this is it.

these old things are officially retired...











__________________________________

i learned so much this year... lots of obvious things i'm sure i've covered over the span of this blog. this blog i want to talk about things i learned that i didn't anticipate on learning... so here it is...
my list of things i never planned on learning: ( i know there's a lot more... but i limited myself to ten)

1) i've learned that i can live completely comfortably& contently on these things: face wash, toothpaste/brush, body wash, deodorant... some clothes and food. these are my essentials... this list has majorly shrunk since the beginning. totally life-giving to find that less is more.

2) you don't need to be a part of the finished product of something to feel good about it. this is a huge concept i'm glad to have learned by putting it to practice. this program has had me a part of the ongoing process of a lot of projects... and when i have to leave it unfinished, i can just be glad i left it better off than when i started it. The end results might not come for years, and i'm ok with that.

3) i'm a lot stronger than i thought i was. (while i don't mean muscles, you might find yourself impressed with my bulging biceps when i return home...) no but really, you don't know how strong you truly are until you've been in positions that literally take all that you can give... until you've been at the end of your rope and come back stronger than ever.

4) people around you are there for a reason. everyone has something to teach you.... and it's more than ok to ask for help. it's totally ok to have really weak moments in front of people that you know and love. they will not only love you through it, but help you with it.

5) i am normal! well...as normal as everyone else. living with 12 other people shows you that you aren't all that different from those around you. people have the same basic needs. real people experience real emotions and moods and it's ok to let yourself feel them.

6) life goes on without me... i know... real shocker to me as well...
Saginaw got along just fine without me this year... now that being said, i think i have a lot to offer and i'm excited for the opportunity to do that at home. this year definitely changed the way my relationship is with my cell phone... it's convenient to use but not attached to my hip.

7) no one in this world has a better support system than i do. this is the biggest blessing in my life, and it's one i hope to never take for granted.... i have awesome friends that love me for me and never failed to encourage me from miles across the country.

8) that it is actually true what they say about your mom!
they always told me that when i left home that me and my mom would become best friends...when they told me this, i was a little brat in middle school... but who knew it would be true? people would always tell me how much alike we were.
this year... i found myself calling her just to talk to her. because i missed her. this is crazy to me! honestly she is the most incredible women on this planet and is of course... married to the best of the best.

9) that i can live anywhere with anyone...even in the most weird of situations... as long as i can wake up in the morning excited about what i'm about to do and go to sleep at night fully knowing that what i did that day was absolutely meaningful.

10) aka the BIG ONE
i was under this impression that i was doing this thing...AmeriCorps, because i know exactly who i was and what i had to offer. i thought i knew just what i wanted out of life...
that is laughable to me now.... because
i. don't. know.
i will never fully know.
but that's so ok. why? because there are these little moments in life when you just stop and say "yeah... this is why"

i'm more of myself today than i was yesterday. more than i have even been before. i am learning from that.

my name is abigail dehart and i'm in this constant process & i'm finding that i'm finally beginning to understand exactly what that means.

help.

please tell me how i'm supposed to fit everything back into my bag?


-really soon guys!


abigail
in processssss

the grand countdown

5 more days until i'm on a plane home to saginaw, michigan : ]
it's becoming more and more real...

my flight gets in at 10:06 PM on July 27th. the time zone difference makes it somewhat inconvenient because i'll be losing two hours, but that's ok... i'll probably be pretty tired on tuesday anyway.

so on the last day of travel, we stopped at garden of the gods in colorado springs. it was an awesome time and i'm really glad we got to do it. i hadn't been there since i was in 6th grade. (katelyn smith's family and i went there for the day when both of our families were vacationing in colorado at the same time... good memories)
i think i appreciated quite a bit better this time. it is absolutely beautiful.
this week is a lot of boring paperwork and stuff. they probably could have squeezed everything into a few days and graduated us early... but that's ok.
today is the first official day of outprocessing. turning in equipment and signing papers...

