Estimate

We now have an estimate on what it will cost to raise the second floor up to the level of the roof. All I can say it that it's a good thing we are doing it now before costs increase even more! Labor, materials, etc will total approximately US$20,000. It has been wonderful to see how the Lord has moved various people at differing stages of this work to support the effort financially. Many individuals and a few churches sow gifts every month. Others give offerings quarterly or as they feel led of the Lord to do so. We have had a few people ask if we can accept offerings by credit card, and until now that has not been a possibility for us. We are excited to tell you that we can now accept credit cards or Paypal. For convenience a link has been provided right here on the blog site. Everything is hosted by a secure site with Paypal. They even provide the donor with a receipt and send us a note to make us aware of the donation. Please let us know how it works for you. As always, we appreciate your prayers as we move into this second stage of building this home for chilren.

More blocks please

The morning started off as if everything was in order just as we thought it was. Until that is, the morning phone call from Fran to tell us that the block we had ordered last Friday (not yesterday, but LAST Friday) had not arrived. He summed it up by saying that there was only enough block on hand for the workers to finish working today, but there wouldn't be any for Monday morning. As it happened they actually used all the available block by 1:30! Thank the Lord that He has given us relationship with so many wonderful and helpful people. We called our Baní hardware store owner, and he agreed to get a load of block out there today so the guys could keep on working. Now to be fair, we had ordered the block from him to start with, but he was waiting for the factory to bring it directly to us instead of delivering it to him. That saves him transportation costs. This particular block factory is known for the good quality of its blocks, but it is also becoming quite well recognized for its lack of urgency in making deliveries! We're delighted that Ramón, the hardware store owner, is so willing to work with us to facilitate what we do. It's good business for him, but it's a blessing for us.

Second floor

In the Bible Job says, "That thing I feared the most has come upon me." I feel a little bit that way right now. My biggest concern about starting a blog was that there would be times when the work load or travel was such that I would not be able to remain current. Here it is Friday; I let two days go by! I will certainly strive to keep that from happening.

Yesterday we were out to Restoration Ranch and the construction site again. Because of the string of storms and tropical waves we've been having, the septic tank and septic tank hole are still full of water. The tank does look to have settled down some though. In the meantime work has begun on the second floor of this first home for children! It's exciting to see those walls going up. They may be going up a little slower because of all the rain, but up they are going.


We had originally planned to work on finishing out the inside of the first floor instead of proceeding with the second floor, but two things have motivated us to alter that a bit. One of those things is the constantly increasing cost of building materials. In one day last week cement went up by 17%! Rebar has doubled since we first started construction earlier this year, and builders are telling us this is just the beginning. Economical wisdom requires us to take advantage of the prices we have now before they climb even higher. The other factor is that we have seen how much water enters into the first floor with the second in its current state. We have always asked the Lord to guide each step of this project He has given us to do, and we certainly are thankful that He is doing so!

Storm Season

Monday provided us with two surprises. We were headed out to the Ranch with the specific purpose of repairing the generator so we could continue to get water out of the septic tank hole and begin to assess the situation. The first surprise was when we talked to our builder, and he told us that he had repaired the generator on Saturday, and that the guys were busy removing water even as we spoke. That was great news! The second surprise was when the strong thunder storms moved in, and after checking the weather report, we realized that we were in the outer bands of a developing hurricane! That was not such good news. We decided not to go out to the farm as there was nothing we could do, but our plan was to go today. It looks like Hurricane Gustav has other plans. We really aren't getting that heavy of a rain here in the capital, but the satellite image shows the heaviest parts of the storm south and west of here. The farm is south and west of here as well, so prudence leads us to not travel those roads today. Those of you who have been here know that the road to the farm is interesting enough without adding flooding, possible washouts, etc. We talked to Fran, and he is doing his best to stay dry and keep things in order there at the farm. His goal during the rains is to make sure that the channel we dug for the rain water to flow away from the building site remains open and not clogged with mud. Hopefully this will help lessen any possible water damage.

