The trusty men or man...

I was instructed last night at church by Paul Glazner to get some pics of the trusty builders in my life on our blog. So here goes a tribute to Pa Glazner and his dedicated hours in the Irwin neighborhood-building project...

Check it out!!

Herein lies the Irwin abode. And no, the puddles don't come with the deal. Those will hopefully be dried out in about 7 months, if we're looking at the Oregon weather report.
This is me...trying to hide behind the neighbor's house because I hammered my thumb and I just wanted to cry by myself. I figure, it's my party and I can cry if I want to. Right?

But the honest truth? I really do need prayer...I told Will last week I was about ready to throw the towel in. This is the hardest "marathon" I've ever run and I just wasn't seeming to get my second wind. Keeping up with all of life and building my own house is a little bit much at times. So if you wouldn't mind throwing a few prayers up for perseverance to prevail in me and strength for my poor husband who probably gets a little worn down at times from my discouraged heart, that would be great.

Clap Offerings for God...

Got this funny little phrase of "clap offerings" for God from one of my favorite bible study teachers--Beth Moore, who does it anytime God does something good and just deserves some outward praise for it.
So anyway, the clap offering is in the camera department...you were probably all wondering how in one post our camera broke, and in the next, we had pictures again...
God has seen fit to use our amazingly gracious friends to not only donate to start a camera fund for us, but also to have one friend send her "oldie, but goodie" camera up from California for use on the jobsite to keep us rolling with photographing our house-venture. We have also been borrowing my parents, until we were able to drum up one for ourselves.
So--clap offerings to God and thanks to our loved ones for being willing to be used by God, to help provide for us. You guys rock this Irwin house!

Do you remember when there was nothing but dirt?

Or when it was just a foundation?

Or when it had all its walls? Can you believe that is our house. Tomorrow October 24th the trusses come to give it that halfway done skeleton look!!! I am really into the skeleton look (Donner party for dinner). If you get that joke please leave a comment. :)

Ahoy there little Noah...that is right a new little baby has entered the world...he came by boat.

(Pictured here with his music instructor and first mate)

The boat arrived at 7:11 PM. Cargo weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Captain Scott Evans was pleased with the voyage, but his wife stated "the ride was less than enjoyable." (Push...push...push...don't forget to breathe!) Though she is now resting comfortably with her precious freight.

Well, well, well, the house is on it's way. I am proud to say that I did basically everything completely on my own. With the slight exception of the five UVC seniors that came to help along with the three
or four Job Corp boys that did all the heavy lifting, or the ten to fifteen neighbors that built everything (hammering...nailing...and stuff)...other than that I did everything myself.

Comments...

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS on our posts!!

Will and I just love reading the little notes posted to us

by our loved ones.

When you get to the end of each of our posts,

you can click on the comments section

and leave us a word from the wise, love or humor.

We love hearing who is keeping up on our progress

and praying for us.

Thanks for your support!! -W & K

a few of the last pics...

Good and sad news today...the 2nd of our two digital cameras died. So we are without a camera to follow the rest of our home-building project until God sees fit to provide.
So the good news (interesting timing for the camera to die)...is that we actually started doing framing work of the exterior walls of our OWN home today!! Eli actually put me as the lead of the team working on it. Can you all believe it? I can't, from incompetent, clueless, just give me simple directions and I'll follow them, to the lead of the project. After I left Will said a volunteer that was working with my team even said I really knew what I was doing. I even used the nail gun the whole day! So it was a success of a day on the worksite and here are some faded-out pics (we think the lens is dying or something of the sort) to prove it...

Eli giving the team instructions for the day...

Me having my 2-hour (felt like it) course on how to properly angle the nail gun to make your "nail count". We don't want to waste a single one...

Me having to hand over the nail gun for another lesson...


Me getting a pep talk from Pa (Paul Glazner, who was told he could be my father from the way we looked alike)... He and Will pumped out some serious trusses today and 3 of the houses are fully trussed and 2 of them are ready for roofers to come take over. Yeah! Projected finish date from Umpqua CDC, MARCH 2007. Yikes, we'll see about that and just pray for God's perfect timing on it all.
P.S. Please pray for one of our families in the group, the project has taken a toll on their marriage and the husband is leaving the wife and their daughter, to do life and house-building on her own now. So sad. Don't we just all need Jesus so desperately? So, I'll be just filling you all in with written updates now since the camera is out of commission. Pray for God to provide there too, it's just one of our wants to help capture the moments of life, not needs, but we know God cares about every detail and wants us to bring them all to Him. Much Aloha, W & K 

Me & Katie Benton...

Just doing a little subflooring work on our next door neighbor's home on Saturday...

 

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?