-abigail who is a part of outprocessing but also still in process.

hard goodbyes;

Wrapped up the forth and final round yesterday, and climbed into a van with my 13 teammates on our last trip back to denver. It felt very surreal… our amazingly wonderful project sponsors all came over to see us off. It was one of the hardest goodbyes of this year (so far, but the hardest ones are coming up in a week) We had really grown close to all of them. They all contributed so significantly to my two months at the park.
There was Roy. He is more than I can explain in words. He was like our grandpa. He was so incredibly cool . The guy used to be an elephant trainer and now he rides his motorcycle everywhere. He knew everything there was to know about everything, but never acted like it. You know when some people know everything and they know it and make sure you know it? Not him… He knew everything but he still let you try things your own way before he helped you out with a better alternative. He was in charge of us on the trail building and bridge building aspects of the project. He taught me so much about construction while I was there and was so incredibly patient with us. Here's a picture of him testing out the newly finished bridge on his gator.
He had an incredible girlfriend named Amy. They took care of us. Things like taken us out to eat or bringing us donuts for breakfast. We all approved of her for Roy : ]

Our main project sponsors were Paul and Selena. They are such an awesome couple and they both live in the park in a house that is provided by the park. Needless to say… they never really have time off. They were both so happy and content with where they were though. They had us over for an amazing Texas BBQ, and also always let us come over to watch the world cup. I especially got close with Selena. I spent a lot of time talking with her… she is one of the most original people I have ever met. In a lot of ways, she’s a large part of the reason I was able to finish this year strongly.

The other staff members were equally as incredible. I will miss them very much, but I can almost guarantee you that I will be back sometime in the future. The park will look very different, because it’s in the peak of it’s development. I’m excited though. I feel like I’ll always have that home away from home.

So… the bridge was finished! Literally against allllll odds… it’s done. The last day of work we stayed after about 2 hours because we wanted to finish it. Roy and Amy stayed with us, and she took pictures. We were down to our last battery and last bits of energy. It was such a gooooood feeling to finish something we started. A lot of times in this program we get to start a lot, but don’t normally get to finish it ourselves. Now that bridge is our teams… they are putting a sign that says “Earth One” next to the bridge.

Tomorrow is our last day of traveling. We only are about 2 hours from Denver, but we’re gonna sleep in tomorrow and go out to lunch and then to the Garden of the gods for some sight seeing and hiking. I’m really excited.

-abigail in process.

our time is running out.

So, it’s here…
The last week of this project. The last true week of AmeriCorps.
I feel a gazillion things, as I’m sure you’d expect.

I am going to be so sad to leave this park and all of the amazing people who work here. We’ve gotten really close with all of the staff here at Lake Houston Park. We’ve had a lot of them over for dinner, and brought them meals (showing off our awesome cooking skills) p.s…I can kind of cook now : ]
And we’ve been taken out to dinner, had barbeques cooked for us, and gotten to be a part of a lot of really cool things.

I will miss this park most definitely. I love running and walking here. Despite the impossible heat and humidity, it’s been awesome for my active life. I’ve felt a new level of contentedness in this simple, yet incredibly complex place.

I won’t miss the bugs… being covered with mosquito bites all of the time, and the constant threat of poison ivy.

So the past week we were very affected by the rain from the tropical storm. We didn’t get much storm except for an incredible amount of rain. It dumped on us…
Because of this, we did a lot of inside work. We fixed up one of their cabins and did other various odd jobs around the park.
We can’t get out and do much building because the power tools can’t be out in the rain.
but look at how good the bridge looks now : ]
i'm excited.

My 4th of July was different. Hah. No, it was good. We spent it volunteering at the big shin-dig in Houston. Please close your eyes for me and try to picture the 4th of july in Texas.. Really, do it.
Ok… that’s basically how it was.
Really though, I think it’s been cool to spend a lot of my holidays volunteering. I think it makes it a lot easier when you’re away from home to be thinking about others as opposed to what you could be doing and who you could be hanging out with.
Plus we got these cool hats as modeled by my lovely teammates-


So today was 7-11 National Slurpee day. Alas, there are no 7-11’s anywhere near Houston… it’s alright though… my mother got one for me and enjoyed it. She’s so thoughtful, I know what a huge sacrifice that was for her : ]
Also… the World Cup today… phew. Never seen such an ugly, dirty game before. Like 9 yellow cards and one red card?
Good job Spain, but I, of course, was going for the Nederlands because I am a Dutch girl, after all.

-ik ben abigail en ik in proces

ready.

I'm not gonna lie....I don't feel like typing all that much right now, but I haven't updated this in a while and i'm on the internet so... gotta try!

