My crazy week (last week!)

Hi Everyone,

Well, last week was indeed CRAZY but great! I'm so glad I had the experiences that I did. It started out with Magical Mountain Christmas. We had a great turnout! All but 3 families came out of 20 so I was really happy. The group that came brought their own decorations, food, and Santa. When the families got there, the kids started playing games and doing arts and crafts with the youth that volunteered their time and the parents went out our meeting room to secretly pick up presents for their kids. It was really fun to see my families in another environment and to see all of the youth that volunteered their time at Christmas to help people whom they've never met before. The whole weekend made my heart pretty happy.

After the party, my co-worker, Marika, and I went to Johnson City, TN. We stayed at a friend's house there and played some games at night then got about 6 hours of sleep and left the house at 5:45 am for the Santa Hustle in Sevierville, TN. Upon arrival, we got a Santa shirt, beard, and hat. There was a half-marathon which a few of my friends ran and then a 5K which I ran with a few friends. It was my first competitive race in about 4 years and I was really nervous! I have to say that it felt great to race again and I think I'd like to get back into running 5Ks...for fun. The 5Kers finished our race a lot earlier than the half-milers so we waited near the finish line to cheer them on for their final stretch. All in all, the race was really fun! There were Christmas cookies and other treats along the way and Christmas music played at the start and finish of the race. It was a great race to run and we all had a lot of fun!

After the Santa Hustle, all of the runners went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's and I met some woman from Upper Darby in the bathroom! Small world. After lunch, we drove to Lincolnton, NC for Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I slept for about an hour in the car and then for two hours at the hotel. There were two shifts-10 pm-6 am and 6 am to noon. We left the hotel at 9 pm for the first shift. When we got there, we met a lot of firemen that were volunteering their time throughout the week. Then, we got to work by emptying out the shed. After that, I got put to work on the doors. ASP was really lucky to be able to work with EMHE because we now have the opportunity to recycle a lot of materials that were used in the old home. For the first five hours of my shift, I took off trim and doors. Next, I helped to remove laminate flooring that ASP can reuse. Finally, I helped to assemble and set up lights around the home because the power was going to be cut off for the second shift. I enjoyed the fellowship that we had throughout the evening and, despite only have about 3 hours of sleep prior to my shift, I felt really energized...until about 5:15 am. From then until the end of my shift, I was pretty much delirious! At 6 am, we left and switched out with the morning crew. I went back to the hotel and slept until 11 am. Then, I showered and went back to the site to pick up some of the morning workers. When I got to the site, I saw that everyone wasn't ready to go so I got another hard hat and my shirt out of the car and went back on site. When I got on site, I saw everyone seemed a bit unhappy. Apparently there was a lot more takes for a TV show than they had imagined. The evening crew did most of the labor and the morning crew were supposed to be the TV stars. The camera crew came at about 8 am and they started filming mock shots of the crew removing shingles, walls, windows, and doors. The other ASP workers told me that each shot was taking about an hour or more. I know everyone was tired of the filming but I had just gotten on site so I was really excited and interested in everything that was going on. Luckily, one of the producers asked me if I was a volunteer and if I wanted to be in the final shot before the demolition! Obviously, I accepted with a huge smile. The scene I'm in is right before the house gets demolished. I walk around from the right side of the house with carolers and other volunteers. The carolers sing a little song (which I ended up lip-syncing by the last five takes because we did about 15 takes so I memorized the song) and then we cheer as the house gets knocked down. I really hope I made the final cut! We won't know until Christmas 2012. Also, it's good to note that despite the recent news that EMHE is being cancelled, our episode will still appear as a special next Christmas...whew!

After the show, I drove home from NC to WV because my roommate and co-worker, Marika, had worked both shifts and was pretty exhausted! The drive was about 5 hours or so from NC to WV. As soon as we got home, we quickly unpacked and went right to sleep! The next morning we woke up and began doing Initial Home Visits (IHV's) for the spring term. IHVs are when we pick out homes from our stack of 300 applications to look at and begin the selection process for home repair. Over the course of two days, we saw about 15 homes and found 2 good projects for the spring time. We also had quite a bit of work to do at our center in order to prepare for our work crew this coming weekend. We got everything all set and I passed along my responsibilities to my Center Director, Kristen, and got to come HOME! I had planned to come home this weekend before we knew we were going to have volunteers this weekend so I still got to keep my vacation time. I had told my family I was coming home today (Friday) and decided to surprise them and come home last night. The look on my dad's, mom's and little sister's faces were priceless when I pulled up to our home. It was well-worth the quiet 9 hour drive to see the looks on their faces.

