Habitat for Humanity-The Best Day Ever

Hi all-

Well, after our third day of work I am happy to report a fantastic day. At my job site tonight we got to experience the best part of habitat for humanity, meeting the people you work for. Mapwina has three children under 5. She applied for a Habitat home with a picture of her old living arrangements. Mapwina and her 3 kids shared two beds in a one room home. She struggled to make ends meet and went to Habitat for help. The joy Mapwina brought to the job site warmed my heart more than I can describe. As Mapwina came up, she did not greet me with words, she quickly walked up, wrapped her arms around my waist and just stayed there. I looked down quickly and ask her if she was okay, and all she could manage was "thank you." The sense of gratitude this woman showed warmed my heart more than you can imagine. However, that wasn't the only thing the day was going to bring us.

The day before a small section of our team, roughly 14 members, were informed that Habitat was doing a silent auction in conjunction with the Sony Ericcson Open. This is a major tournament in both the men's and women's tennis tours here in Miami. Part of the auction was that two of the players agreed to visit the job site and do some volunteer work. So, as I stood their painting the living room of Mapwina's home I was awestruck by two players both ranked 15 in the world, Nadia Petrova and Ivan Ljubicic. Now, these people may seem like nothing to you, but as someone who follows tennis I was freaking out to be standing next to one of the Russian wonders, and a man who could hit a serve at 150 Miles per Hour. My exact quote to the teammates on my feelings of this experience was.....

"I feel like a 12 year-old girl at an *NSYNC concert in 1999."

Yes, I did a little dance as I stood next to Ivan and Nadia, we talked about their future matches and reminisced over matches with Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Needless to say, it was incredibly cool to be working with world class athletes. However, what was cooler was their attitudes on the sight. Ivan and Nadia came in and picked up a brush and painted. They were friendly and pleasant to talk to, in fact I learned that Ivan is married and is on tour for 45 weeks of the year. Also, Nadia is actually an ambassador for Habitat for Humanity and works around the world on Habitat sites.

Today was good for a variety of other reasons, getting some chill time at the beach after a hard days work, an authentic Cuban dinner, getting our pictures up on Getty Images (yes, search Habitat for Humanity...we're there), and getting a free hat. However, today would have felt completely empty if it wasn't for Mapwina.

So, what makes the best day ever?

Seeing true Joy in someone, seeing their dreams come true, and knowing that your two hands had a genuine part in it.

Until Next time,

                -Nate Baggett