Work Week 49

This was a very busy week for our family.  Our oldest son graduated from high school. So I spent most of my time preparing for his graduation.

 John and I did manage to go out one evening to work for a few hours to nail off shear on lot 11 and check the nail off on lot 12.

Saturday, was a cool day.  We all continued working where we left off except for the crew that was working on blocking they went back to lot 6 to complete some work.


 John adding blocking in our shower/tub area.

 David and Jacob filling in the trench on lot 7.

 Jackie, Maria, Naty, Luisa, Leticia, and Jackie's sister working on lot 6.

Robert, Paul, Brandon, Lupe, and Patricia working on lot 8 (Lupe's house).

 Debbie adding a 3X3 post in her house.

 The framers worked on Saturday adding shear and blocking on lots 7, 9, and 10.

This is my house.

The electrician was out on Saturday and worked on lot 6.

 Debbie, Deena, Linda, and I nailing off the shear on lot 13.

Sunday was a lot warm.  We all continued with what we were working on.  Our friends, John and Carrie, came out to bring ice bars to the fathers for Father's Day.  We had enough to share with the fathers in group 2.

Debbie and I did were not able to get as many photos as we have in the past, because we are at the opposite end as everyone else.

Prayer Requests:

1) The sub contractor we hire come out and complete their work quickly.  We are currently waiting for the framers we hired to do our trusses to finish their work, so we can get inspection and start roofing the house. The plumber, electrician, a/c guy all have work to be done before we get our framing inspection.

2) Wisdom for Facio and Toby on how to get the work done quickly. We need to pick up the pace, so we can get in our homes sooner.  Right now we are being told anywhere from January of 2014 until a year from now is our completion date.

3) Volunteers will come forward to help us with roofing, siding, painting, installing flooring, and landscaping. We need more people to help us get in our homes quicker.


A common conversation at when working on the house is how much longer we will it take for us to complete the homes.  This is a conversation I have had many times.  Some days I feel like how can we do this for 6 more months or even a year.  I know that God will provide for us and sustain us through this house building process.

Psalm 40

God Sustains His Servant.

40 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.

⁴ How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

⁶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You know.
¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
¹² For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
Make haste, O Lord, to help me.
¹⁴ Let those be ashamed and humiliated together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
¹⁶ Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
¹⁷ Since I am afflicted and needy,
Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.

Work Week 48

Saturday we started at 8 am with our morning meeting.  We were joined by Phil (our supervisor's supervisor).  We started with our safety meeting.  Then Phil talked to us about our progress and speed we are currently working at.  He stated that we would be luck to have the homes done by April of next year. We are not making enough progress each week.  We need to work more hours each week. Each family needs to put more hours in each week or bring more helpers out.  Facio then showed us where we are on the schedule and how much more we need to complete.  We then discussed ways we could speed up.  After the meeting we started working on our different jobs.  John, Steve, David, Carlos, and Jacob worked on getting the pipes in for our utilities.  Ken (Debbie's volunteer), Pat, Alfredo, Michael, and  Robert worked on the fascia board on Alfredo and Naty's house (lot 6).  Brandon and Paul worked on being clips on Lupe's house (lot 8).  Patricia and Lupe worked on fascia board on Lupe's house (lot 8). Jackie, Maria, Leticia, Evelyn, and Delilah worked on blocking and bracing    starting on lot 8 and working down the street. Debbie, Deena, and I worked on shear wall nail off starting on lot 8 and working down the street.  Naty and Luisa worked on painting the starter board. Deena's parents (Dave and Linda) and her brother (Steve) came out to help during the day. 

During the week, the plumber came out and added plumbing to some of the homes.  The electrician came out and added the electrical panels to all the homes.   The sub contractors are starting to work. YEAH!!!  Facio bent the utility pipes that kept Debbie, Deena, and I from putting the final shear piece on my house. Also, on Saturday the framers finished putting the final sheeting on the roofs.

 

David and Jacob filling in the utility hole on our home (lot 10)

Carlos

Paul and Brandon adding clips

Utility pipes

Lupe, Patricia, and Delilah 

Alfredo

Robert, Pat, Ken, Michael

Evelyn

Jackie and Maria

Lupe's house

 Sunday we started at 8 am.  The men started with filling in the trenches

Deena and Steve working on Steve and Maria's house (lot 11).

Leticia's family came out to help Sunday (her sister, daughter, brother-n-law)

 Debbie and I had to add more shear board in Steve and Maria's garage.  We called Toby over to ask him a question and he noticed that one of the walls was not plumb.  So he told us how to check  to see if it was plumb and how to plumb up the wall.

I am nailing in a channel we had to move.

Dave

Maria

Lupe's house busing with work

Toby helping with the fascia board

John working on our home (lot 10)

To sum up the weekend,  it was okay. We made some progress, but we have a long way to go.   It was hot on Saturday and a lot cooler on Sunday. The cooler weather made working easier.  Sheryl (Vice President) came out to talk to us and see our progress. She walked around to all the different houses to be able to talk to everyone. We discussed that our next Home Owner Association meeting is coming up this month and our upcoming property taxes.

Hopefully, everyone will think about what was said during the meeting and start looking for people that will come out and help us.  If you live locally and want to help, we would love to have your help.  If you want to help, we need you to volunteer for a minimum of 4 hours.  This way we have time to teach you and have you do the task given. 

Thank you to everyone that came out and helped this weekend.


Prayer Requests:

1) Volunteers
2) Weather
3) Wisdom for Facio and Toby on instruction and giving out jobs.
4)  Health and Safety

It was hard to hear that we might not even get done by April.  Many thoughts run through my head when I think of working until April and beyond. I am blessed by many friends that can watch our children, but that is a lot longer than they agreed to help us out.  Will they need to stop?  How are we going to physically keep doing this hard work?  Is there anyone I know that can help us get done faster? Deep breath.   My mind is flooded by Bible verses and I have peace. I am so thankful for God's sovereignty over this project.

Philippians 4:4-8

 

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.
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.

Philippians 4:13

 

¹³ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:19

 

¹⁹ And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Work Week 47

Saturday morning we started with our meeting.  We went over working in the heat.  This was very appropriate because it was hot. Facio then went on to tell us he has scheduled the plumber, a/c, and electrician to start to come out and work on our homes.  He wants to get two homes inspected this week and hopefully two more by the end of the week.  He then broke us up into groups to get the work done.  Pat, Andres, Robert, and Alfredo went to work on the starter board and fascia boards on lot 6 (Alfredo and Naty's house). John,  Steve, Brandon, Paul, Jacob, David, Carlos, and Andy worked on getting the pipes in so our cable and power can be pulled to our house.  Jackie, Evelyn, Delilah, Maria, Leticia, and Jackie's sister worked on Deena's house (lot 7).  They worked on blocking and finish framing. Naty and Luisa worked on painting lot 17 front porch ( Robert and Maria).  Patricia, Debbie, Deena, Lupe, Michael, and I worked on putting the shear boards on Lupe's house (lot 8).  Dave, Linda, Maria, and Wendy came out and helped for a few hours.

Robert and Maria's house (lot 17)

View from Lupe's roof.



view from Lupe's house

 Lupe had a friend come out that does remodeling. So Debbie and I moved on to checking the shear nail off.  Deena went home sick. 

Delilah and Evelyn cutting green board.

John cleaning out around a pipe that got broke when the trench was dug on our lot (lot 10)

Debbie's house (lot 16).

Jackie and Carlos house (lot 15)

Debbie's  house. (lot 16)

Robert and Maria's house

Jackie and Carlos house.

 Sunday Facio had us focusing on lot 6 and 7.  We worked on getting the house ready for inspection.  Toby helped the guys with the starter board and fascia board on lot 6. Lupe and Patricia worked on finishing Lupe's house sheeting the trusses and doing the fascia board.  Facio and Toby both helped them.  Most of us worked on getting 6 and 7 ready for inspection.  Delilah, Maria, Naty and Luisa worked on cleaning up lots 16 and 17.

The pipe John fixed in front of our house

another view of the pipe.

 It is so motivating to see our house with trusses on and to hear the sub contractors are coming out to start their work.  The end is feeling closer. YEAH!  I have had a such a peace this week about when the house will be done. Praise God!  I know it will be in his timing and it will be a great day.

Before we left on Sunday night, Facio told us we will try to have inspection Thursday and if you come out to continue to work on getting the shear ready for inspection.  The next big item for us to accomplish is roofing the 12 homes.

Thank you to everyone that came out to help us this weekend.

Prayer Request:

1) we pass inspection for the shear
2) the plumbers and other subs come out and work quickly
3) Wisdom for Facio and Toby on work and teaching us.
4) Cool weather
5) The harmony in the group continues. 

After work on Sunday, we were able to go to our church for our annual church business meeting. It was such a blessing to see our church family.  Not going to church has been one of the hardest things for us.  It is great to hear them tell us that they have driven by our house, they are following this blog,  how beautiful it is, and that they are praying for us. It is such a  blessing to be able to share all the God has being doing in our lives, what an incredible gift He has given us with this house and how He has answered our prayers.

Psalms 127 

Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;

Philippians 4:4-19

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.
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.

God’s Provisions

¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. ¹² I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. ¹³ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.
¹⁵ You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; ¹⁶ for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. ¹⁸ But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.