" Did you take the collar off the dog?" "I Don't Know..."

Hi from Sturgis, Mississippi.

My team is a couple weeks into our third project. We are loving life! We live in a big house next door to the foster boys' home with plenty of green space to play in. We all have rooms to share, but have been spending most nights having slumber parties in the living room. This is the closest and happiest my team has been so far and I am loving it. We are enjoying our new sponsor who welcomed us with open arms. Mama Gwen took care of feeding us the first week we arrived and we ate some great southern comfort food.

We are working 6 days a week, but morale hasn't taken a hit because the work is fun and there is a great deal of variation. So far we have cleared 1 acre of forest, removed 2000 square feet of trash, torn down one and a half sheds, built 7 raised flower beds with salvaged materials, and spent a half day loading a truck and organizing clothes for the salvation army. Now we are preparing for the community barn raising on Saturday. It feels good to get so much labor done after surveying last SPIKE.

The work we are doing for Southern Foundation for Homeless Children is helping them move towards their organic farming goal. After the land is prepped and the barn is built, the foundation will get cows and goats for the boys to tend to. The idea is to make the foundation more self-sustaining (organic vegetables, milk, eggs and meat) and teach the boys a life skill.

We have quite a bit of autonomy here as well as a great deal of support. Everything seems to be going well. I hope we can keep the momentum going.

In other news, we have a new corps member joining our team tomorrow. Jake has been on a few different teams but hasn't yet found a place for himself, so we are hoping he finds a good "family" in us. Katie will drive him up here tomorrow afternoon. I am welcoming the challenge of a new teammate.

I am also looking forward to meeting ujp with my team leader friends for Mardi Gras in February. We are staying in Mary-Molly's Aunt's house which means a fun affordable vacation from team leading. I am counting down the days...

As always there is so much more to say, but I have work to do tonight, so take care and I miss you all!

Love,

Casey