How's the house coming along?

The question of day these days! So here is the beauty in all her glory. Our new home...

The current status is that the subflooring is done, which Will and I got to do a bundle of. And the next step is the layout for the walls we will begin to start framing this week! There are 4 other houses that have the trusses all up and we are trying to get the sheeting on them so the roofers can come do their work so we will have at least 4 houses closed in before the lovely Oregon rain sets in. Then we can do interior work on these homes until the sun and light come back out to do the exterior work on the others. So here's the latest update pics...
My dad and I actually got to do this primary layout work together on this wall. What a special bonding time these work days are for he and I.
 

Check out my monkey man!!

Isn't he handsome and so courageous crawling around on those trusses like a monkey?
He loves it up there! I kind of think he's a wee bit crazy at times.
These shots were a couple of days before my feet lost the ladder underneath them as I was working on the trusses and I ended up dangling off of one of them
until someone could reposition my ladder for me.
Thankfully my strong man had secured the trusses well this night
or I (or a leg) could have been a goner.

 

We've decided-Volunteers Rock!!

We've been receiving SO much volunteer help and are so blessed by it each week. We couldn't be making our 35 hrs/week without the 10 per week that volunteers have been donating to us. It's actually a really cool witness to our neighbors too, as most of them have not a single volunteer. We've been able to share any volunteer overage hours with families that have had no help and have just been dying without extra assistance from friends/family, since we can only use 10 hrs/week. Paul & Jan Glazner came out last Saturday with Rick, their friend, and we wer able to give some of theirs to a couple of different families. What a witness to have your pastor come out and serve others. We're praying God uses these gracious and giving friends of ours and our witness of having so many loving friends to draw many of these families to himself. There are many families that keep asking why we have so many friends to help us (the list is up to about 20 volunteers). What an opportunity to witness about God's love and how it's shared throughout the body of Christ. Thanks everyone for helping us in our witness for Christ and giving so abundantly to us!!

 

Precious Prego Friend...

Just wanted to show off my special friend, who is going to be bearing Baby Boy Evans in just a few short weeks, October 10th is the date he's due. We can't wait to meet him and be adopted Auntie Krystal & Uncle Will! We threw a shower to rain down love and blessings for the fam on Saturday, it was a blast and this pic is in the cutest nursery ever that she created herself--filled with fish galore. Be praying for her strength and health in the last few weeks and through delivery. We love you Evans family!
 

Learning more every day...

Here I am learning how to hang trim. I have to admit, it's the first day I have walked off the jobsite without crying over feeling totally incompetent and unfit for this job. I love trim work! For those of you that know my OCD, detail, perfectionistic personality--this stuff fits me to a tee! I look forward to more of these productive days. Another one of our trusty volunteers, Jacob Zink, working on our nextdoor neighbors top plates (pieces of wood that tie all the walls into each other on the top of each interior/exterior wall), this house is almost ready for trusses to come in this week. That means ours is next!
 

On the job injuries...

I have officially braved the world of the Nail Gun!! I'm still a little hesitant around it. But I figured the day to start using it should definitely be the day we were putting the floorboards onto our own house. I don't know what it was--something just came over me and I picked it up and decided, Yes, I'm going to start using this gun now, and nothing can stop me now. I am woman, hear me roar, or watch me shoot.
Here's my Will, checking out the 3 foot backyard behind our house. It's going to be a tight squeeze back there, as we also have a slider door and deck that will be coming off of that back left corner. Doesn't mean we're not grateful though, just going to have to get creative back there. This was actually just a few moments before I lost him down one of the holes between the floor joists. Good thing there's insulation in there for a little bit of padding.
The moment before, the leg was sliced. And yes, he did have to go get a tetanus shot and his arm hurt for days, but he's protected now for future issues. At least from the infections that come from saws and nails, not the removal of parts because of these power tools. Can you tell it was a long and dangerous day. My man is sure tough though. Wouldn't even let me clean his saw gash up until the work was done! We finished the floor boards this day and we are now working on the layout for the walls on our house now. Woohoo!  

Yes we do work together, sometimes...

Check it out, I think it's our first photo opp together! I realized we hadn't shown any proof that we do show up and work together almost every day! And we even smile while doing it. And no, we've never used those hammers on each other.:)
We do ask for your prayers as working 15 hour days 6 days per week, a lot of that tough, wall-raising physical labor, is tending to wear on us. Homemade dinners and moments alone relaxing together are NOT on the agenda right now. We know this is where God has called us to work in His mighty strength right now but we also get weary too, as we're still starting this brand new marriage too. So, intercede on our behalf please, anytime God leads you to. We are much appreciative.
P.S. We're also much appreciate of our wonderful volunteers pictured above: Dad Kuitert, Jon Knudson, and not pictured above: Kia Gregory, Paul and Jan Glazner. We're so surrounded by awesome people.
P.P.S. The best gift of all today--dinner brought to us, barbeque and all, to eat in our new half-built garage, our first Irwin family meal at the new home, by the Glazners. We love you guys so.

