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Published: July 11th 2018
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"Wake up wake up wake up
Wake up you sleepy head
Wake up wake up wake up
Its time to get out of bed"
-Carly
She sang to me this song first thing thins morning in an effort to roll me off my sleeping pad for our build day today. She explained that her mom used to sing it to her and every time it repeats, it gets faster and louder. I'm really grateful she didn't repeat it.
This morning we woke up at the Lish’s house Sardine style—everyone joyfully sharing one room—like a giant slumber party! It felt like we were in 5th grade again, I don’t hate it! ☺️ Not only did the Lish’s provide this lovely environment to wake up to (including some real pillows, blankets, and I even managed to snag a mattress topper pad!), but they also cooked a delicious breakfast for us! Scones, both chocolate roasted pear & orange cranberry, egg casserole, coffee, orange juice, and, get this, cappuccino!! Mr Lish was happily willing to provide us all with either shots of espresso or a perfectly frothed cappuccino—talk about amazing hospitality!
Once we packed up the
vans with coolers and food bins, we bid our farewell to Ron, and rolled out to DC for our build day. Today, instead of working on a construction site, we partnered with Manna, another affordable housing affiliate unique to DC, and we’re going to help baby proof peoples homes. We met at their home office where sipped in some coffee while learning more Manna and how they are unique from Habitat. Some stand out points include no sweat equity, all work is done in-house, and they work in different areas of affordable housing, not just providing homes for families, but also helping with transitional housing, shelters, etc. It was a really interesting affiliate and we were all executed to see something different!
We split into 3 groups based off our count off numbers and the number of people who would fit in the shuttles/were necessary for each shuttles work load. My group was the smallest, with the first 4 team members alphabetically being Sarah, Chris, Ryan, & myself. We drove around with Josh, an employee of Manna, in his Jeep SUV and started going to different parts of the city to help baby proof homes.
The way the
baby proofing worked was Manna advertised it to DC, not just people associated with their organization, and anyone could get it so we were able to see different neighborhoods of DC and people from different socioeconomic situations, which was a really unique opportunity we don’t typically get to experience. Our team of 5 fearless friends would knock on the doors of those we were helping and they would invite us inside to install the different baby proofing tools—cabinet/drawer protectors, wedges to help avoid pinched fingers in closed doors, a mat in the bathtub, and corner protectors. We helped a young mother of a nearly 2 year old, a mother of a 3 year old sleeping little girl, the mother of a 6 week old baby that I got to soothe (!!!), and the mother of a 6 & 8 year old. Each of us all took ownership of one or two of the devices to install and we all got to talk to the families a bit as well. Manna also provided a nice gift bag (or rather lunch box with either a dog or whale on it) for each family with clothes and some supplies for the young one. So nice!
After all of our deliveries, we went back to the Manna office and had pizza lunch and some left overs from the coolers. Since it was about 4pm, we were all starving, but what else is new ? We knew we had dinner that evening in just a few hours but that didn’t stop us! We rode the vans back to the Lish’s house and most of my van slept as I journaled on my personal blog. We got back & immediately got our laundry loops together since it was another laundry night—hooray for clean clothes!!
As I was getting my laundry together, my good friend & fellow NC2SD14 rider Lorraine came to visit with a large delicious salad and snacks in hand!! It was so so good to see her and tel her all about the new team! The last time I saw her was last summer at our reunion so it was good & necessary to bring each other up to speed, especially since she just returned from living in France for the past year! We enjoyed catching up on the patio while enjoying eating her salad and a delicious burger fresh off the grill—it truly feels like summer!
After everyone ate, we all decided to play Code Names outside on the patio and Lorraine jumped right in there with us! I love that shew just puts herself out there and that the team just welcomed her in as one of our own ? After Code Names and laundry got back (along with the leader eval from Mikey ?), we decided to call it a night and fold our clothes and whatnot and get ready for bed. Lorraine and I snapped a few pictures before showing her the trailer, celebrating that my car is paid off (!!!) with a dance party, and bidding our final “love you & see you laters.”
After packing up my freshly washed clothes and rallying people to sign the card I got for Jana for her birthday tomorrow (along with some rainbow cake from Wawa! ?), I decided to call it a night and head down to the basement for another sleep over with my 15 friends. Before curling up in my sleeping bag, I curled up on the couch with Jana, Aiden, and Jess in what may have been the first official cuddle puddle of the trip (how did it take us this long?!). I love a good cuddle puddle because it makes you feels so safe and so warm...and that's exactly how I feel around this team of humans I have the honor of doing this trip with. I wouldn’t have it any other way ?
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