Work Week 26

This was a busy week for John and me.  The kids took a little vacation with their Grandma and Aunt, so we were able to put more hours in on the house.  Debbie, Deena, Lupe, I worked on New Years Eve chalking  out the walls on lot 9, so it could be plated.  On New Years day John, Debbie, Deena, and I worked on chalking out the walls on lot 13.  John and I came out Thursday to finish up chalking out the inside walls on lot 13.  Friday we came out too.  John worked on plating the house, while I worked with both Delilah and Maria on marking out windows, studs, and posts.  Alfredo, Jackie, and Evelyn were out on Friday working on moving lumber and moving dirt. 

We had high hopes for this weekend.  We wanted to get four house ready for slab.  We started with our Saturday meeting. Facio told us about the upcoming framing competition between four supervisors.  They each will take one home and see how much they can frame in a period of time.  We were excited to hear about the competition.  We discussed the HOA meeting this Wednesday.  Our safety meeting was working in cold weather.  Then all of us worked on getting the slabs ready on lots 7, 8, 10, and 11.  We got almost 1 lot completed with rebar.  1 lot need to have the sand finished. As the day came to the end we could see the rain clouds coming in.

We started on lot 11 (Steve and Maria's house).

 It was a very cold morning.  We are all wearing layers of clothes.  The digging got all of us warmed up.

 We then moved to lot 10 (John and my lot).

 We started to move down to lot 8 (Lupe's lot), but Facio got back with the machines for compacting the dirt and sand.

Brandon and Steve compacting the dirt on John and my lot.

 Debbie and Lupe cutting the rebar for all four houses.  We got a system down.  Lupe and Debbie cut the rebar.  Deena, Patricia, David, Jacob, and myself would take the cut rebar to the correct house.  We were able to get all the rebar by each house.

 Moving sand into lot 11.

 Dave and Linda removing the boards and nuts from the bolts.

 Lot 11 with most of the sand compacted down.

 Moving sand into lot 10.

Tony and Brandon compacting the dirt in lot 10's garage.

 Placing the rebar in lot 11.  We are making a grid with the rebar.

Sunday morning we woke to rain coming down.  By noon we were told we would not be working.  It was too wet.  Another weekend where the rain has stopped us from working. These days are tough, because we just can't seem to get ahead.  It can be frustrating.  I know God is in control and in His perfect timing our houses will be completed.

Psalm 33

Praise to the Creator and Preserver.

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
² Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
³ Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
⁴ For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
⁵ He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

⁶ By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together s a heap;
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
⁹ For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
¹⁰ The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men;
¹⁴ From His dwelling place He looks out
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵ He who fashions the hearts of them all,
He who understands all their works.
¹⁶ The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
¹⁹ To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
²¹ For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
²² Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.

Prayer Requests:

1) We are having our first HOAmeeting Wed. Jan. 9th.  We will be electing our 1st Board of Directors. Please pray for wisdom on who should run and who we should vote in to office.

2) We will make some great progress on the houses.

3) We would learn how to frame a house and do it accurately with speed.

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.