Today, I treated myself to a manicure and am now working on applications for summer-time jobs. We'll see where I end up!

Merry Christmas to all! Hope you all enjoy the bright lights, singing, present-giving, and hustle and bustle that come along with the season!

Here are some pictures from Magical Mountain Christmas, the Santa Hustle and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The two kids in front of the Christmas backdrop are two of my favorite kids that we work for. I know I shouldn't have favorites but...look at them! They're just too cute. The picture with me in the hardhat is with Marika (my coworker and roommate) and a very energetic fireman that we met as soon as we arrived at the site. The last picture is with my friend Morgan that I ran the 5k with after the race. We were lucky enough to have some free time to take fun pictures as we waited for the half-marathoners to finish.  Enjoy! :) Hope to see a lot of you SOON! I'll be at this home until January 2nd then I go back to my WV home :)

Exciting News!

Hi Everyone!

So many exciting things happening here in Guyan Valley, WV!

• This week, I'm going to be traveling all over the place! 
• Tonight, I'm going to Jonesville, VA for the night and then tomorrow to Johnson City, TN (ASP's Headquarters). We have training on drywall texture tomorrow afternoon and this new computer program we will be using to plan out our projects in the spring. We are also meeting with our new boss and learning about any changes that might be happening in the spring. Then, at night, we have a Christmas Party! 
• Thursday morning, I'll be coming back to Brenton, WV and we'll sign off on the completed work we have done on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We also have Magical Mountain Christmas staying with us from Friday until Sunday morning. They are an organization that adopts families from here each year and brings them Christmas presents and has a little party for them. I'm really excited! The group decorates our cafeteria and brings their own cooks. Also, Santa will be here so that's great. 
• Saturday evening, after the party with the families, I'm going back to Johnson City, TN for the night and then Sunday morning, I'm going to Sevierville, TN for the Santa Hustle! (http://www.santahustlesmokies.com/) Looks fun, right?! 
• Right after we finish the race, we're driving to Lincolnton, NC for EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER!!! Yes, that's right! Extreme Home Makeover has decided to "go green." Instead of destroying the previous home and all of it's fixtures, they are donating them to ASP!! I'm working with about 15 other people from 10 pm Sunday until 6 am Monday morning. We'll be removing anything that we can reuse again-windows, doors, lights, toilets, sinks-anything! It's going to be one exhausting day with the race in the morning and then working all night but I couldn't say no to an opportunity like that! The show will air in December 2012 as a Christmas special. Our CEO told us that if we still have energy, we can stay for the second shift (6 am until noon) and that's when the TV crews will be there. I'm so excited for this!! 
• That's all of the traveling news! I'll be coming home next week again! In other exciting news, I was just asked to be the Center Director for the spring! Center Director is the position I had this past summer in Leslie County, KY. I'll be the overall person in charge of the center-planning projects, managing my staff, meeting with community contacts, and a bunch of other things. I gladly accepted the position. This also means I get certain privileges. One is that I'm moving into the biggest bedroom in our apartment-one with a WINDOW! It's the little things that I am most grateful for lately. 

Well, that's the top news from Brenton! I'm excited for a VERY busy week ahead of me! 

-Jackie 

Almost Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone!

It's almost Thanksgiving and it's starting to get really cold here in West Virginia. Yesterday, we had a bit of snow. Life's been pretty good here lately. Last weekend, I had a baby shower for one of my Leslie County families. I didn't know until I drove the 3 1/2 hours it takes to get to Leslie County, KY that the baby shower was postponed until the 26th. So, the down side was that I didn't get to see the family that I intentionally went to KY to see. The bright side? I got to visit 2 other families, the owners of Tropical Sno (it's like Rita's water ice but a bit better :) Our volunteers went there every Tuesday and Thursday over the summer) and I mailed the baby shower gift so the family got a nice little present in the mail. I also got to spend more time with my friends who are on staff in Chavies, KY. That's where I stayed for a few nights. So, all in all, a great trip to Leslie County.

We have two more weekends of work crews until we close out all of our projects for the fall term. We were supposed to have a work crew this weekend so we decided not to take our Thanksgiving vacation early but the group had to back out last minute. I'm still staying here until Wednesday morning but I'll be in Philadelphia by 10:30 Wednesday morning because I'm flying home. I'll be home for a few days and I'm really excited to see my family and friends. Then, my dad's coming back to WV with me to help us with some plumbing work so that's exciting also.

