a house of love

A house of love. This is a house of love.

That's how Candy describes the place, and is she ever right.

We pull up to the house, for our first day of work: a van, an suv, a truck, a jeep, a car. Three youth, five adults, plus our 3 managers/volunteer coordinators who introduce us to Candy. Who greets us ALL with enormous hugs, smiles, shouts of laughter and welcome.

People driving down the street stop to holler hello. People come to her porch and greet her (and us). People walking by wave and call out. Her kids come over with their kid, and neighbors and neighbor children stop by all day long. And everyone gets the same fabulous greeting: "How you doin', baby?!" And it never seems like she's faking it.

And one thing you can't fake is that cooking! Our outside team is stripping old shingles, pulling up nails, laying out tarpaper, starting new shingles; inside team is slicing, reslicing, shaving, hanging, rehanging sheetrock. And all through the house ... lunch smells. And I mean SMELLS GOOD. And she wouldn't have it any other way ... Nobody walks in this door and walks out without eating! We're here to be of service, and here she is feeding us like we're royal guests!

Her house has been disassembled for more than four weeks now (once the work got started, obviously the storm did its own disassembly months before!), and she is absolutely the most cheerful, most gracious ... such a lesson in love and spirit. Never know when you'll meet an angel ... that's the first thing Jayna taught me when we learned about doing mission trips.

A very very VERY packed first day ... hit the ground running, as the saying goes. George and Dixie Smith (hi Carmel Christian Church!) are fabulous, Kim Woolley blows me away with her dedication and energy, and Archie (whose last name totally escapes me) was on the second house's roof every second the 14 year olds were and givin' directions all the way.

The group that we're staying and working with is from Warsaw, Kentucky, and couldn't be nicer. Six youth and five adults, all just a delight. So far the guys seem to want to play basketball first thing in the morning ... I'm wondering if tomorrow will be a different story!