Jayda turns 3

On Monday night we got to celebrate with Jayda as she turned a big 3. The papas and grammys, aunts, uncles and cousins got together at
Erik and Amber's for the party. It was a noisy, but fun time and I think Jayda had a good time. It is hard to believe that she is 3 already. I still remember clearly meeting her at the hospital when she was just an hour old.

The birthday girl with one of her gifts. Guess who she got that one from. There is always room in a little girls life for one more Barbie doll.

Auntie Kel reading a story to the birthday girl, her sister, and cousin Nolan.

the cousins enjoying cake and ice cream. It was a yummy happy monster cake.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYDA! WE LOVE YOU!

Week 4

This week, while there seemed to be not much progress visible to those driving by, there still was a lot that got done. The weather continues to present challenges but things are moving ahead. Kerry and I are trying to keep abreast of everything and make our decisions ahead of time, or when the builder says he needs to know, and he needs to know now. Then we have a quick chat and make as informed a decision as we can. We have plenty to think about and are asking lots of questions and looking for advice but we have to act quickly sometimes. We hope we are doing things mostly right, and continue to pray for wisdom. It is exciting though, to see things moving ahead, but I am not letting myself think of when it might be finished enough to move in, even though some are asking by when we think it will be done. I sure hope it is before winter though. These RV's are hard to keep warm when the temps cool down. We still have to use a heater or the furnace every night.

This week they got to work digging the piles for the porches, front and side, as well as for the garage.

They also poured them full, and got some of the foundation poured for the east deck.

On another day, the plumbing crew was in and got all the rough in plumbing done.

After that is was time to get the basement floor ready for concrete which meant putting down the styrofoam, the plastic, the rebar and the heat pipe. The plan is to pour the floor on Monday, if the weather cooperates. The rafters arrived toward the end of the week, and Kerry and Erik have spent quite a bit of time with various pieces of equipment, digging dirt and moving it around. In spite of the rain, lots got done again this week.

Other things

House building was not the only thing happening at our place this week. With the return of sunny hot, dry weather came the return to seeding. We still had a lot of acres that needed seeding and we went hard this week, and by Thursday night we could say---SEEDING FINISHED! We planted the canola and soybeans and a field of flax, and Erik covered a lot of ground per day.

Along with the seeding it was time to do some spraying as well, and Kerry spent many hours doing just thatand also covering a lot of acres per day.

And back at the house they did some trenching through the dike to lay water lines to the pond. Erik is getting to be quite good at operating different kinds of equipment.

The view from our living room window, facing east. We will be able to see the sunrise over our pond.

I put more stuff into my garden this week as well, finishing up the seeding and putting out some plants, yep, even the tomatoes. It is the long weekend after all. I also had to mow the grass a couple of times, and I tilled the garden. I enjoyed time with the grandkids and got some laundry and baking done. It's been a good week, busy, but good!

Week 3--Walls!

Another tough week for our building crew. This time it was not wind and cold and rain, but the heat ! They had to work in the blazing sunshine with no trees nearby for shade, or clouds to block the sun. They filled up their water jugs numerous times but they kept on working and made lots of progress again by weeks end. Thanks guys!!!

By the end of Monday the floor was in place, and Tuesday they started framing walls.

Wednesday they put up a bunch of them and this was the scene when one long wall was raised. We made sure we had enough manpower available for that, and the woman power was the one behind the camera.

By the end of Thursday this is what it looked like. All the exterior walls are up. The picture shows the front view. Now we can go in and envision where the rooms will be and how big they are. It is pretty exciting.

Friday, there was much activity as the dirt was filled in around the house in preparation for the next phase, that of drilling piles for the garage and porches. Things are moving along and it is starting to look like a house.

Week 2-- Thursday and Friday

On Thursday, I got to miss the action at home again, but that was because I was privileged to attend another momentous occasion. I was happy to be able to attend Graham's graduation from Med School. We are very proud of him and all he has accomplished in the last years, and we have no doubt he will do well in his chosen profession. In a couple of weeks he and Kristy and Norah will be moving to Chilliwack, BC to continue his training for the next 2 years. We will miss them but we are glad for this opportunity for him.

Receiving his diploma. DR. Graham Friesen. Sounds good--doesn't it?! CONGRATULATIONS GRAHAM!!!

After attending the ceremony, and having lunch out with Kristy and Graham and Graham's parents, I got to bring Norah home with me for a couple of days at Papa Kerry's and Gramma Jo's. After supper we went out to see what had happened on the house today and we got to walk out onto the house floor and see the view we will be able to enjoy from our porch and windows.

Most of the floor joists were on and they got started screwing down the floor. They finished putting on the membrane on the outside of the basement, and worked on putting in the drain tile around the foundation . Friday they had the day off, so this is where the house stands as of week 2. WOW!!!

Friday morning, Kerry and Erik went down to GF to pick up some supplies. After they got home from there, the thoughts turned to farming again. The weather was warm and sunny and drying and so they went out and checked fields, and then came home and got the seeder set up, loaded and calibrated for canola so that they can get back to seeding again----hopefully tomorrow.

