Work Week 51

One word describes this weekend HOT! It was between 105-112 degrees both days.  We got a lot of work done even though it was hot.  We slowed down a lot in the afternoon.  Leticia, Jackie, Evelyn, Delilah, Maria, Naty, and Luisa continued with the blocking for tubs, drywall, and building soffits. Carlos, Andres, Andy, Pat, Steve, Robert, Luis continued their work on the craftsman style front porches.  Alfredo working on attic accesses. John worked on shooting down nails into walls we built and helped to rebuild walls. Patricia, Lupe, Jacob, Deena, Debbie, and I worked on adding bracing to the trusses.  Brandon and Paul continued working on building the stands for the furnaces.  Thank you so much to Tim and John our friends.  They came out on Saturday to help us out.  Tim spent all day with John.  John spent 5 hours helping Pat work on Debbie's front porch.  It was such a blessing to have them come out and support us on such a hot day.  Carrie (John's wife) came out and brought us Popsicle.

Lot 6 with bottom of posts done.

inside lot 6

bracing we added on lot 7 (Deena's garage).

Deena's house

 Deena's house with duct work installed, sprinkler system installed, and electricity.

Lot 8 (Lupe's house)

Lupe's house with plumbing, electrical, duct work, and sprinkler system installed.

Lot`16 Debbie's house

The wall Debbie, Lupe and I fixed.

Debbie's tub blocking in.

Debbie's front porch

My house

Lot 10  electrical and plumbing in

Lot 11 Steve and Maria's house

post started on lot 11

Deena and I working on the bracing for my garage.

Jacob helping put the bracing in on my house.

Lot 6 adding the decorative pieces to the posts.

wood cut for the end of craftsman house.  Thank you Ken for doing them for us.

Lupe's front porch

Evelyn and Naty working on Evelyn' house.

Alfredo building attic access in Leticia's garage (lot 14)

Debbie's house

Debbie's furnace 

 .

Working on lot 6 decorative pieces: Andres and Tony

Toby checking out the work.

It was so hot this weekend that we were only allowed to work in the trusses during the morning hours.  After lunch we worked on blocking for tubs.


At our meeting at the end of Sunday, we discussed that next weekend will be 1 year of us building.  Toby also let us know that he will only be coming out one day each weekend.  We will miss his extra help. Facio and Toby both said we were making great progress.  We are waiting still for a letter from the engineer to start inspections.

Prayer Request:

1) Wisdom for Facio and Toby on assigning tasks and teaching us

2) Strength and endurance: This weekend took a lot out of most of us.

3) The paperwork will come in so we can start inspections.

4) We will pass the inspections.


It is so exciting seeing all the sub contractor's work.  Our houses are making great progress.  We need to keep pushing towards the goal of moving in to our homes.  We have about 6 more months of work. One of the big areas that is going to slow us down is the detail work.  The detail on our front porches is going to take a lot of time.  I tend to get impatient with the pace we are moving at some days.  God is faithful to remind me that it is in His timing not mine that the house 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 as 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

Work Week 50

We had a busy week at the house site.  The plumber, electrician, a/c subcontractors  were out.  We got tubs installed in a few homes and plumbing done (lots 6, 7, 8, 9,10).  Lots 6,7, and 8 was worked on by the electrician.  The duct work was done in lots 6, 7.  

Saturday morning, we started with our safety meeting.  Facio then went over were we are in the building process. We have power in most of the houses now. He told us the doors and windows have been ordered.  They will be out in about two weeks.  Then Toby and Facio assigned jobs.  Debbie, Deena, and I were given the jobs to measure all openings (doors, windows, pantry, linen) to make sure they were the correct width. Then we had to write down okay or how to fix. John, Lupe, and Patricia were to continue working on hot water heater stands.  Paul and Brandon were to continue working on the furnace stands in the attics.  Leticia and Maria were to continue with blocking and soffit building.  Luisa and Jackie were to go behind us and start fixing the openings. Pat, Steve, Robert, Andres, Andy, Tony, and a volunteer were to work on building the boxes around the post on the front porch for the craftsman houses. Alfredo and Michael worked on fixing Lupe's truss. Naty worked on clean up. Carlos and Jacob worked on the utilities. 

Bath tub lot 10

master bath lot 10

Deena's lot 7 with plumbing and wiring in

a/c ducts

Lupe's house (lot 8) with lights and tubs in.

Brandon and Paul building the  platform for the furnace in my house (lot 10)

David cutting green boards.

 Lot 6 getting the boxes build on the posts.

I am adding a board to the front door of lot 6.

Jessenya adding a wall in lot 7.

Jacob and Alfredo adding the fascia board to lot 8.

Robert and Steve building the boxes on lot 8.

 Sunday, we started where we left off on Saturday.

Deena's garage.

Carlos and Andy working on lot 6's boxes.

Boxes at the end of the day.

Lot 8 at end of the day.

After finishing work on Sunday night, we had a quick meeting.  Toby and Facio said we all did good work this week with lots of energy.  We are getting closer to have inspection on the first houses.  We are waiting for paperwork from a few companies.  We then discussed who was coming out this week.

It is very exciting to see all the subcontractor work done and to know that inspection is coming.  I know we have a long way to go, but it is great to see progress.  We were blessed to have friends stop by on Sunday during lunch to see at all the work we have accomplished.   Ian stopped by to visit on his way to work, also.  The hardest thing for me is all the time we are missing with our kids.  We are blessed with many friends who take our kids for the weekend and do fun things with them, but I can't wait to be able to enjoy our new home with the kids.  And invite all of our friends and family over to celebrate this beautiful home that God has given us.



Prayer Requests:

1) Wisdom for Facio and Toby on how to teach and direct us.
2) Health and safety for us and all of our children.
3) Endurance: it has been almost one year since we started and we could have more than 6 months left. John is working 50 hours a week right now plus working on the house on the weekends.  I know he is not the only one putting lots of hours in at work then coming out on the weekend.
4) The subcontractors are available when we need them and they do their work quickly.

This week we were able to go to church for about 40 minutes.  It was wonderful to see everyone and listen to worship music.  We miss being there so much.  I am so thankful for all the prayers and word of encouragement we get from everyone.  God has blessed us.

Psalm 100

A Psalm for Thanksgiving.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
³ Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.