Work Week 25

Happy New Year

We had another rainy week.  It was dry on Thursday, so the termite guy came out and sprayed the last four lots footings.  Friday Debbie, Deena, Jacob, Michael, David, Dave, Maria, Jackie, Carlos, Lupe, Paul, Robert, Andres, Brandon, John, and I showed up to pour the footings on lots 7,8,10, and 11. It was a long day, but our last footings are done.  YEAH!!!!

Us waiting for the pour to start.

 Pouring Deena's lot (lot 7).

 Pouring Lupe's lot (lot 8).

The hosers moving the hose to my lot.

 Pouring John's and my lot (lot 10).

 Pouring Steve and Maria's lot (lot 11).

Paul and Lupe working on Lupe's house.

Lot 8 done.

Lot 11 done.

Lot 7 done.

Lot 10 done.

Saturday morning it was raining.  So we started at 10 am.   It did not rain much after we started to work. We had our safety meeting on wearing hard hats.  We divided up into to groups.  Debbie, Deena, Patricia, and I were told to work on finishing laying out lot 6.  Chris, a friend of ours, came out and helped us learn how to layout an inside wall.  He had did layout when he was building his home years ago.  Everyone else worked on the other four lots getting them ready for slab. After a while John, Carlos, Alfredo, Tony, Robert, and Brandon joined us on lot 6 and started framing.  We raised the first two walls.

Removing forms.

Framing up the first wall.

Chris helping us layout first house.

First wall up.

Removing more forms

Up goes the long wall.

 

Alfredo and Naty staying by their house.

On Sunday, Debbie, Deena, Patricia, and I were told to finish layout the walls for framing.  So the four of us finished placing all the walls in the house, then after the green boards were placed we mark out every window, door, posts, medicine cabinet, and stud in the houses.  We learned a lot this weekend.  Hopefully, our speed will pick up as our confidence builds.  We need to be ahead of the framing crew.  It was hard to layout a wall with people framing around us.  So our goal is to get two house layout this week. After lunch on we moved on to lot 9.  We got all of the outside walls chalked out and some of the interior walls marked out.

As we began marking out the walls, everyone else continued to work on getting the last four houses ready for slab, by moving dirt in and out of the lots. After a little while, John and Brandon joined us to layout all the green boards and top plates. Slow more and more of the framing crew began working on framing up the walls. Maria, Wendy, and their friends worked on building channels for where the walls join together. We got three more walls raised.

Praise God this weekend turned out to pretty nice. We had very little rain. It was a big step getting the first house started. We are slow right now at framing, but hopefully as people's skills and confidence grows we will speed up. We are so close to being done with foundations. Thank you to Leticia, Jefferey, Paul, Lupe, Jackie, Maria, Steve, Evelyn, Michael, Naty, Luisa, and Jacob for working hard at finishing up foundations for us. With no rain next weekend in the forecast we should be close to getting done with the foundations and all of us framing.

 

Working on leveling the dirt in the last four lots.

Deena, Patricia, and me marking out our second house.

 Lot 6 with more walls up and going up.

The marks we put on the slab.

 

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As we begin our seventh month still working on footings and more rain in the forecast, I realize our original goal of June/ July for completion will not happen. Some days the end feels so far away, but I know that God is sovereign over everything.  Everyday I need to remind myself who God is and call on Him.  He will give me strength and help. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13

¹¹ For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

Philippians 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Psalm 103

Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
³ Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
⁵ Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
⁹ He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
¹⁴ For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
¹⁷ But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His ^[righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.

¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
²¹ Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
²² Bless the Lord, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

 

Prayer Requests:

1) Energy. As each week passes we get more tired.

2) Wisdom on how much time do we go out to work on the house during the week.

3) We are all starting to learn new jobs.  Please pray that we learn these new jobs quickly and accurately. 

4) Safety.  We are starting to frame the houses, which means more power tools and more hammering.