I'm getting excited for the holidays. I started my Christmas shopping in September this year because, well, there's just not much to do around Brenton, WV. I just did some decorating around the center-put up Christmas lights and hung stockings for the staff and our two cooks. Normally, I'd like to wait until after Thanksgiving to do our Christmas decorating but I wanted to come back to WV to a decorated center after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I just got our schedule for spring volunteers. January and February look pretty slow but we have volunteers booked for all of March already! Then, before I know it, I'll be coming back to PA in May. It's been pretty crazy how fast this has been so far and I'm pretty sure, once things get a bit busier, the time will fly by even faster.

In a few weeks, we'll be planning out our spring projects. So, as I've talked about before, that's when we'll have to be making some really tough decisions about who we can and cannot work for. We just met a family of nine the other day and went to see their home. They bought an abandoned school and are now living there. The school just had a fire a month ago and, as I walked though the home, I could still smell the remanence of smoke. The concrete block walls were covered in black around where the furnace was that caught on fire. Four of the nine people live in the concession stand outside. It's difficult knowing that we are doing as much work as we are and I'm putting in 15 or 16 hour days most days but there are still so many families like this one. I'd love to help this family but, we wouldn't start work there for a few months if we do work there at all. It's a tough reality but, sometimes projects this large are a little too big for ASP to handle. We shall see.

I got a few letters in the mail today. I have to say, although facebook and email are great for keeping in touch, snail mail still brightens my day. So, please keep it coming :)

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Hope you enjoy a few pictures from my recent road trip to KY and a few from an overlook that I stopped to see in WV one day while running errands.

Hi Everyone :)

I haven't been doing so hot on updating my blog. I do update ASP Connect every week. That's our website where you can check out the progress of our projects. Here's the link to that: http://asphome.org/group/2011-12-guyan-valley

Since my last post, we've had a lot going on in Guyan Valley. My staff and I are all feeling much better and we've been making a lot of progress on our projects. Our volunteers have been absolutely amazing. The one group of volunteers that just left already sent us a care package with tons of chocolate and a sign saying "Stoneybrook Staff Apartment." They were joking around with us that, since they did so much work for us when they were here, we should name our apartment after them. They were really great and I miss them a lot already!

The youth group that I help with at home just came and volunteered last weekend and it was really nice to see them. They stayed late on Sunday and we went into Beckley to go out to eat at Cracker Barrel. I got a little home sick after they left but I'm coming home in two short weeks for Thanksgiving and then I come back to WV for a few weeks then I'm home for about two weeks at Christmas! I've already been working hard on my Christmas shopping. I didn't have too much to do on my days off here so I started my shopping in late September. I'm super excited to give people their gifts this year!

Speaking of Christmas, we're hosting this group called Magical Mountain Christmas. They come here the weekend of December 9 and have a celebration where they have activities for kids and give moms and dads a bag of toys from Santa to be put under their trees. I think it's going to be a really sweet celebration and I'm excited to be a part of it. The people that are coming bring their own cooks and food, we just have to get the needy families here. I've been working with a few people in the community to get the paper work completed and we're going to suggest some of the families we're working for as well.

This weekend, I'm going to stay in Chavies, KY with a few friends. Saturday afternoon I have a baby shower for one of the families I worked for this summer so I'm going to go to that and visit a few of the families from this summer. I'm really looking forward to that because I miss the people in Leslie County a whole lot! I got to see a family I worked for in 2009 in Magoffin County, KY in September. We went to an apple festival together in KY. It's really neat to me to see how long the relationships that are built through ASP last.

I added a few pictures to this post that I hope you enjoy! Two are from a wheel chair ramp that is FINALLY completed! I designed it so I'm super excited about it! It's 98 feet long! The guy used to have to slide down his steps on a board to get to an ambulance and it always took 45 minutes to get from his front door to the ambulance and, because of the ramp, the EMT told me it only took them 3 minutes the last time!! The other picture is me doing what I do a lot-figure out what sort of materials are needed for a project and planning out how to repair certain things. In that pictures, I had just seen a floor under the floor covering and was trying to figure out where to go from there. The last picture is a picture of what I'm lucky enough to see each day!

Hope you all enjoy! I'll be seeing some of you very soon and can't wait!!

