Monday, March 14, 2011

Men At Work

The past week has seen some progress on our house addition.


On Monday we woke to a lovely snowfall. Combined with several inches of rain, our yard was a soggy sponge.


But like our usual March snowfalls, this one was mostly gone by the next day. On Tuesday the whole crew came out. Ed took the day off work, my construction brothers, their employee, plus my farming brother and my dad all came to help lay the block for the foundation.


If you know my family, you know that there was lots of fun in the midst of working.


The men were great at allowing the children to "help". I didn't even try to have school!


This week was rather crazy. Besides keeping up with his normal job, Ed was attempting to help with the house. To top it off, we were having a week of revival services at our church. It was an exhausting week, but a very good one. Our evangelist has a passion for God and we thoroughly enjoyed the services. It is easier for me to show pictures of our building projects than to put into words the work the Lord did in my heart this week. Hopefully, by the grace of God, my heart change will be far more lasting than these walls.

In a crazy coincidence, the minister for our revival services is the same man who taught my brothers much about  construction. One of the advantages of our church's way of calling a minister from amongst the congregation in contrast with a salaried career pastor is the ability to watch your ministers live out their faith and ministry in their every day life and occupation. The fact that my brothers came to hear John preach this week is a testimony to the impact he has had on their lives.


Back to the building project...by the end of the day, the walls were up and ready for inspection.


On Wednesday, the inspection passed and one of my brothers came to help Ed back fill. This was crazy since the rain had turned the clay turned to a slimy soup. Trying to pack this stuff down was nearly impossible. The skid loader was stuck  many times.


I thought they'd never get it done, but they did, despite the fact that it began raining again. I couldn't believe how neat the foundation looked now covered in stone and leveled.


As expected, operating machinery on soft grass is having an effect. The pictures really can't show how bad it looks. Imagine a smeary mud lot and you might be close.

It probably sounds like I'm complaining. But really I'm just stating the facts. I told Ed from the beginning that I'm okay with having a ton of landscape and grass seeding to do when they are finished. After last year's drought, I hope to never ever complain about rain again.

And rain we had. We don't have a rain gauge up but it is no exaggeration to say that we received several more inches on Thursday.

On Saturday, Ed's brother and nephew helped finish a few more block and lay down the insulation. We plan to have radiate heat in a concrete slab floor, so they placed some of the tubing.

Next up- pouring the concrete floor. Hope the concrete truck doesn't get stuck!

9 comments :

  1. Wow, they have made huge progress! I can't remember if you mentioned it or not but what will this addition be? I love remodeling/building. I know there is a lot of mess and work that comes with it but it is so neat to watch the transformation! We plan on doing some of our own projects inside this year. I am getting excited!

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  2. Gina,

    The room addition will be great, and looks as though everyone is pulling together! This is what it is all about, and the church services sound as though were meant to be at the right timing!
    Speaking of no school, I am sure the little ones learned a great deal all week long!

    Blessings,
    Debbie S.

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  3. You will love that in-floor heat! We have it in our garage and basement floors.

    Looks like they've made good progress in spite of the weather =) Sounds like a very full but blessed week!

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  4. Stephanie -
    The addition will be a family room that will be open to our dining room. There is also plans for a mud room - which I'm crazy excited about!
    Gina

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  5. Sounds like exciting things are going on in your home, both with the house and your heart. I'm with you, we really do need to see our minister living what they preach. Far too many don't these days. So glad you had an uplifting revival, praying for that everywhere. God Bless!

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  6. What fun memories you are all making, while demonstrating great things to your children: team work, perserverance in imperfect conditions,building upon a firm foundation, sequencing, work is not a curse, but a joy. Gina, I hate to contradict, but I think you had "school" afterall.

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  7. It's interesting to see how they are building your addition. It looks so different than the below-level poured concrete basements that we all have here. I don't think I've seen any cinderblock foundations before. Keep showing pictures!

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  8. Lol! I think it's funny that I used that same phrasing, "not complaining... just stating facts" a day after you! (I hadn't read your post yet -- promise!)

    I hope I never judge a mom for "complaining" about her crazy day or kids. Because I know how it is! We're just sharing our lives. Lives we chose! Full of blessings.

    Your addition looks great, by the way!

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