Insulation

 Y’all, 2023 has started out as quite the ride.

Each year folks make resolutions and commit to making the next year better than the one before. What we don’t tend to factor in are things outside of our control. This year has been an uphill battle from the start, so I'm glad I didn't make a resolution to add to it. Within the first week of this year my family and I experienced a major family emergency that completely rocked us. At the same time, I was preparing to travel down to South Carolina for work for several weeks. It felt like the world was caving in and suffocating me. I’m so happy to say that my family has come through this difficult time together, but we’ve got a long road ahead. Work has been busy and challenging, and has kept me at a higher stress level than usual. All this to say, this year has come in roaring like a lion, and I've felt like its prey.  

Despite the rocky start to this year, I’ve continued leaning on God to see me through. My church does 21 days of prayer and fasting each year to reset and refocus on our relationship with the Lord. As part of this, we take a note card and write out the things we believe God for in the new year. For this year, one of the things I’m believing God for is to provide me an opportunity to serve in at least two more states with Habitat, and to potentially even serve on a Global Village mission if the organization opens these opportunities up again. This year started out with many challenges, but God gives you ways to work through it if you let Him.  

Admiring the handiwork

Before work really ramped up, I perused different Habitat for Humanity chapters to see if one was able to host me for a day or two. To be honest, this time around I wasn’t sure about how excited I was to serve again. I was having a hard time just getting through each day, still adjusting after all my family and I were going through, on top of a huge workload. I’ve been left feeling vulnerable and exhausted. But sometimes, the best way to get out of a funk is to do things that remind you of better days. I happened to be relatively close to a Habitat chapter in Columbia, SC and decided this was my chance to let God work on my heart a bit and to allow myself to do something other than worry about everything going on.

I arrived on a cold, blustery January morning to the initial job site, and shortly thereafter I met some of the volunteers for the day. Two of the volunteers were from nearby Fort Jackson, the US Army’s main training center for men and women going through basic training. They were both friendly and excited to volunteer; neither of which had much experience with Habitat yet. The minutes began to tick by, but we hit a snag in the day’s plan-none of the staff showed up! Thankfully, a home owner arrived and got a hold of a construction leader, who said there must have been a mix up and they were at another site for the day. Oops! We were able to get the new address, which was only 15-20 minutes away, and we collectively hopped in our vehicles and rerouted to the new site.

The cold never bothered me anyway...

Once we arrived at the second site, we met up with some other volunteers and the construction leader of the day. The new location we arrived at had an existing home on the lot already, and our task would be to stain both the front porch and the back deck. The cold was preventing the crew from beginning, as it was too cold for the stain to process correctly. 

As luck would have it, the temperature finally reached 35 degrees when we arrived on site (the minimum temperature needed), and we were able to get to work. I can’t lie, part of me was regretting my decision to join in; I was bundled in three layers of clothing and had winter gloves on underneath a set of latex gloves, and I was frozen. But once I set my mind to helping, I don’t turn back. We grabbed cans of cherry wood stain and paint brushes, turned on some tunes, and got to work on the back deck. I spent time carefully running my paint brush over the spindles of the railing and down the steps, being sure to wipe up any excess stain so all that was left was a smooth even coat. Most of the volunteers were quick to finish and moved on to the front porch. Myself and the two soldiers I had met wanted to take our time and make sure the job was done right, so we lingered in the backyard making sure every inch of the deck was adequately covered in stain before we followed the group to the front yard.

Just as before, I set to work doing the finishing touches on the front porch, using the last bits of stain I had left before stepping back to admire our handiwork. The sun was finally peaking out and the wind started to die down, and for the first time it felt bearable to be outside. Once we finished the front porch, the construction leader called it quits for us and most of the volunteers dispersed to their vehicles, hoping to get warm. The two soldiers and I weren’t quite ready to call it quits though; we still had a few hours left before we were supposed to be done for the day. We offered to go back to the site we originally met at to continue working, and the leader took us up on our offer. The 20 minute drive back over to the first site was a welcome relief from the elements, and my body finally returned to a normal temperature by the time we arrived.

Expanding foam

We all piled in to one new home being constructed, and two construction leaders told us our next job was to install insulation along the exterior walls of the home. We were ecstatic to be able to do a job inside where the walls protected us against the wind. The leaders told us that before packing in the fluffy pink insulation pieces in the walls, we would need to place expanding foam caulk around areas where there was space leading to the outdoors, and in areas where electrical wires were running through the walls. Not only would this fill up gaps in the walls that would leak cold air into the home, but in the event of a fire the foam would prevent fire from spreading along the electrical lines into other areas of the structure. Full disclaimer, the construction leaders explained this much better than I can, but this was the gist I got from the explanations they provided. Another soldier joined us about a half hour after we arrived at this site, and then the four of us split up and either applied the caulk or began cutting and inserting insulation into the walls.

Packing insulation

I learned easy ways to cut insulation pieces, and then carefully stuffed the remnants into every section of the walls. The process went pretty quickly once we got a rhythm down, and we were able to complete most of the insulation in one home by the end of the day. The last step we had to leave behind was to take scraps of insulation and stuff every nook and cranny around the doorways and the windows, to ensure cold air wouldn’t leak through once they installed sheetrock over everything.

When I looked down at myself, I was covered in pink insulation. I eventually learned that the insulation, which includes small pieces of fiberglass, gets everywhere and is very itchy. I learned later that we should have been wearing masks to prevent these pieces from getting into our lungs. Unfortunately, those weren’t offered to us, and this is a learning moment I’ll take with me to other sites. It’s always worth it to ask if you feel like you need protective equipment, and it’s always best to advocate for yourself and make sure everyone is safe onsite. I say this not to throw the staff under the bus, but to show that it’s important to ask questions if something seems off, and to remember that we’re all human and sometimes things slip through the cracks.

Cutting insulation

All in all, it was a successful day, and I was grateful when I got back to my hotel and had lunch and a hot shower. I froze my butt off, but learned another skill and had a chance to forget the funk I had been in since the start of the year. I don’t think I’ll have time to serve more in South Carolina like I normally try to, but I’ll take the day I was able to have. It’s been almost a month since I served, and the days are still hard, but getting better. I’m taking it day by day, and I’m sure by the time you hear from me again things will be looking up. You know, I think I’ve been looking for ways to insulate myself from the weight of the world lately. Maybe it wasn’t as much of a coincidence that this is where I was led. In the midst of a day that didn’t go exactly as planned, I still found a spark of joy doing what I love to do. I’ll carry that sentiment with me during the rest of my stay in South Carolina, and into the rest of this year. You’ll be hearing from me again when I see where God leads me next, and I’m sure I’ll be experiencing brighter days by then.  

Until next time,

Lisa