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!!