Things that have happened since my last entry...
- more bridge building and trail work

-last weekend, we had to move out of our cabin because it was rented by a group. we went "camping" There are these screened in gazebos in the park where we stayed. They actually weren't bad at all. I liked the whole screened in idea behind it because you still have a roof over your head and a floor under you... but you still feel like you're outdoors. The main problem was that we were so incredibly hot all weekend. the humidity here is a killer

-this part is really fun and exciting...i was the lucky one this month of AmeriCorps to get the random drug test. this meant that i had to go pee in a cup for some poor guy in a clinic. i'm pretty sure he made it about as awkward as possible. the only part of the drug test that i was nervous about was not being able to produce urine when the time came.
weirded out yet?
ok i'll stop.

- we got free tickets to a major league soccer game, but only a few of us wanted to go. it was the houston dynamo v. colorado rapids. it was really fun actually. it made me miss playing soccer a lot though.
you know what else has been making me miss soccer? the world cup! (obviously) I'm all about the Netherlands this year. They will win it all... i'm proud to be a dutch girl : ]

- so we have had some trouble with these local young guys. They trespass on the park's property and build crazy forts and stuff up in trees right where we're trying to make our trail. Anyway, we've been having to tear down their stuff and they don't like this very much.
One day, my teammate Gordy and I got out to the bridge (on the way there we had to dodge a coral snake...freakkky stuff) anyway, we got there and the bridge looked like this...This is not how we built our bridge...My first thought was that the crazy storm the night before was a bit crazier than i thought. my next thought was what really happened... vandalism.
they ripped up one half of the bridge and threw the lumber everywhere. They actually left a footprint trail and the hammer that they used to bust it up.
It was highly frustrating. gordy and i called in to the park management so they could get pictures and contact the police and then decided the only thing to do was to lay down on the part of the bridge that wasn't messed up.

we laid there about a half an hour and pulled ourselves back together. the rest of the day was incredible actually. we both decided that it sucked that it happened, but we had to start fixing it.
the amazing thing is that people came out to help and by the end of that day, the bridge honestly looked better than when we had left it the day before.

AmeriCorps is ridiculous.
in a good way.

i'm learning a lotttttt. i want to completely enjoy my last 3 weeks and finish to the best of my ability... but i also think i'm going to be ready when i get to that point where it will be time to move on.

i'm abigail and i'm in process constantly.

bridges are more beautiful than bombs are.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a blog! Or at least, I feel like it has been. It’s not necessarily because I’ve been lazy… just more so that I don’t want to spend time on a computer because there’s so much else to do. I’m still loving this project and where we live. It’s definitely good, honest work. At the end of the day you feel good. Tired… but good.

So 2 weeks ago I basically did construction on the bridge we’re building. It was frustrating at times. The construction part is very fun, but it’s hard to do construction out in the middle of the woods. Our vans can only make it so far, and we pretty much have to carry the rest. Unless we get lucky and person driving a 4-wheeler is nice enough to assist us. It’s way fun though and also fun to learn what all goes in to a bridge.

This past week was our summer camp for the kids. It was so, so, so much fun! What a change from working alone in the woods where you can relieve yourself in the cover of trees, to going back to being “cool big kids” to all of the younger kids. We had three age divisions and I was with the oldest group. They were around 7th grade and the best group I could have asked for.
We were the red team, and had lots of team spirit. We got to help teach the kids a lot of different things about nature and outdoor living. We went on nature hikes, fishing, kayaking and other fun things.
It was a very positive experience and helped me to see the park through new eyes once again. It was also good for me because this week is Bible Camp at Hopevale : / i will miss it terribly, but i hope it's the best one yet!
almost a month until AmeriCorps is over??
it kinda hit today... that's not a long time at all.

annnnd. side note- Beth left yesterday for Bike and Build which, for those of you who don't know, will involve her biking across AMERICA!!!! crazy. she's one of my main inspirations for doing AmeriCorps.
i'm super proud of her.

abigailinprocessssssssssss

Hey! check out that snapping turtle. it was not happy with us.
anyway.......

