I Love My Job

I always knew I loved ASP but, after this summer, I was really exhausted, missed my family and home and wasn't sure I could handle a year away from PA. Although I miss my family, friends, and home, I am convinced I made the right decision for this year of my life. Living in Appalachia has been an extremely enlightening experience for me. I have learned a lot about the world around me as well as myself this year as I have been able to self-reflect after being put in some very challenging situations. 

I have been extremely blessed to have met a lot of amazing people this year such far that have been very nurturing. I have written about my hardware store owners, The Cline's, in past blog posts. A recent example of how nurturing they are is that, this morning, I told Melvin that I'd help him deliver materials to a few mobile homes since I knew where they were. He came and picked me up at 7:15 this morning and had two new pairs of work gloves in the car. I already had gloves that he had given me a few weeks ago when I forgot mine and tried to load up lumber without them so I didn't need the new ones today. But, as he dropped me off, he gave me the two new pairs of gloves and said, "You might need these today. Go ahead, take them." He also kept his truck running when he came in to pick me up to make sure I stayed warm. Then, when I stopped in at the store after loading up supplies at one of our work sites today, there was a 2x6x16 hanging out of the back of our pick up so, when we went inside to say hello to his wife, we came out only to see that he had put a red flag on the back of the piece of lumber to make sure we were being safe and wouldn't get pulled over. The Cline's have done so many little things to take care of us since we've been here and I feel really lucky to have met them. Not only have The Cline's been great but also the postal workers, my fellow parishioners at church, and other locals have looked out for us since we first moved here. I can't say how much it means to me to have so many people look out for me in an area that I didn't know that well at first and, like any impoverished area, isn't the safest. But, because of all of the contacts I've made here, I feel very at home and safe now. 

Meeting and building relationships with locals has been amazing but being able to meet and learn from new volunteers each week or weekend has been a great experience as well. I have learned that, no matter how nice I try to be, it is impossible to get along with everyone. But, most people I've come across have been from all over the county and are all very generous and genuine people. It has been a very enriching experience to meet so many people from different walks of life who are all here for the same goal-to help others while also improving themselves. This week, we had a group from Orlinda, TN and another from Bound Brooke, NJ. We had to ask them to come a day later than planned due to the snow but, they were all very easygoing and understanding. Upon their arrival, they wanted to get right to work and, I can honestly say I felt respected all week long. Sometimes, when adult volunteers meet me, see my size, learn my age and my degree, they do not always believe I have knowledge about construction. But, this group praised me on my knowledge a lot and didn't give me an ounce of trouble when they were here. It was really nice to have the guys from New Jersey around because I could hear a similar accent to mine and didn't have to keep repeating myself or asking them to repeat themselves and it was as if I had 8 dads around all week. The guy would always ask if the girls and I had eaten enough, would help us if they saw us loading supplies alone, joked around with us, and would leave us little candies and other treats for our nightly meetings. This week was the first I cried when volunteers left. I just felt so comfortable with them and it was really nice to feel taken care of because it's my job to take care of others all of the time. 

This year has definitely had its ups and downs but, I feel really lucky to have had this experience that has allowed me to learn so much from others as well as myself. Just thought I'd share my latest thoughts...

Gearing up for the crazy season

It's almost March, which means my staff and I are preparing for the crazy season. That is, the college spring break season. Soon, the three of us will be managing 70+ volunteers each week and 9-12 projects. I'm excited for the season. We have chosen a lot of very deserving families and pretty awesome projects.

I had a chance recently to have a few exciting excursions. Last weekend, I went to Chicago to visit some friends. On the way, I stopped in Lexington, KY and stayed overnight. I explored The University of Kentucky (something I've always wanted to see). Anyone that knows me pretty well knows how much I love libraries. Well, the UK library was five floors and absolutely beautiful! The rest of the campus was amazing as well and one of my latest life goals is to be an elementary education professor at UK. I have had a lot of new goals lately so we'll see but, for right now, I'm excited about that one. After I left UK, I had a mini-excursion planned for Louisville. When I got to Louisville, I found out that the trip I had planned wasn't going to work out. I did get a chance to go to the art center and see "The Kentucky Show," which is a half-hour documentary about Kentucky. When I went in to buy my ticket, the woman at the ticket counter said I would be the only one in the theater so she just gave me a ticket for free!! Turns out, there was one other woman in the theater with her sleeping baby. I asked the woman who gave me the ticket where else to go and she told me about this really neat art exhibition a few blocks away. When I went in, the two guys at the front desk asked if they could help me. I decided to respond by saying, "I hope so. I'm from the Philadelphia area and only in Louisville for a few hours and was told this was a neat place to come to. What do you recommend I take a look at?" They gave me a few pointers and I had a great time exploring. When I was about to leave they asked how I felt about everything and then I asked them for a few suggestions to take myself out to lunch at and other places to go. They suggested the Louisville Slugger Museum and I'm so happy I went there!!! I was able to make a few friends on the tour and they took my picture holding Mickey Mantle's bat!! The guy leading the tour was giving me a hard time about being a Phillies "Phan" but afterwards, he asked me to wait up and went into the back room to get one of Shane Victorino's bats!! He let me see it and I jokingly asked if there were any that were messed up that I could have. He went in the back to check and, when he came out, he told me he was looking for a Shane Victorino bat to give me but couldn't find one that wasn't gong to be shipped to him so he brought me out a pink bat that they give to the players to use on Mother's Day games for breast cancer research instead. Best tour guide I've ever had!!

I also saw a sign for "Shelbyville," so I had to stop there as well. One of the girls I work with is named Shelby so I stopped in the Cracker Barrel there, asked if there were any Shelbyville post cards and explained why I needed them. They didn't have any but the friendly worker told me where the center of town was and suggested trying there. When I went into the center of town, I saw a really cute store called "The Keepsake Shop." I went in and met Jane, the owner. Jane bought an old house and turned it into The Keepsake Shop. It was the cutest store I've ever been in. I was the only customer so I stayed in the shop for about an hour and learned about how she started the business and unique customer stories. I bought an apple container for my potential classroom, some Shelbyville post cards, and a pretty charm.

After those few excursions, I was off to Chicago! My friends made reservations at The Signature Room which is on the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. It was a snowy day so we couldn't really see the city but it looked like we were eating lunch in a cloud which was awesome! I also went to the Shed Aquarium and then we had a great time at some of their favorite hot spots in town. My personal favorite - the Unique Good Will store and the Habitat resale store.

We're having a pretty bad snow storm right now so we're staying with our hardware store owners' son in Bluefield, WV. We're going to be headed back to Brenton in the morning and then our volunteers come in tomorrow afternoon. We're hoping we'll have power in the county so we can get some good work done this coming week!!

That's the update for now. Miss you all!