Here comes the sun!

By Annie

Today was the last day at our jobsites, and many of us fought back tears as we left the houses and residents that have made our spring breaks so meaningful. For the first time all week, the forecast was correct—although the day started out foggy, by eleven the sun had risen over the mountains and warmed the earth. Hammering may be hotter when the sun is out, but no one complained about wearing short sleeves!

We worked through the day, finishing projects and tidying the site. Workfest lasts for three weeks, and we’re only here for the second week, so many of our projects will be finished next week by another group of college students. It can be difficult not to see the finished product of our work, but as we are reminded in the prayer of Oscar Romero, “The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.” We are grateful to have had the opportunity to play a small part in God’s work in Appalachia, but look forward to going home, to more opportunities every day to participate in His plan.

The evening wrapped up with a delicious thanksgiving dinner prepared by the magnificent cooking ladies; we feasted on sweet potato casserole, turkey, dressing, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and peach cobbler. Many of our residents joined us for the meal. After dinner, the UofL group led devotion, a beautiful reflection on the gifts of Appalachia, prepared by Mandy. Then we shared our experiences with one another through a skit and song competition, judged by the kitchen ladies. The Red Team won, and then we said our final goodbyes to the families. To end the evening, we shared our thoughts and thanks with one another in a closing reflection.

Here’s what happened at our individual sites today!

Chris: We went to Dairy Queen after we were done working just to celebrate. We put up all the walls today and started on the roof, although I and a few others kept working on the ground.

Mandy : Finished windows and finally got to put up siding after all the challenging, hair-pulling prep work!

Gwen: Finished prepping for siding, and started on the siding.. Then after we were done, we went to visit Butcher Hollow, where Loretta Lynn is from. There, we visited the general store, which is actually an old coal company store. We could see the housing the coal company built, which has been reworked, but people still live there. You can really tell that they’re the same. It was a pretty cool experience.

Sarah K: We finished the porch at Elmo’s today!

Sarah F: is asleep at the time of this writing. She had a good day though : )

Annie: We finished the bathroom we worked on all week, and it looks great! At the end of the day, our crew leaders Jeff and Phil took us to the Black Barn Store, where we snacked on ice cream!

Tomorrow we head out right after breakfast! Please pray for a safe trip home.

Love,

Annie and the CAP team

PEACE AND QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday Night Blog: GWANDY (Gwen and Mandy)

Title: PEACE AND QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day two of work here at Camp Caleb:  We awoke with grateful hearts 45 minutes later than we were supposed to  (we had breakfast at 7:15 instead of 6:30 am!)!  The food here is amazing home-style Appalachian cookin’.  We had the best baked French Toast in the world!  After breakfast, we departed for our worksites, expecting another rainy wet day.  However, the rain amazingly held off until it down-poured later this evening.  Unfortunately, the torrential rain began on our walk to dinner!  But we were grateful to see the sunshine and not to return back to camp wet and cold.

Update on work groups:  Annie-  Today the gold team completed the framing of the skirt on the trailer, finished plumbing both bathrooms, experienced setbacks in tiling, and replaced a window.

Chris, Eddie, Sarah (Sar Flar)- The purple team who is working on building a brand new house from the bottom up finished putting up the final two walls of the four and cuddled with 3 day old kittens.

Mandy and Gwen-  Our orange team finished installing the last of the five windows, finished mudding 2 ceilings, built railings on the new deck, installed 5 doors and door frames that we stained yesterday, and cleaned.

Sarah (“Muddy Sparkle Horse”, Stretch, Legs, etc.)- The black team started building a porch today and cleaned up “black jimmies” (mice poop) in their resident’s house.

 

While waiting for the much anticipated hamburger casserole to be served, our group took the initiative to plan the prayer devotion that we are in charge of leading for Thursday night.  During Mandy’s meditative reading of a possible poem to use for the prayer devotion, low and behold a wasp fell from above.  Yet, this ferocious winged creature did not daunt Mandy during her reading.  After the wasp fell, she then proceeded to swat at the wasp and kill it while forcefully yelling the words “PEACE AND QUIET!!!!” because that was a part of the mediation and she wanted to finish it.  It was a funny moment.  You had to be there.

Five Miles from Nowhere, a bluegrass band, performed their music for us and taught us bluegrass dances!  Everyone had a great time and Eddie even led a dancing train!  (Which is quite hilarious because Eddie is Eddie.)

We love you all.  Good Night!!!

Love,

Gwandy

P.S.  Jordan said hi.

 

CAP ASB Monday

http://www.facebook.com/v/1829861745202

Day One: Video Blog!
On Monday, we braved the rain to start our projects and get to know our workgroups! Watch to find out what we learned.

Day 1 of work in NW Indiana

It’s been a very tiring day.  Somehow, painting never seemed to take so much out of me before – but today I’m worn out and it feels great.  This is the feeling I miss in the every day that happens in between these moments of ASB and other chances to do this sort of work for others.  It is so small, really, to be tired at the end of a day of painting an apartment used for transitional housing for homeless families.  It is small to be here in the midst of lives that are broken.

It is so good, though, to be welcomed to this place to share in the weariness.

My weariness today contrasts so drastically with my normal complacency.  Their weariness in struggle and survival won’t go away with a 4 hour car ride at the end of the week.  I am reminded once again of that eternal struggle to escape poverty and want and I’m grateful tonight that my feet and arms hurt.  It’s a good place to start the week.