New Caney, Texas is so unbelievably hot and humid! I’ve never ever experienced this kind of heat before. Today is finally rained, relieving us a tiny bit from our sauna we’ve been living in. It has been at 90% humidity for the past few days, basically you walk outside and you’re wet before you even lift a finger. By the end of the day, I’m soaked and it’s prettttty nasty.
Also… while we’re on this slightly disgusting topic.. I drink like a gallon of water a day and I never have to pee! Trust me… if you’ve ever been on a road trip with me… this never happens. It makes me feel healthier. Also.. About the whole healthiness concept… me and a couple of my teammates have given up pop (or soda as the rest of the world except for people in Michigan and Wisconsin say) for the whole round. We’re not going to drink a drop until the last day of travel back from this project.
So this week for work has been alright. We, for the most part, have been working on the trail. We did some clearing and leveling of the ground. We started building the first bridge also.
On Saturday we got to do something cool for the park. We did surveying for them. This meant that we sat at specific locations throughout a city park in Houston and we counted people. Age estimations… and sometimes gender estimations : ]
It was fun though. My friend Daquan and I sat at the jogging trail and counted people. Amongst the hundreds of joggers that ran past came Warren Moon. For those of you who don’t know, he’s an hall of fame QB that played for the Oilers. I didn’t recognize him, but a few runners on the trail and my friend all recognized him...pretty neat. All in a day’s work : ]

I do miss home a lot lately. I’m excited to see everyone again.

Love,
Abigail
In process.

it's just natural.

completely enjoying this project with my whole heart : ]

We got to go kayaking on Monday (training), and we will be teaching kids how to kayak in the future. The cool part about this is that we get to keep the kayaks at the nature center, so we can basically use them whenever we want to. I had never been kayaking before, and it's so awesome. It's a lot like canoeing, but you are the one controlling your destiny (as in... will you knock yourself off into the water?)

On Tuesday we got to see the trail we would be finishing this round and also hosting an "Grand Opening" for it. We started the day off just hiking it to get a general feel for it... we may or may not have ended up getting lost for a little bit... 2 hours. ha ha. Surprisingly we didn' t start fighting the whole time. It was kinda cute.......hah. Obviously we made it out, with minor casualties and a little bit of embarrassment on our first real day by ourselves.
To our credit... it was an easy mistake to make and one small turn started us down the wrong path... and we did go back later and make it through the whole thing.

Our trail we will be working on is incredible. It goes right by a creek (with a rope swing that will be tried out before the end of the round) and runs next a cypress bog. i've never seen one of these before and i was missing out! really cool concept, those things.
life is good, i miss you, have a great day!

abigail- in process.

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.

New project in New Caney, Texas. It's more than amazing! Traveling was three days again. One of these days of travel however, ended in Fort Worth, Texas. This was exciting to me because, a very long time ago I had a very good friend who moved to Fort Worth after 7th grade. His name is Jonathan and he went to grade school/ half of middle school with me. We were very close and managed to keep in touch very well for about two years after he left. As high school got busier, we both kinda stopped talking.
When I found out where we were staying, I called him up and told him what i was doing and where i would be in a few days.
It was soooo crazy to see him again. I gave him a big hug first and then we both honestly backed up and laughed for a long time at how old we both looked. It was like seeing a little kid all grown up! It was very good to catch up with him again : ]


Now... our project and housing is absolutely stacked. The house is a quaint cabin in the woods. It's big and has great A/C (which is very necessary in texas summers) We love it. We have 2 showers and enough toilets for 13 people. It's seriously like luxury. I know it might wear off, but i feel like i'm just on vacation up north. (also weird observation but the term "Up North" doesn't mean anything to anyone else on my team because their not from Michigan)


Now as for the project... My job for the next two months is living in the woods. What more could you want? I mean, I know the work will be hard... glorified yard work : ] But we have a lot of different kinds of tasks to do this round.
An overview is finished a trail that previous teams have worked on and organizing a community trail opening day (big event organizing... reminds me of high school student council) Getting to build some bridges. Upkeep of the nature center (which is pretty cool and has live snakes!) And upkeep of the existing trails. We also get to be camp counselors for a week, and teach kids how to set up tents to camp and kayak... PS.. i have to learn how to kayak first...
Last night we got to work something really neat... We got to help with a night run. It was about 200 people who came to run with headlamps and glow sticks. I stood at the front and directed traffic with my awesome bright orange shirt. After this we cheered on the runners and got to rescue people : ]


The things I really appreciate about this situation is the nature to "get away" in. Previously i had been in big cities where we couldn't go on a run by ourselves.
Now i've been able to go off on runs all alone in the middle of the woods... i can take my guitar anywhere and play and sing, knowing there's no one around... we can all just recharge when we need to.
i feel like team dynamics will be healthier because of this.
There are also lots of activities like volleyball courts and even places to go swimming.... not to mention Houston is a pretty cool place when we do get to go into town.

