welp...

this was supposed to be yesterday's post, but the internet wasn't working all day, so just pretend like it's yesterday :)

first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN! :)
we started off the morning with a delicious breakfast and birthday hats. definitely the start to a good day. haha

then we went on our first home visit, which was awesome! we went to ms. allie and ms. maria’s home, where they were hit really bad from hurricane katrina. they have been trying to get someone to come and help fix up their home for years, and have tried over six different agencies, and ARM was the first one who finally came to help them. we got to the house and began looking at all the repairs that needed to be done. their house will have to be re-roofed, the front and back porches will have to be completely taken up and replaced, on of their bathroom floors needs to be torn up and fully replaced, two windows need to be replaced, and the bedroom ceiling needs to be replaced as well as the floor. this project will definitely be a full summer one, but i am so excited to get started on it. when we were done surveying the house, we told ms. allie that we would be able to work on it this summer, and she just began to cry. she look at us, put her hands over her face, and just bent over and cried. she told us how thankful she was and how she has been waiting and praying so much for someone to come and help out her and her family, which consists of her daughter, and her daughter’s three children.
after we told her, we gathered with the family and prayed together. and then we went to our car, and i turned around and the family was all on the porch, with ms. allie in the middle, and all just hugging each other and loving on each other, and ms. allie was still crying.
i don’t know if there’s any way i can sum up this moment in just these words, but i am so so happy to be working on her house this summer. it’s so sad to me how their family has been ignored for so long with so much damage, and treated with such ignorance from from so many different agencies. but, nonetheless, this project is going to be awesome and i can already tell this family has so much love, and they deserve this.

we tried to go on a few other home visits, but some of the families weren’t home, so we came back to the lodge and did a few things here and there.

but, the best part of my day was definitely this first home visit, and i think it’s clearly started off the summer in the right path.