Saturday's Travel

Debbie spoke with the travel agent this afternoon. As of noon on Friday, all flight information is accurate, none of our flights have been changed. Scheduled arrival at Midway is Saturday approx 7:30 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact Northwest Airlines directly at www.nwa.com or 800-441-1818.

Thursday

Work at H.O.M.E. and environs wrapped up today. Crews dug post holes and setpoles for new fences, sided a barn, worked on firewood for the winter,sorted clothes for the thrift shop, cleaned out the remnants of an old food pantry so that the space can be used for other social services, and did a variety of tasks around the area. As they have all week, our work teams battled a little rain and wind early, but still worked hard and accomplished a lot. As our hosts usually do, the H.O.M.E. folks have marveled at how well they work and how much they get done.

Tonight after dinner we gathered for "Senior Night" at the Methodist Church that has been our place for gathering up for our night sessions. It took us about 4 hours to tell our 10 seniors (Elena Beltrame, Ashley Bieze, MattCation, Steve Cation, Elizabeth Erb, David Perkins, Byron McGuire, SeanVogt, Zeke Walsh, and April Hope Wareham) how much they mean to the community and how much they will be missed. This is always a powerfully emotional time for the group, and, as I write this, they are finally all getting to sleep and ready to go tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning, we pack everything and everybody up and say farewell to H.O.M.E. We catch a trolley tour in Bar Harbor (only 38 miles away or so,but a good hour's drinve), and, weather permitting, our whale watching excursion. Then it's back in the vans and back to Brunswick, ME, where theFirst Parish UCC will host us for our end of trip worship, and where we will spend the night before heading back to Manchester Airport on Saturday morning.

Wednesday

Sister Lucy Paulin, with a small group of people, started H.O.M.E. in 1970. Today the small Learning Center building (where the women on our trip are sleeping while we are here) has grown to a dozen homes, several transitional housing centers, a group home for members of her Franciscan order and others in need who wander her way, a small food bank, soup kitchen, a saw mill, an auto repair shop, and dozens of services for those Sister Lucy calls our culture's "discards."

She spent an hour with us this evening sharing her story and the story of HOME and the world Emmaus movement, and answering questions for more than half that time. She is an astounding woman who radiates compassion and care and patience. When asked why she and the people at HOME are so patient with those who continue to come to them for assistance and comfort, she simply says, "because God told us that we should share with them what we would want shared with us."

The group is working hard, both on our projects and on our ever-evolving experiment in Christian Community. Tomorrow will be our last day of work, and the weather is still a challenge (though we did get about 4 hours of sunshine this afternoon!). Senior night is also tomorrow -- always an emotional time on these adventures -- and then on to, weather permitting to Bar Harbor, Acadia Naitonal Park, the Atlantic Ocean, and then back to Brunswick for worship and rest before the trips home on Saturday.

Tuesday

Well, it rained last night, pretty hard, really. But when morning came, it rained some more. Of course that meant that work plans had to change and that people had to adjust, and the kids were magnificent. Today's work included unloading two semi truckoads of furniture donated by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield Connecticut, demolishing the interior of a house while saving the pine floors and walls, cleaning out a feeding bin at HOME's saw mill, working in the day care center, and sorting and reorganizing the food pantry.

After a great pasta dinner, we met in the United Methodist of Orland, where we talked about freedom being about being free not so much to do any silly thing we want, but more about being free to love one another. (For those who think this sounds familiar, it should -- read Galatians 5: 3-15). The conversation around all this was remarkable.

We got one piece of bad news tonight; one of our young people, Valerie, was scheduled to meet up with us in Portland, ME this evening; she was enjoying a long-planned family reunion vacation, and was flying in directly from there. But a delayed flight meant a missed connection, and she won't be able able to join us, and we will miss her.

Tomorrow means some new work assignments, and an opportunity to meet later in the day with Sister Lucy Paulin, the founder of HOME. We're looking forward to hearing her story and her responses to our crew.

Monday

The group was great this morning; up at 6:30 (5:30 Lombard time!) for a quick continental breakfast then out the door for Orland, ME. We arrived at 10, and by 10:45 were deployed in work groups, some doing some demolition work, some moving and storing wood cut in HOME's sawmill, some organizing and cleaning in the food pantry, and some others cleaning out a barn and unloading two semis full of donations.

We're learning quite a bit about Sister Lucy, the woman who started HOME in 1970, and the very special community of people she has gathered around her to do this important work. Our gang is remarkably sensitive to the work being done and to the notion that a persitent love and a strong vision can make a difference that matters in the lives of so many.

Up at 6:30 tomorrow morning, off to the work sites by 8, and another rainy day forecast for Maine.

Sunday - Traveling to Maine

We've made it finally to Brunswick, Maine, 20 or so miles north of Portland. We flew out today in two waves -- well, one wave of 55 and one ripple of 4. The "wave" arrived at Midway at 5:30 AM, and got out of Midway on time just before the storms hit Chicago. The "ripple" left about noon, and arrived in Manchester on time. The "wave" however, ran into some equipment issues in Detroit and were a little more than 2 hours late to Manchester. They had to switch out planes in Detroit, and we only lost one sleeping bag and one suitcase, both of which have been located, and are supposed to be delivered to us here in Brunswick before we hit the road for the last two hour leg of the journey.

This group was great. They deal with the adversity well, were helpful and polite and courteous to each other, to the people at the airport, and very respectful of other guests here at our stop in Brunswick, where, of course, we arrived very late.

We'll have pictures tomorrow after we get to H.O.M.E. in Orland, Maine, another couple of hours up the road.