Almost There

We have been steadily working away at the finishing of the interior of the lodge. The first floor is nearly complete. Over the fall, we drilled our third and fourth wells. The 4th finally produced water @ 240 ft, with 10 gallons (of pure, clean water) per minute. PRAISE THE LORD!!! This has been our biggest obstacle over the past 5 years. Now, just to get it piped up to the house and we will be pretty capable of living there.

Rose and I textured the sheetrock the last two days, while Anna kept the little ones and the home fires burning. Brian has been working on the gas lines to a small heating stove in the kitchenett, the cooking range, and a fireplace in the Master bedroom.

We have had lots of help from friends in getting the plumbing, sheetrock, and other details done.

God is so Faithful to provide help and funds to keep our project going.

We picked up some closet doors at Habitat for Humanity, our favorite building supplier. They are solid wood panel doors that the girls and Julianne stained and finished. Like our bathroom door, we were able to buy it at a fraction of the retail cost because of defects, which have been easily delt with.

Rose and I didn't really have any idea what we were doing, but like so many aspects of building this home, we just dug in and did it anyway. I think it turned out pretty good too. There have been so many times that we did not know how to do something, and we just prayed for wisdom, and God answered. The kitchen is a good example of this. Having bought cabinets that were second hand, we had to figure out how to make them work in our space, with our needs. After much thought and prayer, we were able to make all the cabinets fit by using some of them for an island which our very wonderfully helpful friend Bill created for us. We topped off the island with stainless steel to match the other appliances, and be a clean surface for processing the wild game that we harvest each year.

A friend from church is painting the walls today, with the hopes of having Thanksgiving dinner there next week. We are going with Navaho White, except for the stairs wall, which we are doing in a sage green since it is a high traffic area. Even though we hoped to be all moved and settled by now, we remain extremely thankful for the abundance of incredible circumstances that have allowed us to build this dream come true home for our family.