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!

Long Overdue Update

I can't think of good titles for these blogs... "Busy Day/Week" is what I want to call this one, but that wouldn't distinguish it well enough from any of the countless others!

Last Monday I went to Clay County to help Jane with her Christmas Basket sign ups. I had gotten to the point where I didn't want to see another CB sign up sheet ever again! I was so tired of asking ladies if they'd like a sheet set or cookware, or suggesting that their husbands may like hunting or fishing equipment or a good pair of work boots. Overall, the day went well enough. I just had this one family that barged into my office not once but TWICE to ask me questions regarding their proof of income. Seriously?? Wait until I'm done with this person! It didn't help much that the woman appeared to be of below average intelligence. I felt sort of sorry for them, but it was still majorly irritating. Pam Azanza, I met your twin in Clay County! She's a volunteer with elderly services and she's also from Southern Cali. She's petite and sweet and you both even sound alike! I even went so far as to ask her if she knew you. She didn't. haha.

On Tuesday we went to Natural Bridge for another Family Advocacy meeting. We really nailed down what we are going to be focusing on, while still leaving room for alterations as we go. I won't miss driving out there, squashed in the middle seat, but I will miss hearing Owen's colloquialisms and stories. We're meeting again in either January or February. Julia stayed for dinner at the Rockcastle and we had THREE prospectives also staying with us, so it was a full house. One of those prospectives, Kristi, returned last night (Sunday) to begin her time of service. She's actually been living out of her car recently, having just packed up her life in Washington state and wandered across the country until getting to CAP. I only know a couple tidbits of her life story, but she is really turning out to be such an inspiration to me.

On Wednesday it poured. I'm so glad I decided to bring my lovely rainboots back with me when I went home for the wedding. They came in handy. I spent a lot of time out of the office, picking up School Readiness vouchers from the Family Dollar, going to a meeting at the volunteer offices, and the like.

Thursday was sunny. I explored my office in the morning and found these gems: Richard Simmons workout tapes, one of those 20 questions electronic handheld games, and - wait for it - an original polaroid camera, WITH film! And these were just things in the office, not including all the stuff in closets I've yet to explore. Sarah and I used a good part of the afternoon to practice swerving backwards through cones (stupidest. skill. ever.) down at the community center, so I saw Jenny before she officially left the valley. Sarah really helped me to understand my reference points, although even she agreed that my mirrors are totally screwed up. See, it's not just me.

On Friday I helped out at the pantry since I didn't have much going on and "the truck" (aka God's Pantry) was coming. Elaine, Nancy, and I went through these huge bags of carrots and put the healthy ones in smaller bags to hand out. We came across some really funky looking mutant carrots. That evening Sarah, Mandy, Karen, and I helped Grace move in at Berea College. We kept joking about how we probably looked like a crazy cult or commune. I kept telling "Sister Grace" that we were going to miss her labor come harvest time. We hung around Berea a bit, walked around campus, ate Mexican, met Grace's roomie and said our goodbyes. I'm sorry Carl wasn't there to provide the "father figure" role, but I'm glad we girls could be Grace's stand-in family. I know I would have really appreciated it if I was from California and didn't have any biological family helping me move in. We have promised to periodically kidnap Grace for some CAP fun.

On Saturday Mandy, Karen, Sarah, Elaine, and I went hiking at Anglin Falls in Rockcastle Co. You actually drive up someone's driveway to get there. And the sign is like a homemade looking sign. Sounds sketchy, but it's pretty cool. It rained, but luckily we found shelter and waited it out. The misquitos were awful! But we also saw a ton of butterflies all over the place, flying in swarms.

I actually logged some work hours on Sunday because I had to help receive some school supply donations from GE with Sr. Robbie. This guy and his wife delivered them and we talked for a bit. They were really nice and excited to hear about what we're doing at CAP. A lot of the time it seems like outsiders have more enthusiasm for the program than I do... I see the day-in day-out grind, which can sometimes wear me down and can cause me to be pessimistic about people in general. That's why I love talking with groups that come to volunteer or donors... because they have an enthusiasm that is contagious. It's something that reminds you why you signed on in the first place. I talked with Sr. Robbie about that, and hopefully I'll get to help her out more this fall, hosting groups.

And today? I cleaned up a lot of old documents from the computer mostly. Helped a couple people with disconnect notices (I think I'm technically over budget for the month, but it should even out over the 5 counties). Talked to three seperate Brescia staff members on the phone! Yay! But it made me miss Brescia so much!

So that's been my week.... busy. fruitful. full of change.

Rain Is a Good Thing

Last night some volunteers from the Mt Vernon, Jackson, and McCreary Houses went to the drive-in in Somerset as a send-off for Lucas, Ludivine, and Jenny. Lucas and Ludivine left today and Jenny will be leaving midway through this week. The Jackson crew drove down to Mt Vernon, and then we met up with the McCreary bunch in Somerset where we had dinner at Fazoli's (Did you know Fazoli's began in Lexington?? And that it's more of a "Kentucky thing"?) I think we had about thirteen people all together.

