Everyone was excited for our first day on the job! We were blessed in many ways, the first two when we arrived on site -- a cement mixer and surrounding mango trees providing tons of shade!

With our midwestern roots and work ethic...and Paul.....we hit the ground running and the mason had a solid crew as well. For those of us who have served Habitat in Central America, we remembered the standard mix of water (1) ,cement (1) , gravel (5) and sand (7)...but we had different measuring cups and thus Paul saved the day and counted out 18 shovels of gravel and 30 shovels of sand.

Long story short, we successful poured the entire floor and porch for Josephina's house -- a single mother who has worked 4 years to get this far. Speaking of Josephina, we successful taught our Habitat guide Natalie to speak with a Norweigen accent -- Joooosephinnnaaaaa!

As we reflected today, we were impressed with the pace at which they allowed us to work as well as the way neighbors and relatives joined in. The national director even participating with shovel in hand. Roberto did a great job of leading us, and we were able to communicate with lots of pointing and maybe 10 Spanish words. We all got dirty with spitting cement, but also got to play with the local kids on the swing (check out all the pictures on the pictures tab).

In the end; we were more blessed than we thought and after a hard day of work, we realized we have a great team, affiliate, & family to serve, as well as a great chance to make a difference!