A Real Treat

Saturday night was a really special evening for us so I thought I'd share some of the delight with you.The majority of the team that was here the first week of August enjoyed a cook out together at the home of one of the team members. Roger Tinsley and his wife Lynne had invited the entire group over. We know that many teams do something similar, but this was one of the few times that arrangements were made to make sure we could be a part of it with them. First an e-mail from team leader Dick Rodermond, then a follow up phone call to see if we would be able to call at a specific time that night to talk to the group. Someone set it up so that they could all hear us and we could hear all of them, and we had such a joyous time laughing and reliving some of the fun of their trip. We heard the chicken cooked on the grill was really good, and we believe it. But it couldn't compare to the sense of love and fellowship shared within the team, their spouses, and the two of us.



This photo is especially for Cathy who taught me I could blog!

Technology vs.

Yesterday was one of those great missionary days when everything takes longer than you think it will and nothing goes as planned. Our quick stop at the hardware store to order yet more cement and more blocks turned into a quite enjoyable, but long visit. In order to get the best deal we had to wait on the owner. We had a delightful visit with the staff while we were there, and Danny was able to select a lesser expensive electric pump so we could pump the water out of the septic tank hole. We have had somewhat conflicting suggestions on how to resolve the problem. We had instructed Fran to begin to take the water out using buckets. The master builder told him not to do so, but to begin to fill the tank itself with water. So Fran, a man who obeys orders, began to do so.

He started filling the tank, but had to stop when the electricity went off and stayed off so long that he couldn't pump water anymore. In the meantime the engineer here who is helping us told us to fill the septic tank with water; this would force it to settle down to the bottom. The only problem is there is a lot of mud under there and it's not settling anywhere! So Fran and another worker began to dig out the mud from the sides of the septic tank.


While all this was going on I had the opportunity to communicate with Mike Ravan, who led the Carpenters for Christ team that helped us back in February. He had seen the same problem several times and was able to give us some great counsel. Following his plan, we headed to the hardware store to buy a pump so we could get the water out a little quicker and see just how the septic 'boat' would settle. We were not going to fill the tank with water because we had learned that if the tank settled unleveled, we would need to correct from inside the tank, thus needing a dry surface. However, we saw when we arrived that the tank was partially full anyway so we allowed that to continue. In fact, Danny regulated the well pump to allow more water to flow so it could be accomplished a little faster while we had electricity. Then he went to work building the piping system we would need to use the pump to take out water from the hole. He's so very good at things like that and built one that worked perfectly. That is, it worked perfectly the few minutes that the generator providing power was working.


It seems that at some point in the last few months a bolt holding the carburetor was lost. People had been making it work and rigging it to do its job, but it was no longer cooperative. So it was back to the bucket brigade. It's so funny sometimes when all of our great inventions and technologies are reduced to a 'bucket brigade'.

Memories

We are so blessed to have Fran and his family working at Restoration Ranch. He has such a tender heart, and I want to tell you a little story about him today. He absolutely loves the land where Restoration Ranch is being built - the entire acreage. His desire, he tells us, has always been that the land be improved and more things planted and new things started. The fact that we are doing so makes him very happy. He is, however, never as happy as when there is a work team there on the premises. He's such a hard worker, and when a group of more hard workers comes in and he gets to be a part of them he is just ecstatic. When they leave it is always emotional for him, but I didn't realize just how seriously he takes it all until recently. The last team that was here included an electrician named Stanley. Stanley really wanted to have a banana freshly picked from a tree on the farm. The fact that the bananas were all still green did not deter him! He had Fran cut a small bunch of bananas and hang them in the patio area where some of the group slept. He was hoping they would ripen before the team had to leave. It didn't quite happen that way, but here we are more than two weeks later and the bananas are still hanging there! I told Fran he could take them down, and he responded that he didn't want to take them down because they were a memory from the team that was here! Then he proceeded to tell me how he had cried when they left, and that his wife cried so much she couldn't come out and say good bye. What hard-working sweet people with such tender hearts. The Lord has truly blessed us with them.

Many of you commented that you were just as surprised by the floating cement septic tank as we were. We still don't know exactly how we are going to solve the problem, but we do believe it is something that can be resolved. Like I said yesterday, the engineer is looking at photos and going to give us a recommendation as to what we should do. The first thing Danny did yesterday was look around to see what had caused so much water to accumulate there. He noticed where the water had flowed down a hill, carving out a path, and assuring that more water would follow that path of least resistance. He immediately set the men to working on a temporary ditch that would allow the water from any future storms to flow into an area that would not create a problem.



