4th Work Weekend

This past week while we were gone all of the footings were dug. I was driving by on Thursday morning and found them digging out our footings. We have to keep the ground wet to minimize the dust.

Lot 10 (John and Tricia's lot) footings being dug.

It was exciting to arrive Saturday morning and find all the footings dug.   We had our safety meeting on wearing eye protection then we went to work. We were blessed with a lot of volunteers this weekend. We all appreciate all the work that they did. Thank you for coming out this weekend we were able to give 5 hours to most of the families.

Debbie and Lorraine setting the corners for forming the footings.

Jacob setting the rebar for the corners.

holding the footings board.

Digging

Debbie's lot with the footings dug. 

All of these piles of dirt had to be moved 2 feet from the edge of the footings and the footings had to be cleaned out of loose dirt.

Deena's lot with footings dug.

Brandon and Lupe working on lot 15 to determine the level of the footings.

John and Steve pulling the strings of the footings.

Pat and Ryan with the laser level.

Hailee, David, Pat, and Adam cleaning out the footings.

Working hard on Debbie's footings.

Working on lot 17 footings.

More digging.

More digging on Deena's lots.

More rebar was added to lot 6.

More digging on Deena's lot.

The digging continued on Deena's lot.

bending rebar to finish off lot 6's rebar.

Jacob and Tim pounding in rebar for the corners of  Debbie's house.

Discussion of where the next string goes.

Working on the footings for lot 13.

Lot 12 done and waiting for the rebar team.

John and Tricia's lot at the end of the weekend.

Brandon and Patricia lot 9 ready for rebar.

Deena lot 7 waiting for forms.

This was a hard weekend.  One group of people spent all weekend digging out the footings.  Thank you for all your hard work.  It was a hot and humid weekend.   We are starting to get the hang of the footings, but we are looking forward to getting out of the dirt.  We all come home covered with a layer of dirt on us. We are making progress.  It is hard when we start moving fast and then something happens and we slow down to almost a stop. 

 I was reading the Bible this week this verse was encouraging to me.  I can tell there will be times when I will grow tired and weary and I need then to look to the Lord for my strength.

Isaiah 40: 38-31
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 ^[aa]wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will ^[ab] mount up with ^[ac]wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Prayer Requests:

1) That we don't get discouraged. 
2) We all come to the job ready to work hard and everyone performs to the best of their ability.
3)  Strength and energy for everyone.

3rd Work Weekend

   During this past week, water and electricity was turned on at three different lots.  Now we can use the water to keep the dust down and have more footings dug.  Saturday morning we started with our safety meeting on working in hot weather.  Debbie is doing a great job being safety officer.  It was hot this weekend.  God has provided us with some shade trees.  These trees help a lot during our breaks. We were working in smaller groups this weekend.  One group started out Saturday setting the forms on lot 9.

Steve, Paul, and Brandon working on Brandon's house forms.

This corner was a difficult to get level.

Cleaning out the footing on lot 6.

Leticia and her sister digging out the footings for the pillars on the porch.

A group was given the task to clean out footings. The ground is hard, so digging is difficult. Another group was put in charge of cutting the boards for lot 12.  We had to cut them at lot 8 and then walk the boards to the end of street. After we finished cutting the boards we gathered all the other supplies to pull the string on lot 12.

We then started to pull the strings on lot 12.

Pat and Debbie measuring.

Pat and Deena measuring the diagonal for lot 12.  It took awhile, but we finally got the diagonal right.  We then pulled the rest of the strings on this lot.  Then a group came over and dug out the footings.  We used the water to get the ground wet and soak, so it would be easier to dig.

Another group was on lot 6 adding the rebar to the footings.

Jacob and Robert working on the rebar.



Carlos and a volunteer working on the rebar.

Deena, Tricia, Linda, Debbie holding up one of the last footing boards on lot 9.  Dave and John getting ready to nail in the board.

We continued doing the work on Sunday.  One group setting rebar, one digging out the footing on lot 12, and other group setting the forms on lot 9.

lot 9 at the end of Sunday.

Lot 6 at the end of Sunday.  They ran out of rebar.

Lot 12 at the end of Sunday.  By the end of Sunday, we were able to set forms at two different lots at the same time. 

We also added the chalk line for the sewer line.

We are so blessed by God. He is giving us homes beyond what I could ever dreamed of buying. God has given us wonder family and friends that watch our kids and take them to do fun things while we are working.  He has given us a good group of people to work with. We have fun during these hot and hard days.  It is fun to watch the people drive down the street to see what we are doing.  Some do stop to ask us questions or to get a closer look at what we are doing. We are so thankful to all the people that came out this weekend to help us. We always need help, so if you want to spend all day or a few hours with us we would love to have you. Just let us know.

  At the end of each day we are exhausted, dirty, and sore. However, we  look forward to next weekend.  We can't wait to see what is done this week while we are gone.


Pray Requests:

1) Energy and strength for everyone.  Most people work during the week and do this on the weekend.
2) That we learn how to do the tasks given to us.  Most of us have little knowledge going into do this adventure.  We are having to learn how to read blueprints, dig footings, set forms, use a saw, and do rebar. (and that is only in two weeks)
3) We continue to get along as a group and work well  and hard together.

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.

2nd Work Weekend

We arrived Saturday morning to find that three properties footings had been dug for us to work on.  We started out the morning by having our safety meeting on how to safely excavate.  Our first tasks was to clean up the loose dirt in the footings and move all the piles of dirt back 2 feet from the edge.  This was hard, because every time you bumped the edge of the footings more dirt fell. 

Lot 9 Saturday morning start.

Lot 6 Saturday morning start.

The supplies arrived.

    

Leticia digging.

Deena's parents came out to help Saturday and Sunday.

more digging.

Debbie had volunteers come out Saturday morning to help dig.

More digging.

Debbie and Jacob digging out footings.

More digging.

Debbie's house chalked out.

Finally, we finished the digging and moved on to setting forms. It was so hot be this time, two of the ladies went off and bought water and Popsicles for us to eat. This was a nice treat for our last break of the day. By the end of Saturday all 12 lots had there house chalked out, footings on 3 houses cleaned up, and forms going up on the first house.  We were coated with a mixer of sunscreen and dirt by the end of Saturday.

setting the first form.

At the end of Saturday.

Sunday, we started out by setting forms. We had to pull strings across the house to determine where the board should go. After the boards where up, we saw how much more digging we had to do. We needed 12 inches from the board to make up our footings. Some were right on and some required us to hand dig out alot (5 to 6 inches wide and 12 inches deep). Praise God that it was cooler on Sunday and we had an nice breezy. It made working easier.

First day we all had to wear our tool belts.

John looking at the forms.

Holding up the board to set the form.  It was super heavy.
We hold the board up as they figure out were the board should be on the stakes.

Forms set on 1st lot.

We pulled strings to help us set the forms.

Brandon helping set the floor level on his house

Deena and Michael looking at what we accomplished this week.

Us asking a question.

Lot 9 at the end of the weekend.

Thank you to the volunteers that came out on Saturday and Sunday to help us.  We so appreciate the help.

Prayer requests for this week:

1) Some of our neighbors are not happy that we are building houses here.  They have voiced this to some of us.  They feel like we are getting a  free house and we will bring down the property values.  Please pray for their hearts and ours.  Help us to show that we will be good neighbors and answer all their questions.

2) That as a team, we all will work together and get a lot done each week. 

3) We would all get along and we will have grace for each other.

4) Strength and energy for the people that have to work 40 hours during the week and then come out and work the weekends.

5) We would glorify God.  

Philippians 4:8-9

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.