This.

So this happened a few days ago...

...after a lot of paperwork and phone calls and meetings and discussing and praying, one of our families, RT, got running water in her home for the first time since 1997. For fifteen years she caught rainwater to flush toilets and to do dishes and carried jugs of spring water to the house to drink. Remembering how difficult the few days during Hurricane Sandy that we didn't have running water were, I can't even imagine being without such a basic thing for a time equivalent to 3/4 of my life.

This project started with a small thought of "I don't think anyone should be without running water" and then turned into this real...thing. The effect that ASP has on people has been clear to me for quite a long time, but this just feels like a really big deal, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. Okay, so by "part of it" I actually mean "I pretty much did all of the work for it".. it was my "baby" project for so long that now I am FULL of astonishment that it's actually all complete and that this could even be possible. Done with the selfish excitement now, sorry! (But only kind of done, I've been shouting from the mountains about it these past few days and will probably continue.)

Talking with R just hours after she got her water turned on was amazing. I am so blessed to be the hands and feet of a God who is giving us these dreams and these volunteers and changing all these lives. I don't know that I'll ever fully know and understand His love, but I'm pretty sure I saw a little bit of it in R's face when she turned away from me, tears in her eyes, overwhelmed by all that we were doing. And then again when she turned back for one of the most sincere hugs I've ever received.

In sum, I have a full heart.

Now just gotta work on my eyes because as we all know: "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." Thank you, Coach Taylor. Updates soon.


"But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water up to eternal life." John 4:14

Realities of My Job/Life

1) Guitar picks and assortments of screws and nails are equally likely to fall out of your pockets at any given time.

2) Eating the same menu every week gets boring:


3) But no matter what, my reaction before every pulled pork and mac & cheese night is always:
(Note: this is Nicki's reaction as well, often in unison with me)



4) There is a great deal of patience required for this job. Some for dealing with volunteers, some for living in community, but the most for when you get stuck behind a double wide trailer or 2-story tall piece of mining equipment being transported down the (barely) two-lane road.

5) It was wonderful to have recently experienced the perfect date while in West Virginia


6) Not having final exams like a lot of my friends has been like:


7) However, though the application process doesn't even start for another month, applying to medical schools is like:


8) I recently bought an ENO hammock. Sort of a staffer staple, along with Chacos (which I have yet to get into) but it's been nice to experience the warm weather suspended in the air between two trees next to the river.

9) Speaking of time to relax, I could use some good book suggestions. I recently read a novel/fictional memoir (is that a real genre?) about a scientist who develops early-onset Alzhemier's. Needless to say, every time I forgot where my truck keys were, I self-diagnosed and freaked out. Which led me to wonder what medical school will be like and whether I'll be one of those kids who "discovers" they have a different rare disease every week. Probably, but that's a whole different story. Anyways, I just need some recommended titles so I can search the one-room, five-shelf library in Pineville for it.

Spring in WyCo

I usually really dislike spring. The weather is unpredictable and it's often just really muddy. However, we've had mostly 70-80 degree days the last few weeks and the trees are definitely enjoying the change in seasons. Here are some pictures from around the county of things that I like.

One of my favorite boys: Dozer. Love those sweet paws :)

We started drilling the well this week!!

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." Song of Solomon 2:12

Green Is The New Black

Despite returning from Easter vacation just one week ago, the girls and I already needed another break. If that doesn't explain the way my job situation is going right now, I'm not sure what will. I wrote before about the VIPP program that we're doing and last weekend we managed to get to six state parks and state forests. We left just after volunteers did on Sunday morning and arrived in Holly River State Park just in time for lunch. We found a waterfall and shared sandwiches at its base. We continued on through Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, which reminded me a lot of Mackinac Island with its restored old buildings and general old-timey feel. The weather was still great, warm but partly cloudy, when we arrived in Seneca State Forest. Here we had reserved a "pioneer-style" cabin on the lake, complete with outhouse, wood cook stove and gas-powered lights. It was so relaxing to read by the lake, grill up burgers and just BE together, without talking about ASP. We did a quick 4 mile hike along a creek and up and down a few mountains just before it got dark. I made a successful and delightful fire in the cabin and we continued reading, writing and playing music. We were truly technology free and it was amazing--I don't know that I've ever felt more rested. It rained most of the night, a beautiful sound that definitely made for a peaceful night's sleep. In the morning it was still raining, but we packed everything up and made our way to Watoga State Park, stopping briefly at Droop Mountain Battefield. On our way back we decided to go off-route quickly and stop at Greenbrier State Forest. We found a little local place called "The Mason Jar" which was delicious despite their lack of fried green tomatoes available. All in all it was an incredible weekend. I feel blessed to live and work with these ladies, no matter how stressful things might get.

