Do You Know Where Texas Roadhouse Is Based?

I'll give you a hint: It's not Texas. It's Louisville, Ky. Last night a large group of accountants from Texas Roadhouse came down to help out in McCreary. Normally they take a couple days and have a fun mini retreat (usually in Gatlinburg), but this year they decided to come volunteer with CAP instead. They split up and did different things in the area, but I spent the day with six guys working with the housing crew: Kevin, Janean, and Shanna. We worked on an addition to a  participant's house. The floor was already done, so today we framed and had all the exterior and interior walls up (including closets) by the end of the day. I used my first circular saw and did a lot of hammering. I felt really productive, and it felt good to learn "useful skills." I think that has been the theme of my year of volunteering. Before CAP:
- I never would have thought I'd feel comfortable driving a pickup truck.
- I never would have learned to use a chain saw.
- I never would have learned to use any type of power tool.
- I never would have known how to frame a house.
I'm glad that I now have these skills. Before I was in the mindset that I'd have to call a guy to do these type of things, but as cheesy as it sounds, it really is empowering to know that I'm capable in those areas... at least somewhat capable.

My friend Shanna teaches me how to use a circular saw.

Although it was fun today, I can't really see myself doing Housing for 11 months. I still really like Family Advocacy best of all and think it's a perfect fit for my talents and desires. But I do love getting out of the office and experiencing different parts of CAP.

This evening, the Texas Roadhouse group had a big picnic for everyone in the community. It was really cool. They brough bbq from their Knoxville location (as well as line dancers from the Gatlinburg location for entertainment). The guys grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. There was tons and tons of food that I'm pretty sure the accountants all made themselves and brought from home. There were games set up for kids, cornhole boards for the adults, and music playing. Someone even dressed up in the stuffed armadillo costume and took pictures with everybody. (That someone happened to be one of the guys in my crew today). There was a great turnout and it looked to be a great success!

Long Time, No Post. Sorry!

Well, I was working on this super long blog post about Chain Saw Training and my week as a nomad, traveling around the east side of CAP.... but I just keep putting it off. So here's what I've done this weekend:

On Friday night, a couple girls from my house plus all of the McCreary house and quite a few from Jackson went to a Contra dance in Berea. It was my first time and a lot of fun! Contra is a type of folk dance where you and your partner dance down the line, joining with other pairs and switching partners repeatedly. There is a caller who tells you what to do, so it's pretty easy to pick up, and no one cares if you make mistakes. Contra dances last about 3 hours and although I didn't dance the ENTIRE three hours I was still so tuckered out by midnight. The dancing is very upbeat with lots and lots and lots of spinning. During one song I was dancing with Ben from Jackson. We were really getting into. There was one move where the gents circled in the middle before coming back to their partners and swinging around. Ben would always say something funny like "I'm coming for you!!" or "Let's go, girl!" before we took off, which made me laugh hysterically. So we were spinning so fast, and laughing, and somehow I ended up flat on my butt in the middle of the line. I was laughing so hard it took a while for me to get up (plus I was really conscious of my skirt and making sure I didn't flash anyone as I got up). My excuse was that God felt we were showboating and needed to humble us some. I'm going to contend that we had the most "pizazz" while dancing.



On Saturday Shanna and Janean from McCreary, Sara and I from Rockcastle, and Alister from Jackson went to the Spoonbread Festival in Berea for a couple hours. We saw a ten year old lip sync and dance to Michael Jackson hits, and we got to try spoonbread (like really moist and buttery cornbread, eaten out of a bowl and with a spoon). Then we drove to Georgetown for an Autumn festival at this farm. We went through the petting zoo, a corn maze, and played in "people spinners" (aka huge industrial plastic tubes sawed up that you could roll around in). We had a lot of fun!