We've been MIA on Hodgson Tales for a few weeks now, but we're back with good news! We're packing up our duplex as I write and we're planning to move into the 909 House tomorrow! (This is obviously dependent on the work that gets done today: Grouting the tile, final polyurethane coat on the floors, drywall patching and a final cleaning.) But everything is on schedule now, so we hope to bring back good news in a few days to let you know that we've successfully moved in! Or, whenever we have Internet again.
Please keep us in your prayers ... that we're able to get everything that needs to be done in good time and that the work crews that are in and out of the house will do the same. Pray for good weather tomorrow as we move.
Hope to bring good news on!
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Countdown Begins ...
I can't believe I'm saying this .... But I think it's about that time to begin counting down the days until we move into the 909 House!! While this means we have to pack our stuff up again, pick up boxes and a lot more stuff at Brad's old work warehouse (yes, if you didn't know, he has a new job ... he's now the director of stewardship at vintage21 church :), and actually move, this is an exciting time.
Our contractor was busy with a few other jobs the last 2 weeks and wasn't around too much, but now that those jobs have come to a close, he's back in full force and he's ready to knock out the punch list. This means that the trim guys were back yesterday and today finishing up interior and exterior trim, our front porch columns arrived (yippee ... they look fantastic), were installed and primed today, the flooring guys were back to continue sanding the hardwoods, the HVAC guys were back to work on piping that needs to be fixed for the inspection and the electrician came back to install lights and electrical boxes. Our painter will begin his first coat on the exterior trim this week (weather permitting) and will follow with the rest of the exterior. And the flooring guy will finish sanding this week and will return this weekend to stain the floors. Our new windows are set to arrive early next week and once they come in, we'll have them installed (will take about 2 days).
From there, we're still waiting on the kitchen and powder room countertops to be installed, along with the corresponding powder room vanity and toilet. We're having the upstairs vanities built, but those should come around pretty soon and then we can order the countertops for those pieces. The hall bathtub still needs to be installed ... it's been sitting at our contractor's house for over a month ... but once that's installed, the tile guys can come back and finish tiling the hall bathroom and the plumber can come back and install all of our plumbing fixtures that won't be installed with the kitchen or powder room countertops. And as everything begins to wrap up the cabinet guy will come back to do final touches on our kitchen and mud room cabinets and our painter will go through the house one last time to touch up.
It seems crazy that all of this can happen in 1.5 weeks, but it's amazing to see these guys work. There seems to be so much forward planning, but once it's time to get the work done, it gets done very quickly (and with good quality). So for now, please pray for good weather so that we can continue to work on the exterior of the house and for diligence and a concern for quality as the work crews come in and out of the house the next 1.5 weeks so that we not only make our inspection & CO deadline (Dec. 11), but so that we can rest assured that the work was done well and will last.
(I'll post new pictures tomorrow.)
Our contractor was busy with a few other jobs the last 2 weeks and wasn't around too much, but now that those jobs have come to a close, he's back in full force and he's ready to knock out the punch list. This means that the trim guys were back yesterday and today finishing up interior and exterior trim, our front porch columns arrived (yippee ... they look fantastic), were installed and primed today, the flooring guys were back to continue sanding the hardwoods, the HVAC guys were back to work on piping that needs to be fixed for the inspection and the electrician came back to install lights and electrical boxes. Our painter will begin his first coat on the exterior trim this week (weather permitting) and will follow with the rest of the exterior. And the flooring guy will finish sanding this week and will return this weekend to stain the floors. Our new windows are set to arrive early next week and once they come in, we'll have them installed (will take about 2 days).
From there, we're still waiting on the kitchen and powder room countertops to be installed, along with the corresponding powder room vanity and toilet. We're having the upstairs vanities built, but those should come around pretty soon and then we can order the countertops for those pieces. The hall bathtub still needs to be installed ... it's been sitting at our contractor's house for over a month ... but once that's installed, the tile guys can come back and finish tiling the hall bathroom and the plumber can come back and install all of our plumbing fixtures that won't be installed with the kitchen or powder room countertops. And as everything begins to wrap up the cabinet guy will come back to do final touches on our kitchen and mud room cabinets and our painter will go through the house one last time to touch up.
It seems crazy that all of this can happen in 1.5 weeks, but it's amazing to see these guys work. There seems to be so much forward planning, but once it's time to get the work done, it gets done very quickly (and with good quality). So for now, please pray for good weather so that we can continue to work on the exterior of the house and for diligence and a concern for quality as the work crews come in and out of the house the next 1.5 weeks so that we not only make our inspection & CO deadline (Dec. 11), but so that we can rest assured that the work was done well and will last.
(I'll post new pictures tomorrow.)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Caedmon's Dedication at Vintage21 Church
At 14 months, Caed finally had the opportunity to be dedicated at Vintage21 Church today.