We are currently in the season of tropical storms and hurricanes so we are likely to have a good bit more rain between now and the first couple weeks of October. We'll keep you posted on the solution for the floating cement boat!

On a grandparent note our two oldest grandchildren started school in Florida this week. Miranda is in the 4th grade, and Luke is starting 1st grade. Of course they went on Monday and then had Tuesday as a hurricane day. They didn't really experience any bad weather there in Ellenton where they live, but you have to be prepared for the uncertainty of a storm's path.



May the storms of life avoid you today!

A Little Flooding

The phone call did not do it justice. On Sunday afternoon the builder called to tell us that his employee had called him to tell him that because of the tropical storm Fay, we might have a problem with the septic tank we have been working on. So on Monday morning we all met out at the Ranch to see just what the situation was. Danny and I had both suspected that the tank was full of water and might need to be drained, and that perhaps the hole that the tank sat in was also full of water that would recede. We were only partially right - which in this case was like being totally wrong!

Imagine, if you will, a huge cement block structure attached to 8 inches of rebar reinforced cement slab. Now imagine it floating like Noah's ark! I had no idea anything that weighed that much could float.

The problem is that a lot of mud is now under that floating structure, and the septic tank itself is no longer level. All of that presents challenges. We have our engineer working on a solution. His degree is actually in civil engineering so hopefully he'll know exactly what needs to be done and how and when. Right now the master builder and our farm worker are not in agreement about what should be done. (I think we'll go with the builder on this one until the engineer tells us something different!)

Here are a couple of photos for you so you can get an idea. The first one is the septic tank when it was still in the hole where it belongs and the following two are from yesterday morning after the rains. Notice that in the first one the top of the blocks is below dirt level. In the two flooded ones the top is about a foot above. Perhaps a bit more.

It's a bright, but cloudy day here in Santo Domingo. Hard to imagine that 48 hours ago the wind was howling and the rain was coming INTO the house. Yesterday was a great day with our two girls that we sponsor at the orphanage here in town. They looked beautiful and they are both growing up. Rosita is the baby and she's 16 years old now. We took them to church with us and then on to shopping for school shoes and then out to lunch. To make the day even more special I took them to YogenFruz afterwards. We don't have YogenFruz in the US, but we sure are missing out by not having it!

I forgot to take pictures of the girls yesterday. We were just enjoying the 'being' that we forgot the 'doing'. I'll try to remember the next time. We had a little trouble finding them shoes because both of the girls have these tiny little feet and hands. In fact, we asked a man working at the store to bring us a shoe in Rosita's size, and he told us that she'd have to go to the little girl department. I said she's 16. "She may be, but she's got little girl feet" he responded good-naturedly. We finally found something for each of the girls and stood in a line that reached 'forever'. Every check out was like that. As we stood in line we realized that everyone had done pretty much what we did: wait until the last day before buying the needed school items.

Our builder out at the Ranch called yesterday and is concerned with the amount of water in the septic tank. Danny and I think it is just an accumulation of the huge amounts of water that fell over the weekend during our tropical storm. We're headed out today to take a look. You can pray that if it is anything other than that, and we need to know about it, that the Lord would show us.

What a great blessing that we got the ceiling poured when we did! We have been in the midst of a tropical storm, with almost non-stop rain. The cement had time to cure and all the rain won't do it a bit of damage. Not only that, but the inside of the first floor will stay dry. I doubt that keeping it dry down there is very important, but it is nice to know.

On the other hand, here at home we have been cleaning up water. In spite of the fact that all windows were closed, the construction of our windows allows water to enter if the rain isn't falling straight down. Since we had high winds all evening and most of the night, we had pretty much every towel we own soaking up water somewhere! This morning is clean up.

On a much more fun note, the two girls we sponsor at a local orphanage are coming over today and we are taking them shopping for school shoes. Yes, in the stormy rain. School starts Monday, and the girls need new shoes. I'll take some pictures to share with you tomorrow. Speaking of pictures, I got my new charger cradle for the camara in yesterday's mail. My wonderful little pocket camara is charged, emptied of photos, and ready to go!

