To do something different on my vacation, I signed up for a 6-day church adult mission trip in June at the Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky.  What a beautiful part of the country! A group of six of us traveled South to start and complete (hopefully) a work project to help a family whose trailer needed siding. 

Our small group had tools, some expertise (not me!) and lots of enthusiasm.  Siding a trailer was new to me, but I soon realized it is very similar to a sewing project.  Measuring, cutting, and fitting pieces together in the best way possible became our sole occupation.  In four days, we put up firring strips, blue styrofoam insulation, channels around the windows and doors, and many large pieces of vinyl siding.  I soon became adept at measuring the shapes around windows and doors and cutting the siding to fit. 

At the end of each day, we were all hot, and tired, but determined to start early again the next day - we only had 4 days to finish - and by 3:00 on the last day, we were cleaning up and saying good-bye to the family.

At the risk of sounding trite, I have to say I got more out of the experience than the family did.  I'm not a do-it-yourselfer, except for lawn work, but I was really happy to find that I could stretch my boundaries. Stepping out of my normal daily activities, meeting new people, and learning about different housing situations made me appreciate my life even more than before.