I think this is the perfect project to end my year on.
It was the fresh start and new perspective that I was absolutely craving.

This will inspire me.

Simplicity.

very thankful and very in process,
abigail

transition week

video blog!

sorry if your internet is too slow to be able to watch it... you're not missing much : ]

Abigail-in process.

real beds= appreciated.

We officially finished with Habitat for Humanity on Wednesday. We decided to take a team picture in front of the first foundation we laid back in the beginning of March. the house is well on it's way to being complete which is so exciting. actually,... just for the fun of it- here is a picture of us learning how to lay foundation at that very house. a bit of a difference, huh?

I will miss construction work a lot. I definitely plan on volunteering with Habitat frequently in the future.

I'll be back in Denver tomorrow evening, and will spend a week there before i leave for my forth and final project in Texas, real close to Houston.

I will try to update more over this next week seeing as i will have internet.

i'm enjoying the road trip back... lots of time to think etc.
also this song is one that i like and has meant a lot to me lately...

"where have i even stood,
but the shore along Your ocean?
are You fire? are You fury?
are You sacred? are You beautiful?
what do i know of Holy?"

have a great day,
love...

Abigail
In Process

coffee shop & nfl draft.

this week has been really good so far. work has been hard and the days have been long, but you sleep like a log and wake up excited to get going with the next day.

we began the roofing process today by the way... super cool!

i'm starting to get a big giant crush on construction work.... i still have lots to learn, but i find it so enjoyable. someday it would be so cool to build my own house

here is a picture of my lovely team... we look fantastic, i know.


-abigailinprocess

hithere,howarethings?

we're all moved back into our house now.

you know... some good things came out of that whole ordeal, and i've been trying to count them.

1. our house is the cleanest i think it's ever been since we've lived in it
2. i know for sure that i can pack up all my stuff for travel back to Denver. (i was a bit worried because of some new clothing i happened to accumulate in Florida)
3. i have a new found appreciation for construction work and people who understand what we are capable of
4. when you go through that stuff, there's always special kinds of bonding... so we bonded.

i'm sure there's more... but i'm just happy to be back. even if we only have 2 more weeks left.

new week coming up and i'm sure lots of fun stories to follow.
until then, good night!

abigail-in process

really really really good news!

we just got the word yesterday that we're able to go back to working with Habitat & move back into our housing!!!!!!

i am so happy about this. so is my whole team. everyone wanted both to move back and keep up the work we've been doing.

on wednesday some big deal AmeriGuys came to New Orleans to personally look at each teams housing situation and worksite. They met with everyone that night, and got the feel for how everyone else had been feeling. I think some teams are staying here at Camp Hope, but i think every team is going back to their original work. I think it's so important that this happens, because the work that we do is what keeps a lot of people "sane"
still excited to get up every morning despite the living situation.

So we'll be moving back in to our house tonight after work, and starting back up with Habitat on Saturday (tomorrow)
After that, we only have 2 weeks left down here in New Orleans.

crazy

love,

abigail-in process

camp hope

You know, one things I know for sure about AmeriCorps is that you can’t know anything for sure in AmeriCorps.

Currently, I’m sitting on the top bunk of a bed, just like I woulda been a few days…the only thing that changed in my location. I’m at Camp Hope in New Orleans with the rest of my team and also every other AmeriCorps NCCC team stationed in New Orleans.
We were informed last night that we would all be moving to Camp Hope the next day and to pack and clean the house.

The reason- I’m going to try to explain this the best I can in the most fair way possible. The violence/murder rate in New Orleans is getting significantly higher lately. There have been a few cases of AmeriCorps teams very near these scenes. Actually, there was a shooting right outside of the house I used to live in which was home to another team this round. One bullet actually made it to the fence.
Now, I really don’t know much but I do know that headquarters decided that there were parts of New Orleans that we’re safe to live & work in for us anymore. They moved us from where we lived and we aren’t able to work at our sites anymore.

Not being able to finish our project is probably the most upsetting thing about this situation for all of us. We were all very happy with the work we got to do every day. We aren’t sure yet if they will keep us here in New Orleans and find work for us to do here or send the teams back to their campuses. I should know soon what the story is.

The team is doing ok. Some people are pretty close to not being ok… I mean, we have had such a crazy year already. Packing up everything into bags seemed almost second nature to us. It was weird to leave our home because we were all very comfortable and happy with it. This camp is really pretty nice. There is a big room where all of the girls sleep and across the hall is where the guys are. The area around here is fairly safe from what they said, so it’s nice to be able to be outside at night again. Tonight they had a campfire going, so we sat around, played some music and chatted. Life’s gonna be ok.