Life Update

Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating. Everything has been going really well here in West Virginia. My mom and dad are coming tomorrow morning and staying until Sunday afternoon. I'm going to take them to look at a few houses with me tomorrow and Saturday and then to see my church on Sunday morning. So far, I've had amazing volunteers. Everyone has been really knowledgeable and helpful! Last week, I met people from Raleigh, NC that were great and I might go visit near Christmastime.

Right now, I have tonsillitis so I'm feeling a little sick but getting through it. My center director has bronchitis so another staffer from KY is coming to help us out around our center as we get better.

I'll post more pictures on here soon and write a bit more, too! Miss you all!

Tough Decisions

My staff and I been working really hard here in Brenton. We've been trying to get our center ready and also visit as many homes as possible and choose which homes to work on. We met a lot of great, deserving families so far. It's going to be really tough to decide who to work for. We had a meeting with the health inspector the other day and he's been giving us a lot of referrals for places that need septic installations. We can only pick one and we have at least three. One person who had to put their house up so they wouldn't go to jail for the septic fines they had, one person who is going to get their electric turned off if they can't get a septic, and another who is going to have to pay $5,000 if they don't get their septic fixed. It's really hard knowing we can only pick one family to help with that.

It's always a difficult time when we have to choose which families to help and which to say no to. Today, the decision was super easy and we made it on the spot. We met this one family today who had called us several times to try to get help. We knew they wanted a wheel chair ramp but not much more about the situation. Today, when we knocked up, the wife started crying because she was so happy to see us. The husband was in a chair and, we soon found out, is in the last stages of liver failure. He has to travel to Pittsburgh every other week for treatment and sees doctors in Beckley, WV. Every time he has to go to the doctor, the wife has to carry him down the steps. It was such a pleasant initial home visit because of the sweet dispositions of the two homeowners. They are going though such a difficult thing right now but were honestly two of the most pleasant people I have ever met. We all fell in love with them and signed their home on the spot. It felt really nice to make someone's day and I remembered why I love this job so much and, shortly after that, we visited another home and I remembered why this job was so difficult.

I've been going to a small Catholic church here and this past Sunday, some of the people in church told me about a family they are trying to help and wanted to know if we'd consider helping them as well. They told me that the family did not have any ceilings, had one plank of wood left in their bathroom floor, and the rest of the house was almost at the point where it should be condemned. Knowing all of this, I tried to mentally prepare for the home visit before I went in but I couldn't prepare myself for how the house really was. All of the ceilings are exposed and you can see the attic from each room. Most of the floors are falling through in the home. The toilet doesn't work too well. There is a bed, chair, table and refrigerator in the house-that's it. The rest of the house is bare. The bed was left at the home from the old homeowner and has several holes in the mattress. The homeowner says she usually just sleeps on the front porch because it's more comfortable than her house. She bought the home for a very small price and it's the first thing she's ever owned. Her dad is currently living with her because their mom passed away so they are just trying to rely on one another right now. The homeowner also has a heck of a time talking because she had several strokes. It just broke my heart to see that someone is living the way she is (with no electricity at all) and, when she asked, "So do you think you can help me?" we had to tell her we weren't sure yet and we'd let her know. This project would be a huge undertaking and I'm not quite sure our budget or volunteers could handle it in the time frame we have available but it sure would be a great project to work on.

We are also meeting up with another family tomorrow who are trying to move into a house that is gutted right now. We went and saw the home today and that'd be a great project also. It's going to be too much to choose to redo both homes so that's one of our biggest decisions right now-to pick which house to basically do an extreme home makeover on.

Tough decisions are a big part of this job but so are adventures. Yesterday, we had to spend a few hours at the courthouse and we met the county clerk who then bought us lunch at The Executive which is the nicest restaurant in town. He had someone who worked for him take our order, pay for the food, and then we just went across the street and ate when it was ready. He helped us to look up some criminal records of people we weren't sure we could work for. He also introduced us to the judge who offered to help me get a teaching job in the county! Of course, I said I wasn't quite sure where I was going to live after May.

I'm going to get back to work for a bit before the big brother finale!

Hope to talk to ya soon!

Some pictures

Thought I'd post some pictures of what it's like here. I'll put up pictures of our vehicles. They each have names. Brutus is our dump truck that I drove from TN to WV, Wes is our red minivan, Lightning is our white pickup and Jonah is our 15 passenger van that we'll use to haul a lot of our supplies. I also took pictures of our center, office, and my Saturday night-at the new dirt race track in our county. VERY FUN! Hope you enjoy!

