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 :)
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