Bring it on.

Abigail who is reminded every day she is always in process.

It’s been a good week here in New Orleans. It’s easy to get back “into the swing of things” once you’re back in this lifestyle. Being around my family for the weekend made me slightly homesick just to spend more time with them and see friends, but then I go to work and it is such a good feeling.

This week we worked with really cool volunteers from all over. We started out laying the foundation of a new house and then finished the week putting up siding on the walls of our house and wrapping it.

I’m working with two awesome teammates named Jessie and Jeff. We work under a guy named David. He rocks a British accent which, if you know me at all, you know that’s my favorite thing ever! It makes me break into my fake British accent a lot! He is awesome, and we call ourselves Team David. We have a lot of fun on the worksite and we trust each other which is super important when you are lifting heavy walls up on ladders. At the end of this week a volunteer and his son asked us all to come with them out to a really fancy Italian restaurant as a thank you for what we do. It was so stinkin nice of them. The place was so nice and the food was incredible. It was a beautiful thing : ]

Another really neat thing that happened this week at work was live music! The Army band came from Washington to build for a day and then played music for us during lunch. I didn’t know much about the Army band, but I guess it’s a position in the army that you audition for and then end up playing things at the White House and Pentagon. It was so exciting to me to be around sound equipment and instruments again. They were really proficient at each of their instruments. Imagine building houses next to a banjo, drum set, upright bass and other fun instruments. My idea of a good time!

This weekend is nice and relaxing. I’m enjoying it.

I find out where I will be for the rest of my AmeriCorps year on Tuesday. I’ll be sure to update this when I find out.

i miss you x 24

abigail;in process

spring break

it's been so long since i've updated this. it's weird not having internet access.... but refreshing? maybe.

i've been on a very short but very sweet spring break in Pensacola with my family.

it started with my grandparents coming to pick me up in new orleans on thursday morning. They came in the morning, and i showed them around town. I showed them the 9th Ward and then we went into the french quarter for lunch. We then made the trip back to florida. my family got there about 5 minutes before i did, so they were waiting for me by the time i got there. it was sooooo incredibly good to see them. perhaps i shed a tear?? : ]

anyway the weekend was amazing and these are some of the things i filled it with: eating good food, relaxing in the hot tub, walking on the beach and discovering stars above & below us, boogie boarding, playing with my cousins, building sand creations, playing music, watching House episodes that stream very slowly, sunrise Easter service on the beach in sweatpants, lots of laughing, ultimate frisbee guys v. girls, real conversations about life, silly conversations about life.

i love my family. i think i'm so so so blessed to have them all as a huge part of my life.

saying goodbye is always hard.. i knew that this goodbye would be the longest one yet because i won't get to see them until the end of my year of AmeriCorps.

The weekend was exactly what i needed though. i felt refreshed completely and ready to attack the rest of this year with passion.

This week so far has been working with some pretty awesome volunteers. we laid the foundation of a house in 2 days which is record time. we also got to meet the future owner of our house. super cool... and in case you were wondering, shorts and steel toes are the height of fashion in new orleans right now.


until next time... remember to see beauty in simplicity.

i'm abigail elizabeth, i'm in process.

habitat

first,
i'm very tired. i forgot how working in the sun all day completely drains you.
second,
it is pretty weird to not have internet connection unless you go somewhere. i'm just used to it for random things, and i feel very behind on what's going on in the world (not pop culture because i could care less)

but i'm really liking this project so far. it's so nice to have a house with some actual rooms. we're sitting at about 5 people per room, but it's still some privacy. we have a nice living area as well.

this week has been a little hard, but work is always such an awesome thing to look forward to. i miss hanging out with people. i can see it being a little hard in the summer knowing everyone's at home and that i don't get home till july... but by then i think i won't want AmeriCorps to ever end.
____________

this week i've been laying the foundation to a house which we will start putting the base for a floor in near the end of the week. it's a lot of measuring and being technical, but it's fun stuff. my hands are completely dry and pretty gross because we've been working with mortar and concrete all week. i gave up on using the proper tools about 5 minutes after i learned how, and started using my hands.

this week i'm working with one other person on my team and then a group of about 12 volunteers. they are from seattle and the other group from wisconsin. i love working with volunteers so much. i like getting a feel for the people from different parts of our country, and i love getting to know people. this kind of work lets you bond with people in ways you don't find elsewhere.

today in the middle of our work day we got to see Habitat dedicate a house. It was a small ceremony and was for the family moving into it. not gonna lie... it brought tears to my eyes to see the actual family about to move into their house. the families are required to work 350 hours on their house during the process, so they helped build it too.
it made everything we've been doing worth while and really put a new spin on our job.
i'm excited to dive even more into this project.

i'm applying for classes at delta soon.... how weird is that? my AmeriCorps year is more than half way over.