Brenton, WV!

Well I made it! I'm in Brenton, WV! We got here last night around 10 after an absolutely beautiful drive through the mountains. ASP owns three dump trucks for all of our work and they hire three dump truck drivers to travel with those trucks and help out the close to 30 counties that we work in throughout the summer. Since there are only 3 counties that we work in from now until May, each county got to have a dump truck and that's what I drove from TN to WV yesterday. I was looking forward to going through a weigh station for the first time but, sadly, it was closed. There's always next time!

My center is pretty sweet. It's one floor and used to be an old school. I learned yesterday that ASP bought the school for $1! My room is a little smaller than my room in Springfield but I stayed up pretty late organizing last night and it's already starting to feel like home. Our office is HUGE! It's a little bit bigger than our living room at home. There are plenty of white boards to use and my desk is really nice also. The staff has their own apartment so I have my own room and so do the two other girls I'm working with. We also have a kitchen, bathroom and living room area (with a TV AND cable!). We have wireless internet and they are in the process of bumping up our internet speed so volunteers can use it for work and we can have faster internet so we can watch shows and skype and things like that without the internet having to buffer every few minutes.

Unlike the summer, we have weekends off unless there are volunteers. So, this morning, I slept in, got ready and then read for a while on our front porch. Brenton is really pretty so I'm looking forward to exploring a bit today. We're going to go out to lunch and probably meet the family that owns our hardware store. Other than that, I'm looking forward to organizing a bit more.

My address is:
Jackie Glace
P.O. Box 455
Brenton, WV 24818

Feel free to write :)

Love you, I'll post pictures sometime this week!

Last Day in TN!

I've been having a great time in Johnson City, TN! I really love it here! My staff is really cool-I'll be with two girls this time. Kristen will be my Center Director and Marika is in charge of our finances and supplies. I'll be in charge of our volunteer paperwork, food, managing our cooks, and upkeep of the center. I've been loving Johnson City and staying in our beautiful hotel but I'm really anxious to see my home for the next nine months! I'll put up pictures as soon as I can so everyone else can see it, too.

I have training from 9-4 today and then I'll be driving for about 3 1/2 hours to Guyan Valley. The town I'll be living in is Brenton. I don't know too much about it yet besides the fact that there's a mini-mart and a Magic Mart (like a K-Mart). Other than that, there aren't too many stores. My center director said, for most stores, we'll drive about a half hour. That's the way it was two years for me in Magoffin County, KY and I remember getting used to that pretty quickly.

Anyway, I'll post pictures soon and fill you all in about my new home!! <3

On to Guyan Valley, WV

I had a great few weeks at home. Got to see friends and family and went on vacation in Myrtle Beach. I even went skydiving! It was really great to get a little break but I'm excited for my new adventure in Guyan Valley, WV. I was originally moving to Jonesville, VA from now until May but, last minute, my assignment got changed. I don't know too much about Guyan Valley yet but I'll be sure to update you all on what it's like :)

Tomorrow is my last day at home so I'll be finishing up packing and saying my last "see ya laters" to friends and family. Then, Tuesday morning I'm going to leave for training for the adult program. I'll be in Johnson City, TN from Tuesday night until Friday afternoon. There, I'll receive more construction training and training for my specific positions. This time, I'll be the Volunteer Coordinator and Operations Coordinator. That means I'll be the one to contact all of our volunteers before their arrival to tell them about their projects and our center. I'll also be in charge of the menu, managing our cooks, and the upkeep of the center (basically, I'll organize chores). I'll also still have a few construction projects each week that I'll be the point person for. I had a great summer but I'm excited for this new adventure. The program from now until May with ASP is an adult program. So, we'll have all college-aged and adult volunteers instead of high school volunteers. It will certainly be a very different experience.

I don't know my address in Guyan Valley yet but I'll be sure to post it on here when I do because I loved getting mail from everyone this summer!! :)

I'll post again when I'm in Guyan Valley! Talk to you all soon!

One of my favorite quotes...

