Healing through Service

Last week, I got to meet about 15 high school students and their leader from the NYC area. They are with a group called Tuesday's Children - all the students lost a loved one on 9/11/2001. The whole theme of their annual winter break trip is finding healing through service. SUCH a sweet group!

What a great example though...most people go through tough times and sadly become even more self-involved than we already are. Think about hard times and how it really makes you focus more on yourself...handling how you feel, figuring out how you will get through it, feeling down just doesn't allow room fore much other consideration. I think it's pretty admirable that these high school students know the importance of doing things for others, and in turn, actually feel closer to those they lost while doing this service to others.

This video makes me laugh...the last line is the best:


Each day someone donated lunch to them, then I would convince Koren and Michael to give a motivational speech to get everyone going again for the afternoon.

Here is Koren about to draw some tears...she's good!

Here a link to read about Live5's coverage of the group: http://www.live5news.com/global/story.asp?s=11993734

Open the windows!!! snOMG!!

For the first time in a looooong time, it snowed in Charleston, SC!!! It would have to be when it's snowing in 48 other states as well! THAT would be the only time it would snow here! I was home Friday night baking some cakes for a bake sale when the flakes started to fall. If I hadn't gotten a text message, I probably would have sat there all night without looking outside to see this!

So, be sure to open your windows from time to time...look outside....don't forget there is a whole world happening just feet away from you. You never know what you could miss!

There's my car...another form of "home" for me. I was able to pull out my snow/ice scrapper Saturday morning for its first use in 3 years!!!

Saturday, our "Women Build committee" had a bake sale during the SEWE festival! Tables filled with beautifully wrapped, delicious treats/sweets/goodies....all those words start to sound strange after saying them over and over. "Would you like to try some treats?" or "Buy some sweets for your sweetheart"....after a while, I felt creepy.

These two awesome girls toughed it out all day for two days in the hand-numbing, nose-dripping, teeth-chattering, why-can't-i-feel-my-toes?, you-touched-me?, what-else-can-i-wrap-myself-with?, freezing cold weather!

Raise the roof

Wasn't that a popular song or just a slogan in the 90's? Now let's move our hands up and down in the air with palms up while doing smoothe mini-squats to some slow rap beat that we hear in our heads....a cool move. Right?

So, a cooler way to raise the roof would be having volunteers actually put the roof trusses on the Hudson's house this week....

Weekly heros in summary: Stephen...my oldest brother - aka the smart one and largest source of my childhood conflict (now bff) - came to visit. This was the first time he has helped with Habitat....so he says he can finally wear his "I Helped Build It" tshirt that I gave him a year ago (my thirfty christmas gift to my entire family) and not feel like a poser.
Here we are out Saturday morning at the Hudson family build site:

(if you look closely, eyes open is some sort of genetic problem we both have)

Moving on....Teresa Rowe....a new friend to Habitat in Charleston. She just moved back to the area and emails me to say she wants to help out....here she is serving....the best white chicken chili I've ever had! Seriously!

She says she's going to send me the recipe but I have a feeling it's a secret family deal and she knows I'll make a million bucks off her recipe!

Here is a gung-ho (I suppose that's how you type it) group of volunteers that work for the Hilton Hotel Group helping us raise the roof trusses on top of this house:

Now who doesn't love a sideways video??

Quote of the day: "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." - Calvin Coolidge