Day 1 Build

We started early this morning. Woke up, had some breakfast, and were to the build site by 9am. Today's activities consisted of taping windows, adding support beams to the front porch, and nailing the siding into the house. It was a gorgeous day to work - temperatures reaching 75 degrees. This definitely made the workday most enjoyable. We had a delicious lunch that was provided to us by the church. It was taco soup, chicken salad sandwiches, and apple strudel for dessert. We covered nearly an entire side of the house in siding today, so I'm assuming we'll be finishing up the rest tomorrow. It's great to see all the progress we've made just in one short day! After the build day was over with we went to Grace Heartland Church to shower and get ready for dinner being hosted by members of the church board. Once we had our dinner (chili, sandwiches, and yummy desserts of cherry cheesecake, s'mores pie, and chocolate chip bread) we were free to explore. We visited Freeman Lake and took a nature walk on the trails. The sun was setting and the views were breathtaking. We relaxed for a bit then walked across the street to the Elizabethtown Nature Park Veteran's Memorial. Words can't really describe the memorial, so I've uploaded some pictures. Afterwards we headed home to the volunteer center where we're currently hanging out for the night. It's been an eventful day, but I'm sure I'll have more adventures to share tomorrow!

Kentucky

Well, here we are again. I'm in the process of building on my third site, this time in Kentucky! 10 of us in Habitat for Humanity drove here from UWGB at 7am this morning, traveling through Illinois and Indiana into Kentucky. We arrived around 4pm (3pm CST). Louisville is a beautiful city; I hope we can explore around there on our recreational day. Right now we're in Elizabethtown, where we'll be building the 13th house in a Habitat neighborhood. We're staying at the Wesley Hilltop House, which is a volunteer center for the church. It's pretty neat; there's a Game Center in the basement with pool, air hockey, foosball, and some other fun games. We just got back from dinner at Cracker Barrel and are going to relax for the rest of the night after our long 9 hour drive today. Tomorrow is our first day on the build site and I'm looking forward to all we'll be doing to help this deserving family!

Arrival

24 hours later and we've finally arrived to campus safely. It's been a long journey with some pretty amazing people. I would love to do another Habitat build in the near future; we'll see what my next experience will be. As I sit and reflect back on this build, it has been filled with friendships and memories I will never forget. I enjoyed the people I spent time with and the people I was building for. I don't think I could've asked for anything better than that. 

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" -Gandi

Final Build Day

Today was much like the other days. We got up for breakfast and headed to the build site, but this time I got to help out at the Habitat Restore in Taos. I organized some of their appliances and also repurposed some of their books. It's easier for them to sell old books if they're repurposed in a creative way. We folded the pages in some of the books to make letters and words; other books were made into birdhouses. I only stayed at the restore for about two hours until I went back to the build site. I did various tasks there, as we were adding final touches to the house. I helped put up the gutters and drill them to the roof. We also finished up the kitchen. All the cabinets were finished and it was ready for the last few appliances to be put in. The Mares family will soon be able to move in! Before we left for the day, we all signed a block of wood and wrote messages for the family. We left it on the kitchen counter for them to find when they move in. I'm glad I was able to be a part of such a great experience like this. The best part about this build trip was not only meeting the family, but also being able to finish the house for them. My experience in the Philippines was much different than this, actually quite the opposite because we were just beginning the foundation of the house and here we're ready to hand over the keys. Once we were all done building for the day we stopped by the local community center. They had several different things we could do there; swimming, sauna, ice rink, game room - but I ended up skating around on the hockey rink for almost three hours. It felt great to get out on the ice! After that we had dinner made for us by a church group in Taos. They wanted to thank us for everything we've done in the building process of the Habitat house. We were served the frito pie dish again and so many tempting desserts. I finished my dinner pretty quickly so I went out to the main room and played some air hockey before we had to head back to the church. Once we got back there wasn't much going on it was still early so we all talked and hungout. I spent some time writing in each person's gratitude book - a small booklet of blank pages to be filled with random thoughts and positive comments about each of us on the trip. I wrote in every single book something that struck me about each person or a memory I have of them from this week. It's really a great way spread positivity and also to think back on the great experiences we've shared together on this build. Unfortunately we'll be leaving Taos tomorrow morning, so it's our last night together if you don't count the bus ride. Now we're all about to sit around and talk so I'm going to go be sociable! Overall it's been such a memorable experience with these people and I hope I see them all around campus sometime, although I do feel like I'll see some of them more often than that. I think I've made some truly genuine friends. 

Day 4: Recreational Day

Today was recreational day. We had the entire day to spend doing activities as a group as well as some individual time to do whatever we wanted. We started the day off with a delicious breakfast. It was especially delicious because I helped cooked it! They were breakfast burritos served with sides of meat, eggs, cheese, salsa, green onions, and sour cream. I just had my basic egg and cheese burrito, but it was still very good! I made most of the scrambled eggs because I was up really early today and decided to head over and help cook. After breakfast we took the bus to San Francísco Asís Church. It was the center of the Ranchos de Taos Plaza and used as protection against Comanche attackers. It also became known as a National Historic Landmark. We weren't able to take any pictures inside because the church is considered sacred, but we were able to take some outside. Once we went inside we weren't able to talk, just admire. We stayed for a bit and looked at different paintings in the church then headed back on the bus. We arrived at the Rio Grande Grorge Bridge around 11am and had an hour to explore. I hiked down the trail, which was over 800ft of elevation. The view was breathtaking from top to bottom. Once I hiked back up to the top I was able to stand out on a rock over the ledge and take a few beautiful pictures. I wish we would've had a little more time there but it was almost lunchtime. We went back to the church and everyone was able to do what they wanted until supper, which wasn't until 4:30pm. It was already 1pm so I went out to seek for food. I didn't have to walk too far until I found a cute local diner in Taos. After I ate my burger with a side of fries I was ready to go out and explore. I went to a few different shops and bought a t-shirt in one. It's based off Wheeler Peak, which is the highest mountain here in Taos. It's elevation is at 13,161ft. I'm currently at around 7,000ft above sea level. That must be why people around here get out of breath so quickly; there's a lot less oxygen up here. Either way, I've walked several miles the last few days because there's a lot more to do in the outskirts of town. Once I arrived back at the church I took a quick power nap and skipped dinner because I was still full from my late lunch. Then around 5 pm our group loaded on the bus and traveled to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs & Spa Resort about an hour and a half away from Taos. It was incredible there. They had several different natural hot springs that we could sit in and also a couple saunas. We stayed for almost three hours before we all had to get back on the bus and head back to Taos. I'm currently on the bus right now feeling totally relaxed and ready for bed. Those hot springs did wonders for me. It was really peaceful there and we weren't allowed to talk or take pictures, so I just simply enjoyed the moment and the experience. Tomorrow we'll be back to work and hopefully finishing up the house. I saw Adriana, the future homeowner, working at Albertson's grocery store today and she said she's very excited and blessed to finally have a place to call home. Her kids have been waiting for this day as long as they've been living in a trailer - nearly eight years. It's going to be so nice for them to have a yard to play in and a safe roof over their heads. Hopefully they will all be at the build site when we finish up so I can say my farewells and good lucks. That would certainly be a moment for me to cherish and remember forever.