I've started to learn that there is strength in positivity so I'm looking for ways to make the rest of my time here better. After returning from our camping trip to an almost immediately stressful work environment, we met two new groups of volunteers who are mostly fantastic. I'm almost positive that they're all going to blow our budget into a thousand pieces because they're working so fast, but they're fun, knowledgeable and seem to have a good understanding of the real point of mission work. They're really all we can ever ask for in volunteers. Also, every day there is more and more green showing up on the mountains!!! And in even MORE great news my appeal for Cup of Cold Water funds has been approved and next week we break ground on a well for one of our families. Today I spoke with her and she was almost in tears just talking about the new door that we put in, so I can't wait to see her reaction to water in her sink. And it's moments like that that can bring me back to our purpose. Too great.

Quick Update

The following is a list of things about my life that are not necessarily related to my job, but that I felt, rather narcissistically, could be shared on here.

1. I have recently become obsessed with the AMC show, "The Walking Dead." I'm late to the party, I know, and I can't even really explain why I'm becoming so emotionally involved in a show about a zombie apocalypse, but I just cannot stop watching it. Maybe now I'll have regular people nightmares about creatures of the night instead of about construction projects and volunteers.

2. Amber and I just got back from Wyoming County Day in Charleston, WV and it was so great. We spent most of the day at our booth in the capitol building (which is a gorgeous building, by the way) speaking with locals, state senators and delegates, and making new connections with other business and  organizations from our county. It seemed a little silly that we all had to travel to Charleston just to meet other folks from this county, but in the end it was great to have everyone interacting. For the evening we were invited to the Governor's mansion for "heavy hors d'oeuvres" (their words, not mine) and light conversation. We met the governor and the first lady and they seemed to be really glad to learn about the positive things we are doing in West Virginia.

3. I am beyond excited to come home for Easter, stopping in Ann Arbor to see friends at my favorite restaurant on Thursday and then see my family and puppy! I'm driving home with Amber, so that will obviously be eventful, but in the fun way!

4. I'm starting to stress out a lot about medical school applications-- particularly my personal statement. Not to say that I'm something really incredible that can't be expressed in words, but I'm seriously struggling to put together all the things in my life that have led to this choice and this path. That's when the voice creeps in to say, "If you don't know exactly why you want to be a doctor, maybe you don't really want to be one?" So that makes things a bit rough.

5. I need suggestions for morning devotions. Sounds bad but I'm pretty sick of the ones I wrote based on various parables/stories/verses. I could use some new material or just thoughts-- let's face it, being a spiritual leader is pretty hard work (shout-out to all the people in my life who do that on a regular basis) and I think everyone knows how it feels to need a little spirit refreshment. So...before 7am tomorrow would be great! :)

Learning and Teaching

Let me just start by saying:

I'm sorry if anyone out there is getting annoyed that my whole blog is basically pictures of adorable puppies.

And let me continue by saying:

If you're actually annoyed by having too many puppy pictures in your life, you probably don't have a soul and are also a terrorist.

So for all my remaining non-terrorist friends, here's what was waiting for me at the bottom of a ladder today:

The rest of my day was spent running around taking care of volunteers and their projects, teaching and empowering the college kids to learn the use of new power tools and watching them take ownership of their tasks and bond with their families. We've had several weeks with college crews now but the ones this week were particularly low-skilled. Don't get me wrong though, this isn't actually as bad as it sounds. Any good discussion on interpersonal relations will discuss the importance of willingness and work ethic-- if someone is unable yet willing, they are teachable, while those who are unwilling, regardless of skill, are often the most difficult to motivate. One of the groups I worked with this week spent their whole week putting up vinyl siding. This is generally considered an easy task by ASP standards, but it becomes a little difficult when the house you're siding isn't straight, plumb, level, square, or any of the above. Add to that some inclement weather (a 2nd day of spring blizzard) and you're going to need an ambitious and driven crew to get the work done. Today they finished all the siding, and the best part is: they're all from California and all still managed to survive the snow and ice cold wind. I'm really proud of them and I hope they feel the same way about themselves. There were a few other crews that I got to teach this week-- some of them had never even used a power drill, didn't know the difference between screws and nails, or had never used a tape measure. While there's definitely less emphasis on empowerment in the adult program than there is in the youth program, I'm still filled with joy when the timid girl on Monday becomes the one underneath the house stapling insulation on Wednesday and the one instructing her group on the use of various power tools on Friday.

