Life Story

Our group removed the shingles
from the roof -- in order to put
new ones on.

Today was the first day we got to be on site -- at the houses. We split into two groups, two difference houses. The house I am at for the week, is owned by a women who has 8 kids, and 8 grandchildren. She is beyond inspiring and amazing. Her story goes as follows: 3 years ago -- invited a man who was homeless into her house. He ended up beating her up, knocking her unconscious, she a majority of her teeth, and was in a coma. During the time she was in a coma, the man who was staying at her house, set it on fire. She hired a contractor to rebuild her home from the damage; the homeowner then needed to file contractor fraud. In May the tornado caused damage to her home, windows and doors knocked out, roofing damage etc... She hired a contractor to repair the damage; she then had to file contractor fraud again. Throughout this rough time, she attempted suicide multiple times.

As I heard her story, I had to turn my head, so I wouldn't start crying. As much as she has gone through, she is so unbelievably strong. When the tornado occurred, she did a lot of community organizing; craft day for kids, community food event/meal.

It was hard to wrap our heads around the path she has been down throughout her life, but the strong positively, and passion for life that she spreads to all she meets.

The first step of rebuilding her roof was to take all the shingles off the roof. We worked as a team to get the shingles off and on to the ground. This process will take a few days to totally complete the full long roof.

--

After our day of service, we went to the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game! (They won!) As we were driving around looking for a parking spot, we noticed a lot that had open space. As we got closer to the lot we noticed that to park in the lot, a special parking pass was needed. As our van started to back out, the staff in the lot waved us in. They told us that they had an extra pass for tonight; and our trip didn't need to pay anything to park, in the lot, for the game. We were pleasantly surprised. Was is karma? Was is random? Was it meant to be? What ever is was, we were so thankful and appreciative!