Praising God for the foundation...

Ezra 3:11...They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. -Ezra 3:11
(Our dear friend Amy passed this verse along to us the other day, sharing what a blessing it is that our foundation has been laid now also.)



Our Personal Version (we made our little mark in the foundation above):
Will and Krystal sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon the Irwins forever." And Will and Krystal shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house that the LORD was building for them was laid.

A Nail Box is Built...

Check out my dad and my newest invention. You'll never believe how innovative it is...a NAIL BOX to help clean up and organize our job shack. Can you believe that would be a project that I'd love to do?

The floors are being formed...

Check out these I-beams being hung on our foundation!!

Wow, it's our house, taking shape!

Can anyone believe it?

We sure can't, most of the time.

Just a few pics of current progress...

Some of our home-building helpers-
won't they be so proud one day to say they hung I-beams, built walls, and shoveled dirt into the floor of the bedroom of the Irwin casa. We will truly say one day, Our house is Your house to our dear friends who we are so grateful for...Tory Wheeler, Debbie Richards, Jeremy Chappell and my dear Dad.

My two favorite men, my papa and my Beloved, I so enjoyed every moment of watching them build side-by-side. What special family-building times, literally...

Foundations have begun...in many ways...

LOOK everyone!! It's the footings of our foundation. It has been poured, oh yes, it has been poured. Talk about jumping for joy! It's so crazy to think that just 1 week ago, this was a barren land spot. And now it's got concrete. This is definitely a new source of inspiration for why we are to show up at our job site each week. I don't think I realized how much I needed to see the reason why I was pounding each nail into other people's homes right in front of my face. It's a HUGE motivator. We can't wait to go by today and see if the rest of the foundation has been poured.

Our prayer is that our hearts would not only be set on this foundation being poured and set right for our stick home, but that Jesus would be the Cornerstone and Solid Foundation of our hearts during the next 10 months and thereafter. We ask for these prayers from you also! We need them.

Slicin and Dicin (almost)

I actually considered as I wrote this title, what in the world am I doing making light of this little accident today? Then I remembered, I'M MARRIED TO WILL. Who am I kidding, trying to NOT make light of anything in life? I live in a "making life lighter" world now. Aren't you all excited for me?:)
The big incident at the site today was, as you can see, a little slice through the shorts with the saws-all (sp?, still learning my construction vocab) and thank the LORD, literally, that Will only grazed his leg with this lovely piece of machinery. I had just happened to step away when he was sawing a wall apart to fix a mistake (something we spend 1/2 of our time doing) and it jerked out of the wall and threw his body weight for a loop and skirted across him. I wasn't too happy about him picking it up and using it again but there was really no way around it, he said. Get used to it, I guess. One of our homeowners shot himself in the finger the other day with the nail gun. Good thing Will is the team's designated "safety guy." We'll have to look something up for a lesson on taking care when using the saws-all.
I guess you could say today was a moment of learning WHOSE hands my beloved's life really is in--not mine that is. I thank God that He cares for us through every day of this process.

The Holy Landers!!

Check out our dear friends in the Holy Land, earlier this summer!! Can you believe it, check out the real live Dome of the Rock Mosque in the background?? Maybe someday we'll get there too! We're hoping we get to all go back together.
And guess what's even more exciting?? You can't see the belly in this pic or even yet, but my dear Amy, or Mae as I like to call her, that girl is pregnant! Yep, almost 11 months married and pregnant!! Yipee! God's weaving a little life in her. Can't wait to be Auntie Krystal. We love and are so excited for you guys! Congrats Knudsons! 

"Twas the best of times; twas the worst of times"...As my time with 20 amazing Jewish kids from the "East Coast" (United States not Brazil) concludes, my wife is returning home. I am mixed with emotions of absolute joy at her return and unexpected sadness at their departure. I had a wonderful time learning from, arguing with, laughing at and pouring into a group of kids from a different culture and heading in a different direction and yet so easy to love. I had a difficult time with my wife so far for so long. As one might expect considering how whipped I am. (and loving it)

The houses are coming along nicely we have almost all of the exterior walls completed on three houses and we have begun work on the garages. Our foundation will be laid out and poured in the next few days. Praise Jesus.

The Land of Disney...

Here's a glimpse of what I've been doing down in California at DISNEYLAND!!
Wanted to also let my groom know that I'm alive and well down south as he's missing me so much up north!:)
We've down a little "monkeying" around in Tarzan's tree house, a little sightseeing with the mom-in-law on the D-land railroad and most of all trekking every last inch of the park, exploring every corner and crevice. Thanks Walt D. for my favs--the tropical oasises. Enjoy!!