Week 2- Wednesday

There was a lot of activity here on Wednesday. For starters it was time to put in the main beams in the basement. The main beam is pretty long and heavy and so they had to employ various equipment to get it into place but I think it went on without too much trouble.

Both beams in place and the floor joists are being put on.

Wednesday was also the day when the sewer tank got dug in. That little white thing you see in the middle of the picture is the tank, after it was in. It had to go in pretty deep and had it's challenges with dirt caving in and such. I didn't get to see the process but that was a bit stressful from what I heard. There was also an electrical cable put in somewhere into the house. Kerry felt like a project director today, he ended up having to be supervisor on some of the work that happened today.

And of course, there is all that building material that has to be on site for the house to continue and so there were also deliveries happening. I was gone for most of the day and so missed a lot of the activity but got to take some pictures at the end of the day, and was excited to see the progress.

Week 2-Monday and Tuesday

Work continued on this week, despite some less than ideal conditions. We have a great construction crew, they don't let wind, or rain, or cold deter them from doing their job. Monday was a cool, rainy day, but things were all lined up to pour the basement walls, and so pour they did. In fact, the rain helped us. We got a bigger cement pump and more trucks at our disposal because others cancelled.

Concrete trucks lined up and ready to go, cement pump in place.

Pouring the walls.

Tuesday-----the weather was better and work was more fun. The bracing was removed from around the walls, the rim joist put on and the membrane applied to the outside of the basement.

Week 1

Monday morning early, the construction crew showed up and the actual building of the house got underway. It was not the greatest week weatherwise, but by Friday evening much had been accomplished. Monday----getting started on the foundation. The hole was pretty muddy but we had been pumping over the weekend, and with enough gravel, the work could get underway.

By Tuesday just before lunch, the concrete arrived and the foundation got poured. After that the weather deteriorated again, and got windy and rainy and the crew got to go home early, plus have Wednesday off.

Thursday they were back at it again, putting up the styrofoam forms for the basement walls.

By the end of Friday, the walls were up and the concrete ordered for Monday afternoon. Good progress I would say! and that is just the visible stuff. Kerry has been busy making arrangements for the plumbing, the main beam,ordering windows, and all kinds of other things that need to happen in order for everything to keep moving along.

Yay for laundry!

Who would have thought that laundry could be exciting?! I never thought of it that way, but today I get to do laundry again, AT HOME, and with a new washer and dryer. RED ONES!! Pretty cool! We have not been running around in dirty clothes, thanks to those who let me come over to use their washer and dryers, but there is something to be said for being able to do your laundry at home. That was one of our priorities in trying to get our lives to some kind of normal again. I mentioned in a previous post about our laundry shack that we moved up near the RV. Well yesterday, it got the appliances it was intended for. We had ordered them 2 weeks ago, and got to pick them us yesterday. Kerry had been gathering plumbing supplies and last night Shaun came over and helped him get started with moving them in and doing the hookups. This morning, after gathering a few more supplies, and enlisting Erik's help this time, the job was finished. I could do laundry! I quickly got at sorting all that had accumulated in the past week, and toting my full washbasket went out to throw in the first load. I was excited !






My new washer and dryer in their temporary home!

Washer

Dryer. So far they seem to do a fine job and 2 loads are done already! I love it!

Then, because I was feeling so pumped about doing laundry, I decided to try my hand at baking cookies in the RV oven. Had to run over to the neighbours for some ginger first though. I thought I had bought some the other day but could not find it, and I looked in every cupboard a couple of times. First batch looks okay, hopefully they taste good too! Thanks Kim for gifting me with the recipe book that had my recipe in it. Oh the blessings of ordinary tasks and the equipment to do them ! Thank You God!!

visible Progress

This week there was some progress made that is visible. It is real! It is actually going to happen! The house project is underway! Scary! Exciting! Somewhat overwhelming if we think of the big picture, but we have learned to take it one day at a time, one step at a time. Anyway, we got finished with our wheat seeding this week, there were a few passes close to the river we were waiting on, and the rest of the time was devoted to other stuff. One day, Kerry and Erik went out and did the measuring and marking for where the house was going to go,

and the next day, Wednesday, the hoe came in and started digging.

He worked all day,

and by evening there was a BIG hole and lots of dirt all around. Kerry and Erik worked along side him all day moving dirt away and making room for everything that is supposed to happen around that hole in the next couple of weeks. Then Thursday it rained, but Kerry has a pump set up and things don't look too bad. Cal, the builder, and Kerry spent some time yesterday morning in the hole marking off the starting points for Monday, when the actual foundation work is supposed to get started. There was also some wood and supplies delivered yesterday. We are still pondering our window package but are getting closer to decisions, and we got started on kitchen discussions with a kitchen designer on Thursday. So many things to think about.

Meanwhile, we are cozy in our little home, and counting our blessings. We are not happy everyday, some days are overwhelming and stressful, but we still feel blessed. Not a day goes by without someone dropping by with something, or just offering their support and love in some way, and that is what keeps us going. These acts of love and kindness touch our hearts and really do keep us going. These acts of love are touches from God. Thank you!