HOME SAFE AND SOUND

We arrived home last night at about 10pm.  All the parents were in the parking lot waiting for us when we pulled in.  It was a great welcome home. It was an incredible trip once again.  We are so proud of all of the kids and everything that was accomplished.  We could not have asked for a better week.
Since we started last Sunday with mass at 10am we are going to finish this Sunday with mass at 10am.  Hopefully the kids will be able to drag themselves out of bed and join us for a final mass to end the Mission year.  We will also say our final good byes to Cody, one of the kids who has been with us since we started the program 4 years ago.  Cody will leave for Army bootcamp tonight.  We are so very proud of the fine young man he has become and we will all miss him greatly!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for us this past week. 
Most importantly thank you all for the increduble support we have received throughout the past year.  Without your support this program would not be possible.
We are truly blessed!

LAST DAY HERE

Today was our fun day.  Since we completed our job we were able to have the whole day off.  It was nice to sleep in until 7 this morning.  We all needed it.  We went to the zip line this morning.  Everyone who went on the zip had a blast!  It was actually several different lines down the mountain.  The kids loved it! After zip we came back to Eagle Ranch for lunch and to change.  In the afternoon it was white water rafting.  Again a fantastic trip down the river! Of course several of the kids met the river up close and personal falling out of the boats, but all was well and we are returning with everyone we left with.
When we got home from rafting everone cleaned up and we had our awards ceremony with Mick our guide for the week.  It was very nice!  Our 4 mission participants who have been with us since the first year and every year since received a special award since this is their last year.  It was very touching, and many eyes were teary.
We had a special treat prior to dinner, the family whose home we worked on all week joined us for dinner.  They were grateful and appreciative of all we had done for them. 
Now everyone is just hanging out talking, playing cards and just being kids.  We did have a bonfire going but it started to rain.  Hopefully the rain will let up and we can start the fire again.  If not, no big deal, the weather has not dampened anyone's spirits.

Getting ready to head up the mountain for the zip line!

Last leg of the zip course.

Yee Ha!

Due to spotty internet access because of the rain, I can only get a few pictures from today posted. 
Everyone had a fantastic day!

We are so very proud of all the kids. They have been amazing not only all week, but truly throughout the entire year we have worked with them. We are sad to see the year come to an end, but are looking forward to starting again in September with next year's group.

Tomorrow we will head out after breakfast. We hope to be able to make good time on the way home so we arrive around early. Having to take a detour around highway construction may slow us down.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel home tomorrow.

DAY THREE - WE DID IT!

Well we had an unbelielably long but highly productive day today.  It was hot and humid as usual but we worked all day and actually into the night somewhat.  We did not leave our site until almost 7:30.  We were able to finish the roof detail, put up all the facia board around the structure, completely insulate the interior, walls and ceiling (that was absolutely miserable, but we got it done), wrapped the outside in Tyvek and then put up theT-111, and put wall board up on the inside.  The electrical was completed and hooked up, the lights were put in, the outlets covered, and we even put an outside light and outside plug in.  It was an amazing day.  The kids worked so hard.  The inside wall crew did not want to leave until they finished what they had started.  We were so proud of them.  Eagle Ranch staff stayed very late to feed us when we got back at 8pm.  We are so grateful and thankful.  They take such good care of us.  Everone is now showered and just hanging out.  The kids will probably have a bonfire and roast marshmallows.  Can't believe any of us are still standing after today.  We are so proud of all we have been able to accomplish in just 3 days!

The new front door! Notice the light and the electric plug!

The wall crew!



Notice the lights on in the ceiling!




Putting up the walls.



Sitting down on the job, but still getting it done!

Insulating was hot and miserable!

The T 111 looks great!



Glenn almost wrapped himself in the Tyvek!



It was HOT on the roof putting in the wood burning stove pipe.

Tomorrow is our day off, and I have to say we have earned it and then some.  We get to sleep in until 7:30 tomorrow morning. That makes the kids very happy since we have been getting up at 6 and having breakfast at 6:30. We will repack all the tools under the bus for the trip home and then we get to play.  We will go and do the zipline and after lunch White Water Rafting!

DAY TWO

Well we had another highly productive day on the job site today!  It was hot!!!! We started an hour earlier to beat the heat but by noon it was really hot once again.
We worked very hard all day.  Got the rafters blocking done, put all the OSB on the outside of the house, got most of the wiring done and put the roof on! We were really pleased with all we accomplished.

After such a long ho productive day we went swimming at the Blue Hole.  It was great to cool off.  We are heading out to dinner for our night on the town.  Going to the Mexican place.  We will post pcitures of swimming and dinner maybe later tonight, and if not for sure tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will put in the insulation, wrap the place in Tyzek and then put up the t-111. We will also put the windows in.
We have all worked very hard and we are all working together wonderfully as a team.

 

DAY ONE ON THE JOB SITE

Today we started work at our job site.  We were all so excited to get going.  We started out later than we had originally planned because our bus driver needed to get some sleep.  Actually I think we all needed the sleep since it was such a rough ride down.
It is difficult accessing our job site and the bus can not go down the road where we are working because it is only one lane and there is no place to turn the bus around.  Eagle Ranch loaned us their van because we have to park the bus about 1/4 of a mile away and shuttle all our tools and all of us to the actual job site.  Mick, our guide also has a pick up truck so we had 2 shuttle of tools and kids going this morning.  It was a bit hectic getting atrted today but now we have the hang of it so tomorrow should go smoother.
When we got to the site, the floor deck had been done so we hit the ground running on the walls and rafters for the roof.

We were able to get the walls up with all the openings for doors and windows and we got the rafters built for the roof.  Building headers for doors and windows is not easy!  We love raising the walls!  It feels so good to raise a wall and hammer it in place. It was a very good day as we accomplished all we had set out to accomplish for day one.
Tomorrow we hope to put the windows in, get all the OSB on the walls, and put the Tyvek on the walls. We would also like to get the roof on tomorrow if we can.
Now we will just chill out for a while, and maybe build another bonfire before heading to bed.
we hope to finish a little early tomorrow so we can hit the 'Blue Hole" for a quick swim on our way back after work.  It is alos our night on the town tomorrow so the posting may be kind of late tomorrow night.

MONDAY NIGHT ACTIVITIES

Last night after dinner we played volleyball. Took part in a tournament. It was a lot of fun!

 After volleyball we headed over to our firepit.  We built a bonfire and roasted marshmallows.  It was a great night after a long bus ride.

Well we arrived safely late this afternoon.  It took us a bit longer than expected to get here, but we made it.  Construction detours slowed us down some.  We also had to make a stop at Lowe's on the way to pick up a few more supplies.  The chaperones were happy about shopping at Lowe's!

Sadly the air conditioning on the bus went out about an hour from camp.  I sure does get hot on a bus VERY quickly without air.  The bus driver is trying to get it fixed before morning. Cross your fingers and say a prayer that he can! 

The kids are just hanging out, taking hikes and exploring camp.  Everyone is doing well.  It is HOT here! Oh well we expected that! We will be getting up an hour early to have breakfast so we can be on the job site early to try and beat the heat.
We will be playing volleyball tonight.  Might post more pictures of that tonight.  If not they will be posted tomorrow night.
So excited to be getting right down to work tomorrow.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

On the bus

Right before we left

Shopping at Lowes

Just chilling and checking things out!