Talktalktalk

Apologies for those of you who have been checking for daily updates--I was too busy playing cards (Euchre anyone?) and chatting to post. But what's not so good for you (or at least, a little inconvenient if you were really, really hoping for a picture of your loved one last night)has been good for me. Because really, conversing with fellow group members has been wonderful.

Getting to know more about the members of our group has been one great part of the conversations we've had over ice cream sundaes and painting a wall. (I'd give a few specifics, but I don't want to embarrass anyone. Just trust me on this one--you get to know folks in a different way on these trips then you do, say, talking over a cup of coffee Sunday mornings). But the other neat thing I've noticed about the conversations we've had this week is the way the content of our conversations has changed.

At the beginning of the week (four long days ago!), many of our conversations revolved around the work we were doing. How much drywall we had put up that day, what task we were going to tackle after lunch, what projects we'd like to take on if we had our way. Workworkwork. But last night, during our team meeting (and afterward), I noticed that we'd become less focused on what we were doing and more focused on who we were doing it for. The moments that made people's eyes light up were when they said: "I was painting with Jonny and found out he likes the Raiders! But I also found out he wants to go to LSU and got him to smile...", or "Mr. Mullens was talking today about how he met his wife today...." or "Mrs. Miller took in all kinds of family members after the storm, and her brother still lives with her. He was watching TV today and the funniest thing happened..." or "I finally got to talk with Roxie this morning. She told me how..." and so on and so forth.

Its been a great change, in my opinion. Not only has it been a lot of fun to get to know these people (if only a little bit), but it has added a richness--a human face--to our experience that we'll (hopefully) never forget.

Now for the pictures...