Last Day Before We Go

All the details are falling in place for both groups to leave UofL tomorrow before noon! 7 students are traveling to Appalachia to work with CAP and 18 of us are going to Crown Point, Indiana to help rehab housing for the Lake County area of Northern Indiana. Should be lots of fun, lots to learn, and we never know what God will do in and through us on these trips.

Go Cards in the Big East Championship and in the NCAA Tourney!

ASB 2011 on the horizon

Here we go again!

Our groups leave this Sunday for our annual Alternative Spring Break experience and it is a year for change.  The biggest change is in location and there is sadness with that.  Our efforts to secure enough work for our group on the Gulfcoast were ultimately unsuccessful, so we had to think about other areas that might need willing hearts and hands.  We found that though there is still much to be done in Louisiana and Mississippi, we could not find an organization there to connect to.  We will miss our friends there and we will miss being in the warm and welcoming culture that has endured itself to a bunch of Kentuckians.  We have been changed by our experiences there and that isn’t something that ever goes away.

But, we are looking forward and we are excited for this new adventure!  One group of us is heading to Lake County, Indiana.  It’s one of the poorest areas in the country and we will be working with the Metro United Way there on a shelter and food pantries.   We will also be sending students once again to Appalachia to work with CAP and the poor in our own backyard.

Both trips are full of promise and hope!

Stay tuned…

 

 

Home, but not

It seems, at least to me, that there is no one in our group more glad to make it home than me. I have a 5 year old that needs me more when I go away than she ever does when I’m home with her – and so being home is such a nice place of comfort for me this evening.
But this week, in retrospect, has not been about comfort – and that is SO the point. It is clear as we get more and more involved in the life of the Gulfcoast that many, MANY are STILL without common comforts. It has also become apparent to me as I complete this 5th trip there after Katrina/ Rita that I leave a piece of me there each year. We might be infrequent in our visits but I believe that we have become more than visitors. We love this place – and for a Kentuckian who loves her home, that’s not an easy thing to come by. We have in many ways become adopted sons and daughters of people like Velma and Willie who love us genuinely while we are there and we can’t help but love them enough to not only leave a bit of us there, but also to leave that space in our hearts for them open to change in their names. We are one together in their practical struggle of rebuilding with limited resources and worn out spirits for a few moments in time, but more than that, in our common focus and passion for their continued struggle to make their homes and lives whole again. Four and a half years is simply too long — too long to bring peace to a person’s life — and the relationships we have built in the Gulfcoast won’t allow us to forget that.

If There is No Change, Then Nothing Changes

Sorry guys, it is late so no post tonight.  So much happened today that I cannot give this post justice just yet until everything is processed.  All I know is the love I felt today has answered every question I have had, and I want to be an instrument of change in this place.  Good night and God bless.

Will Ousley

Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes

“I took off for a weekend last month, just to try and recall the whole year…” Jimmy Buffett – Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes

I heard that Jimmy Buffett song on the satellite radio in our van (nicknamed “The Silver Cobra”) and I thought I would take a blog post and try to recall my four years on ASB.

Here is a picture of me from my very first trip to Slidell in 2007:

I was a good-looking lad!

I had to go back 43 facebook albums to find this picture.  Luckily, for the last two ASB’s we’ve had the blog, so that makes the trip down memory lane a little easier.  I couldn’t possibly recount every detail from four week long trips, but there are a few common things I distinctly remember from each trip.

The first thing is gratitude.  In my experience, gratitude is a two-way street.  Be grateful when things are given to you, and be mindful of those grateful when you give things.  This trip is the epitome of that idea.

The second thing is friendship.  Friendship, no matter how deep or fleeting has an impact on your life in a positive way.  And this trip allows 40 people to experience that life-changing force.  Whether it is an impromptu van sing-a-long, a game of knockout, or a late night board game, the friendships that this adventure creates are nothing short of magical.

The last thing is the beignets.

Growing Older, But Not Up

My Work Crew

“Let’s the winds of time blow over my head, I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead!” Jimmy Buffett -Growing Older, But Not Up

In keeping with my Jimmy Buffett theme, I decided the next logical step would be to write a post attempting to sum up four years of ASB.

Tonight we were instructed us to meditate about a word or phrase that applies to our trip.  The word I picked was ‘Growth’.  I feel that these trips to the Gulf Coast have helped me grow as a person.

Back in the day, when I made my first trip to Slidell, I was probably a punk (Ask Sarah Fellows for verification).  But you can only be a punk so long before your conscience catches up to you.  ASB was when that happened for me.  I saw people who had just lived in an attic for four months and weren’t even batting an eye at the fact that their house was trashed.  I helped fix their house, and in return they gave me the sense of what was really valuable.  I got the better end of that deal.

Since that first trip, when I go back to Louisville, I have this strange sense that something is missing.  I get excited when I see New Orleans on the travel channel or meet people that are from the Gulf Coast, and I do not know why I get excited.  I am too busy to think about why I feel that way and just go on with my life.  But the roots of these feelings are the lessons in what is important that I have learned from people of the Gulf Coast and the people on the trip.

On my fourth trip, as I get splashed by dumpster water at 9 a.m., I get mad initially.  But then the lesson I learned so long ago comes rushing back to me, and it doesn’t seem so bad.