Dig Wells in Dry Season

Village wisdom says that if you dig and hit water in dry season, your well will never run dry. Well, today almost got the best of me and I nearly missed the best chance to dig a well for the water of gratefulness. Let it not be so!

I am so grateful that...

•  I have recent memory of better days than this
• We have ample transportation for our many transitions
• During months of stress and duress, we have been nothing but healthy (excepting our diet at times ;)
• We have a three-year-old daughter who, after expressing her sadness about moving so much, kicks up her heels, inviting us along!
• I know a lot of wholesome people
• I am related to a lot of people with real Hope
• I am married to a man who has friends
• I speak the same language as the people who can help me
• Though I may feel so, I am not alone
• I have been loved well
• I can love!
• Seasons come and go
• The sun came up
• I can hear birds
• I can sleep unafraid at night
• And though it can seem like an endless, nebulous process...there is a house being built somewhere, that we hope to live in sometime, and call it our own, and share with others...and there is much beauty surrounding it

And now the day is done... but let this be an artesian well!

After the deer helped themselves to my memorial zinnia sprouts at the land, the other day I found two blooming stalks, smiling in September, in the face of the craziness. A surprise and total gift.

Nobody Knows...

Nobody knows...What it takes to move and set-up and level heavy metal scaffolding time after time- inside, up to 2nd floor, outside, other side, etc etc.

 After windows and doors, the siding began. The color is "Ocean". I love it!

 Nobody knows...how it took a day and a team of 4-5 men to put in and plumb those huge vertical deck beams.

View of South side, looking westerly, down towards the lane on the other side of the house

 Nobody knows...what it took to attach 'ladders' to the roof- wooden extensions for the overhang. PD and Papa M pulled these stunts together in the heat of August.

Stay tuned- I will post a revised picture when I get a copy. this photo makes it look semi-safe...

Nobody knows...what it took to put in this sheet of metal siding. It is, hands down, the biggest 'pain in the butt' section of the whole house, according to the contractor. And it was seamlessly done.

Here is expert work + gritty determination again by JY

Snapshots of Progress I

Here is a patchy catch-up from the past 2 months...

Please come in!

North side of house

And the South Side

Toothless, but grinning!

 We have JY and PY to thank for pro-installation of these doors and windows. It may look like they just fit perfectly...but it was no small feat to wrestle them in and have them framed and swinging perfectly. Hats off to J&PY!

Joists

Some might describe this project as...unique, extremely solid, unconventional, some have called it 'industrial...certainly engaging with lots of flavor. Needless to say, everyone is learning a lot on this project.

The joists represent the project poignantly.

Here are the joists, in green lumber.

 JL is sanding. That's all the treatment/finishing this wood beam will get.

We put the first one in by hand, since it was not as heavy as the rest. Hoisted up onto scaffolding, then lifted up and 'hung' between the cement wall and the one huge truss running through the middle of the 2nd floor.

 

These are hefty chunks of wood.

Then the remaining joists were put in place using the telehandler, in through the open roof. 

Notice the metal hangers holding joists on the right

 

And then a floor was placed on top of the joists.

The team finished the floor despite a downpour

Gotta get that roof on! (water dripping down through floor boards)

The floor is made of 2"x12" boards laid side-by-side. Each board was given a deep groove along its length. A strip of metal inserted in the grooves adjoins and aligns the boards.

Blessings, Again

With six years together in marriage and a roof over our heads, we are overwhelmingly wealthy.

To start off this 7th year,  we had the blessing of a reunion:

On our anniversary 2016, TK and SG prayed over us again...

Just as they did in our ceremony 2010,

 But with new words of truth and calling.

I suppose if we spent the next six years giving thanks, we might get caught up. 

Precious People

People are so precious. 

Our house is being built full of precious gems.

Hah- I never thought of this: could this be how tenderly God feels about us living stones being built into a spiritual house?

Blogger's Note:  

The photos you see here are only a few recent moments, recorded on 'film'. 

Lots of precious people in this process are not on camera.

Under Roof

Last night, we rang the bell!

Mom S gave us a 'doorbell' for our house. We ring it as we make milestones along the way...

Grubby, happy, and beyond bushed, Papa M and PD rolled in by 9:30pm last night and reported that the house is now under roof.

Ding Ding! That is a milestone to be celebrated. For the first time, work can continue in the rain!

Yeah, it's a steep one.

Stainless steel sheets still have to be processed by a company and screwed on top to finish the roof, but the structure and insulation is there. 

We used double steel-framed panels of foam by Thermasteel.

East side roof almost up

Looking west off the rooftop

 That's Mark with his head sticking out the chimney hole after a huge day.

We have PD, CM, JDC, GL and JL and JK to thank (an understatement) for the hard work, teamwork, and timely progress over this past week.
The best way we know to thank people is to feed them and have a good time together!