We have posters with quotes all over our center and I had this one hanging above my desk all summer long that I just glanced at again. I found it at the beginning of the summer and liked it but it means a lot to me now because, as I start to reflect on the summer, I find that it describes a lot about how I'm feeling. It's a quote by a past ASP staffer. Here it goes:

"Hey, people are people. Everybody's born into this world with what their parents got. Though there are a lot of material and cultural differences, we're all born with needs: for love, acceptance, fun, laughter, friendship, and security. And because of these similar needs, it's possible to break down some of the material and cultural walls that separate us. In high school and college, most of my classes involved answers that were black and white-true or false. But it's usually difficult to discern what's right or wrong to do It's seldom black and white. Here you don't read or talk about other people's experiences: you do it yourself. You struggle through your own 'lessons' every day. My physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual limits have been tested more here than they ever were in college."
-Steve Seifried (former ASP staffer)

Summer's almost over

Well, the summer is coming to an end. On Friday, we had our last day of construction work, and, with the help of about 550 volunteers that I've had the pleasure of knowing this summer, we completed all of our construction! Friday night was an extremely happy night for me because I was a little nervous about completing a few of our projects. Not only did we complete all of our construction but, now, a few families have a heating source that didn't before and one family has a septic tank. Thank you again to all who helped to make that happen!

The summer has been really great. I've gotten really close with my staff-Katie, Jon, and Lena and I'm going to miss them a whole lot. I'm also going to miss the families that I've gotten so close with this summer. Good news is that I'll only be about an hour and a half away when I move to Jonesville, VA so I can visit and check in with them.

I go back to Johnson City, TN on Tuesday morning and that's where we unload all of our vehicles and return all of our tools, dishes, tuperware, and paperwork. I'll also get to see the staffs in the other 29 counties and hear about how their summers were! After Johnson City, we all go back to Jonesville, VA for "Wrap Up." It's a time to finish up any paperwork that wasn't completed and to start to decompress after the summer because it certainly has been a whirlwind of an experience. I'll be in Jonesville, VA until Friday morning and then I'll head HOME to Springfield! I'll be home for about a week then it's vacation time :) Then, I'll be heading back to Johnson City, TN on August 31 and I'll be there for a few days at training and then I'll be in Jonesville, VA until May!

I'm excited about this next journey with ASP but I'm really going to miss Leslie County. Good news is that our facilities manager, Tim, told me that he was talking to the superintendent and another person on the school board here in Leslie County and assured me that they want me to work for them in their school district. So, that was really cool news! Who knows? It's an option. One of my families has 7 kids and one on the way and she really wants me to be their teacher. But, that's in the future. For now, I'm focused on saying bye to my families, hardware store guys, Tropical Sno owners and staff.

The last few days of the summer are always sad but I'm also really excited to be home and see some family and friends! <3

I'm going to put up some pictures from my recent adventures. Yesterday, we went off-roading in Jon's jeep. That was a pretty fun experience and I got to see some BEAUTIFUL views! Leslie County is truly a beautiful place! Hope you enjoy the pictures :)

See you all VERY soon!

Week 8!

Hi Everyone,

It's Week 8 here in Leslie County-our last week with volunteers! This week, we are working really hard to finish all of our work and then next week my staff is here with me and we have to close out all of our accounts, say bye to families, clean our center and other stuff.

I have been very blessed to have received enough donations for the septic tank and heating systems that we wanted to put in here at Leslie County. Thank you EVERYONE for all of your support! It means a whole lot to me to have that many people support this mission that means so much to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you...a million times over, thank you! You have all made a lot of families VERY happy!

I feel like Leslie County is home now-I really love it here. Don't worry-I'm still coming back to PA but I'm excited to move to Virginia for a bit before I do. Everyone should visit me :)

I'll be home in just a few weeks! See you all soon!

Love you very much!

Thank you for all of your support all summer! I'll try to post again before I go home. Also, I'm going to put up pictures of my home (the old elementary school) soon and the showers and Hyden so everyone can see where I've been all summer!

It's my birthday!

Hi everyone! It's not really my birthday. Just kind of. We celebrate a different holiday each day in Leslie County. Merry Monday, Terrifying Tuesday, Everyone's Birthday Wednesday, Thankful Thursday and Falling in Love Friday. Wednesday is always my favorite holiday because I LOVE my birthday!

Everything is going pretty well here. I got to see Magoffin County again this weekend. I visited a family that we worked for and rebuilt her house. She now has running water for the first time ever! She still doesn't have an indoor bathroom but she was very happy with her running water! I also saw my cooks from Magoffin also. We visited them at their house and they asked how much chocolate the cooks were feeding me this year. When I told them we didn't have too much chocolate, they decided to fix that. They met me at 7:30 the next morning at the school I was staying at with homemade brownies! They are the best!