Have a great day!

I'm finding it interesting determining just how much detail you would actually like to read! Work continues on the construction at the farm, but let's face it: most of it isn't as exciting as pouring the ceiling. For example, the entire septic tank has now been sealed so that there won't be any leaks. Extremely necessary, but not very exciting. The entrance into the farm has been fortified to hold the weight of the big trucks coming in. Then the fortification needed a little fortifying. Not all that exciting either. And then there is the gate that had to be removed in order to strengthen that entrance. We had to find someone who works with iron to modify it so that it would still work. So you see, a lot is happening. It just doesn't always seem worth writing about.

I did get tickled at Fran (the worker there at the farm) when we were discussing with the iron workers what was to be done and all the details. He worked so hard to make sure he was being a good 'boss'. He handled everything with the two men and then told us what the charge would be. They had started at almost double what they ended up charging. Fran, at first, seemed miffed that they had even asked the higher price. Later when he was retelling his story, I told him that their job was to ask for more and ours (his and ours) was to pay less. He liked that and then grinning proceeded to tell me that they saw our car and figured they would ask for more, but then they looked at him and knew he didn't have anything. He truly is a blessing to us. Every team that has come to the ranch to work has commented on him and his wonderful nature. Contrary to the reputation of country people here, he is one of the hardest workers I've ever known. Here are a few photos of him when our grandchildren were visiting. He loves kids as much as he loves to work!

I thought you might like to see a few shots of the actual pouring of the first floor ceiling.




That's the big crane that manuevered the hose the guy was using to direct the cement flow and a view of the 'director' at work. There were about five other guys whose job was to get into the cement with their big rubber boots and move it around until they got it like they wanted it. By the end of the day we were able to walk on the part that was poured earlier in the morning. It required nine cement trucks to bring enough cement to do the job!

Yesterday was the day! We left home about 8:00 and headed to Bani to pay for the cement trucks and get the day started. Greg and Brittany Burge went with us, and it sure was good to have the excellent company. Danny was especially glad they were along because we were carrying so much cash. Cement has gone up so much since February that, even with the discount I negotiated, w paid 15% more per cubic meter than we did just six months ago. It's hard for me to grasp that the cement alone for the ceiling of the first floor was $10,000 U.S. That doesn't count the thousands and thousands of dollars of rebar that went up there to prepare for the cement!

It was pretty exciting to watch the huge pumper truck with the 'sky high' crane readying itself to pour that ceiling. We left home at 8:00 and we returned home at 8:00 so it was a pretty full day. Enjoy the photos. Brittany, our teen-aged 'daughter' showed me how to insert photos. She showed me in less than 5 minutes yesterday. It would have taken me weeks to discover on my own! Don't we just love our teens!

Monday - a big day

Here it is! Finally the day I've been waiting for. We are heading out early today to the ranch. On the way in we will stop at the cement place, agree on the amount of cement they will pour - based on their measurement and the measurement our master builder came up with. We will pay them cash, and be on our way. Within an hour or so, based on our last experience with them, they will be out there with the cement mixer truck and a long hose that will finally pour a ceiling on the first floor of the first building. That will put the entire downstairs 'in the dry' and allow us to begin to finish it out.

Yesterday we had sand delivered to begin the process of plastering the blocks in the septic so we are a little closer to finishing that part too.

I'll try to get some pictures on here soon. Everything is better with photos!

Improvements

I hope you are all enjoying the improvements on the blog! I'm on a steep learning curve, but I'm enjoying it. There are also a few really nice people who give me tips and advice. Let me know what you think of having the music on there. Have a blessed Sunday and enjoy your church service(s).

Monday we pour!

It's Saturday, and many of you are expecting to hear that we poured the roof of the first floor. Right? That's because that's what I kept telling you! As often happens here, the plans changed slightly. After consulting with the master builder, Alberto, it was decided that Monday was a better day to pour.

After that is done, the construction crew will work for a bit on the septic tank while the cement on the roof dries. They will be putting the plaster over the block that was used to build the tank. They will then do the same for the water holding tank up on the hill.

