OWN HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Gabriella Silletti was so excited about her new home she started moving in immediately after signing closing papers.

Where others might see only four walls, Silletti sees a secure future for herself and her three children.

"It's just a stable environment for the kids," she said. "It's just great."

Her children, ages 7, 10 and 14, are settling in easily, she said. "They're trying to just unpack their boxes and organize their rooms, and they wonder how long it's going to smell like a new house."

After renting an apartment for years, Silletti said her children now have a place to ride their bikes. "We've always had an apartment, but you can't tell them to go out in the backyard and play. . .

Since that night when she found out she would receive a Habitat home, she said the work has been near constant, and she's spent every Saturday since construction began helping build her home.

"It's s a tremendous amount of work, and its hard", she said. "You either had to shovel and dig and rake and hammer. I'm scared of heights, and they got me up on the roof three times."

Silletti said that although life as a single mom can be an exercise in adversity, this experience has given her perspective.

I view people and life in a different way, that there really are people out there that are good to their word and can help you.

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Habitat for Humanity is one of my favorite organizations, homegrown here in the South. I've helped out at different Habitat sites in South Carolina, and I can surely say that this is one program that works for single mothers. The hammer, for a woman, can be a powerful psychological as well as physical tool. I know that when I help build something myself, I feel stronger and more proud. "Look, I did that." And I can see that look on the faces of the single mothers described in this article. And that look can change lives.