Abigail,



in process.

In New Orleans once again. I actually missed it for the two weeks I was gone. It’s the same city and same issues as before, but the new organization we’re working for (Habitat for Humanity) gives my time here a completely different feel.

We got here on Wednesday and got settled in our house. I really like the place we’re staying this round. It’s a brand new house built just like other Habitat houses here in the area. It’s relatively small but has 3 bedrooms, one bathroom and a decent sized kitchen/living area. We have bunk beds and about four people per room. Bathrooms to people is roughly, oh a good 1-13 but we have been managing just fine.
Our work is going to be awesome. We’ll be split up usually every day working with different groups of volunteers on different kinds of projects. Our first day of work as actually probably the physically hardest day I’ve experienced thus far. They had two house sites relatively close to one another… approximately 1.3 miles apart. They didn’t have access to their usual pick up truck because it was on other sites. They needed these house wall frames at the site about a mile down the road… our task- move those frames to the other house. We literally moved them all by carrying them. The van had to follow behind us (so we wouldn’t get hit) but it felt like it was more to pick up those teammates that might have fallen behind! Thankfully, no one did. We made that trip 3 times. It seemed very impossible for a very long time. We did it though and that night pretty much crashed into bed.

This weekend was pretty exciting for me… I got hang out with my dad here in New Orleans. He was on his way to California to speak at a conference and was able to arrange a 24-hour layover in town. He rented a car and picked me up from my house. He got to meet my new family and then I took him all around town. We went to the old place I used to work and live and then out to dinner. It was so great to be able to chat and catch up. The next day we took the ferry across to the cool historic area of New Orleans, and then walked around the French Quarter. We had such a great time and it was so awesome to be able to do that. I have the best dad ever.

I don’t have internet so my updates will be probably weekly, if that, but I’m really looking forward to this round of projects.

Love,

Abigailllllllllllinprocess

roadtrippin' on skittles

we are currently in tyler, texas at our second hotel of travelling.
you can see from the map, we've made the trek from Denver Colorado to Amarillo Texas, now we're here. Tomorrow will land us in NOLA again. You may be asking yourself, isn't this crazy girl sick of riding in the van and staying in the same hotels for the third time in a row... the answer to that question is, no!
i get to read and listen to music and... who doesn't love hotel breakfast?
i've made it from denver effectively on $1 cash money. (hey, thanks for paying your taxes : ] )
tomorrow we arrive at our new house and start learning about our project on thursday. i'm pumped!
i've missed new orleans. also.. another exciting little fact. my dad has an intentional layover this saturday in NOLA. this means he will be hanging out with me!

sad fact: our new house does not have internet. this means that i will only get to update this at coffee shops and other places i can swipe the internet.

happy fact: i'm about to fall asleep in a big comfortable bed.

love,

abigailinprocess

it's been a while!

i apologize about the lack of updates. since my last post, we finished up our 2nd round project with Rebuilding Together. It was a great place to work, and it was very sad to leave because our whole team got close with the staff and the other AmeriCorps members working there.

last thursday we picked up our big red bags and left in our 15-P's. Our three day journey back to Denver wasn't as sad knowing that in one week, i would be making the exact same trip back down.

because.... next round i'm working with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. From what i've heard, it's a great project and we'll be getting to work with spring break volunteers for a majority of the time. i'll kinda get to see a lot of the country through the people who come to work with us. this makes it easier to be ok with being in New Orleans again next round. Also the fact that the city is awesome and Jazz Fest is in April. If you want to make yourself hate me and be extremely jealous, just check out the line up that they have at Jazz Fest this year. it's sick.

anyway, now we're in Denver for the week. it's been an awesome little vacation. on monday we went on a beautiful hike. it was very refreshing. you know what else was refreshing?
seeing beth morris!

it's really, really cool to me that we were able to see each other. she's actually the reason i'm doing AmeriCorps this year. She did the program two years ago and inspired me to venture out and to try this crazy little adventure. i'm so glad she did.

she's here for spring break and staying with steve and jodi. it worked out perfectly because it's the one week i'll be in denver for the next two months. she picked me up yesterday and i showed her around our campus (she did the program in California) but it was awesome because she just understood exactly what i was experiencing. it was exactly the night i needed.
all i have to say about that evening... ostriches and fellowship : ]

love you all,

this girl who is in process.

