunk beds for his kids! With much talk of mohawks Mrs. Donnelly wanted none of that. The only compromise that was made that haircuts would only be allowed with permission of the moms. Mrs. Thomas responded without a second of hesitation, "NO!" The rest of the work day went smooth sailing. As the clouds moved in we kept on working. Around 4:15 we started to pack up and head out. We could not be more excited for showers. We ate like vulchres again at dinner and then had reflection in the dining hall. After going for a short walk- we went back to the dining hall for game night! Apples to Apples, Spoons, and the Name Game were quickly in action. we all are looking forward to what we have planned tomorrow. We are going to go to try some ice cream of the south which are more commonly known as snoballs!
Much Love from Mississippi,
Emily, Colleen, and Katie
xoxoxoxo

Emily, one of our bloggers for the night

"We're just kids building a house!"

Today was our first full day here in Bay St. Louis! We were all well rested and awoke at 7:30 to start our work day.  After eating breakfast and packing our lunches, we laced up our boots and piled into our 12-passenger vans and headed to the work site on Union Street.
When we first arrived, we were unsure of what to expect. Much to our surprise, the Habitat contractors let us handle everything on our own!  They were very patient and showed us how to use all the equipment safely. At first, we split up into groups and were assigned different jobs: siding, painting and hammering until it was time for lunch.
On our lunch break, we went to the beach and ate together under a pavilion.  There, we listened to a Habitat for Humanity contractor for a brief orientation.  He told us about the devastation from Katrina, and discussed their efforts to rebuild the city. The progress they have made here is tremendous and we feel honored to be a part of it!
After lunch, we got back to work until about 5:00.  We ate dinner together, a delicious meal prepared by two women from Bay St. Louis.  We learned that one of the women lives in a home built by Habitat and she told us how happy and blessed she feels to live there. 
To conclude our day, we went back to the beach and reflected on the events of today. As a whole, we are having a great time already and so far the trip has exceeded our expectations. Mississippi coast is beautiful, we can't wait to tell y'all about it!
More to come tomorrow!!!
Love, Julia Casey and Aileen Brier

                               Our Bloggers!