Dios bendiga nuestra casa

I opened a bank account here yesterday and, once she knew what I was doing here, the lady who was working with me asked me if it was my day off or something. Ha. Up at 4:30 to make airport run #1, Lowe's, airport run #2, Lowe's, Lowe's again, then airport run #3...then dinner (smoked BBQ chicken, which was excellent btw). All of the Lowe's runs were getting ready for the group this week (13 college students from Michigan State who are working in Sparks at this lady named Maria's house...she seems super nice and I'm excited to work with them)--that also accounts for airport run #3, picking them up. The first two, however, were the group from last week (12 people from Minot, ND) leaving on 6 FLIGHTS FOR 12 PEOPLE!!! Chris and I gave them a lot of grief for that...especially since they did the same thing on the way here...but really they were a blast to work with. We built two houses near San Francisco, one of Pastor Hernandez's missions, but my FAVORITE part without a doubt was actually the end of the week when he stopped by to do a blessing service for the new homeowners (hence the pics in backwards order...gotta mix it up a little too).

I missed the one last week because I stayed back for something or other, and I thought I was going to miss this one too because I had to stay back and sit through 4 1/2 hours of boring meetings on Thursday, but I was way excited when it wound up getting moved to Friday!!! We started off by singing Alabare (accompanied by Pastor's guitar playing...Pastor Krueger from ND played too), then Pastor Hernandez said a few words, then Pastor Krueger talked and said a prayer with me translating, then the group presented the families with a few housewarming gifts (books and these really cool crosses that I will explain via the pictures), and we ended by all singing "Sanctuary" in English. The whole experience was really moving, even for some of the guys. It was definitely one of the tougher good-byes I have had in my house-building career...we hung around with our new amigos for quite some time before heading to the market (2nd time I've driven there from Santisima now, I think I have now successfully learned how to get someplace else by myself now). Here's some images so you can take a look...

All of us at the market.

House blessing service.

Danielle (she spoke Spanish too...yay!) presenting the crosses. They cut them out of scrap siding and then cut hearts out of the center...the group signed the crosses and then the families signed the hearts, which are going to be taken back to ND and hung in their home church as a reminder that we love because He first loved us, and the homes that were built are a tangible expression of that.

Signing the crosses.

Me and Pablo (I think that was his name...I'm pretty sure he is the one who drew me a picture and it says Pablo on it).

The houses were right across the street from each other...here is a view of the "other" house (aka the one I was barely ever at) from the one I worked at most of the week.

All of the women minus Danielle: Joyce, Shana, Melissa, and me.

Shana and I were a 2-woman roofing crew...with some occasional help from Tim...here's our beautiful handiwork.

And...shocker...I got tar on me in the process. Luckily Damian was ready in the shed with some gasoline when we got back.

There were lots of cute kids around...I ADORE this picture.

And this one...shoes on powerlines are all over the place and I decided these looked kind of photogenic.

I found kitties this week too...they were at the other house but I got to see them every time I went over there to borrow something and it made me smile :)

This is what we started with...the boys who poured it did a phenomenal job. It was a little shy of 24 feet long but it was super smooth and even.

OK I'm going to go read some more of Angels and Demons now because I am just getting to the point where I don't want to put it down and then go to bed because Chris said I am going to be his roofing helper tomorrow and he's going to work me hard!

Until next time, blessings!