Habitat for Humanity build-a-thon

I spent the last four days at the Habitat for Humanity East Bay build-a-thon. And survived. You can see photos from the event at the HEBTB blog. I'm still sorting through pictures and resting. Normally the build-a-thon isn't too hard for me physically, but with the tail end of the bronchitis still lingering, I was glad I'd decided to not work all 4 days doing construction. I'm still pooped.

I'm going to Disneyland!

Actually, I don't much care for Disneyland, et al, but I feel like the sentiment those commercials were trying to portray. I get to go to the I-just-won-the-Super-Bowl of Habitat for Humanity events, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project (JRCWP). It's the 25th annual event for them, and it's in the Gulf Coast region near Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, so it's in an area where there's a great need. I've been volunteering with Habitat for about 13 years now, and Jimmy Carter has long been one of my heroes in part because of the work and support he and Rosalynn have given to Habitat over the years. A lot of people mistakenly think Jimmy Carter started Habitat (it was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller), but he and Rosalynn have helped bring so much attention to Habitat's mission of eliminating substandard housing worldwide that people have come to associate it with them. I don't expect to hang with Jimmy much ;-) but it's still an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The last couple of days I've been volunteering at Habitat for Humanity East Bay's annual Earth Day build-a-thon. It's not as crazy accelerated a build as the JRCWP will be, but it's still a pretty amazing event. This year we're framing 6 houses from foundation to roof in 4 days. Because of bronchitis (post-Mexico mission) and tendinitis (pre-Mexico mission) I've been helping with support instead of framing. Yesterday especially was hard to sit back and help with registration, parking, photography, etc. instead of picking up a toolbelt and hammer and getting to work. I have grabbed the end of a board or helped hold up a wall here and there, but mostly I've been taking pictures and talking about Habitat and the Thrivent Builds program (they're supporting Habitat around the country to the tune of $125 million over 5 years, with a special focus on the Gulf Coast region). I'm feeling good enough that I'm going to try swinging a hammer tomorrow and Tuesday. If you want, you can help support Habitat by pledging money in my name here. I've been keeping a blog about Habitat for Humanity East Bay's work with Thrivent Builds (the HEBTB blog), and I'll be posting pictures of this year's build-a-thon there shortly.

Hammer Time

We have a new plumbing problem -- water hammer. It wasn't possible before because the pressure was so abysmally low, but now that there's 3/4" and 1/2" copper everywhere, the pipes rattle when a valve is closed quickly. I've added a hammer arrester for the washing machine since that was one of the worst sources, and been double-checking all the pipes are well secured, but there's still some work needed.

It's also hammer time in another sense. I leave Monday for Mexico to help take the youth group from RLC down to build a house for people in need in the barrios of Tijuana. We usually try to have the kids do most of the work anyways, but this year I need to be extra careful because my shoulder is still healing from the tendinitis. Supervising and translating are usually on my task list, but this year that's about all that will be on it. See you in a week or so!

I'm a Movie Star!

Not only have I been in print, now I'm in a movie! I'm not expecting an Oscar for my short performance, but part of my interview is included in the prize-winning documentary, "Building a Better Future". And I only sound a little like a dork. The film was created by Amy Schleicher, a 17 year old junior at San Ramon High School. She won 2nd place at the First Annual Bay Area Social Issues Documentary Film Contest (SI DocFest) for it, and shared the prize money with her high school and Habitat for Humanity East Bay. It covers the great need for decent, affordable housing, has interviews with some staff and volunteers, and highlights Sonnie Dae's story. Sonnie is the mom of the partner family for the Thrivent Builds-sponsored house, and a pretty amazing person. You can read more about Amy and view the video here.

Church Media

One of the things I do besides work on the house is create media for churches. Mostly it's media for the church I attend, Resurrection Lutheran in Dublin. But I also spend a lot of time on ChurchMedia.net (CMN), an amazing community of volunteer and paid media ministers and pastors from around the world. We share ideas, graphics and videos, and support one another in our ministries. CMN holds an annual convention to get together and help spread the word about this unique way to spread The Word. You can read more about the upcoming convention here:

In past years the convention has been on the other side of the country. But this year's is in Mesquite, Texas (between Dallas and Fort Worth), and the timing is such that I'm hoping to be able to make it. Even if I can't, I'll attend the convention 'virtually'. I highly recommend checking out the convention if you do church media, and checking out ChurchMedia.net, too.