Monday, February 25, 2013

Work Week 33

It is hard to believe that we have been working on our houses for 7+ months.  We have 7+ more months to go to finish our homes.  Saturday morning, we started with our safety meeting. We then got to work on framing, pluming and lining the walls, adding trim to windows, adding headers for the garage, and tightening the bolts. We were blessed with a warm weekend and volunteers that came out to help.  Toby as been out helping us for a few weeks.  This has been a great help, because Facio is not being pulled in 24 direction just 12.  Toby has been working with the framing crew.   Facio has been able to work with the other crews and come check on us.  We hope that Toby can  be with us for a while.  

Okay, let me start out be saying I am sorry about less photos.  I forgot to bring Debbie back her camera and my camera's battery was dead.  So most of the photos are of Sunday. 
Wall raising time on Robert and Maria's house.  YEAH!

 Robert helping raises his homes walls.

Sunday, Debbie, Deena, Jacob, Pat, Alfredo, and I worked on finishing up the framing on John and my house.  Evelyn, Delilah, Robert, Jackie, and Maria worked on framing on Robert and Maria's house.  John continued with the bolts.  Brandon, Steve, and Paul continued their work on adding garage headers.  Andy, Carlos, Jeffery, and Michael continued their work on pluming the walls.  Patricia and Lupe continued working on adding window trim and blocking.



Jacob removing the top plate, so we can fix a wall.  Toby supervising.

Jackie, Maria, and Delilah framing on Robert and Maria's house.

Pat adding a top plate in John and my house.

Jackie, Evelyn, Maria, Delilah,and Robert framing.


Me cutting 6" cripples for above the doors.

Brandon, Paul, and Steve adding the header above the garage.

Carlos, Andres, Jeffery, and Michael pluming and lining the walls.



Framing Robert and Maria's house.

Jacob and Pat working on fixing a wall on Debbie's house.


Us raising a wall in Robert and Maria's house.
 Wall raising time.  Debbie's house YEAH!!!!  Monday after the framing competion Debbie's house was a pile of walls.  Facio did a great job of reassuring Debbie that he would take care of any mistakes and get her walls up.  Thanks Facio.

























 Garage Header going up on Brandon and Patricia's house. 

Facio helping with the header.

John and I outside our framed home.  YEAH!!!

 

Debbie, Deena, and I were so blessed to be able to frame up the inside walls of John and my house.  Debbie wrote a little note to each one of my children in their rooms.  I look forward to being able to frame in Debbie's house next weekend.

What a beautiful weekend we had, lots of sunshine.  Our neighborhood is looking very different.  It is great to see all the progress we are making each weekend.  With two supervisors out with us, we can get our questions answered quickly.  This has been great for Debbie, Deena, and I, because we only have been framing two weekends.  Toby has been very helpful in teaching us how to frame and giving us tips to make each of our hammer swings more productive.  None of our framing guns are working with the nails we have right now, so we have to hammer in each nail (our swings have to count). 

One of the hardest thing for me is being pulled in directions.  I want to work on the house as much as possible, because I want it done.  My children need me to spend time with them. I need to do housework.  So trying to do all these things take lots of energy.  Psalms and this passage in Isaiah have helped me over the last few months. 

Isaiah 40:28-31
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
29 He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
30 Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Prayer Requests:

1) Health and safety.
2)We will do our jobs well and quickly
3) Wisdom on how to balance our family's needs with the time to work on our house.
 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Work Week 32 and Frame It Up Contest

It was a beautiful weekend.  The weather was perfect. The temperatures were in the 70's.  We started out with our safety meeting then got to work. This weekend we worked on preparing for the framing competition, framing houses, adding nuts and washers to bolts, pluming the walls on the house that were framed, and adding missing posts and top plating.  We have been blessed by many people coming out and helping us each weekend.  This weekend was no different.  
Robin, a volunteer, helping to sweep Debbie's house.
 Hailee, David, Ian, and Jacob working on framing a wall on John and my house.
 Carlos, Andres, Jeffery, and Michael working on pluming the walls.

 Naty and Delilah adding blocks.

 Jackie and Maria working on framing.

 Deena's garage
 Debbie, Deena, Linda, and I joined the team working on framing John and my house.




Luisa, Tony, Leticia, and Robert joined in on framing.

 Our pastor, John Marc, came out to give us a hand this weekend.






 The first wall going up.  YEAH!!!











 Steve and Maria.




 This is where we left it Saturday night.  Sunday morning we put up another wall.





 Luisa, Leticia, Maria, and Jackie worked on framing our front door wall.
 Robert, Jacob, and some volunteers worked on framing our last outside wall.

 Deena, Debbie, and I worked on framing up some inside walls.
 Lupe, Delilah, Patricia, Naty, Evelyn, and Maria worked on getting the boards ready for the competition.




 John, Paul, and Dave worked on the bolts.
 Maria working on her house.
 Our bathroom wall going up.



 Bedroom wall going up.



 Our house with three outside walls up.
 Dave and Andres

 Patricia and Lupe's Uncle cutting boards.
 Linda, Deena, and I working on framing a wall.
 Raising the wall we framed.
Robert, Deena. Linda, and I 
 Deena, Debbie, and I
 John and Paul

 Front wall going up.






 Leticia, Maria, and Jackie working on the dining room wall.
 Dining room wall going up.
 Our son's room framed.

 All the outside walls up.
 Deena and I laying the boards out for the next wall.

As I was looking at all the pictures from this weekend.  I loved all pictures where we come together to raise the walls. My favorite thing that I did this weekend was work with my friends to frame the walls of my youngest son's room.  This was our first opportunity to frame.  It was a lot of fun.  I can't wait to get back to framing my daughter's room and finish my oldest son's room.

FRAMING COMPETITION

On Monday, we had a framing competition.  Five companies agreed to sponsor 5 homes to be framed.  The five homes chosen where lot 17 Robert and Maria's, Lot 16 Debbie's, Lot 15 Carlos and Jackie's, Lot 14 Leticia, and Lot 13 Andres and Luisa's.  Each house had one supervisor and a team of 12 volunteers. They were given 3 hours to see how much of a house they could build.  Teams had people of varying framing experience from none to be a contractor or framing crew. Each house was assigned a different color and all team members got a t-shirt in that color.

Here is how it looked in the morning.



 Lot 17 Robert and Maria Blue Team

 Lot 13 Andres and Luisa. Gray Team.

Lot 15 Carlos and Jackie. Green team

Lot 14 Leticia.  Brown Team

Lot 16 Debbie. Black team


 Registration table:  breakfast/snack was served and you checked in to get your t-shirts.

 Leticia bring boards to her house.  








































 First wall that went up was on Leticia's house.



 Debbie's 1st wall going up.






















 Lot 17 garage walls going up.



 Lot 13 walls going up.


 Lot 15 walls going up.


















 Lot 15 was the winning team.  They were able to frame the whole house in 3 hours.

 This is how the street looks today.
The competition was a lot of fun.  It was great to see all the people who volunteered to help us.  Some people came by just to watch.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support us and help us build our homes.

Prayer Request

1) Our continued safety and health. The flu is going around in our area.  A few people in our group have gotten it.
2) That people will continue to help us, so we can get our houses finished quickly.
3) We continue to learn our new tasks and complete them quickly and accurately.

Psalm 19

The Works and the Word of God.


19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer