Service with a Smile...

So yesterday we kicked off our official "Service Project" at the Sandcastle Library and Education Center.  It is located about a mile and a half down the beach from us, so we walked along the beautiful shoreline and were there in no time.  We are finding a lot of joy in walking pretty much everywhere we go.  There are so many great things to see along the way, and it is a great way to get our exercise in. 

Ellie continues to befriend every single dog on the island that she comes in contact with...which are quite a few.  Last week we had one follow us for about 2 miles before we had to shoo him on so he wouldn't follow us to the house.  Drives.me.nuts.  But I default to my standard response when asked, "Dad, do you love dogs?"  To which I reply:  "Ellie, I LOVE that you love dogs".  :-)

Here's the old dive shop that we will help turn into a library.....

Here is a picture of my project.  It is an old dive shop that is right on the beach.  Ms. Cam wants to take all the books, tables and desks from the other buildings and make this the main library.  It needs to first be completely cleaned out, then we will install windows in it, then build learning centers.  I'm excited to tackle this, but I just wish I had all my tools to make the job easier.  Right now my tool arsenal here consists of a small hammer, a tape measure, a screw driver, and I'm told that someone has a skill-saw somewhere, but I haven't seen it yet.  I have a hard time focusing on the project, because I'm so enchanted by this octagonal shaped building on the water...dreaming about what a perfect house this would make, and envisioning myself living in it.  And then someone asks me a question and snaps me back into reality.  

When we first spoke with Ms. Cam, she said she had over 20,000 books...and now we know where she's kept them.  All of them need to be moved, sorted, then stored, and then relocated back into here and stacked on shelves.  

Working on this project is a whole new experience, because even demolition work becomes a challenge in finesse.  You don't know what materials you'll need later...so even nails are pulled out with the best of care to try to preserve them for re-use.

Yesterday, Ethan & Ellie jumped right in with teaching the kids and playing learning games with them.  I thought this would be awkward for them, but they were fully immersed  within minutes.  I think this will be the perfect place for them to serve.  Here they are playing a game of dealing out cards with single digit numbers on them, and the kids have to place their 3 cards in the proper order to make the biggest number or the smallest number.  The person with the biggest or smallest number wins that hand.  They then recite their number in English to help them learn the numbering system in English.

And here are the teachers getting taught by the student.  David is teaching them Spanish.  They loved sitting with him learning as he would write words in Spanish and then tell them what they were in English.  

After about 4 hours, we were pooped...and seeing as how the key to open the lock on the "Bodega" (storage shed) with all the lumber and windows was hanging on the caretaker's other pants back at his house (welcome to island life), the project would have to wait until tomorrow.  We said our goodbyes and headed home.  What a fun first day!