Monday Continued!

After arriving at our homeowner's house we greeted him and talked briefly and discussed not only a little about himself but also about the work we were going to do.   The girls in our group; McKenna, Abbey, Amara and Ashley all went into the stair hallway to prep a masonry wall and prime it to be painted later.  Norman, Harvey and I all went to solve the problem of water leaking into the basement of the house.  We already knew it was caused by a broken or cracked pipe that connected to the gutter.  Thankfully the concrete we had to bust was thin and the crack in the pipe was just below ground level. After digging a little farther we uncovered the pipe and determined the direction of the pipe. Our craftsman came and got PVC pipe and some fittings to replace the broken pipe and reconnect it to the gutter.  This, even being a quick fix was a very important one.  The water leaking into the basement was starting to effect some of the Grandkid's breathing problems so this was a top priority.  After lunch, where we also made the home owner a sandwich and ate with him on his porch, Norman, Harvey and I cut out the wet sections of drywall and left a dehumidifier there to help remove moisture and help clean up the water damage. During our work today we had some great discussions with our homeowner.  We found out that he was the third oldest of eight.  He definitely had great parents growing up based on the things he said about how they were and what they did raising them.  He also served two years in Army from 1965-1967.  He was not deployed to Vietnam but he was stationed in Germany.  After returning to the States he did not say too much about it but he made some choices that lead him down an unfriendly road. He became a drug addict and alcoholic.  He then went on to say that come October this year he will be celebrating 23 years being clean and off of all drugs and alcohol.  He shared repeatedly not only his love for God but also for His people.  He even took custody of six grandkids and is raising all of them even after three kids of his own.  This story was clearly a powerful one and one of great change and shows especially to me that even with a great start, you can still go down dark paths.  The saving grace here though is once on it, you are not bound to the path, you can still get off it and back into the light and despite all he's done, he is a very grateful man for where he is and what he is doing now.  We finished our work early today mainly because anything else we did not have time or the resources to start.  So we continued talking in his yard for sometime.  By far he is a very wise and loving man and after one day I can say its been great getting to serve him and help repair his house.

Kyle B.