Oct 23rd Blog Entry - Our final build day

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Hmmm.....it's hard to believe that today was our last day of our build. It seems like we just started. No doubt, emotions were strong today as we finished up at the build site. Major initatives for the day were to work on the soffits, blocking up the kitchen walls where the cabinets will be mounted, and continue with Friday's tasks.

We'd like to share 4 pictures showing the BEFORE (day1) and AFTER (day6) results. It was a very productive week for our team. I'd like to take some extra time here to thank both Terry and Brett for their very apparent knowledge in home construction - awesome job guys in teaching and guiding the rest of us throughout the week!

After work, a celebration/farewell dinner at Salt Pond Beach was planned. The Habitat affiliate prepared dinner for us while we relaxed a bit. While waiting for dinner, we were also given the opportunity to learn the Hola dance. During our lesson, I think we all seemed to have the general idea....but oh how we lacked the gracefullness of the dance and our instructor. Needless to say, we shared alot of laughs during this hour. 😊

Towards the end of the celebration, there were alot of Thank You's, both from Habitat Kaua'i to us and from us to Habitat Kaua'i. It was very apparent that not only did we help build this home, but also built new relationships that will undoubtably last a lifetime.

When Bob (crew leader for Habitat Kaua'i) got up and spoke, he not only thanked our team for our financial committment to Habitat, but also thanked our team for our time committment. I think several of us got a bit "choked up" as he continued to talk. You could tell his passion for the program. And, while financial committments are extremely important and absolutely necessary, Bob honed in and focused his "speech" on the time committment.

Everyone of our team members made both a substantial financial and time committment when they joined the team. Our family, friends, and co-workers also made a committment by "holding down the fort" while we were gone. Our team leaders, Beth and Kathy, also put in alot of extra time to made this build extremely successful. I'm guessing if you were to ask anyone on the team if it was worth it, it would be a "hands down" YES.

I'd like to end todays blog entry by saying THANK YOU to Beth and Kathy for bringing this team together and for all your hard work. It has not gone unnoticed. I think a few more people (first timers) have been "bitten by the build bug" and I imagine they will do this again. Personally speaking, I know a 6th build is in my near future.

If you're interested in learning more about Thrivent Financial for Lutherans or the Thrivent Builds program, please visit Thrivent.com or Thriventbuilds.com

God's Blessings to you all.

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Photos

Habitat
included in the picture are affiliate personel, amercorp volunteers, and local volunteers.

Comments

[Debi]

Awesome
Good job to all you guys! You made a lot of progress and looks like you had a lot of fun! Can't wait to catch up with you all when you get back home!

[Terry]

Thanks to our team blogger
I would like to say a huge THANK YOU, to Greg our team blogger. He put a lot of time into making the blog interesting for all to read. Even without having access to high speed internet at our campsite, he was very patient and burnt the midnight candle or woke up with the Roosters to get something out for families and friends to share our team adventure. GREAT JOB Greg

[Terri G]

Excellent!
Welcome home, everyone! You've done a great job in Kauai and made excellent progress on the home. Another great TBW trip! Congratulations!