Tatoo Tuesday

Most of our days have themes and today is Tatoo Tuesday.  The teens (and adults) are encouraged to wear the play tattoos as something fun. Tonight we have culture night where we have a Blue Grass group coming in to entertain us.  It's always a highlight for our EG (evening gatherings).  Today the work gets into full gear as we've already scoped out our projects, have done some work (or in some cases jumped head first into the work yesterday) and know what we need to get accomplished for the week. 


We have a great group of teens and adults this year and everyone is getting along extremely well.  It was great to see Fr. Le interacting with the teens yesterday.  Usually we have quiet time at 10:30 PM however last night Fr. Le and about 8 teens were playing a card game and having lots of fun and laughing that we just let them continue to play until "lights out" which is at 11:00.  It's not often that teens have an opportunity to interact with a priest in that way and it gave them a different perspective that they are just like everyone else and yet have a deep religious belief and relationship with God.  It shows them what's possible for us as well just as Christ through His humanity showed us how to live.  So many times we see Christ or a religious person as someone "outside the norm" and feel we can't live up to their example.  However, once we realize that they are human too with the same temptations and issues to deal with, we can begin to see that it's possible to live a different life and not succumb to the "ways of the world".  It's a blessing having Fr. Le with us this year!
Any way, enough with my sermon.......Here are the insights from the teens!



Today, our group Homorphors continued the construction of the family's home. The construction group that worked on the  interior of the home continued installing new tiles and supports for walls.  The outdoor group led by Mr. Kratzer installed new deck boards and supports for the front porch.  We all ate lunch on the brand new deck and shared the time with Little Bit as he slept.  A couple of crew members accompanied the young daughter of the family, Gracelynn, on a fishing trip to the nearby creek.  She caught several fish and showed them to us with pride.  Our day was great and we hope we get to have many more moments like these during the week.




HEY EVERYONE, it's Will from Protego. Our youth minister, Theresa, joined us today! We completed our 100 foot trench today! We laid down the weed guard in the trench as the hot sun shined down on us. We continued by laying gravel throughout the trench to divert future water away from the house. Kurlin, one of the homeowners/ former carpenter, assisted in many of the projects today. He helped in building the small deck, securing the 4x4's for the handicap ramp, and offering invaluable advice. We had to put on our "thinking caps" trying to create the best path for the handicap ramp. Kurlin and Trish's grandson, Jacob, was our honorary work member. Kurlin shared his youth stories about his motorcycle riding days over lunch. We were introduced to the neighborhood dog, Leroy, who rolled on his back anxiously awaiting a belly rub. Leroy kept us company as we waited for another load of gravel to arrive. We finished putting the gravel throughout the trench, and covered over 60% of it with dirt. Overall, very productive day and got to share a few laughs with the family.


Hi everybody, it's Nora from Duro.  Today we had a great day, and we got a lot of work done.  We finished the decking on the back porch, and did a lot of work on the front porch.  We put up 4x4's and 2x4's, and used spindles to build a railing around the stairs and entire porch.  We also learned how to plumb a post.  Our group had a great time watching Debbie's cats, especially when one of them caught a salamander played with it.  We were also introduced to a neighborhood dog named Smokey.  She is soo cute.   Sadly, Debbie is still feeling under the weather, but we were able to give her some medicine today.  We are hoping to finish the front and back porches tomorrow.  If we are able to complete this, we will have to decide what else we can help Debbie with.  She has some rotting floorboards that we may replace, or fix/replace her back door.  We also have to think of a good gift to give Debbie at the end of the week.  After we finished for the day, we stopped at a farmstand and got some fresh peaches.  Mmm, were they good after a long day of work.  After we got back to the ASP center and showered and ate, we got to hear a fabulous bluegrass band play.  We even got to dance.  I hope the rest of the week can continue to be as great as the first two days have been!

Hi this is Sean Coughlin from the Homorphous team and we had a very productive day today. We finished tiling the kitchen and we moved onto tiling the bathroom. While on the outside the other team worked on the front porch. Everything was going great until right after lunch when a shortage of supplies halted the work on the outside forcing one team to call for the day. But on the inside the work continued. We continued tiling the bathroom while the adults crawled underneath the home and fixed the plumbing. After finishing another day on the job we went back to the center and we experienced culture night. A blue grass band came and played some fun and entertaining songs for us. It was a great day and we were very productive!!


Hi this is Becky from the Incendio team. Today we finished the guard rail in the front of the house and almost finished the stairs. Amber (the mom) was very helpful and interested in what we were doing; she lent us a drill when ours ran out of battery. During lunch time, we had the amazing opportunity to eat with our family. Sixteen month old, Lydia, three year old Novaline and their fifteen month old cousin Alec were adorable! We played with them for about an hour and had a ton of fun. We also played with their dogs, Diva and Copper. Diva is a Doberman; she looks scary but is a huge sweetheart and loves to play fetch. Copper is a copper colored (duh) wiener dog. He always barks at Diva even though she is ten times bigger than he is. Our family also has a black kitten named Toodles. She has a huge scar down her back from one of the dogs, but is still adorable. After lunch, we started working on the back. We replaced a rotting piece of wood that supported the corner of the deck and started bracing the deck replace another piece of wood. During the next couple of days, we are going to build a staircase in the back. Today was hotter than yesterday, but we stayed cool by setting up a canopy and drinking a ton of water. Their house is already looking a lot safer and more secure; I can't wait to see the finished project and I know everyone feels the same way. So far being at ASP has been a blast and has been a real eye-opener. After we got back, we got to listen to a blue grass band that came to play for us; it was a ton of fun and really showed the culture of the area.
Hey its Cyrus from Nox team.  Today my team and I kept working on the roof of the house and also under. We also dug out the ground, used power tools and worked together efficiently.  We had an awesome kid named Billy with us again today.  He loved the tattoos we brought him. He helped us throughout the day. We worked long and hard and accomplished most of our tasks but with our faith strong nothing can stop us. A highlight of the day was saying thank you to our family for letting us serve them by giving them a gift.  We gave the young couple a car seat to keep their new baby safe.