Johns Island 2009 Day 6 and 7

Wow! What an incredible week!

The past two nights have been extremely busy, so I apologize for not posting photos last night. There are plenty attached tonight. The past two nights we took time to recognize every person that worked here at Johns Island. The site leaders spoke about each member and then each member had a chance to reflect on the week. Our kids did a great job explaining their "take-away" for the week. This is the event where everyone receives their t-shirt. Hank added a bonus for the site leaders - a great orange Homeworks Hat.

Saturday night is our thanksgiving meal and it was well attended by homeowners. Beyond repairing houses, our main goal was to spend time with the homeowners - by the look of the room when it was time to say goodbye, our kids and the homeowners really bonded. Then it was a mad rush for the annual ping pong tournament where we were well represented by the 2009 Champion - Preston. Despite cheering by Lynda and Beth, Jack and I had a late rally that came up short. Cliff folded under pressure and ended up getting skunked (or something like that).

Some highlights of the attached pictures include our 6:15 AM march to chapel where Cliff preached on Goats??? I am still confused... There are pictures of wild animals that we encountered this week - well kind of wild animals - Spiders and Dogs. Pictures of our prayer wall - where we prayed for all of you at home as well as homeowners. There are pictures of the best before and after house (Beaumont, Winston, and mine of course). We turned that puky North Carolina/Citadel blue house into a showplace complete with new landscaping.

Thanks for all of your prayers and if you ever have a chance to accompany our youth on a mission trip, you should. It is nice to see how great they really are! It also gives us adults a nice time to reflect on all of the blessings that we all have. We are all looking forward to being home with our families.

God's Peace,

Brandon

Johns Island 2009 Day 5

Greetings,

Another great, but hot day down at Johns Island. We have set a new record for the number of houses repaired in one session. We have completed(or near completion) of all of the original houses and all of the back-ups. The groups have all worked extremely hard and have done incredible work.

We had a wonderful supper tonight and had a few surprise visitors for dinner - Father Fletcher came to pick up Mike and had dinner with us as well as Will Moore and his new bride. It was great to see all of them.

Posted are pictures from the site that Beaumont, Winston, and I are working on. We have been working around the family trying to prepare for the funeral of the homeowners brother. He passed away on Wednesday morning and there have been many visitors to share their condolences. These visitors all commented on how great of a job we were doing and how much they appreciate us repairing Ms. Lowery's house.

After dinner Winston and Austin created a very popular game - a combination of ping pong and tennis played on the gym floor. The older kids hijack the ping pong table, so Austin and Winston got creative. It was neat to see some of the older kids come in and ask to play. I think this new game will be a new Homeworks tradition. Austin and Winston have already planned a tournament for later this week. It is really quite fun.

One more full day of work tomorrow and hopefully a few hours on Saturday and then we will celebrate with our homeowners at a special thanksgiving meal on Saturday night.

Thanks for your prayers,

God's Peace,

Brandon

Johns Island 2009 Day 4

Greetings,
Today was a great, fun day. Every site worked hard and got a lot accomplished. Most of the homes we have worked on will be done tomorrow, so we will probably be working on new homes once we are done. It was pretty hot and extremely humid this morning. After lunch, a thunderstorm rolled in, so all the sites got rained on! That didn't stop us though! We worked right on through it and were able to get a lot done. Some sites have been working on roofs, painting, building decks, and cauking. The homeowners are all so thankful for the work we have done, and it is so nice getting to know them all. We are looking forward to having another great day tomorrow!!

God bless!
Austin Lewis and Mary Sarah Komar

Johns Island 2009 Day 3

Greetings,

Not a lot of pictures to share today. Taylor Jackson had the camera, but he was way too busy to take any pictures (or at least that is what he said).

We worked hard all morning and then took off for some fun time at the beach at Saint Christopher. The highlight was certainly the fried chicken from Billy Dees. You know it is going to be good when the sign out front says: If the Colonel had our recipe, he would be a General!"

We also found out that "No Diving" signs should be posted at beaches as well as shallow pools. Taylor Jackson decided to run and dive into about 1 foot of water - OUCH!!! The best picture for tonight is the aftermath...

I will make sure we have more action photos tomorrow! A lot of the houses are close to completion, so hopefully we will have some before and after photos to share.

God's Peace,

Brandon

Greetings,

Another great, but hot day down at Johns Island. Things got off to a great start at 6AM when Santa woke us up. Everyone seems to be doing very well and having a great time despite the hard work. Today's photos are from a house on Wadmalaw that Mike Montgomery and Father Joseph Smith are the site leaders. The team at this site consists of Beth Busbee, Austin Lewis, and Jack Moore. They are working hard replacing kitchen cabinets, building a new deck/porch, etc...

Tuesday is a popular day because we head to the beach mid-afternoon for some wonderful fried chicken and some great fellowship.

I hope all is well in Columbia. Everything is great here!

God's Peace,

Brandon


http://picasaweb.google.com/stjohnscolumbia/JohnsIsland2009Day2?feat=directlink

Johns Island 2009 - Day 1

Greetings from Johns Island,

After a slow trip down, thanks to Cliff's sporadic driving, we spent the first hour unloading trailers full of supplies. We then ate and everyone went to Home Depot to pick up all of the lumber and supplies. From there, half of us headed to Wadmalaw and the rest of us stayed on the island.

Pictures posted include pictures of the house that Preston Busbee, Cliff Moore and Raiford Collins are site leaders - the team includes Taylor Jackson, Virginia Prioleau, and Lawson Smith and new friends. Preston's house (light blue 1 story house) needs a lot of TLC - replacing siding, re-roofing, adding joists, etc... Quite a challenge. The lady that lives here is blind and cares for herself.

The second house is the house that Winston Collins, Beaumont Smith, and I are working on. It is a two story house that needs exterior paint, facia work, a new front porch built, etc... Our homeowner recently had two strokes and does not get around very well. She is very sweet and offered to cook us all hot dogs one day for lunch.

The brown 1 story house has Austin McCoy as one of the site leaders and Sumter Moore, Grace Graham, Lynda Lovelace, Madelon Kneece, and Mary Sarah Komar. They are replacing the roof, repairing trim, and painting exterior, etc... We did not have a chance to meet the homeowner today. This house has ZERO shade, so think about them tomorrow when it is 100+ degrees on the roof.

The camera will travel with some of the other groups tomorrow so that you can see what everyone is working on.

Thanks for keeping us all in your prayers!

God's Peace,

Brandon

http://picasaweb.google.com/stjohnscolumbia/JohnsIsland2009DayOne?feat=directlink

Home Works Augusta Monday

Hey there folks,

Today was a hard day of work. Oh my goodness...it was SO HOT! It is late and I'm really tired, so we'll jump right to the pics. See you soon!

blessings,
Dorian