"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain..." - Psalms 127:1
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Uss Rv
My sweet wife wrote me an email for Valentine's day. Here it is:
Uss RV Remember back when you and me dreampt of living on the sea? A tiny boat with an ocean surround who would have thought we'de be stuck on the ground?
Oh our backyard RV it ain't nothin' like the sea It's mast is an antennae for our 14 inch TV. It's wheels - they aren't turning in this harbor full of sand And our house still isn't finished (things took longer than we planned)
We thought that we would see the world and though we never left the shore - The view here isn't all that bad from out the RV door.
Outside there is a princess and two brothers in a fight to vanquish each and every weed within our garden site.
Above them is a sunset staining cotton candy skies around them is the sandy earth - an ocean in disguise.
These pictures show the beginning of the framing. This is back at the end of December, so we have done alot more than what you see here.
Since these pictures were taken, we have demolished the kitchen wall that you see here, as well as the wall that you can't see (facing the white truck). We've also demo'ed the bathroom wall, and framed all of that stuff in. I'll post a picture of this in the next day or so.
For a while, we thought that all the demo on the house would give us a lifetime supply of firewood. While that may be true, the mountains of siding and old, rotten wood was taking over our yard for about a month. I'm so glad we've cleared it all away.
Now for yesterday's surprise. The two guys in the first picture are Josh (on the left) and my father-in-law. It's amazing how God works. Yesterday around lunch time I got a call from Josh, asking me if he would disturb the kids' naps if he just showed up and started working. Of course, I am never going to turn down free help, so I sent him over to get after it.
Meanwhile, It turns out that my father-in-law decided to come up this week (somewhat un-announced), so they were both there yesterday and put in most of the plywood for the floor. On top of that, Josh didn't have anything to do for work this morning, so he's helping Gordy out all day today.
I can't wait to get home and see what my laborers have done. It's kinda nice having a construction crew do the dirty work while I sit in a comfortable office.
Although... working outside in this gorgeous weather would beat what I'm doing now any day...
January was a really good month. We cranked out framing for our bathroom and kitchen area in about two days (including demo). We are all set to move forward with more framing replacement, but unfortunately, we couldn't do any more work because of the huge mess we had made! So... it was time to rent another roll-off and get the yard cleaned up.
On Saturday we had a "clean up crew" remove the piles of construction debris that was trashing up our yard. We worked hard for several hot and dusty hours and ended up almost filling the dumpster.
(sorry ladies, but the handsome fella in this picture - the morning host of the local KVEC 920AM - is spoken for. His lovely fiance is coming in from Germany in the next week or so. No, it wasn't mail-order, he's known her for years...)
Zak and Eliot were so helpful. Eliot picked up the nails and Zak got out his wheelbarrow and shovel. It was pretty fun to see them so hard at work. Zak really moved alot of dirt, and Eliot has little hawk-eyes. As soon as a nail hit the sand, he was after it!
As a father, this whole house rebuilding process has been very challenging and rewarding at the same time. I look at my little daughter every night snuggled up in her bassinet on top of the RV dining table and I wish with all my heart that she could be in her own room with little animals and cute pictures on the wall. I long for the day when my boys can harrass each other from their bunk beds (which I still need to build). But then I look at these pictures and see how happy my boys are to help their daddy... and I know that they are getting the chance to help, and have responsibility and be useful, and Iknow that they are thriving under the conditions.
God has really blessed us with alot more help than I could have ever hoped for. It has been such a blessing to get to know the members of our growth group, as well as friends from church. There is nothing like being ministered to by the family of God to remind you how wonderful it is to be a part of it.
Thanks, everyone, for all of your hard work! But... there's still more to do!
The following is a re-post from my "other" blog. My wife didn't have the login information to this one, so I am re-posting here for all the subscribers to see:
Hopefully I'm doing this right. I have decided to take over Phillilp's blog and as his wife, I don't think he will mind. Here is the long awaited update on the house and family situation:
December 20th: our little daughter Eliannah Danielle was born and we brought her home to live with her brothers in the RV.
December 21st - 23rd: Phillip took stock of what he needed to do and set to work re-aquainting himself with our old house and what needed to be taken care of next. December 26- 30: Phillip and my dad left me at my mom's house and "got after it" as he would say. They worked out some problems with the footings, re-leveled the house and made sure the walls were plumb (there was some problem with a bowed out wall when the floor was leveled).
Editor's note: My wife is so cute... This was actually a very trying couple of days. We ended up having to re-do some of our work from before and had to basically re-engineer the whole methodology of replacing the floor and foundation. The house, I am convinced by the way it was built, was never level to begin with. We had to tear out even more than I thought to get this thing to be right... Anyways, after nearly a week of work and almost no visible improvement, I was very discouraged. But, now the foundation was finally right, level and square. Something I didn't think would ever happen.
January 1st-6: I returned home with the boys and tried to keep out of Phillip's way as he and my dad worked on replacing the beams in the floor. By the end of this week not only were the floor beams in place but they had put insulation in the floor!
Lets see ... the details are foggy but since then the kitchen extension has been framed and the one wall of the kitchen was reframed, making it ready for french or sliding doors (a small change but totally worth the extra effort).
Editor's note... I have a picture of this somewhere... I'll post it on the next one...
Forgive me for bragging but I must say I am amazed at how much my husband has learned and accomplished since we bought this house. It is insane how far we have come. I am also blown away by how many of our friends had given up their Saturdays (and other days) to slave away in on our house. God has really blessed us and humbled me personally by surrounding us with all that we need when we need it and showing us his grace when we grow impatient at the progress (or lack there of).