For those of you that are not familiar with this process, this means that Brad and I brought Caed before the church to say that we commit to raise him in the ways of the Lord (pray for him, teach him and shepherd him well) and to ask our church family to help us in this process (to love him and us and to be a positive example of Jesus to him).
For many people, baptism is a traditional step to take a baby through at this age, but we believe that baptism is an outward sign of an inward decision to follow Jesus (Colossians 2:9-15), and we pray that this will be a decision that Caed will make for himself one day when he outwardly professes that he believes in Jesus and wants to use his life to glorify him. That is a day that we've prayed for since the day he was born and will continue to pray for until it comes into fruition.
Until then, we pray that through our own example in his life, through the truth that we teach him in scripture, through our ongoing prayer for him, and the positive example of those around him, that he's able to see Jesus and realize that he desperately needs a savior to save him from his brokenness. This is obviously a lot to comprehend for a one year old, but I believe that as his little mind develops and he begins to understand the difference between right and wrong, he'll be able to comprehend that God did not intend for us to be broken, but because sin entered the world, our hearts are broken and we can't fix them ourselves. We need Jesus, the perfect savior, to redeem our brokenness and give us new life. This is the truth that Brad and I hope to share with Caedmon as he grows, and despite our own brokenness, it is our prayer that Jesus will allow us to be good teachers of His word and be able to love Caedmon well so that he can experience this truth for himself while he is young.
Here's a picture of the new Bible that Caed received today. His buddy Mason already received one a few months ago, and he was already showing him all the cool stories that it tells.
For many people, baptism is a traditional step to take a baby through at this age, but we believe that baptism is an outward sign of an inward decision to follow Jesus (Colossians 2:9-15), and we pray that this will be a decision that Caed will make for himself one day when he outwardly professes that he believes in Jesus and wants to use his life to glorify him. That is a day that we've prayed for since the day he was born and will continue to pray for until it comes into fruition.
Until then, we pray that through our own example in his life, through the truth that we teach him in scripture, through our ongoing prayer for him, and the positive example of those around him, that he's able to see Jesus and realize that he desperately needs a savior to save him from his brokenness. This is obviously a lot to comprehend for a one year old, but I believe that as his little mind develops and he begins to understand the difference between right and wrong, he'll be able to comprehend that God did not intend for us to be broken, but because sin entered the world, our hearts are broken and we can't fix them ourselves. We need Jesus, the perfect savior, to redeem our brokenness and give us new life. This is the truth that Brad and I hope to share with Caedmon as he grows, and despite our own brokenness, it is our prayer that Jesus will allow us to be good teachers of His word and be able to love Caedmon well so that he can experience this truth for himself while he is young.
Here's a picture of the new Bible that Caed received today. His buddy Mason already received one a few months ago, and he was already showing him all the cool stories that it tells.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Getting Back to Business
Brad called just a few minutes ago to let me know that we're back in business at the 909 House. The plumber, HVAC guy and I think a foundation guy (so technical, I know) were at the house today with our contractor to look it over before they begin another round of work tomorrow. (The weather is suppose to be great for most of the day too!) Plus, the house next door, which burnt down a few months back, was "officially" bulldozed and the construction crew will come to pick up the pile of rubble tomorrow.
One problem that we were dealing with was trying to figure out how we could economically dig out the scattered pavement and stone in the backyard without having to pay $1500 to get it hauled away (including the dump charge as well). Since the demolition next door and our next round of work will be happening on the same day, our contractor is going to try to pay the construction crew next door to haul it away with their rubble!!! Cross your fingers and pray that this works out. It'll save us a lot of money and trouble later on!! (It's amazing how God works things out like this!)
For those of you that haven't been following our house sauga off-line, here's a quick run-down: Not too long after initial demolition, we felt that God was leading us to change the scope of the house project and take the addition we had planned to add on to the back of the house out of the project -- giving us a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house instead of 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and an extra living space in the back. Typing this out makes the previous plan sound excessive, but the plan was to have this house be a long-term place for us, where we'd have room for guests and additional kids down the road. Now, our new plan doesn't change that hope too much, it just forces us to get a little more creative and ultimately trust that the Lord knows what's best for us. The process of changing this plan was tough. It took us going back to the bank, the contractor and the architect and pleading our case. (All of the paperwork had already been submitted for loans, contracts, etc.) But to make a long story short, God was good! He gave us favor with all of the parties involved, and although we still have a long way to go before we can have a final product and see how God worked everything out, we know that He will provide for us ... regardless of what that looks like. And through it all, God has strengthened our faith and our dependence on Him and has grown our marriage like never before.
Even though growing hurts, we're thankful that we've been able to go through this process. We hope that this will be the last road block in the completion of the house, but if it's not, we'll get through it and just trust God.
We'll look forward to keeping you posted on the house.
