Our Strong Tower: Work Week 33

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

²⁸Do 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.

²⁹He gives strength to the weary,

And to him who lacks might He increases power.

³⁰Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

³¹Yet 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.

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Home Ownership Program

We are doing a program through a organization that has been building homes in our area for 40 years. The program is designed to help lower income families buy homes. There will be a total of 24 homes built. The homes are divided into two groups. We are in the first group of twelve families. We work together to build all twelve families' homes. By the end of the process we will know our new neighbors very well. We are required to work 40 hours a week, split between two people. We do most of our work on the weekends. There is a contractor working with us to teach us how to build a home. We can not move in until all twelve homes are complete. It usually take one year to build twelve homes. We don't do plumbing, electrical, drywall, or stucco. We are the labor. The labor is our down payment down, sweat equity.

Deena and the Boys

Hi, I am Deena. I have four awesome young men (21, 19, 17, and 12). We have always wanted a home of our own. The place we are in was supposed to be temporary housing sixteen years ago. Now God is giving us a new adventure. We are going to build our own home and eleven others with our new neighbors. And God blesses us with neighbors who we already know! Jacob is my co-builder and my two teenagers will be helping as much as they can. God is always providing
for me when I least expect it. He is so amazing.

Where did this journey start?

For me, Tricia, this journey began with me wanting to own a home and God using this desire to grow my faith and dependence on Him. I have been trying to buy a home for 6 years with my husband, John. We tried many times to buy a home, but God always said no. A year ago, we finally decided to stop our search and learn to be content where God has us. God had different plans for us. In August, we applied for a self-help housing project. In October, we were accepted. I then told our neighbor (for 7 years) and friend Debbie. She applied and was accepted. In January, I told Deena a friend from church. She applied and was accepted. These homes are such a blessing. We sit in awe of what God has given us. We are excited to get started on the homes. God is our strong tower. He will give us the strength to build these homes.