Our homes are all looking really good. We have two more weeks of volunteers. Next week we have 12 work crews and the following week we only have 3! I'm only a little concerned about a few of our homes. We want to install a septic tank because the family does not have one currently. Within a few years, they are going to get city water to their home but, if they do not have a septic tank by that time, they will get fined a few thousand dollars which they don't have. So, we are really hoping to put a septic tank in for them. I just got off the phone with the septic installer and the price is close to $3,000 so we are going to be fundraising like crazy! Also, we have three families that have absolutely no source of heating and we'd LOVE to give them a heat source. But, that's another few thousand dollars. We have been working really hard all summer to help these families but I just feel awful thinking that we'd leave a family without a heat source or septic tank at the end of the summer. If anyone would like to send a donation to help out this family, you can send it to:

ASP
General Delivery
Hyden, KY 41749

You can send it to me and then we can put the money towards the septic system and/or heating.

Thank you for all of your support this summer! I'm going to try to upload some more pictures soon!

Also, I need to say thank you to an anonymous person who gave me a large donation after my thesis defense to be used towards ASP. The money is currently going in this fund to install a septic tank and heating systems.

Love and miss you all!

Some Pics

Thought I'd show you all some pictures of what I've been up to. Today, I was out with Lena and we saw this old barn with a ton of cute puppies so we stopped to see them! Also, I had a day off Monday into Tuesday so I went to Pineville State Park and then my friend Mikah and I stopped at the Cumberland Gap and I saw Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky ALL AT ONE TIME! It was amazing!

We have a picnic tonight with all of our volunteers and families so I'm excited for that. It's always a fun time. Thanks again for all of your mail! It makes our office a whole lot brighter!

Talk to you all soon <3

Life lately

I haven't been able to blog too much lately but everything has been going pretty great in Leslie County! I have had two weeks of volunteers so far and they were both really awesome. This week, some of the group leaders greeted the staff with all different kinds of treats and FRUIT! They really took care of us all week long. We had two floating volunteers so they took it upon themselves to fix our toilets for us as well as buy us a whole bunch of cleaning supplies that we needed and a few gifts as well. All of the other group leaders were really great, too. We asked for a staff mom and dad each day and so each day we had different "parents." They did really nice things for us like buying us pizzas and soda for our nightly meetings, writing us encouraging notes, and offering an ear if we needed it and extra HUGS! Like I said, the group leaders were all amazing and so were the youth that were here these past two weeks. I had a lot of fun with them at Tropical Sno, during EGs and on runs. I learned a lot of brain teasers from some of the youth while on runs so that was neat.

Our families are great! They are all really appreciative and we had almost all of our families come to our picnic this week! We have a picnic on Wednesday evenings and culture night on Thursday nights. Our culture night is a blue grass band. I learned how to clog this week during our culture night AND someone from ASP won the 50/50 so they called me up to take the winnings as a donation to ASP which was super nice.

We've had a few visitors this past week. We had a staffer in training who was so helpful all week, our chaplain, our boss Ben, and our construction consultant. It's always nice to have visitors :) ALSO, it's always nice to get mail and I have been receiving a whole lot of it lately so THANK YOU to everyone who has been making my day!

I just finished at the hardware store with Jon and Lena and now we're going to write our work orders for the next week and then head to the Breaks to go camping with the rest of the staffs. I'm really excited because I have never seen a more beautiful sunset than I saw at the Breaks two years ago. I.can't.wait!

I don't want to rush this week because I know we have really great volunteers coming (other staffers told me how great the one church is that's coming) but I'm super excited for the end of the week because my mom and dad are coming to visit and I can't wait to see them and show them around Leslie County!

I have a day off on Monday into Tuesday so I am really looking forward to a nice, relaxing evening/day. Not too sure what I'm going to do yet. Maybe go to a state park or something. Wherever I go, hopefully I'll have cell service and I can catch up with a few people.

Anyway, I better get back to work. This week, I'm in charge of a retaining wall, drainage ditch, subfloor repair, and a front porch. If this coming week is even as close to as good as the last week, I'll be a happy camper. I'll try to post more pictures and blog a bit more often!

Talk to you all soon and, again, THANKS FOR THE MAIL!

Leslie County is AWESOME!

So I just completed my first day of Initial Home Visits in Leslie County, KY and had a really great day! I'll tell you all about my life lately. Lately I have:
*Met my staff: Katie (my returner), Jon, and Lena (my first years). They are all amazing and I'm so happy I got placed with them this summer
*Visited Leslie County and met some community contacts that I'll be working with this summer. The superintendent is my facilities manager and informally offered me a teaching job so that was pretty sweet
*Completed training and left The Porch (sad day because everyone on staff is amazing, as usual)
*Moved into Hyden Elementary (minimal bugs :) and we have a/c in every room but our staff quarters-they're working on that)
*Went to a church service with approximately 13 people-including myself and 3 other staffers. Everyone at the service was great and we had two separate people that offered us showers since we haven't built ours yet
*Sat in a fire truck
*Showered in a fire station (Darlene, the owner of Tropical Sno, is married to the first chief so he gave us the key to the first station until we have showers built)
*Went on Initial Home Visits with my returner, Katie. It was a pretty rough start because we weren't finding many homes but then I met one homeowner that I fell in love with and really hope we can work on her home. She is the sweetest ever and I really enjoyed spending time with her today and her grandkids. Also, we went to another home that ASP had previously worked on a few years ago. The work that they did a few years ago is still looking strong and I had no trouble figuring out why ASP had chosen to work for that family before. They were amazing and reminded me of the reasons I took this job. I really hope we can work for them as well. Also, when Katie and I went to look at the foundation under the house, we found a goat. It was pretty funny because we were not expecting it at all! I told the homeowner that we were surprised to see a goat and he said it was his weed wacker. I really love my job!
*Came home to our school and found out that my first years are amazing and finished everything their to-do list said...and then some!
*Made friends with the subway guys who said they'd save me extra chocolate chip cookies...awesome!
*Met my cooks who seem pretty great, too
*Set up our office. My desk is very organized and I have my mail hanging up (Thank you to everyone who sent me mail so far!)
*Hung up one billion signs in our school-tons of quotes, bible verses, and song lyrics
*Got lost a whole lot

My new address is:
ASP
General Delivery
Hyden, KY 41749

Please send me and my staff some love <3

Also, I don't get much cell service here but I'll try to call people when I can

LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH! Right now, one of my first years, Jon, is making us a delicious chicken finger dinner (my staff already knows how much of a picky eater I am-oops) so I'm going to go help him out.

Talk to you all soon-ish! <3

New staffers!

Today, the rest of the staffers will arrive on the porch! I'm super excited to meet my potential staffers!!

Yesterday, we went to Johnson City, TN and met a lot of the big people behind the scenes of ASP. It was a nice afternoon and then, each of the staffers got to drive a vehicle back. I drove back one of ASP's 12 passenger vans-Hobie. It was an absolutely breathtaking drive. When I got home, I received more home repair applications for my county and started looking through them to organize them by town. I can tell from all of the applications that there are going to be way more people that need our help than I can offer. So, I ask for your thoughts and prayers as my staff and I select our homes within the next few weeks.

CD Training

Training's been going well. We've been pretty busy. We went on a few mock Initial Home Visits where we went to visit homes that the Jonesville staff is going to work on this summer and practiced planning out what we'd choose to work on. It's been great practice. So far, I've been with the 28 other CDs and our Program Managers. Tomorrow, we're going to Johnson City, TN to visit ASP's headquarters. Then, on Wednesday, the first year and returner staffers will come to Jonesville and there will be at least 100 more people here! That's when we'll get a whole lot of construction training and do a bunch of other fun things.

On a side note, I met with my Program Manager and got a lot of information on Leslie County. I got a whole bunch of home repair applications so I've begun looking through them and there are going to be quite a few tough decisions for my staff and I to make when we get to Leslie County.

Also, I already got some mail. THANK YOU! <3

Talk to everyone soon-ish!

It's almost time!

Thursday I'll be leaving for Jonesville, Virginia. There, I'll go through training with the other Center Directors for a few days and then the rest of the summer staff will arrive! I'll be in Jonesville until June 4 and would LOVE to receive some mail :)

Here's the address:
ASP
P.O. Box 250
Jonesville, VA 24263

During training, I'll learn who the other 3 people are that will be on staff with me! Then, after training, the four of us will travel to Leslie County, Kentucky where we'll be working with volunteers to improve substandard housing in Appalachia. It's going to be a very challenging but exciting summer for me. I'm not sure if I'll have cell service or not so I thought this would be an easy way to keep everyone updated on my upcoming adventure.