Weekend Update with Tami Lee (Not Tina Faye)

What a great weekend to get away to the mountains, experiencing Authentic Friendship and hearing from the Lord. This was our caravan on the way up, about an hour west of Stanley... TammiFritz, RobinCook, KathyRowe, CherylMitchell, JudyDeGeorgio, BarbDeMoneySmith, and me. Am I REALLY that much taller than everyone else?!

On the drive home, my car stopped at the Kirkham hot springs near Lowman. TammiFritz and I braved the sharp rocks barfeooted to splash in the natural shower. What a fun roadside diversion!

And I came home a beautiful family and a new mudroom foundation in the front yard!

(I miss you Mercia - hope your having the time of your life with Grams & Poppy!

Foundation for Mudroom Poured

The foundation for the mudroom was poured today. Sorry no photos - Tami took the camera to the Women's Advance in Chalis this weekend. But since I took the day off to be home with Ellie, we got to watch out the front door as the guys worked. It was a beautiful day.

By the time they left, the concrete was setting up nice so while Ellie slept, I got to go out and carve some stuff in the top of the foundation wall. "The Lord Knows Who are His" and "Let Everyone Who Names the Name of the Lord Abstain from Wickedness." This is from 2 Timothy 2 where Paul writes "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of the Lord stands with this inscription..."

This reminds me of the time here in 1999 when they were putting in the LDS stake house in our neighborhood. Our church took wooden stakes and wrote scriptures on them and pounded them into the ground at the four corners of the building where we knew concrete would cover. These scriptures were refutations of LDS heretical doctrine. We also walked through their baptismal praying that God would deliver all those who were dedicated to that false doctrine.

Although these gestures may seem purely symbolic or even ridiculous to some, they stand on the faith of those who do them. For example, Dick Eastman, president of Every Home for Christ, early in 1988 felt led by God to take a team of intercessors throughout Eastern Europe. Their mission was to confront the strongholds of Communism. In obedience to God's leading, they carried out a prayer walk around the Politbureau building in Bucharest, Rumania where less than two years later, Ceaucescu made his last stand after pridefully announcing his regime would last for a thousand years. He and his wife were shot on Christmas day 1989 after 25 years of oppressive rule.

While in Berlin, God led Dick Eastman to go out with a German friend in the middle of the night to face that still forbidding wall. Moved in intercessory prayer, they both laid their hands on the wall and prayed, "In the name of Jesus, come down!" The wall was opened November, 1989.

May the foundation of the Lord stand firm in my family's life and all those who touch it!

Steve

Wow, these guys work FAST!

Wednesday, a crane loaded a steel beam to the roof top (I just missed it with my camera, but here is the crane at least!). You can see the beam set back on top of the exposed garage roof.

Thursday, the floor joists are finished and insulation is almost done (see photos from the top view). Our framer works such long hours, I asked if he sleeps in his truck in our driveway. ;-)

Foundation forms are built and ready to go. Friday, the foundation should be poured.

It's been beautiful weather, though we prayed for rain - the concrete crew could work on our job in the rain, but not the other jobs for this week. Oh well, things seem to be moving along at a great pace!

Tuesday April 24th THE ROOF COMES OFF!

This morning the plumbers came to move one of our water pipes outdoors. They now knock on the garage door, since the front door has no porch. I met them in my PJ's and moved my car, then tried to keep it quiet for Eliana - who had been up all night and was now asleep in my bed. Don't use the toilet for about 30 minutes. Oh, and one more thing... they need access to the crawl space. In my bedroom closet! Well, just try to be quiet and I'll clear a path. All went well, and now I know to shower first thing in the morning if I want to do it on my schedule.

An hour later their was a noise on the roof. 8 tiny reindeer? No, it was a large saw. Chunks of plywood and shingles start falling into a trailer. Already, the roof is coming off! Did I mention the garage is ALMOST but not quite cleared out yet? Well, I'll be finishing that tonight for sure.

Mercia left with Grams & Poppy today, and will be back in 2 weeks for Eliana's first birthday. I thought I'd be flexible during the day, with only 1 kid in tow. But here a sit working on this blog while Elie finally takes a nap amidst the commotion. I realize I'm going to be working hard to keep this place organized, the laundry done (and not blocking the only front entry to the house), and be flexible to every other duty that comes along.

Monday April 23rd - TODAY it begins!

After 2 years of dreaming and 5 months of design and details, construction began with a big digger in our front yard. My parents and I watched from inside the house, as big machines meticulously picked apart our walkway like it had been built with graham crackers. Inches from our glass door that machine came - we pulled crawling baby Elie back from the door. Mercia watched for 20 minutes, then decided PBS was more interesting. I wished Carter & Aliya had stayed home from school!

So many people contributing to this day: Contractor, Superintendant, Dig Guy, Dump Truck Operator, etc, etc. All there with a smile and anticipation of an exciting end result. As several of them gathered on the driveway to watch the digging (do we pay them all by the hour?!), some remarked how "So far this is too easy!" Could it be the favor of God? Could it all go this smoothly?

By 1pm, the old garden area was now a hole deeper than Mercia is tall. And then everyone was gone. My kids came home delighted with the port-a-potty in the driveway. Neighbor kids came to look a the "big hole" and then got shooed home - that big dirt pile is no place to play! I'll be singing that song all summer long.

So Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I turned 35, and my parents drove 500 miles to be here. Today they witnessed the ground breaking of our new addition. And the icing on the cake... Eliana took her first steps tonight. And soon she'll have more room to run! 922 square feet more, to be exact.