Well, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is with mixed emotions that I begin what will more than likely be the last post on this IVBC Construction Mission 2009 Blog. It's not the Blog that I'll miss as much as it is the fact that our ministry together will be taking some time off. Yes, I'll miss writing about our activities; I hope this has been helpful at allowing you to vicariously minister with us!

You will notice in today's photos that all the major work has been completed. Today we finished up around the front door and installed all the trim at the top and bottom of the whole house and around all the windows. It was a FULL, busy day but our spirits were high (as they usually are) as we wound up around 6:15 p.m. There were the typical shenanigans again and you'll notice in one of the photos that Superintendent Ed was keeping us all in line today (right, Russell?!) while making some errors of his own (are you SURE that's the correct bevel on that trim piece, Ed?).

Carol's Catering, Deli, Grille, Farmers' Market, and Pub & Diner brought us "The Last Lunch" today. Carol, a humongous Thank You for so consistently providing us our lunches.

Of course thanks go out to EVERYONE who has helped directly at the site: Ed, Frank, Russell, Byron, Ron, Mary Alyce, Mark, Joan, Kelvin, Greg, Pastor Richard, Pete, Erin, and Patrick. Thanks to those of you who brought and/or provided food for us: Carol, Cherryl, Karen, Nancy, Pam and Kathy of Wednesday Night Supper fame. And Thank You, too, to EVERYONE who participated through their financial contributions, support, and prayers for this Ministry.

Ken and Marie have been wonderful, graciously accepting our gift of ministry and putting up with all the early morning pounding, tripping of circuit breakers, our frequently allowing the Prodigal Dog to escape, and our knocking things off the walls with our hammering. Sorry about the hot sauce breaking :( Marie.

Ken was given the 'privilege' of putting in the final nails! Our commemorative photo of the "topping out" moment where he affixed the final piece of trim over the window is included in today's photos.

There are a 'frillion' memories to be carried with us as we end this project. From the fancy oscillating saw tool, to my insistence at using my framing hammer to do delicate finish hammering, to Ed always barking at us to "put that mask on!" when we were cutting the Hardi board, to Frank sand-bagging us regarding his cutting skills. (And Russell, no, you can't wash the chalk line because it's dusty!!!) The memory of Superintendent Ed in those boots and hat, doing his best imitation of either a member of the Foreign Legion or Puss In Boots; a visual memory I probably will wish I could forget!

May our greatest memory, however, be of how we as a church family came together to Minister, and Serve, and be 'God with skin on'. I pray that all those who have seen the work see the Savior that is the motive for the work. And while this may this be the end of a project may it be the beginning of a Ministry!

The end is in sight! I just realized how that sounds... like we're glad it's over, but it's quite the contrary. Ken and Marie are probably glad that we will soon cease our barrage on their privacy but I think that those of us that have worked together at the house have established a fellowship that comes from serving together and will miss the camaraderie. As I mentioned yesterday, we all have endured some good natured ribbing, sometimes some heavy-handed ribbing, but all used our skills to contribute to the completion.

Speaking of ribbing, we're all the time "putting up with" Russell and his 'suggestions' but if we (I) had listened to him earlier today we might have been a little speedier! Russell, thanks for your help.

As you will notice from the photos, today's work saw the completion of the front of the house over the garage. It was tricky at times measuring angles, and lengths, and cut-outs, and making it all come out as nice as it did. We've teased our Director of Sawing, Frank, a lot on this project but he has done a wonderful job at manning the circular saw. (It looks like he and the Superintendent are performing surgery on that board instead of cutting it!) Frank, by your own admission there is one thing, though, that Russell and I can do better than you, Byron and Superintendent Ed, and that's climb scaffolding! Youth is on our side!!!!

Carol once again provided lunch for us today; very tasty, hot, homemade mini subs that she experienced on a recent trip to Iowa. She didn't know what they were called but she liked them and shared them with us today. We agreed and subsequently named them "Hawkeye Hoagies". Whatever you want to call them, they were excellent. Thanks again, Carol!

Tomorrow will mark our last work day. It will probably take us longer than we think unless we have many hands to help. We need to put up the trim on the back and sides, do some caulking, and finish up around the front door. I'll have some more photos and more thank-yous to blog about after tomorrow so check back here for my final post.

"Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means." --2 Cor. 8:11

It's Wednesday, July 8th... (07-08-09 for those of who do not have OCD symptoms and therefore had not noticed the pattern). I just returned from Wednesday Night Supper, Prayer Meeting and Choir Rehearsal after a day's work. Superintendent Ed was at Supper and Prayer Meeting after a day of personal activity and after a meeting with... 'The Inspector'! And...........

WE PASSED! We were APPROVED and were given the go-ahead to finish it, put up the trim, caulk and paint! That means: we will be working all day Friday and all day Saturday and hope to finish up completely.

I noticed this week that my very first post on this Construction Mission Blog was our first work day, which was June 4th. That means we have been at it off and on, largely dependent on the weather, for just over a month. Thanks to everyone who has helped in ANY way. We will still need, of course, workers for these last 2 days and that includes someone to help by providing lunch on Friday and Saturday.

I'll not make my last post until Saturday sometime and will be sure to include photos of the final product. And speaking of the last blog, thank you for checking in here and following along with us. Many of you have mentioned to me that you've enjoyed reading it; I have likewise enjoyed writing it and posting the photos.

I'll see you back here for the last 2 chapters!

Less words today, more pictures. Less rain today, more heat!

No, we didn't finish today, but we're really close, as you can tell from the photos. We had to stop early today because of the sun; it gets to beaming down on us as we work in the front of the house over the garage. But a lot was still accomplished today.

We welcomed back Byron, his first day back with us after his vacation. Unfortunately, he picked up a bug and wasn't feeling very well today but gave it the old college try and stuck with us 'till we quit. (You have the Superintendent's permission to take the rest of this Holiday weekend off and recuperate!)

Patrick was back to help us out with the electrical service. We appreciate his skills and his willingness to serve with us... we're glad we didn't have to stick OUR hands in that box!!!!!! Frank was again the subject of some light ribbing and we claimed that since he has such an 'electric' personality he needed the meter mounted on him. We all thought he looked pretty good with it in front of his face. Someone else quipped that maybe he just needed a surge protector. You can decide.

In true Independence Day tradition, Pam brought us homemade BBQ sandwiches. They were terrific! Thanks, Pam... you know how we look forward to lunch time!

In semi-full disclosure, your Girl Power Crew Chief, Perfection Control Chief, and Blogger Extraordinaire helped locate and cut the openings for the wires and get the piece of panel siding up behind the meter and electrical service to the house. There was a slight miscalculation during the process but you can't tell it and you will never, never, never, EVER know what happened... at least not until one of the group that was working today decides to blab. But remember, I hold the 'power of the pen'!

Well folks, I promised less words and more pictures and I'm not sure I succeeded in my attempt at the former. Enjoy the rest of the Holiday, be safe, and I'll see you tomorrow as we gather for Bible Study and Worship.

Preamble: This post is dated on Saturday, when I uploaded it but is a synopsis of Friday's work.

After Wednesday and Thursday work days that I missed, and because today was a Holiday for several of us, a full complement of folks helped to get a lot done today! It came up a rain in the afternoon but we waited it out and worked a little longer. What dedication! (You should have seen the 6 of us nestled on the front porch trying to stay dry. After the fact, someone suggested that we should have seen how many us could have crammed into the VW Beetle. Ah, shades of the '60s!)

Today saw another new face at our Ministry Project. My oldest daughter, Erin, worked all day with us and, together with Mary Alyce we formed the "Girl Power" Crew. I missed the pink dress code for the day, however, I am the owner of the pink power cord, remember! With Frank doing the cutting and the 3 of us putting up the lap siding, we almost got all of the front finished... a few more boards and then over the garage and we'll be done.

Kelvin, Russell, Superintendent Ed and Ken worked on the panel siding and now their only remaining work is a piece behind the electrical service (meter) and about a third of the long, right side wall where we began this entire project.

With a good push tomorrow, we should be pretty close to finishing, still with a goal of being completely done after next Saturday.

Food Service today was complements of Karen and grandkids who provided us each with a footlong sub from Subway. AND, she brought cookies! Thank you Karen for helping us out. As you have read in other posts, we look forward to the lunch time, earlier and earlier each day, I might add!