We stepped outside of the restaurant to find huge black clouds rolling in from the west. Everything in the air that was blowing around us said it was fixing to storm. As if the powerful wind wasn't enough, lightning was going off like Christmas tree lights. I don't think I've ever seen as much lightning. It felt so good to stand outside and feel that wind while we tried to make a decision regarding the movie. We ended up sticking with the original plan. As much as I love the drive-in, I wasn't sure how this was going to work out, as it was clearly about to storm. Luckily, the Mt Vernon group had driven the CAP minivan. We put down the back seats and sat in the back with the back hatch open. The six of us got pretty close, and it was a little warm, but the storm air kept us cool. Not long after we parked it started pouring. I'm talking sheets and sheets of rain, pounding on the roof so loudly that it was hard to hear the movie (turned all the way up on the radio).

Lucas was so excited about the fact that we were sitting in the middle of a storm watching a movie. His giddiness was contagious. It was cool. Even after the heavy rain and thunder stopped (about 15 minutes into the movie) lightning continued to light up the sky for the rest of the night. It was the kind that leaped from cloud to cloud, making the sky behind the giant screen a pinkish purple. Nature outshone the silver screen that night. This morning Lucas said that he'd always remember that night. I have to agree. I'm glad we stayed.

It makes me think about the plans we make in life: they don't always turn out exactly as we thought, but I guess they turn out just the way they should.

The McCreary branch drove straight home after the second movie, but the Jackson group drove back to Mt Vernon to spend the night. As we drove home, Carl got a call that his father passed away that evening. His parents just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary a couple weeks ago, and Carl and all his siblings had gone out to Arizona to visit them. I'm really glad that they all got to spend time with their dad not long before his passing. Carl seems to be handling it well, his dad was 92, and Carl had suspected that he didn't have much longer when he last saw him. The ride home was a quiet one as Carl called his siblings and tried to figure out travel arrangements. When we got to the Mt Vernon house, we all just sat around the living room, bundled up in comforters (in true sleepover fashion) and talked with Carl. It was a really great community moment. Carl told us how much the entire CAP community meant to him, and that he thought of us all as grandchildren. After Carl and Jenny went upstairs to bed, it was about 2 am and everything was hilarious:  things such as "Do bugs breathe?" / "carbonbunoxide" / any country song lyrics, but especially Luke Bryan's classic "Rain Is a Good Thing" / and the way Bridget snorts when she laughs.

This morning I went to Mass in Berea and then went to the Mt Vernon house for breakfast with the Jackson House. Lucas made banana and chocolate chip pancakes. Yum! Then it was time to say goodbye to Lucas and Ludivine. Although I haven't spent a lot of time with Lucas, it was still a hard goodbye. That's just the way things are, sometimes you've only known someone a short time, but they make such an impact on her your heart that it seems much longer. And of course there is the flip side, when you wait anxiously for particularly difficult housemates to give their goodbyes. Anyway, Ludivine is going back to Paris, but she loves Kentucky, so I have a feeling that I may see her again. Lucas is much closer, in Cincinnati, and I know he'll be back at CAP every now and then. It was also hard to say goodbye to the Jackson House in general, the ones who aren't even leaving, because it feels like I don't get to see them very often and they're so much fun to be around. They invited me to come hang out sometime, so I'll have to take them up on that offer.

Speaking of hard goodbyes, I got several pieces of mail on Saturday (my most in one day - 4! and 2 were packages!). One of the packages contained my mix CDs from Olivia! I wish she could still be here with me. I know she would have had fun at the drive-in. And don't even get me started on what it will be like to say goodybe to Jenny this week. I think it will be my hardest goodbye of the whole experience - not just so far, but possibly of the entire 11 months. I can project this theory because Jenny is the only person I will have worked so closely with.

So it was a really great weekend! But oh I hate these goodbyes.

Christmas Basket Sign Ups

I'm way too tired to give an in-depth update of the past week, but here it is in a nutshell:

Monday - Drove to Owsley County. Did Christmas Basket sign ups
Tuesday - Drove to McCreary County. Did Christmas Basket sign ups
Wednesday - Christmas Basket sign ups in Rockcastle County.
Thursday - Christmas Basket sign ups in Rockcastle County.
Friday - Recovering from Christmas Basket sign ups. Called it a day around 2.

The sign ups in Owsley and McCreary weren't bad at all. There were five of us in Owsley and three in McCreary, but both of those counties had a relatively small turn out compared to Rockcastle. I think as of now we have about 130 signed up for our county - which is technically over the limit.

And the sign ups themselves were just a madhouse. People were lined up long before we got there at 8 am. Then they all tried to cram into the air conditioned (and small) office. People would leave the door open and there were flies all over the place. We still have three or four flying around our office! Even though the air was on, it was hot and stuffy in the lobby of the office b/c of all the bodies crammed in there. It's like a refugee camp.