I also find that I really enjoy the teaching part-- it's like it runs in the family or something. I've always felt like (and been taught) that you aren't really skilled at something until you can teach it to someone else. These past few weeks have been a lot of practicing that, and learning from my mistakes. 'Cause yeah, if you're not specific about stuff things tend to happen, like the wrong side of T1-11 siding gets painted or floors are so irreversibly covered in leveling compound that you have to cut them out and start over. But it's all worth it when porches get built strong and level, roofs get completed and keep the rain out, and floors are finished and make families cry.

I'm hoping I get to keep writing honestly positive blogs like this one so that when I'm stressed and feeling like high-tailing it to Michigan I can read back through these and be reignited by all the things that set me on fire for ASP so long ago.

P.S. Still asking for prayers and crossed fingers for the running water project!

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Daily Emotions

The internet has been out lately, so, sorry to those of you who read this regularly and were wondering about my life the last few days. (Hi, family.)

St. Patrick's Day was pretty great. Even though I was sitting here in Brenton, not even able to visit the only establishment in town, the Post Office, because it was a Sunday, I had a great day. We stayed up late the night before waiting for University of Southern California's group to arrive, but we had a little bit of time to go to Razzle's, a classy establishment located near our gym that we've been meaning to visit. It was amazing for the fact that we all got free green necklaces, bracelets, glow sticks and tiny green leprechaun hats. We all know how much I love free things. Amber and I spent the actual day starting a small garden. We had to plant most of our seeds inside first and then we will transplant them, but we're starting with carrots, tomatoes and peppers, along with some flowers for fun. While we were digging up the yard to put in the new soil I casually remarked to her, "Wouldn't it be crazy if we found a 4-leaf clover?" When she told me that it wouldn't count if it was already dug up, I decided to check the small patch that we still had left to take out. Within 30 seconds of looking I actually found one! Then later we drove the nearest McDonald's (20 minutes away) to get Shamrock Shakes to make our day complete. Overall, a pretty perfect St. Pat's Day!

Besides Sunday, things have been absolutely crazy with working and volunteers and our staff. I find it really stressful that problems we've all been discussing since September are still popping up and it's March and solutions still haven't been found. So that's frustrating. Not to mention that everyone on our staff has been off and on sick for the last week and a half. But at the same time, working for ASP really is amazing. I mean, I met with a few contractors last week to get estimates for getting running water for one of our families who hasn't had it in fifteen years. Fingers crossed! Looking past all the drama and stress, sometimes I sit back and wonder how I'm allowed to plan and do all these incredible things for incredible people and with incredible people. Since my roommates usually read this when I post them and I know they could use a good laugh, I thought I'd dedicate some GIFs to show my general track of emotions in one day.

Having emotions is exhausting. Or, as Sweet Brown so elegantly said it best:

Life Currently

So right now my life is pretty filled with joy and here are some reasons why:

#1 & #2: Snuggles and Mike Tyson (named by this week's volunteers)... 2 of 4 puppies at this house.

#3: The volunteers this week seem to actually like me! I'm not trying to be a downer, but it's actually kind of rare for this to happen. Since I'm not "on duty" in the evenings when they're talking about Jesus and other fun things, they only know me by how I am during the day...and I generally spend my day telling them they did something wrong, or showing up late with their supplies because I've been driving everywhere. But this week, despite having a group open up a wall thinking they would just be replacing the door but finding, instead, way more major rehab than we had anticipated, they still told me, in the eloquent way that only a 19 year-old can, that I am "the Bomb Dot Com"

#4: I haven't woken up with any headaches lately. However, 1/2 of our staff is sick with some combination of cold/flu/bronchitis so I'll knock on some metaphorical wood right now. I believe that this new life sans headaches is due to two things. A) My mom sent me new pillows, and B) I stopped doing the water gallon challenge. Some people/mostly family members were concerned that since I was drinking well water in such high quantities, even treated, I would get sick. And I actually think that may have happened. We have a water cooler now, provided by our lovely hardware store owners, but I'm still sticking to around 40 oz. a day.

#5: My life is filled with a generous amount of food. Some of my roommates have applied for food stamps, something that anyone in our position would qualify for since we make about 1/3 of the poverty level. I've decided not to do this since my life situation is slightly different than theirs in that I have no school debt (holla, K Promise!) and my parents would be in a position to support me financially before I would have to turn to the government. But with my roommates' ability to purchase good food all the time (and share it) I can have name brand cereal, fruits and veggies, and even some of that fancy hummus stuff once in awhile. This is how I feel when one of them comes back from the grocery store with new snacks:

#6: This month my staff and I are reading "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. Although unconventional in its presentation of Christianity (written from the perspective of demons/tempters trying to claim souls for Hell) it has many incredible messages about what things can bring us farther away from God. My copy is pretty special because it's my mom's so I get to feel a little closer to her while I read her notes in the margins.

#7: Things are busy, busy, busy with these March volunteers. It's stressful, energy draining, requires me to be simultaneously one step ahead and on my toes....and I LOVE IT. Right now I am living for those moments when I realize my job is amazing. I'm even starting to find that waking up early is getting easier because I get to witness so many peoples' worlds being changed that day--families and volunteers. What other college graduates can say that right now? #sorrygradschoolfriends. Regardless of how energizing ASP can be, here is a glimpse into my plans for Sunday:

March Lessons

Here are some new things I've learned so far in March.

1. Never, ever assume that college volunteers have any of the tools they will need. And, never, ever jokingly suggest they should use the height of people on their crew as a measuring guide for lumber while they wait for you to return with a tape measure. Porches don't turn out well.

2. When dumbfounded with questions like, "What should we use to screw this together?" prepare a response that is better and than "Uhhh....a screw."

3. When your center directors are both sick, your other construction manager is off for the day, and the power goes out in the whole county for the entire work day...and you not only don't have a panic attack, but you run devotions, make it to the hardware store and back before crews are even done with dishes, get everyone set up (at their projects that magically don't require power tools), complete 3 IHVs, and write all your work orders for next week....that's when it starts to feel like you're maybe pretty darn good at your job.

4. Always wear earrings. That's how they'll know you're not a boy.

5. Unexpected apologies are beyond uplifting and very underrated.

6. West Virginia has a season called "Sprinter" or "Winting" or "Stupid" which is comprised of the months of February and March when one day is 65 and sunny and the next is a blizzard and the only consistent thing is the massive amount of mud everywhere.

7. Even when things seem so out of hand that your mind is filling up with hardware lists, to-do lists, who-to-call lists, lists of active projects, new projects, and old projects, and oh-right-I'm-supposed-to-also-be-thinking-about-applying-to-medical-school lists, it's all about the little moments you take. An extra five minutes at the hardware store to eat candy and make a new inside joke. An extra ten at a family's house to have their daughter use her magic necklace to give you good dreams. An extra fifteen, okay twenty, to play with puppies. Always make time for puppies. And as much time as you want to watch a family dance around on their new solid floor.

8. Country music isn't too bad. With the windows down and the sun out, songs about 'Murrica, beer, and tractors just seems to fit, I guess.

9. I like trucks.

March, Already?

Wednesday, February 26th- Thursday, February 27th:
I've experienced 23 months of February in my life and I am still always surprised at how short it actually is. I said before that I would try to find something beautiful about each day until volunteers arrived in March. I suppose you could say that it was my own kind of unconventional celebration of Lent, just not at the same time as everyone else. Folks, today is the last day of February which means that I have completed my task and made it through the winter. Many of my friends have told me that they don't feel like their lives are interesting enough to write a blog about. I disagree, fundamentally because I care about all of them and would love to know what they're thinking all the time, but also as a result of my "beauty experiment." I'd like to challenge those friends to do a similar thing, even privately in a journal, to write down something each day--something beautiful, funny, inspiring, whatever. Guarantee the blogosphere would become instantly more exciting. Once you're seeking out those experiences they seem to just happen for you. I often found that I was saying "yes" to more offers simply because I thought, "hey, maybe something beautiful will happen and then I can write about it!" Maybe that will start happening to some of my friends.

My roommates and I were chatting about a book that we're reading, called "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne, and an idea in it (and in a lot of other places) that "God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable." I realized that maybe I had become too comfortable with my idea of ASP, its ministry and its place in my life, with my relationship with God, and with my standard ways of finding Him. So, he sent some people and situations my way that really messed with all that, disturbed me a lot and forced me to ask, to seek, to simply knock. Well played, God, well played. In the end I have to be grateful for those uncomfortable and faith shaking times that brought me to today, feeling happy and blessed but hopefully not too comfortable.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Now, I know what you might be thinking--don't worry, I know that I'm not off the hook for finding beauty in the last two days of February. Nicki and I have been doing initial home visits (IHVs) and project planning this whole week, and I've been told that people enjoy laughing at my GIFs...so here are some dedicated specifically to IHVs. Beauty in laughter never gets old.

How we feel with our polos and nametags on:

Finding a house on the first try:

Backing the truck into a ditch and/or side of a mountain:

Me in any given driveway:

When a school bus comes towards us on a one lane road:

When directions to a house include "large rock in yard" "stump near driveway" or "turn by twisted tree":

When the house has puppies: