We are building our Habitat house for Sylvia Rodriguez and her two children, Amy (15) and Luis (6). Amy loves cosmetology and Luis loves sports. They like to go out to parks and movies together, and to special events like the Pecan Street Festival. Sylvia and her children have lived with her parents since 2004, along with her sister and her two children.

All eight family members share a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house. The new Habitat house for the Rodriguez family is located at 7403 Thanna’s Way in the Meadowlake subdivision in South Austin, near the intersection of IH35 and Ben White.

Sylvia currently works for the Department of Public Safety doing data entry. She has worked two full time jobs in the past to help her family qualify for the Habitat program. Sylvia, with her mother's help, completed the 400 hours of sweat equity required of all new Habitat homeowners.

Sylvia says she is most excited about her children having a room of their own (even though Luis says he's going to keep his toys in his room but continue to sleep with his mom!) Sylvia loves to cook, and is excited about having her own kitchen where she can cook for her family. She dreams of playing board games and other activities together as a family in their new home. Sylvia wants Amy and Luis to be able to go to college.

Faith is important to Sylvia. She was raised Catholic, and credits her faith for helping her tremendously. "The Bible says to just have faith," she says, and she's relied on that during these last few years. She was turned down by other housing programs, but through faith and hard work at multiple jobs, her dream of home ownership is now coming true. She loves nurturing her faith by reading a daily devotional book.

Sylvia is very grateful for the generosity of Highland Park and all the other participating churches, and is looking forward to meeting and working with our congregation throughout this process.

Construction begins on Saturday, January 16, 2010, and the completed house dedication is scheduled for Palm Sunday, March 27, 2010. The construction schedule is spread over 11 consecutive Saturdays. Work will progress regardless of weather (a good incentive to get the completed house shell up quickly!).

Since this is a cooperative build with other churches, Highland Park is scheduled to only work on 7 of these Saturdays (see list below). Each of five churches will provide five volunteers each Saturday, for a total of twenty five volunteers each weekend. This will give Highland Park members the opportunity to work side-by-side and get to know people from other local Baptist churches.

Pictures of the home construction will be updated on the web site as the build progresses. David Malone has a blog about the energy efficient aspects of the Habitat House construction.

If you would like to contribute toward the construction or furnishing of this home for the Rodriguez family, make your donations to Highland Park Baptist Church, with the notation "Habitat House" on the check.

Another way of contributing is to go to www.austinhabitat.org. On the menu on the left, click on "Donate." Next, click on "secure online contributions." A form appears, and you just need to fill out that information. Make sure that in the "Donation Information" section, you click on the drop down menu next to "Donation Purpose," and select "2010 BAPTIST BUILD".

Construction has been completed and the Dedication Service was held on 3/28/2010. Thanks to everyone who participated in the successful completion of this project.