Baffling is so baffling

July 7, 2013

Build day in Columbus, OH

Since it was a build day today, we got to sleep in until 7:00am! It was amazing. After breakfast we headed over to the build site. They had a number of houses being built on the same street so we all split up into groups and were doing different jobs on different houses. Some people were making the frames for a garage, others were digging trenches for pipes, and some were doing siding on a garage and house. 

I, along with one of our trip leaders named Chris, volunteered to do baffling inside the house. I had never heard of it before but I was up for anything. Turns out baffling is something they do in houses the helps it be more green. Basically what I did all day was nail sheets of cardboard into ceiling beams so that it would eventually help with the insulation of the house, directing the hot air entering into the house up and out instead of letting it stay and heat the house unnecessarily. It was actually really fun because I was up on the ladder all day using a hammer! At one point I had to climb into the ceiling to reach a hard to get space. I was a happy builder :)

The build was lead by Habitat for Humanity, but also an organization called Thrivent Builds, which is a Lutheran organization. They were all really nice and very happy to have us there helping out. They cooked us lunch on the grill and absolutely made our weeks with the meal! I was so excited for it I even took a picture. 

I wasn't sure if anything could top lunch for a while, but I was wrong. That night we were staying at a rider's church so his parents came and set up a taco bar for us for dinner. I was in heaven. I was too hungry to take time to take a picture but you'll have to believe me that it was delicious. Afterwards, most of us stuck around for the church's service. It was very free form and casual with lots of singing. It was fun and a cool experience. It was actually the first time we've seen a service at any of the church's we've started at. Afterwards, a big group of us walked almost a mile to supposedly the best ice cream place in Columbus. It definitely lived up to its fame! I got brambleberry crisp and an amazing vanilla. Again, I was in heaven. So far my favorite part about Columbus has been the food. It doesn't take much to please me though when the competition is day old lasagna.