A Building We Will Go...

Hello! I had the thrill of building a house last weekend in Athens, GA! My very close friends (who I actlually refer to as my family in Athens) were selected to receive a house built by Habitat for Humanity. Exciting!!! How do I know these lovely people? Well, in college I took a Spanish class during my first freshman trimester (that was back before they had semesters). One day a girl from the Catholic Social Services came to our class asking for volunteers to teach English to Mexican families who had recently immigrated to Athens. I though that sounded interesting, and ended up at the "orientation" where they gave us English books and teaching techniques. They drove us to the trailer park where many of these families lived, and I was introduced to Maria Casas and her 2-and-a-half year old daughter, Yelenia. She had made home-made gorditas for us and graciously welcomed me into her house. Her husband, Jose, was at work, and her son Irving was in 3rd grade. The idea was that the wives of many of the Mexican immigrants didn't get the opportunity to learn English since they couldn't work (manual labor) as easily as the men and thus weren't exposed to the language. So I was to teach her English in her home. We set up a schedule and began meeting one or two times a week (sometimes with Maria only, sometimes with the whole family).

Over the 4.5 years I lived in Athens we became very close to each other. I often served as translator - I remember once feeling so happy that I could speak both languages well enough to help them out when 4-year-old Yelenia had to go to the hospital! Poor baby! And it was really interesting to me to learn about so many different aspects of adult life, as I helped them with translation in those early years, like elementary school policies, options for bill-paying, how to apply for and obtain food stamps, the mysteries of Medicaid - especially when Jose became injured and could no longer work. Maria, by that point, had held several jobs, some less glamorous than others, and Irving and Yelenia were both in school. Maria's English was coming along but she was still looking for that perfect job. Despite any challenges, Maria's sense of gratitude never diminished. She and her family would always thank me graciously for coming to teach English, and fix all sorts of Mexican food delights! How beautiful! (How delicious!)

Since I moved away from Athens, we still keep in close touch with each other always reuniting at some point during the holidays (December or Jan) and usually once in the summer. (One time Maria, Irving, and Yelenia even came to visit us in Savannah!) I cannot explain how much fun it is to have such a close relationship to these beautiful people - I even met some of their extended family in Mexico when Moby was playing in Monterrey! Fantastic!

Now Maria is very happy with her job, working in the fantastic 5-Points Deli in Athens. Recently she was given an award for her outstanding work there! She has some wonderful co-workers who realize (as I did) how beautiful Maria's soul is, and they applied for her family to be considered for a house from Habitat for Humanity! Hooray!
And that brings us to now: The Build!

Erin came with me from NY, we met my parents in Atlanta, and they drove us to the build site where Kyshona met us. Here we are, ready for action.


It made me so happy to see, through my own experience, that Habitat for Humanity is a real, working charity project, making a huge difference in lives of people who really need the help. And they couldn't have picked a nicer, more appreciative family to build a house for! So inspiring!


The building begins. My father: ladder holding, and my mother: trash collection


Irving: Roof Especialista


Rafa, Irving's cousin: Master of Ladders


Check out how many people were there helping out!
(Some of the UGA baseball team shown here)


Kyshona in ACTION!


Erin and Luci up to no good


The whole gang, including Christian, who works for Habitat, Erin, Maria Casas, Kyshona, and me (check out our tool belts!)


After the build, Maria invited us to her soon-to-be old house for homemade Tamales! I don't know if I have ever shared with the internet world about Maria's food. She is spectacular. I cannot explain, but the Mexican food she cooks for me and the Mexican food I eat in restaurants are VERY different from one-another (hers basically blowing any other Mexican food I have ever eaten Away). So much so that I keep telling her when I make my millions I am going to support her to open a restaurant, because the world needs to experience the mouthfulls of bliss that I know so well as her cooking! When we got there the family was waiting.

Yelenia had just gotten a new baby - A 2-month old long-hair chiuaua named Bombón (that means marshmallow in English).

Just LOOK at that face! How absolutely precious.

Here we are with the baby. That's Yelenia and her dad, Jose.


My mother had brought baby Bombón a new bed. We think he likes it!


Ahh what a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to go visit them when their house is finished, hopefully in January!

So, as you probably noticed, I got a new camera. A Canon Digital Elph. I like to think of it as a little elf that's going to go out and get in little places and take amazing pictures like only a little elf could! Plus we've got the Christmas season here now, and elves are kind of IN right now. :) I hope you like the pics! And isn't it fun to think what exciting pictures will fill up my 2G memory card in the future! Ahh, how exciting! There's so much more. I'll post again soon!

Love and happy holiday season!!
Luci