Never Dull

I have found, since starting this building project that being my husband’s helpmeet is a very interesting and variable job. Training and raising our children, teaching them at home, keeping house, cooking, practicing hospitality, visiting older people and the like, in the name of our family seemed a good job description. But now, I am finding myself stretched to reach new ground in helping my husband be successful at whatever he is about.
I am overcoming my fear of machinery as I measure and cut the tongue and groove he is installing for the soffit. It is cedar, bought a few years ago at a great discount, and now it takes it’s place next to the log walls, stunningly framing in around the roof. I, with fear and trembling, climbed the ladder to the third floor to help him get the insulation started. The view from up there is wonderful, but, wow is it ever a long ways down!!!
Here I am driving the 4 wheeler. This was the very first time. With burning season over, the stumps and such that were left from our burn piles needed to be choked and hauled to one large burn pile until fall. I admit driving the 4 wheeler is pretty fun.

Next, I got on my dad’s tractor and dozed the last remaining burn pile over so that I could extract the last large pieces out of it. When that was done, I graded it level, or, as level as a novice could. This was all very helpful to Brian who is busy with the house, using the rented equipment, meaning his time is of the essence.
With Savannah and Rose very capable of babysitting the little boys and Bethany for a few hours, I am able to help Brian, which is a nice change from my usual line of work, and it made him smile to see me on the tractor!

At Work Again

The end of April we were able to get back to work on the house. The rafters weathered the winter better than anticipated; we only had to replace a few. Extra hands were much appreciated for this job, and we prayed everyone working so high up would be safe. Next came blocking the rafters and securing them to the perlins with hurricane straps. Lastly, the leveling of each rafter was a slow and tedious process, but it’s got to be done.

Sheeting the roof, with a pitch of 8/12 at 30 some feet in the air proved difficult and dangerous. We hired a local crew to assist, and again prayed for safety. We rented a fork lift to hoist the plywood up to the eve, and a snorkel lift (also called a cherry picker) to hoist BIG ED. This lift has been really beneficial to help raise the metal up to roof level, ease getting the soffit in, as well as the gable ends framed, and the staining of the logs. The price for a month long rental was much better than that of a weeks rental. So we kept it for the month of May. It has been well worth it.

With a work crew at the building site, and our own tribe of children to feed, we were fixing lunch for 15 every day. That led to some interesting dishes, one of which we call “Dirt Cheap Tacos.” Two trips to Mexico have influenced the way we cook now. In Mexico anything in a tortilla is a taco, so this is how we came up with what everyone declared a delicious meal, and by the way they kept coming back for more, I believe it was.

Dirt Cheap Tacos: (Feeds 15 hungry people)
3 cups dry red beans.
4 cups dry brown rice
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, with chiles
1 cup sour cream
2 cups grated chedder cheese
2 T. taco seasoning
oil
corn tortillas

Boil beans in water for 2 minutes, soak for one hour, simmer until done, about 2 hours.
cook rice in 8 cups water. This will take about 45 minutes.
Remove excess water from beans, adding 1 T. salt to beans and stirring thoroughly. Mix these with the rice. Also add tomatoes in juice, sour cream, cheese, and taco seasoning, stirring well. You can set this aside and warm it later, or use it while it is hot.
In small frying pan, pour in enough oil to cover most of bottom of pan. On medium high heat, fry tortillas, one at a time, until slightly crisp. Put these into a hot dish with a lid to keep them warm until you have enough tortillas to serve your group. Just a small dot of the rice and beans mixture ( maybe a cup)will be plenty filling for your tortillas. These are good enough plain, but would be wonderful with salsa/ guacamole.

Planning Ahead

Warm rains have taken all our snow away bringing on the spring breakup. Although it is only February, and we can typically expect snow until April, this weather has gotten me to thinking spring. Brian and I sat down for a thorough brain storming/organizing meeting regarding the building of our house. How on earth are we going to get everything done before next winter?!!! We plotted each task out, detailing how long it should (most likely) take. Week by week we have a schedule of events that will take us from the first week of April to our goal date of moving in the first week of November. All the dates are tentative, and we realize there will need to be some flexibility, but, ya know, if you don't have a target; you don't know where to aim.
April will open with rafters, blocking, sheeting and roof metal. Mama and the girls have jobs outlined for each month, such as staining all the flooring before it is installed, chinking and painting. Speaking of chinking, we will be hosting a chinking party or two or three, possibly four(it is a big house) throughout the summer. I am planning on the little boys running through the woods the majority of the time we are all working out at the property together, and the baby(now almost 11 months old) toddling around not helping, but looking cute non the less. Joseph is ready with his very own tool belt (he's 7) and we are counting on a man's days work from our oldest, John. There will be help from friends and neighbors all along the way, thank the Lord, and our hearts are hopeful that we will be enjoying fellowship with brothers and sisters in a finished lodge a year from now.

winter blues

The rafters were in place with only a few weeks before the bad weather set in for good.
The process of bringing each rafter to a level position (each rafter touches three different logs... uneven logs, I might add) working 36 feet in the air on icy ladder rungs was daunting. 
In good weather Brian was able to level four sets of rafters (eight individual rafters). This slowed down to two sets in an 8 hour day when it got icy.

Currently, half of the 26 sets of rafters are leveled and strapped. 
Our hope of getting the roof on before winter just wasn’t meant to be. So we are trusting that come spring, work will continue, and praying for only minimal damage to the exposed rafters. 
It has been quite stressful to leave the house in this condition over the winter. Likely one or two more weeks of good weather and we would have gotten the sheeting on.
Lesson learned….work hard in the spring if at all possible (we were waiting on equipment) and leave plenty of room to finish project before fall rains make ladders too dangerous to work on.
In all this process, Brian and Julianne have seen the hand of God guiding and providing in an abundant way. Here is an example of God’s providence: A man from the church knew of a fellow who was remodeling his kitchen, and had the entire kitchen of oak cabinets for sale. These were available to purchase for $500. A kitchen sink, bathroom sink and claw foot bathtub were also located for around $150 total. Interior doors, multiple windows, 1x4 cedar tongue and groove, a commercial gas 6 burner oven (much to the delight of Julianne), and 6 boxes of 12 x 12 ceramic tile were also given or obtained for next to nothing. 
Most recently, a man in the church bought a high lift crane at auction just so we could use it to finish up the house without having to wait on the for-hire one to be available! The list of such blessings is indeed long, and keeps growing.
How good our God is!

Brian and Julianne have a vision for Providence Lodge being a multigenerational home for their family,
a respite for weary missionaries,
an open door of hospitality to traveling home school families, 
and perhaps, in the future, a haven for wayward children. 
Here is a current photo of the house. 
Beautiful Idaho!!