Habitat, Round 2

You might remember that last month, I took my turn representing the station out at the Habitat for Humanity building site in Fort Wayne. Earlier in the year, WBCL raised money to help build a house, and now the house is actually under construction.

Yesterday was my second day to represent the station at the site, and I was nervous out of my mind, because the forecast called for snow and wind all day. Yes, my insane fear of driving in the winter has returned with a vengeance...not helped by the fact that on Tuesday night, I avoided an accident by a fraction of a hair. So I was nervous about being out on unfamiliar roads in bad weather, and I was nervous about being out IN the biting cold and wind to work.

If it gives you any indication of how nervous I was, I woke up BEFORE my 4:30 a.m. alarm, sick to my stomach with anxiety. That's as abnormal for me as rejecting coffee. WHOA. Yeah. That serious.

I was excited that a friend of mine from here at home wanted to carpool up so he could volunteer as well. Always enjoy company on the commute! We set out for the site and by the time we arrived, the snow was already beginning to fly. FORTUNATELY it blew right over in about an hour and we didn't get any snow the rest of the day. I was one grateful girl.

Most of the workers were the actual crew workers for Habitat...not too many volunteers braved the cold that day! The volunteer coordinator took pity on me {I was the only girl at that point and was still recovering from the incredible anxiety of the morning}...and she gave me some office work to do.

I thrive on office work. I was the happiest alphabetizing, hole punching, binder filling girl you've ever seen.

After I finished with that work, I took a quick tour of the grounds just to see the progress that had been made - and to see what the other workers were up to!

Last time I worked, I helped wrap the WBCL house with Tyvek - so on the house straight ahead in the picture below, I helped with that lower half!! {This is actually two houses, not one big house like it looks like in this picture.} Since I was there last, they've added the roof trusses and roof! Exciting! Because of the snow, wind, and cold, we weren't able to work on this house, yesterday, but it was good to see it had made progress!

 All the guys were hard at work in another house in the development, cutting trim for around the windows and doors.

 Power tools and sawdust everywhere! They were happy!

After my tour, I went back to the main office area to help prepare for lunch. A really generous {and talented!} church group brought homemade soup - four crock pots of it, actually - and salad and veggies and cookies and...and...and!!! SO. GOOD!!!

That afternoon, I joined up with a cleaning crew, because some ladies had joined the ranks throughout the day, and our job was to prep three of the houses that are going to be dedicated this weekend! We mopped floors and put down the plastic sheeting over the carpet for people to walk on. I really enjoyed that!

About the outfit above: I own NO clothing appropriate for working in cold conditions. NONE. So I wore Ryan's long underwear and his snow pants...and one of his shirts with his fleece over it - and his work coat and his gloves...and I had a pair of his socks and his Carhartts in the car, though I didn't need them. Let's just say his clothes look a lot better ON HIM.

By the end of the day, I was ready to come home, drink a pop and curl up under the covers to get warm!!! But I was thankful that I felt more qualified to do some of these tasks this time!! Round Two: A Success!