We had 6 days off for Mardi Gras. This city treats it like it’s Christmas. Everyone decorates their house, they play Mardi Gras songs on the radio weeks in advance, people discuss what they will wear, and everywhere gives work off for Mardi Gras.
It was not what I expected at all, but not in a bad way.

For starters, it’s hugely traditional. It is a season more than anything. There are dozens of parades leading up to the actual day. The parades throw beads mostly, but some throw stuffed animals, cool coins, even decorated shoes. (I’m partial to the candy that Saginaw parades throw, but this was still neat)
Anyway the parades were long and elaborate. Big floats that must be reused every year. Basically, you stand and watch the parade and try to catch as many beads as you can.

Beads are pretty misunderstood, at least where I live. Everyone gets beads and walks around with so many plastic colorful beads around their neck you think they may fall over. Everyone seems to think that beads need to be earned by exposing oneself, and while I did see a few trades like this.. Most people don’t do that.

It’s really not as “crazy” as I thought. I mean, don’t get me wrong, just about everyone in the city had a bit of a buzz going on… but people were pretty under control. I took that picture of my favorite costumes i saw... star wars!!!

I spent the first part of my day with some of the girls on my team, we walked around and ventured onto Bourbon street. That got a bit crowded and crazy, but we mostly just laughed at the sillyness of people. After this, I met up with my friend Tim and we watched one of the big parades of the day and then walked around and explored places like the French Market (which surprisingly, I hadn’t been to yet) and then we were joined by Gordy and Stephen. From there we went and spent some time in a music store… you know, like cool kids do during Mardi Gras. We ended the evening at a great coffee shop that was discovered a few days prior. (rivaling Leela???…nah)
Anyway that was MG in NO… yes, I do think I’m cool when I abbreviate.

speaking of coffee shop, i'm in one now. it's a place a few streets down from us with great tea, live music on saturday/sunday mornings and internet. winner in my book. i come here at least twice on the weekend and just relax. the quiet peacefulness usually lasts until i make a friend and end up listening to stories and thoughts on politics : ]

i love it here, you guys.

oh & in my wildest dreams i never thought there would be a picture of me in the Saginaw News caulking...

http://www.mlive.com/living/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/02/americorps_stint_takes_thomas.html

anywayzzz

my name is abigail and i'm in process.

Mardi Gras was ridiculous, and i will probably write more about it later... what is more exciting to me is that i found out what my next round project will be...
Habitat for Humanity, New Orleans.

heckkkkkk yeah! This is the project i've been wanting.
it will be a great time to be working there also because it's during Spring Break so a lot of volunteers around my age will be coming down to work with us.
I'm excited to be here another few months & I'm excited to learn how to build a house!

love you


abigailinprocess.

i love this city

Life is good & crazy busy.

(check out our lovely little house)

Lots has happened since the last time i've written. One big thing is we have a new team leader. His name is Coleman, and he's a super cool dude. He plays guitar too, so i have a music buddy! Our original team leader, Lauren had to leave the program. It was sad to see her go, but Coleman fits right in to our team. It's been a weird adjustment, however.
I feel as though everything we've been through as a team has made us get way closer and way stronger. I'm proud of us all, keeping positive attitudes and still doing our work well.








Work the past two weeks has been fun. Last week, Daquan and I gutted a house. Our job was basically destroy two rooms and clean it all up. We were giving a hammer and told to go. It was such dirty work and we had to be fully suited up. I got absolutely filthy by the end of the day. It was fun and we had a good time!
















And this was downtown New Orleans when the Saints won their first Super Bowl!!!! absolutely crazy. You could hardly move. Who Dat!




The Saints parade was the next day... it took us literally 3 hours to get home when it usually only takes us 15 minutes.

Mardi Gras is coming up and we have off until Wednesday. Prepare for the insanity.

Abigail; in process.