Half-way there

The day started off the same as yesterday - rain. The morning yoga session and running groups were sidelined. Attitudes were gloomy. Not again, most of us thought. We only have 4 complete work days at the site this year. With Friday being our "God in Nature" day, we wrap up work Thursday. There was a sense of - can we get it done?? Those thoughts faded as quickly as the morning clouds. By around 10 am, the rain was gone and the group was on its way. We split up into two groups - one went to the house while 15 of us ventured off to the farm. Now let me just give you a little information about this farm. Try to imagine a typical farm with green grass, animals grazing, and crops growing in every direction. It is nothing like that at all. It's rock, lots of it. With its only structure a large storage containment unit. Raoul has purchased 18 acres of land that he intends to grow various vegetables, create a tilipia farm, and eventually raise chickens. Our team headed out to build a raised garden bed. Not the 4 x 8 foot ones we have built in the past. This is a 40 x 90 foot bed that takes 1900 bags of dirt to fill. Today they built the frame and cleared and leveled the area. Tomorrow they will go back to dump about 500 bags of dirt to get it started. Back at the house everyone jumped right back into action. The kitchen cabinets are being rebuilt and painted, the bathroom shower is ready to be retiled, and Velma's bedroom has walls. The yard continued to be cleared and the house has a coat of primer. And all the while the kids of the neighborhood kept us occupied. We've reached the halfway point of our work week, with more than 2 days of planned work left. There's a real chance that the tasks we had hoped to complete won't be finished on time, but that's ok. The transformation will be amazing, not only in the appearance of the house, but the lives of those people who call it home.