Alternative Spring Break

Today was our second day of work in Hackberry, LA. Although yesterday was pretty wet, every member of the Frog team was enthusiastic to work today, even if it meant painting in the rain again. Four of the people from our team returned to the house we were working on yesterday to finish the jpainting job there, while the rest of the team (including myself) went to a new house to begin another painting job. We were lucky enough to paint for one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met.We got to the site about 8:30 and since we had to wait a while for our paint to show up we decided to make ourselves useful. We raked her yard, prepped the house for painting, swept her patio and got to know the woman a little bit. Her home was badly damaged during Hurricane Rita, and painting it was going to be the finishing touch and we were excited to give her a home that she looked forward to seeing everyday.

We finally got our painting supplies around 10:00 a.m. and by 12:00 lunchtime, we had already painted a first coat on 3 sides of the house!! Keep in mind that this wasnt exactly a small house and our teamtotally pulled together and dominated. We made up for lost time and had so much fun while doing it. We were all really proud of ourselves and then, when it came time for lunch we got a wonderful surprisewhich made our accomplishment even sweeter. The woman who's home we were painting made us some real southern Cajun food. It was so delicious and after we finished eating we could all barely move. She cooked us gumbo with rice, homemade potato salad, tuna salad sandwiches, chocolate cake and sweet tea to drink. It was seriously the best meal I have had in a LONG time. We were all extremely touched and grateful. Here was a woman who was doing what she could to repay us for painting her home. If any of you ever get a chance to come south, I would highly recommend it. The culture is incredible and the people are so kind.

Anyways, we are going to finish painting her house tomorrow and we are also going to buy her some new metal numbers so she can have her address numbers nailed to her home. I am so proud of my team, we have painted almost 2 whole houses in about and day and and half!!! I mean... these people are incredible!! Tonight everybody had a lot of fun with kareoke, and tomorrow we get to go to the beach so it not all work... we have quite a bit of fun too, both on and off the work site. I have never had so much fun playing board and card games and jumping on a trampoline. I know I cant wait until tomorrow and see how pleased our woman is with her home. It will be wonderful to see the finished product!