Landscaping

Sunday night Jamie had another bonfire for our team and it was super fun, even more fun than the last, because even more of my teammates and Habitat site supervisors came this time :) It was also one of the AmeriCorps State's birthdays, so that was fun...I got him a giant cookie-cake that was delicious! Monday was my teammate Norah's 24th birthday, so we got another giant cookie-cake and Mollie decorated it with a zombie (one of Norah's favorite things) and we ate it with ice cream which I of course enjoyed! Other than the bonfire and birthday events, this past weekend was spent relaxing and watching a lot of movies, which is always fine by me! Tuesday and Wednesday and probably the rest of this week, I have been working on landscaping (digging huge holes and planting trees in them) with Joe and Michael Logan's crew...it has been a lot of hard work, I haven't actually used my muscles much until now, so I feel every bit of shoveling! But it has also been a lot of fun working with a few teammates who also chose landscaping over drilling and building railings. Today it was freezing out though, which made it difficult to get started digging into the semi-frozen ground, but we did it! We had to fill in a few holes yesterday because we would dig and come across a water pipe, which was really frustrating because it was so hard to get that far and then have to fill it back in and start again, but at least we didn't actually strike the water pipe and have it spray all over us like our supervisor Joe did! Hahaha.
On another note, I feel as though our team morale has been all over the board lately...ever since we got back from Thanksgiving break I felt like our team was on a high and getting along really well, which has been great until the past couple days people have been getting testy and on each others nerves. I think it could be that we are all just ready for Christmas break and more focused on seeing our friends and family back home than really spending time with each other here, which is understandable. I, myself, am feeling bitter-sweet as per usual about leaving this project next Friday...it seems like these past 2 months have just FLOWN by and I am not mentally prepared to leave this amazing area, project, and new friends that I have found here...I am truly shocked at how attached I have gotten to this place and how it is even possible that I like it more than my first round project in Chalmette...but another part of me is of course ECSTATIC to be heading north soon and finally getting to see and hug my friends and family back home!!! I just know that those 2 weeks are going to go by too fast and it is going to be even harder to leave than it was in August though...gahhh this whole AmeriCorps experience has been so amazing, even more amazing than I ever imagined...which is awesome, but messes with my emotions too much from moving around and switching locations so frequently! Overall though, I feel that I am in a really good place in my life right now..like I am finally doing what I was meant to do all along, serving and traveling and making more and more friends along the way. I personally have been pretty overwhelmed with just how amazing God is and how he works in mysterious ways and how each new day brings a new life lesson and fun adventure. I honestly never expected to love what I was doing so much, especially construction work! But I guess the phrase "don't knock it 'til you try it" is a good one for me to keep in mind now! It is about the halfway point of this 10 month adventure, which is sad, but also exciting, because if I have enjoyed it this much so far, I can only imagine how much better it will get the next 2 rounds!

I'll leave ya'll with a picture of my landscaping team chillin in a hole we dug to plant a tree in today :)