Starting the Inside Construction

After saving for many months for building materials,

my husband was so excited to head to Menard's to buy a trailer full of wood and materials to get the inside construction of the building started.

 

 

Unloading

 

 

Measuring and marking

 

Cutting to size

 

The very first nail being pounded in for the inside of the building!

 

 

The first wall frame ready to be set up!

So exciting to see progress be made to the inside of the building!

Our First Snowy Day

This morning we woke up to a beautiful snowy world. 

 

 

It snowed for several hours before the sun came out and melted most of the snow.  Now we instead of beautiful white, everything is very muddy!

 

Tomorrow we are having Senior Appreciation Sunday so I stayed busy today getting everything setup in the kitchen, getting some cooking done and I also wrapped rose corsages and boutonnieres.

 

 

Warning to self, check the temperature of the fridge before leaving roses in there for several days.  I found the roses totally frozen, thus why they look a little haggard.  Praying they hold up tomorrow!

 

Since the sun came out the men decided to try to get a few things done.  There will be a ramp to the new building and they worked on taking out the sidewalk while they have a heavy duty forklift at their disposal.

 

After they took the huge cement pieces out Bruce, lifted them

way up in the sky and then dropped them!

 



 

When the cement landed it shattered into many pieces making removal much, much easier.

 

They then covered the area with sand and then crushed rock

 as a temporary sidewalk.

 



Tomorrow I will be stepping back into Jr. Church as Chandler

takes back over as the Teen Leader.  I love Jr. Church and am so excited to do it as long as God allows me too!  Looking forward to another wonderful day in the Lord's house tomorrow!

 



It is Cold!

With it being in the 80's just two days ago, it was quite the shock to have a high of 40 degrees today!  Food Bank was this morning and as I went outside to get in the truck, I did an immediate turn around back into the house to get some warmer shoes, gloves and a hoodie.  Brrrrrr.......

 

I felt so sorry for the crew working on the roof today.  They said it was so cold touching the steel beams and the sheets of roofing!  We pumped them full of hot coffee all day to try and help keep them warm. They worked all day and got the roof finished just after the darkness set in.

 

 

A few of our men showed up to finish insulating the water line.

 

Brother Elmer worked so hard and I knew he was cold. 

I offered him some gloves and a hat as I told him I knew they didn't have this kind of weather in the Philippines.  He laughed and said no they didn't!  All the meetings he has scheduled this winter are here in the West so I told him he better start getting used to the cold because it was just going to get colder! He is looking forward to heading back to the Philippines in March.

 

The guys worked into the night but finally got it all done

and ready for inspection tomorrow.

 

My husband told me at about 4 this afternoon that we would have guys working so I hurried and tried to think of something warm for them for dinner and instantly thought of Garlic Tomato Soup.

 

I saw this the other day on another pastor's wife's blog, Ramblings from Reno, and thought it would be perfect for a chilly day.  It was so easy to make and so good. The guys loved it and they all ate several bowls before heading back out to the cold to finish the job.

 

So exciting everyday to see the progress on the building!





Hurry and Get Done

That has been the saying around the church today. 
We got the approval to finish the water line and also the guys showed up to put the roof on.  Although it was a gorgeous day today, sunny and hot, they say we will be getting snow tomorrow and freezing temps for the rest of the week!  That means we got hurry and get stuff done!

 

Several of our men showed up to dig the water line and put the required insulation around the new pipe.


 

 We are praying they get the roof insulation covered before it snows!

 

All the guys worked into the night and darkness trying to get things done.

 

 

Kinda scared me watching them walk on the roof in the dark!

 

For dinner I made a pot of Easy Chicken and Dumplings for
everyone that came out to work.

 

A friend in Germany taught me to make this recipe and my family
loves it and requests it often.

 

 

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Boil a whole chicken in big pot of water.  Add four cubes of chicken bullion and cook until chicken is tender.  Take chicken out of water and remove the meat from the bone.  Return chicken meat to water and add 1 family sized can of Cream of Chicken soup.  Let simmer all afternoon.  A half hour before serving, open a can (or two) of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits.  Pull biscuits apart into several pieces and drop into soup. Let dumplings cook ten minutes and serve.

 

In between running errands with my husband, (Sometimes it's the only time I see him!) I made a card and took some flowers to another lady in our church.  God had put her on my heart and I wanted to give her some loving encouragement.  Although I thought she would be home,

 she wasn't so I left them at her door.

 

 

I did get to talk to her tonight and she said the flowers made her cry. 

God truly knows those that need encouragement and I am so glad

He put this dear lady on my heart!





Flowers and Encouragement

Several weeks ago the Lord put it on my heart to do something more

for ladies in our church.  I prayed and prayed and asked God to show me

 how I could minister and encourage them more.  As I prayed He told me to buy flowers each week and pick one of the ladies and then go visit

with them and give them the flowers.

 

 

This week I knew one of our ladies was really struggling and having a hard time so I bought her flowers and made her a card.

 

I found these cards at Michael's and thought they were so cute. 

I usually do not make cards but thought it would help make the ladies feel special.  I wrote several encouraging Bible Verses in the card and let her know I am praying for her.  I then called and asked if she would be home and she said no.  I prayed and felt God still wanted me to give flowers to this lady so I took them to her work and they were waiting for her when she went into her office tonight.  She called me tonight and told me thank you and said how much the flowers and encouraging words meant to her.  I really think I am going to love this new ministry to my ladies!

 

This morning my husband called me over to the church

to see that the insulation to half the roof was up!

 

They then started to put the roof panels on.  We are getting

 a seamless roof put on where there will be no screws, nails or bolts used

and thus no chance of a leaking roof in the future.  Special clips are used to hold the roof together and to the building frame.  When they put the first roof panel in place they found out that the company had shipped us the wrong roof clips.  Because of this they are unable to work on the roof until the clips come in, which could be days.

 

Sadly, they then took the insulation back off the roof and headed to another job site.  The building was going to be done tomorrow but now it looks like it won't be finished for another week.  We know that

 God is in control of this situation and praying

that He will work everything out quickly!

 

Baking for the Building

Several of our ladies have wanted to help give to the building fund

but because they are older or are stay at home mom's, don't have a way to make extra money.  One of our sweet ladies approached us and asked if she could buy a table at a craft fair in her town.  She then asked all the ladies to bake goodies for the sale.

 

All the ladies out did themselves and made cookies, cakes, bread

and homemade chocolates!  We sold a lot of goodies and of course all the profits from today go to the building.

 

 

Miss Nel rented the booth space for us and had her own booth next to it.  She has a jewelry business she has named "He is > than I."  She makes the most beautiful necklaces and bracelets! 

We had so much fun talking to everyone that came by and and talking and laughing with each other.

 

When I came home I was so surprised to see all the progress they had

made on the building today.  It is going up so fast!

 

 

They finished one side and put the doorway

in for one of the emergency exits.

 

I then got to watch as they put the insulation and siding
up on one of the ends.

 

 

We were surprised to hear they would be back early tomorrow morning

but my husband just invited them to take their lunch break during

church time and come join us for church services.  





 

 



Banana Jam

There is nothing better than a peanut butter and banana jam sandwich.  

So when I was asked to donate to a bake sale this weekend,

I automatically thought of banana jam.

 

 

First I smashed up 4 cups of banana's and added 6 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice and brought it to a boil.  Actually I doubled the recipe, something I will never do again without a bigger pot.  When the jam started boiling it start overflowing and we could not stop it!  Saraina and I were laughing our heads off as jam went everywhere.  As we were trying to get everything under control again, Saraina spilt jam down her and onto the floor.  As she rushed to wash it off her toes Mason came in and stepped in the pile of hot jam.  Luckily no one was hurt

 and it was so funny but such a mess!

 

After it was boiling we added the pectin and boiled it the required time and then poured it into our prepared jars.

 

 

After a water bath we managed to make 12 jars of banana jam for the bake sale and of course I put a couple of jars away for ourselves!

 

We also made my mom's yummy peanut butter popcorn. 

 I used the canner and filled it with popcorn.

 

For the popcorn I mixed 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup maple syrup

and 4 Tablespoons butter.  After boiling it to soft ball stage I added 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and then poured it over the popcorn and mixed it well.  It is so good!

 

 

First thing this morning the guys put up the first roof rafter.

 

Before they left for the day, all the roof beams were on and the frames for the doors were finished.  It is amazing to watch it go up so fast!

 



Of course, what would my day have been without a little shopping! 

One of our Sunday School teachers asked if we could get her a dry erase board for her room and we were thrilled when we found these big dry erase boards for $2.48.  I had a dollar off coupon too, so we paid $1.48 for each board.  All in all I spent about fifteen dollars for 3 dry erase boards, 5 pkgs of dry erase pens, 2 reams of construction paper, 2 things of Post-It notes, 3 binders and 12 boxes of Kleenex. 

Praise God for letting us find such great clearance deals

 to stock the church with!



What a Day! (A Very Long but Awesome Day!)

This morning started so early! 

(Too early for me as I try not to move out of my cozy bed until after seven!)  Truck after truck started coming in the church parking lot
at just after 6 am!  My dear sweet husband asked me to get up and take pictures and thus I shoved my hair in a ponytail and ran over to the church.

The trucks getting ready to start pouring.

The first pour of cement!  This totally brought tears to my eyes

as the process up to this point has been such a battle with the county.  

As I watched the cement pour into the foundation I praised God and thanked Him for letting us build this building for him! 

It was so fascinating to watch the men work,

move and smooth the cement.

Mrs. Helen, the oldest member in our congregation and the only person that was here in 1976 when the church was established, cried tears of joy as she watched the foundation being poured.  She told us that she has been praying for over thirty years for the church to grow and to be able to build.  She is so happy to finally see that day here!

I watched for a couple of hours and then went
and cleaned the prophet chambers and made sure there was cereal and milk and snacks in the cupboards.  Our fall Revival starts tomorrow night and our evangelist and family will be here late tonight.  I also ran and bought plates, bowls and silverware for the fellowships we will have every night before the revival, set up the fellowship hall and went through and straightened the church.  When I looked outside again they were doing the last finishing touches to the cement.

It looks so good!

They did not need the last little bit of cement in the last truck

so my husband brought a couple of wheelbarrows of it over to the parsonage and redid the front step.  I am excited as the step has been crumbling and falling apart since we moved in two years ago. 
It will be so nice to have a smooth and clean step! 

Praying I will get to sleep in tomorrow but with the revival starting tomorrow I know I will be up early to give my day to the Lord in prayer before I start what I know will be another very busy day for us!