Sign ups are tiring!! It takes way more energy than you would think. And of course we still have people calling and wanting to sign up - I don't want to hear another call about it. Some people get really hostile when you tell them they can't sign up! Two people were rude to my face about it (one thought Jenny was accusing her granddaughter of being a fugitive, and the other tried to slam my office door - which is incapable of slamming since it gets stuck at the door jam), and another woman on the phone wasn't rude but she did keep talking on and on about how I should be careful of false prophets and how her toilet fell through the floor of her trailer.

I did have a very nice time in McCreary. The last lady I signed up was blind (she was just recently blinded within the past year and she may have MS). We had a nice long talk about what careers she thought I should go into (Public Relations or Special Education were her choices for me). I really enjoyed visiting with her and her mother. She was so upbeat for someone who has had such rough luck the last few years. I wish I could write more about her, but I don't know where to start and I'm just too worn out. I ended up staying for dinner at the McCreary house and I'm glad I did b/c Shanna made yummy Taco Bread.

Another interesting tidbit of the week, courtesy of the Mt Vernon Signal: A female wedding crasher in Brodhead stole some gift cards from the gift table and ran off. A male guest at the wedding heard about this while in line for cake. He kicked off his dress shoes and ran after her. There were some quotes from the guest in the article, one beginning "I was like, 'Woman, you can't do that...'" They apprehended the woman (who was running toward her accomplice in a purple Camaro) before she got away. She is now facing charges.

Next week is Jenny's last week, and my housemate Jen left this afternoon. I'll miss watching the Bachelorette / Bachelor Pad with both of them!

This Saturday some of us CAP volunteers from different houses are going to the drive-in in Somerset. I'm looking forward to just relaxing tonight and going out tomorrow.

Wedding Weekend

Got back to Rockcastle House at 9:40ish, with a note from Jenny saying we're leaving tomorrow morning at 7:15, so I have to keep this short and get to bed.

The wedding was great! Matt and Ashley were beautiful and I teared up a bit. I saw several Brescia / Owensboro friends at the wedding reception and afterwards around town (including running into a couple people that I didn't even expect to be in Owensboro!) It was so awesome to be back in that environment. I almost started crying as I drove into Owensboro on Friday afternoon because I was entering a town where I knew I had a lot of love and support. Not that Rockcastle isn't a nice enough area, but I'm still very new and it just isn't home to me (yet?)

I didn't get to see EVERYONE I wanted to, but I definitely plan on coming back to western KY for Labor Day weekend (if not before). And hopefully I'll have it planned out better so I can see all the people I missed this time around. I miss all of yall already!! The weekend felt so rushed... sometimes I felt that I wasn't fully "present" because I was running all over the place, doing a lot of driving and having rushed conversations. I truly apologize for that, and hopefully the next time I'm in town there will be more time to just sit and relax!!

And one more note: I talked to a couple different people about my blog this weekend and I wanted to make something clear - things are not always as they seem. Yes, I'm really really really happy about the work I'm doing here and I've met some cool people, but it is definitely not some walk around the garden. I'm still adjusting. I still miss everyone back in western KY a lot. I have issues with housemates. I sometimes feel lonely and out of place. I just didn't know how appropriate it would be to bring such things up. So just know that this journey is not an easy one and I need to know that I'm being supported from afar (though, not really very far).

I thought it would be very hard coming back to Rockcastle today after a weekend in Owensboro / Manitou, but so far so good. I'm so thankful for this weekend and all the beautiful people in it!

Fail

On Friday I spent the whole morning and early afternoon at a required driver training session. Right now I am just a "temporary driver." After passing the class you become an official CAP driver. I can't really tell the difference between the two, as I've been driving the truck ever since I passed my temporary driver test with Robyn my first week.

The session was a lot like being back in the graduated licensing class in high school. We had to watch old videos and listen to an old man tell crash stories. We took ridiculously confusing tests on road signs and "What do you do when..." scenarios. Then in the afternoon we had the actual driving portion.

The test consisted of serpenting forward through 10-12 cones, and then doing it in reverse. And also backing into a parking space (into a circle of cones) and exiting. You had 10 seconds to do each of the 4 things. If you went over, you got a point deducted for every second and if you hit a cone I think you lost like 5 points? Anyway, I did just fine backing into the space and exiting. No problems whatsoever. And going forward through the cones was a piece of cake, but I had a lot of difficulty with the backwards driving. I hit one cone and took forever. Afterwards the instructor told me (privately thankfully!) that he was going to suggest that I redo the test next month when they have another training. I was so upset!! First of all, I only did badly on ONE section! And secondly, I had to use my mirrors the whole time (b/c of the way my truck is set up with the hood and all) which was confusing on which way I needed to turn and where I had already been... I don't know how to describe it, but it's all just very confusing. And so I couldn't look out my back windows at all, but I SAW another woman in a truck doing just that her whole time and she got to pass (her truck doesn't have the hood). Not fair!

So I guess I can still drive, but I'm not looking forward to telling Robyn that I didn't pass and have to go again. I just really hope I'm not the only one who failed. It makes me want to cry!!

Seriously, when am I EVER going to have to serpentine backwards through several obstacles??