Once that is finished, they will return to working on the children's house. There are a couple of non-load-bearing interior walls that have to be added. Then the actual wiring and plumbing. Then the plaster all the walls and paint. PAINT? OH my! I'd better do some thinking about colors! Before long we are going to be ready to put toilets, sinks, appliances, etc. I realize that everything takes more time than I think it does, but doesn't it feel like it's just about to break forth and bloom?

Friday

Today is sort of an exciting day. Although today is a day when a lot of money will be paid out, it is in preparation for that big step tomorrow. The master builder will measure how much cement (Ready mix) we will need to pour that floor. From that we will go to the company and order. They will send out their guy to measure, and we will all come to an agreement on how much we need and what it will cost. Then first thing tomorrow we and they will be out there ready to start pouring! YEA!

We had to prepare a way for the big cement trucks to come in. When we first used them back in February and March they entered through our neighbor's farm, but he has since planted trees there. It was closer to the actual construction than our entrance is so it was mighty handy. Not only that, our entrance crosses an irrigation canal so it has a little cement bridge over it. Over the gate there at the entrance was a cement header that was too low for the bigger trucks. So last Saturday after the team and their bus left, we reinforced the little cement bridge. We had torn down the header a couple days before. To the bridge we added an extra 8 inches of cement with plenty of rebar. Then allowed it to set for 7 days. (Tomorrow will complete the 7 days and the trucks will start rolling!) Each time the master builder or anyone else, including us, went to the farm we had to park outside on the street! We'll be glad that is over. :-)

One of the reasons I am so excited about this step of pouring the floor, is that it puts a roof over the first floor, and that means we can start working on finishing out the two downstairs apartments. The sooner that is done the sooner we can use them. And after seeing our last team sleep outdoors, I am certainly ready to have rooms with a roof!

Until tomorrow!

Water Mess

I have been told that a blog is a good place to share the high and the low points of all that is going on. Today is a short summary of a frustration I am dealing with today. And believe it or not, the attitude is mostly good in spite of the challenge!

I was gone for a month and followed that up with a team. I've got more work that I can list here. Add to that the fact that many of my electronics aren't working. Someone opened the window above my computer desk which holds the computer, monitor, camara cradle, CDs. etc. This while I was in Bani and wouldn't return for another week. During that time a storm blew up and soaked all of the above. Evidence of the raindrops themselves was more than 4 feet into the room. Last night I discovered that the camara cradle no longer works. I'm sure water shorted it out in some way. I had to load the photos the old fashioned way - memory stick! LOL The bad thing is that the cradle also charges the camara, when it works. I don't even know where the other charger is. Have to go looking today or I won't be able to use my camera my mother so lovingly returned to me after I left it at her house. Today I discovered that many of the CDs had begun to mold where the paper title page in them got wet and stayed moist and hot. On some of them the paper stuck to the CD. Three pictures of my niece, Emily, that I had laying in front of the monitor were soaked and stuck together - non salvagable. I could go on and on, but I'd better stop. It really highly frustrates me. That window is NEVER opened. I knew something had happened when I got home Saturday as all the papers on my desk were strewn all over the floor and out into the hall. The speakers on the computer desk were knocked over and basically the place looked ransacked. Just didn't realize the extent of the water damage at that time.

Ahh, another day in the life......

Discoveries

Good Day to you. Or as they said in Australia, G'day. I learned a lot and accomplished plenty yesterday. I was able to clean up and salvage all of the CDs, and in the process decided to go through them to download favorite songs onto my I-Pod, then store the CDs in a drier place. :)

Also sort of (mostly) cleaned out the closet in the office looking for a charger for my camera, thinking I would have saved the box with any accesories I wasn't using. Then decided to check the filing cabinet in case I had filed it in the 'electronics' file. No charger, but what I did decide to look at the manual and quick start guide that was in the said file. Guess what. The camera didn't come with any other kind of charger! LOL But I have a neater closet, a few less things in the filing cabinet, and that good feeling that comes from accomplishing something you've been putting off, waiting for a better time. Straightening that closet was one of those things. Oh, I went on line and ordered a new cradle/charger for my camera. Hope it gets here soon. I still have some battery life, but not a lot.

