Besting the Bugs & Rocking the House

Each house has a story to tell. Right now the one I'm working on in the 'Post tells a story of neglect. As far as I know, it's only 18 or so years old and it was build by Habitat back in the day. We think that a couple of holes in the aluminum flashing along the very bottom by the slab compiled with a ongoing leak in the bathroom attracted the termites & gave them a way in. As the bug guy said, this was one yummy house and took photos. (If the bug guy takes photos, it's 'cause it's a doozie in case you are wondering.)

I happen to have the bug guy on speed dial. See, when we first got the house and after hauling out three dumpsters of trash and belongings, he then came in and treated for bedbugs and fleas. He promised that when we went back in with volunteers if I saw something crawling, even if that something was a half dead spider, he'd be over in a flash.

Right now this house we're working on has missing siding on a large part of the back and in fact is down to studs in many places as we chase termite damage around the three bedrooms. It's upsetting and frustrating that something that once was so lovingly built is damaged so. I'm imagining that it's a similar feeling a lot of people in the States are dealing with after the hurricanes and they have plaster board to rip out and ruined insulation.

Regardless we solder on. The new potential homeowner popped over for her first visit just the other day. I had prepared her and said that even though it looks like a hot mess, please have vision and faith that this will be an awesome house. I promised that at the end she will have a comfortable place full of light in those huge windows we're going to replace. I showed her the open kitchen layout we came up with and told her to pick colors for the cabinets and paint.

Some of the scars that house gave me aren't easy for me to forget. We had to evict the previous owner who begged for more time around Thanksgiving last year and then right before Christmas without any evidence of progress, we had to proceed. See, at Habitat you get a hand up, not a hand out. You still have to pay for your affordable mortgage and like the rest of the world, if you don't pay you don't get to stay. I'd have felt very badly, but it was four years since her divorce & ample time to get things straightened out. Still, we like to put people in houses, not take them away.

Needless to say I feel a little down when I walk though the house. It's still a bit smelly & not very lovable. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the bathroom yesterday and found a pretty painted rock. See one of my good friends brought her kids down to "rock the house" for the volunteers. I had forgotten a little person would notice that the tarp on the back of the house had a little gap in it and a little arm snuck one in. I had been leaving the rocks for others to find, but in the way of rocks, this one was for me to find...

Made my day and gave me hope! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we build another home for a family!