Our biblical reference comes to us today from Erin and provided by one of the resident dogs, Taylor. Now Taylor loves to escape the confines of the house and/or back yard and tear off down the street and enjoy her time of 'freedom'. Today, she ran off, had her 'time on the town', and then came dragging back to the house all hot and ready to go back inside to the air conditioning. Thanks to Erin, Taylor is now known as the Prodigal Dog. She always thinks things are better down the street but realizes, after her riotous living away, that things are not so bad at home after all. I'm always amazed, when I shouldn't be, at the ways God teaches us!

Superintendent Ed was teased and complemented all in one fell swoop by his oldest daughter's comments to a recent blog post. (By the way, you can comment on any of the posts and can read any of the comments, by clicking on comments at the end of each post.) Anyway, he wanted to show her how hard he works and how much he sweats (WE all know and you, the readers can only imagine) by ringing the sweat out of his headband. As we all can see from one of today's photos, he's a very prolific 'sweater'.

We all have been so supportive of each other and, despite the good-natured teasing that takes place, all work well together. There is a photo from today that shows 4 of us (the Girl Power crew) all working together to put up a piece of lap siding 12 13/16 in. long! How many church members does it take to...... I'm going to guess, several!

Frank incriminated himself today by pointing to the back of a piece of siding that he cut, that required a REcut. That's his finger in the photo pointing to the line where he was supposed to cut... and obviously didn't. At least it wasn't too short, Frank. You can always take a little more off but it's kind of hard to put it back on!!!!

We'll be back at it tomorrow, Independence Day, at 8:00 a.m. Have a safe and happy 4th.

Today is Monday, June 29th. There was no construction activity at the house today and this post is solely to keep you informed as to where we go from here. The Superintendent and I have set a target date of July 10th for completion. We will work this Thursday afternoon and all day Friday and Saturday. Keep checking in to see when we will work after this week. It's time to 'bring this Ministry Project home' and see it completed! We will need those of you who can to help us as we give it a final push to the end.

We will be in need of someone, or multiple someones, to help us by providing lunches on Friday and Saturday. If you could help by committing to do that for those working it would be greatly appreciated!! Please contact Superintendent Ed or me so that we can coordinate appropriately.

Again, thanks for your assistance in this ministry and for checking in here on the blog. Until next time.........

Today's post begins with the irony that there are no photos from today. This day was, for me, a day of God's grace being manifested.

Superintendent Ed was working today with Russell, Mary Alyce (the Queen of Caulk) and Joan and, a NEW face to the Ministry Project, Pete. Frank and I joined them mid-afternoon and homeowner Ken participated all day today to help get the back of the house done and the front, left wall done to the top. Finally some visual evidence that we've been doing something!

Now about this irony and Grace...

It's ironic that there are no photos from today because that is where Frank and I were for much of the day. We photographed the wedding of Shawn and Sarah, Greg and Regina's son. You would have thought that a day spent taking photos would have included photos from today's work but it just wasn't meant to be. It was this same situation that showed me God's grace to us.

Our friend and brother, Greg, began a long time ago the planning and talk about getting this project accomplished. You might or might not have noticed that he has not been able to participate. God raised up another "Superintendent" for the project and Ed has given and given of himself beyond measure. Today's blog post is both a show of support for Greg and an expression of thanksgiving to God for his provision through Ed.

Greg has endured many trials over the past weeks... his brutal work demands and the stresses of his family. That's where the grace comes in. Today I witnessed a family celebration of marriage where a dying grandmother was able to attend the wedding of her grandson; a wife whose husband performed the marriage. The specifics are too numerous to go into but suffice it to say that it was by God's grace that she was able to be there. How much she saw, or heard, or what will happen now doesn't really matter. Her attendance was not just for her benefit but it was an inspiration to all present. When the car drove into the edge of the back yard, I couldn't help but think of the biblical story of the lame man whose friends lowered him through the roof in order for him to be touched by Jesus. (Thanks Frank and Christy!)

I also witnessed a grandfather with Alzheimer's almost flawlessly perform the ceremony and marry his grandson. (So he didn't tell Shawn he could kiss the bride, but that took care of itself! Who doesn't kiss at a wedding?!) It was the patience and guidance of the family that allowed this to happen. Again, a show of God's goodness to us in that, through Him and His love, we support and tolerate each other and He has blessed us with family... this family, for many families that were present today, and for our church family.

Truly "Blest Be the Tie That Binds".