One problem that we were dealing with was trying to figure out how we could economically dig out the scattered pavement and stone in the backyard without having to pay $1500 to get it hauled away (including the dump charge as well). Since the demolition next door and our next round of work will be happening on the same day, our contractor is going to try to pay the construction crew next door to haul it away with their rubble!!! Cross your fingers and pray that this works out. It'll save us a lot of money and trouble later on!! (It's amazing how God works things out like this!)
For those of you that haven't been following our house sauga off-line, here's a quick run-down: Not too long after initial demolition, we felt that God was leading us to change the scope of the house project and take the addition we had planned to add on to the back of the house out of the project -- giving us a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house instead of 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and an extra living space in the back. Typing this out makes the previous plan sound excessive, but the plan was to have this house be a long-term place for us, where we'd have room for guests and additional kids down the road. Now, our new plan doesn't change that hope too much, it just forces us to get a little more creative and ultimately trust that the Lord knows what's best for us. The process of changing this plan was tough. It took us going back to the bank, the contractor and the architect and pleading our case. (All of the paperwork had already been submitted for loans, contracts, etc.) But to make a long story short, God was good! He gave us favor with all of the parties involved, and although we still have a long way to go before we can have a final product and see how God worked everything out, we know that He will provide for us ... regardless of what that looks like. And through it all, God has strengthened our faith and our dependence on Him and has grown our marriage like never before.
Even though growing hurts, we're thankful that we've been able to go through this process. We hope that this will be the last road block in the completion of the house, but if it's not, we'll get through it and just trust God.
We'll look forward to keeping you posted on the house.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Demolition Begins Today!
Yay!!! We have been waiting for this day for a year and a half ... that is the demolition of our 909 House and forward steps to move-in! We finally closed on our construction loan at the bank last Monday and we knew that demolition wasn't far out of sight. The bank has actually been the biggest hang up for the last few months. We have agreed on all house plans, submitted all of our info, crossed all the Ts and dotted all the Is, but since banks are taking much more precaution these days with loans, especially construction loans, the processing time just took that much longer. But either way, everything has been processed now, we have all of our permits, the loan is in effect and the dumpter and the initial demolition crew just showed up today!
Caed and I drove down there right before Caed's nap this morning to get one last peek of the "Before"
look of the house:
You can see from the second picture that the crew is beginning to take off the siding in the back. They're doing this because we're going to keep that same siding on the rest of the original structure, and they'll use the good siding from the section they're removing to fill in any bad patches on the original structure later on. (They'll finish it with a nice, fresh coat of paint ... color is yet to be determined.) Simultaneously, they're gutting the interior of that back section and preparing to knock it down and pour concrete to repair the foundation. From there, they'll clear out old concrete and yard debris from the backyard and frame up the walls for the new addition on the other side of the house (adjacent to the section they're working on today).
Once they complete that phase, weather shouldn't be a factor any more because the majority of the remaining work will take place indoors. Please pray for good weather over the next month!
Stay tuned for more updates!
Caed and I drove down there right before Caed's nap this morning to get one last peek of the "Before"
look of the house:You can see from the second picture that the crew is beginning to take off the siding in the back. They're doing this because we're going to keep that same siding on the rest of the original structure, and they'll use the good siding from the section they're removing to fill in any bad patches on the original structure later on. (They'll finish it with a nice, fresh coat of paint ... color is yet to be determined.) Simultaneously, they're gutting the interior of that back section and preparing to knock it down and pour concrete to repair the foundation. From there, they'll clear out old concrete and yard debris from the backyard and frame up the walls for the new addition on the other side of the house (adjacent to the section they're working on today).Once they complete that phase, weather shouldn't be a factor any more because the majority of the remaining work will take place indoors. Please pray for good weather over the next month!
Stay tuned for more updates!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Prayer for Pop & Family
For those of you that don't know, my Grandpa, "Pop", has been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past 4+ years and his mind has been gradually going down hill, while the rest of his body remained fairly healthy. Within the past 2 weeks that has changed. He has fallen several times and then suffered from severe dehydration (thanks to the fabulous care at his nursing home), which caused his kidneys to shut down and his breathing to stop momentarily. Once his doctor's realized that he was dehydrated, they were able to treat him fairly quickly, but he continues to go up and down. And sadly, all of this trauma has caused his Alzheimer's to escalate to the next level, leaving him unable to speak, swallow or walk. To keep up his nourishment, the doctors inserted a feeding tube into his stomach this weekend and he has been battling an infection ever since.
Please pray for his comfort during this time, for wisdom for my Dad and Grandma as they are faced with some tough decisions, and that Dad, Grandma and Pop would know how great God's love is for them and how He longs to
be their comforter and bearer of this heavy l
oad.
(These pictures were taken Christmas '06.)
Please pray for his comfort during this time, for wisdom for my Dad and Grandma as they are faced with some tough decisions, and that Dad, Grandma and Pop would know how great God's love is for them and how He longs to
be their comforter and bearer of this heavy l
oad.(These pictures were taken Christmas '06.)
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