Our Strong Tower: Week 35

Monday, March 11, 2013

Week 35

Saturday morning started out cold. After our meeting, Facio broke us up into groups. The Framing group: Leticia, Luisa, Maria, Delilah, Evelyn, Andy, Patricia, Alfredo, Naty, Robert, Lupe, Jackie, Maria, Michael, Jacob, David, and Jessenya. Toby would be supervising them. Sheer wall was Debbie, Deena, and me. Facio would be supervising us. Front porches was John, Steve, Brandon, Paul, and Pat. Facio was supervising them. We were blessed with many volunteers, some new volunteers and some regularly volunteers. Each volunteer has blessed us with their time and helped us progress in our quest to build our homes. Thank you so much for helping us.

Us eating our lunches.

Bill (a volunteer) came out to help with sheer wall.

Pat and Paul working on Deena's front porch.

John and Ken (a volunteer) working on Deena's front porch.

Steve, Brandon, and Facio working on Lupe's front porch.

Debbie, Deena, and I working on Lupe's sheer wall.

Jessenya framing on Robert and Maria's house.

Michael

Dave

Jackie

Delilah, Maria, and volunteer

Framing on Leticia's house.

Sheer wall going up on Brandon and Patricia's house. More volunteers.

Deena and I working on sheer wall.

Our front porch.

Lupe's house

Leticia's house

Leticia's garage

Carlos, Jeffery, and Andres working on Debbie's house.

Andres

Evelyn's porch started.

Steve and Maria's house framing started and porch done.

Jacob and David.

We made progress in a lot of areas this weekend. We are framing our last house. We are getting closer to getting our roofs on. YEAH! We were blessed with a lot of volunteers skilled and unskilled this week. I did not even get to see everyone that came out, because I was so focused on getting the sheer wall up.

Life continues to be busy. We were blessed this weekend by two friends that watched my children and made us dinner. One friend made dinner for Debbie and Deena also. It is so great not to have to come home and cook. The hardest part in building our house is balancing everything. So it is wonderful when someone helps build the house or cooks for us.

In my Bible reading this year, I have been drawn to read Psalms. Psalms 63 really got me thinking about the peace and joy and where it comes from. God is so good to remind me constantly where I need to find this peace and joy I desire. After working all weekend, Sunday night we spent time with our church small group discussing the sermon, which was about have peace through clinging to the LORD. When I am earnestly seeking the Lord everything is so much easier to balance.

Psalms 63

The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.

63 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
²Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
³Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
⁴So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
⁵My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

⁶When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
⁷For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
⁸My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.

Prayer Requests:

1) skilled and unskilled volunteer will continue to come out and help us.

2) wisdom on how to balance the demands on our time

3)wisdom for Facio and Toby on how best to teach us.

4) safety. There are many ways to get hurt each weekend.

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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.