Home Away From Home Away From Home

Here are some shots of the temporary housing I am staying in here in Americus.

The house is small but cute. The sign above the door reads "Grace."

This is the living room. I am usually sitting on the right, and Richard is at left.

The kitchen. . .Richard and I have been taking turns cooking, and have had some pretty good meals! Right now I have an arm roast with carrots, mushrooms, and onions in the oven, and will make mashed potatos to go with it.

This is my room.

The New Office

Following are shots of my new office. Not much to see yet since I have not been able to decorate, or even fully move in for that matter.

I have dueling laptops as I attempt to copy files and data from my personal machine to my business computer.















It's a corner office so I have two windows on either side-no need for fish this time :)

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Before and After

Here are the before and after pictures of Texas.

Before

After

I will be sharing stories of how God worked many wonders right before our eyes in the days and weeks to come. One of the blessings was the food! We weren't sure there would be any lunches provided at the site before we left, and most days we had 2 lunches because so many people wanted to feed us. Here is a breakfast we enjoyed the second week. Everything comes from their ranch-the sausage, ham, honey, cane syrup, etc. MMM-MMM-Good!

A Quick Correction

I made a mistake in my e-mail address listed in the last post. The correct address is:

mvanlue@habitat.org

More this afternoon!

Mark

Back in the Saddle

Well, I've hung up my tool belt and strapped on my laptop! I'm back in civilization again. Actually, I'm sitting in my new office in Americus, Georgia, trying to get used to all of the new gadgets they have given me today. I have had very little internet access and limited cell phone signal for the past few weeks while in Texas, so I apologize for no updates to the blog. I will provide pictures and text tomorrow concerning the Texas project (which went very well by the way) as well as some pics and info about my new digs here.
Your comments on my blog entries have meant a lot to me, and have helped me through some lonely times, so I thank you for those.
It's getting late, so I will add more tomorrow. It's soooo good to be "connected" again! My new contact info is listed below:

Mark Van Lue
Director of Construction and
Environmental Resources
Habitat for Humanity International
121 Habitat St.
Americus, Ga. 31709
800-HABITAT (422-4828) EXT. 2139
574-514-3860 CELL
mvanlue@hfhi.org

Good night!

Deep in the heart of Texas

I am writing tonight from Jasper, Texas, about 25 miles from Bon Wier where we will build the new home with Faye Adams. I have spent the last two days driving down here, and thoroughly enjoyed the 70 degree temps and sunshine this afternoon. I will miss many things about living in northern Indiana, but the winter perma-cloud is not one of them.
I am excited about getting this project started. I have talked with many of the volunteers who are coming down, and will spend the next few days making ready for the build to begin on Monday. I spoke with Faye and her mother, Winnie, today, and they are very excited! They are promising to cook "soul food" lunches for everyone. It sounds great to me! They mentioned cabbage greens, pork hocks, and boiling lots of turkey necks. Hmmm-look out cholesterol.
Laurie and I are adjusting to a telephone relationship for a while. It's tough, but temporary. I miss her, though. I have tried to internalize the idea that I won't be going "home" again, but my mind and heart just won't accept the idea yet. I guess that shift will come when Georgia begins to feel like home. I'm realizing that "home" is really a state of mind (and heart and soul) rather than a place determined by an address or a collection of things. I guess I've always known that, but it is very real to me now. We never stop learning, do we.

(I tried to load some images, but the internet service here is too slow-will try again tomorrow)