Mavis Scott dried her eyes, clasping a pair of house keys in her hand.

Sunlight spilled in through freshly-painted windows.

Outside, birds chirped merrily in the trees.

Less than five weeks ago, this plot of land in Meridian was nothing more than a few blocks, among rivers of mud.

Thursday morning, Scott and the team of volunteers and community members who helped make her new home a reality celebrated a “last nail ceremony” – with prayers and the hanging of a wreath on the wall.

Partners in Recovery, a committee formed following the April 2018 tornado that badly damaged Scott’s original home a few blocks away, teamed up with the United Methodist Committee on Relief to secure a $100 lot from the city.

Four teams of volunteers from Orland Park Christian Reformed Church in Illinois worked on the project, battling the wettest February in Lauderdale County in 30 years.

“I think they had five inches of rain in the first week they were working here,” said Chris Gibson, a program manager with World Renew Disaster Response Services. “The foundation was in place and they built the frame and had the shingles on by Wednesday.”

Last week, Grand Valley State University students on spring break from Michigan crawled under the house to install insulation as the rain continued to pour, he said.

The 2018 tornado, with winds that reached 115 mph, caused widespread damage in Lauderdale County.

“A lot of folks have been through some really, really rough times and I think sometimes we just need hope to get us through to the next step,” Gibson said.

Scott, who was unable to continue a decades-long career as a cafeteria manager for the Meridian Public School District following a car crash years ago, had been having trouble getting around her damaged, leaky home.

“My house was getting in bad shape, but now I have a house,” she said smiling, jiggling her keys.

Though the house still needs some more work before Scott and her son can move in, she said she was looking forward to using a walk-in shower, sitting on her porch and listening to the birds.

“It’s a blessing that these people came and they worked in the rain and the mud and I’m so grateful to them,” she said. “I know they didn’t have to do it, but they did. God is a good God and He has blessed me so.”