Because of

the vision of two Peachtree City churches, and contributions of labor

and supplies by hundreds of strangers, Thanksgiving will have a new meaning

this year for a family in Henry County.

Raymond and

Tina Scott, who have been living with their brood of seven in a tiny trailer

in Locust Grove, will move into their brand new four-bedroom house in

Stockbridge in time for turkey and cranberries.

At 1,350 square

feet, it is not a large house. But to the Scotts, it is a mansion.

Their mansion.

The house on

Greenwood Drive in the Swan Lake subdivision rose like a miracle on a

spacious wooded lot, thanks to a Habitat for Humanity collaboration between

Holy Trinity Catholic Church and Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran.

On a Saturday

earlier this month, the house was dedicated and blessed about six weeks

ahead of schedule and well under budget.

Nearly all

the work was done on the nine Saturdays from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4 from

grading, to framing, to siding and windows, to roof and porches, to paint

and trim, even the landscaping by volunteers, most of them unskilled.

of the very first day of work, workers had accomplished what was projected

for week three. The season's dry weather helped: An extra Saturday, built

into the schedule in case of rain, was not needed.

Saturday afternoon,

Nov. 11, leaders, volunteers and the Scotts, who had worked side by side

with the volunteers, came together one last time.

Dr. Richard

Bell, president of Southern Crescent Habitat For Humanity, welcomed those

gathered, and remarked that while Habitat had begun the year 2000 with

no plans for building in Henry County, by the end of the year, it will

have completed three homes.

"There's

a fine line between faith and foolishness," Bell laughed, noting

that the two churches had built on faith. He presented the congregations

and key leaders in the project with golden hammers, symbolic of their

achievement.

Mary Ann Cox,

whose telephone call to Miriam Beecher last spring set the project in

motion, gave the Scotts a new Bible for their home.

Raymond Scott,

an electrician's apprentice who said he had never spoken in public before,

expressed with simple eloquence the appreciation of his family to those

who had labored to build them a home. A letter composed by his family

was framed and resting on the brand-new kitchen counter. It read, in part,

"Words cannot express our thanks and gratitude. We feel that we have

been blessed in so many ways. And from start to finish we have met the

most incredible people who give so much to others. Thanks to all of you,

we now have a place to call home."

The Scotts,

whose children range in age from Raymond Jr., 17, down to 4-month-old

Christian, had been living in a small, rented furnished trailer. What

little furnishings they owned were in storage out of state until they

could find a permanent home. Those belongings were stolen.

The Scotts'

new house was finished not a moment too soon. Several weeks ago, the trailer

and the furniture in it were sold out from under them, and they moved

into an even smaller, leaky trailer with a family of three.

Apart from

some dishes and linens, a TV set and their clothes, it appeared that the

house on Greenwood Drive would still be empty when the family moved in.

Nonetheless,

on the day of the dedication, the Scott girls Ashleigh, 13, Johnnie, 11,

Lindsey, 10, Tuesday, 7 were eagerly showing visitors their new rooms.

They would share bedrooms, two to a room, while Raymond Jr. and little

Terry, 3, would have their own.

Each bedroom

has wide closets and the same dark green wall-to-wall carpet that covers

the living areas of the house. One of the girls' rooms has been painted

with fluffy clouds on pale sky-blue walls.

On the very

day that Cox learned that the Scotts had virtually nothing, she received

a telephone call from a relief agency in Fayette County that knows the

Catholics often hear of families in need: They had a girl's bedroom set

with two beds and two dressers for which they had no storage space. Did

Cox have a place for it immediately?

Did she ever.

Beecher turned up a sofa and love seat for the living room, and little

an electric stove and a washer. The kitchen floor is black and white vinyl,

and the two bathrooms have white ceramic tile with black accents.

Over the still-empty

dining space in the kitchen hangs a shiny brass-and-glass chandelier.

A table and chairs, large enough for a family of nine but compact enough

to fit in limited space, will be her biggest challenge, Cox thinks.

Both churches

customarily put up Christmas trees trimmed with the names of needy children,

so Cox and Beecher have every confidence that the family's holiday will

be a happy one. A good used computer has already fulfilled a wish for

the girls, and Cox is confident that someone will find a desk to hold

it.

After the miracle

of the house on Greenwood Drive, the coming together of two churches to

build on faith, the outpouring of labor and materials for a family that

began as strangers and became friends, furnishings are minor concerns.

Beecher said

there were many small blessings along the way, citing the camaraderie

that has developed between her congregation and the Catholics, and their

eagerness to do it again "in the not too distant future." The

Lutheran pastor noted too that the neighbors on Greenwood Drive, at first

cool and distant, became engaged by the activity on their street and began

offering water, lending yard tools, even stringing electric cords until

the site had its own power.

"And we

came in under budget!" she marveled. The overage pooled by the congregations

for this build will form a "partner fund" for the next.

As Dr. Bell

said on dedication day, noting the cooperation between the two churches,

"A Habitat build is what heaven's going to look like."

Greg Creighton

from Holy Trinity and Rod Barkow from Christ Our Shepherd, both builders,

provided the expertise for the Habitat for Humanity project their congregations

completed. They directed a small army more than 100 workers the first

week alone in every phase of construction.

Al Creighton,

Clara Reed and Jan Hudson fed this army each week. Larry Gray coordinated

volunteers, and Dianne and Denny Baas registered them and monitored safety.

Bobbye Hager provided internal publicity.

Ivonne Borland-Reid

of the Southern Crescent Habitat For Humanity, based in Jonesboro, coordinated

permits, plans and material provisions. SCHFH is responsible for Henry,

Fayette and Clayton counties.

Sponsors from

the three counties who contributed labor and/or materials include Floors

Bros., James Rainey, Residential Concerns, Wallpaper, Windows & More,

Pfeifer Co., and 31-W.

And ecclesiastical

support came from pastors John Walsh and Kevin Peek of Holy Trinity, along

with pastors John Weber and Miriam Beecher from Christ Our Shepherd. The

clerics supplied both muscle and spiritual encouragement as the project

continued.

Mary Ann Cox,

director of religious education at the Catholic church, first sparked

the project last spring when she called Beecher, the Lutherans' associate

pastor. This was the first Habitat build either congregation has done.

There has never

been a Habitat project in Fayette County, she says, less because there

is no need than because land is so valuable here and building restrictions

hard to accommodate. Habitat requires that a lot be given free and clear

for them to sponsor construction. Additionally, houses are built from

standardized plans too small to comply with most Fayette zoning laws.

While both

churches are eager to build a complete house again, Cox says that Habitat

for Humanity also occasionally does major house repairs and renovations

for families in need, a project that might be more "doable"

in Fayette County. "If anyone knows of a family whose house needs

repairs, a roof or furnace, or a room added, where there's financial need,

the county would not object to that," she said.

To contribute

donations or household furnishings, or to suggest a family that might

be eligible for Habitat's assistance, phone Cox at 770-487-0175, extension

228.