The week of the wind

You may recall that we were going to be working in Juarez last week, building a house near Cristo Rey with a group from Michigan State University. Nearly every day was very windy, gust of over 30 miles per hour. It made for some difficult times in our construction, but the group was great and they managed to finish the house in 4 days. Friday for them was spent at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, while Erin and I got caught up in the office a got ready for a visit from last summer's volunteer, Kristine.

It was a really fun week, filled with both laughs and challenges. The biggest challenge was the wind, but a close second was our slab. Because of the area it needed to be, or whatever, it was very not level, almost 8 inches difference in height from one corner to the other. Following the lead of one of my favorite television shows from my youth, we "macgyvered" the area and now that it has drywall and siding, you really can't tell from just looking at it. We invented several "happy dances," the first one being a creation of mine that I called "the drywall fit on the first try" dance. One of the members in the group, Michelle, was doing a great job at applying joint compound, or sanding, so I said she needed to do an "i'm gangster" dance, so she made that one up on the spot. More dances followed, even one from Pastor Martinez.

Enjoy the pics, I will try to put another blog up this week with some pics of my goddaughter Viviana, since she has grown since the last set from her baptism. Have a great week.

Looking from the street, over the slab and the neighborhood

Wall framing

Siding

More siding

The hill we had to go up the first couple days until we parked off to the side of the compound.

Of course when I fell going up it, someone had their camera out

Erin leading the cut team

setting another wall

Standing the walls

It was so windy, we actually had to hold the walls up while the others were being built

The men

The ladies

Surprised look.

James was being security just in case

Finished view from the top

Shot of the entrance

Rosy's son Johnathan, holding a sign that says el door-o stop-o. I'll tell you the story sometime.

Team drywall

Driving some 10 inch nails through my "magyvering" Don't tell the inspector. :)

Another view of team Magyver

Co-leader Abby giving the family a quilt made by members of her home church

Co-Leader Andy giving Armando the keys to his new home.

Yup, it works

The group, family, and some members of Cristo Rey

And there is Pastor Martinez doing the house is done dance.