Home Sweet Home!!

I'm home, at last. The last week of work went by pretty fast. We were working in Gulfport along with volunteers from Kentucky. We hung OSB, moved a bathtub, carried 74 truces across a muddy mess, raised half of the trusses, got our van stuck in the mud, jump started one truck, and exchanged secret Santa gifts. We also helped set up and take part in 2 house blessings, for 2 families moving into their new Habitat homes.

After work on Friday, we drove to New Orleans and stayed at Camp Hope. There were about 6 other NCCC teams from Sacramento there. Both of my Sacramento roommates were there and we spent much of the night catching up. It was great to see the other teams, share stories about our projects, and predict what our next projects would be. After a brief nights sleep, it was off to the airport and then home.

On Wednesday night we had our Christmas party. After work, we went out to eat at Shady's. The food was delicious. And the best part was the couple that was sitting the next table over from us. The lady at that table came over and asked us who we were and why there were so many of us. We told her about NCCC and what we were doing. She couldn't stop thanking us for our service and then proceeded to tell us what was best on the menu. She gave us her business card and a list of other restaurants she thought we would like. About 15 minutes later, our waiter came out with three side dishes that none of us had ordered. The waiter explained that the sides were from the next table over. The couple had bought us three dishes of the restaurant's special Christmas dip. The dip was excellent. It not only tasted good, but it showed that people really do appreciate the work that we do.

Happy Holidays,
Catherine