HARDWORK

Happy Father's Day!

We had to celebrate Father's Day yesterday. The Man of the House had to leave for DC at six this morning. He will be there until Thursday. Don't feel bad for him though, he's playing golf today once he gets there. That, I am sure, is the perfect Father's Day for him! He is going to a conference where he gets to attend meetings with senators, lobbyists and other Washington VIPs and give them a piece of his mind. HA!  HA! Basically it is a very large national organization that represents free enterprise.... the original American way. 

From the organization's website:

to create an association based on the shared belief that construction projects should be awarded on merit to the most qualified and responsible low bidders..... construction industry's voice with the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government and with state and local governments, as well as with the news media... which encourages open competition and a free-enterprise approach that awards contracts based solely on merit, regardless of labor affiliation

It is amazing how much the government has their hand in every little aspect of the construction industry right now and quite frankly the new policies are  shutting down some very established old family businesses. The government is taking away the right for these businesses to bid on government jobs if they are not unionized. Then on top of that, these mom and pop businesses are steeply penalized monetarily. So yep, they are shutting down the hard working backbone of America and awarding jobs and contracts, not to the businesses that earned them through fair bidding and are the most qualified, but to the companies that kiss the government's..... feet. 

I don't know about you, but I don't understand how doing things like this creates anything good. I think it teaches that hard work pretty much gets you nowhere these days. To work hard and honestly and then to have jobs taken away from you and given to someone that doesn't meet the qualifications, but are awarded by the government, just isn't going to create a society that is very self motivated. Why try to work your way to the top when the top is no longer allowed to exist? I worry about this because I have children in college and they will soon be out in the real world having to fend for themselves. I don't want them living a life expecting to be taken care of or that they, just by standing in the correct line, deserve so much more than others. 

Speaking of hardwork:

#2 is working hard in Jamaica. (She is on a mission trip with the youth group at our church.) We haven't talked to her much because the rates are so expensive. The one time we did talk to her she was exhausted. They left Raleigh at 11:45 AM Friday  and didn't get to Jamaica until 11:30 PM. They had a seven hour delay in Miami. Once they arrived in Jamaica, they had over an hour drive to the little community they will working in during the week. Thank God for their leaders. They are saints. I can't imagine having to be around  about 50 eighteen year olds in an airport for that amount of time. 

They woke up early Saturday morning and headed off to the work site. They are pouring a  cement roof on a church this week. Hmmm, sounds like fun..... cement, heat and humidity!!

They have a blog to keep us updated, but haven't posted any pictures yet.

Here are a few pictures of the past mission trips that #1 and #2 have been on:

I learned the hard way to make them take "disposable clothing".

Most of the kids leave all of their things behind when they come home. 

What's funny is that the local women wash the clothes and give them to the locals of all ages in the village.  So when you arrive in this tiny remote village in Mexico, the first thing you notice is that  everyone is wearing T shirts from high schools in Raleigh NC!

 

The wall that #1 built.

Kids are so funny:

This was the highlight of #2's trip last year. Noone could stop talking about how much fun it was when their van got stuck in the mud and how many people it took to get it out. The whole community had to come and watch. I don't remember the whole story but it was something about the hot mexican sun, packed van, mud and sewage. 

Gross!