Hey, how about some more good news. We will be pouring the cement for the intermediate floor on building one THIS SATURDAY! Oh my, this is the step I've been waiting for. For some reason it means major progress to me. We'll be back out to the farm tomorrow (Friday) and then again on Saturday. Keep us in your prayers for safe travel and an excellent job on the cement floor work.

Have a great day.

MIssions Task Force

The team that was just here from SC came specifically to work on electrical and such high skill tasks. The group consisted of people from Cornerstone Church in Greenville and Restoration Church in Spartanburg. In the group were three electricians, and I was so excited that the work to be done would be done to our standards. Sadly enough, the project was slightly behind and they could not start their electrical work until the next to last day of their trip. The first few days the entire team spent building rebar cases or boxes, whatever they are called. They then had to build the rebar mat on top of the first floor. Finally the electricians got to work on electrical things. The funny thing is that every time I went by to take a picture of them working, they were standing scrutinizing a spot and trying to figure out just what the best plan of action would be! Must I say here that Dominican ideas of how to wire things and U.S. ways are not the same? For example: most wiring here doesn't have a ground wire. NOT GROUNDED? Nope, not grounded. Usually the use 14 guage wire instead of 12, and that can cause overheating. The other thing that we have noticed is that the color of the wire doesn't usually mean anything. In fact, if there was a good buy on one color, it may all be in that color! This works fine here in the Dominican Republic because they all know that is how it is done. It confounds Americans! And while we want to maintain the dominican culture for the children, we would like to do electricity to US standars as much as possible.

The progress on the first building at Restoration Ranch is exciting to watch. I have to admit that it goes slower than I thought, but that is simply because I truly had no idea what all has to be done to make a proper building with concrete and rebar. Each step takes its time and must be completed before the next one is taken. The up side to that is seeing the difference after some of the work is done. When we came back from Australia we went straight out to see the project. Wood had been placed on top, as if it were a ceiling, so that a cement floor could eventually be poured. (Silly me - I thought all we needed was the wood framing and we could pour concrete!) The thing that was so exciting was to walk through the downstairs part of the house that now has something that resembles a ceiling. Before, it was still open to the skies. Each little step makes it more and more into the home for children we desire for it to be.

For those of you who also thought that the wood framing was enough, let me explain a little bit. Keep in mind my limited knowledge of construction! After the framing went up, steel frames of rebar had to be built to place throughout the building perimeter and on other load-bearing walls in order to have a strong bond beam. Then a mat of rebar had to be built and placed on the wood framing to provide strength for the cement that is yet to be poured. After that process the electricians could begin to put conduit in the walls to prepare for eventual wiring. Then some plumbing prep, and well, I don't know. If we do something else before we have the cement poured I'll let you know!

Sleeping outside and fighting off the mosquitos was not our plan for the construction team we had visiting us this last week. You know what they say about the best laid plans. The house we had rented across the street from the farm that will be Restoration Ranch did not work out well for the team. So we took the borrowed mattresses and cots over to the little house that is already on the farm and manage to get a few of the guys in the room upstairs. The rest found places under one of the two gazebos. The five people under the larger gazebo were fairly comfortable during the hours when there was electricity. The fan kept the mosquitos at bay. The two men under the smaller gazebo had no fan, so I assume they never did get comfy! Electricity was unreliable of course. While we have gotten moderately accustomed to that in the 11 years we have been here, it is still a shocker to people that come over from the States for a week or two hoping to accomplish great things for the Lord. While they are putting heart and soul into their work they have to battle the constant lack of what should be normal every day items - such as running water and electricity. Ah, life in a developing nation. How interesting it can be!

This particular team came from South Carolina and consisted of 10 people. Among them were electricions, a plumber, an engineer, a home improvement pro, a nurse, and more. They accomplished so much during their tough week with us. (They are the first team we ever 'housed' outdoors!) We all agreed, however, that it was nice to right there on the property all week, and not hours away having to drive in every morning. We set the gas stove up under the gazebo and cooked meals right there. The wife of our farm worker, Marta, cooked several of our evening meals, and everyone enjoyed them tremendously. The gazebo is wired for electricity, when there is any so we plugged up the coffee pot and had good Dominican coffee every morning. The mornings when we had no electricity, we cranked up the little generator and perked our coffee that way. Where there is a will, there is a way. And there was certainly a will!

More later. Have a great day.