Still Building ...

Whew. I am exhausted. So far we've got a floor and two walls up and braced. By the end of tomorrow we hope to have all four walls up and be started on the loft floor. This is moving along at a great pace. We have 7 days left before we're out of time.

Here's some pictures from yesterday and today's work:

Inspecting Materials with Brother-in-Law - good stuff!

The Materials Pile shrinks and the House grows

"Booty Call" - The first wall prepares to go up.

Notice I'm in the all important "fulcrum" position of wall-raising. My purpose there is to anchor the base of the wall while the rest of the men lift it. I'd like to say it's the most important position as the safety of the entire crew depends on you, but I guess it's also where you put the heaviest guy.

Jared and his Uncle Dennis share a private joke - probably at my expense

The First Wall Rises Under a Blue Texas Sky - Uncle Dennis, Jared, and Forerunner heft it up while I hold the base.

This was a magical moment. If there had been any audience other than the wife taking the photo and the neighbor's cows peering over the fence then there probably would have been great cheers. The first wall going up represents the culmination of 15 years of philosophical change and thought, 7 years of saving money, and 3 years of planning.

Jared peers out a "window" while we brace the second part of the wall - notice how everything is double-studded and extra stout. That's Forerunner's doing.

The Littles Entertain Themselves

Despite having their little lives completely turned upside down, the kids are handling things pretty well. They're ready to have a home again but they find plenty of things to do around the homestead. The hardest part is keeping them out from underfoot while we're working.

Hot coffee should be always nearby when building.

Heading Down to Occasional Creek

The creek that flows through our homestead only occasionally runs, but there's about a 90 acre watershed there so in a good rain it can get pretty dicey. When the weather allows, enough water remains in pools scattered along the length of the creek for 3 wayward boys to find mischief in.

A Pensive Moment

I don't know what was going on when Kat snapped this photo. Was I praying? Squinting? Resting my eyes? Counting to ten? No idea. Probably praying AND counting to ten. I've been doing a lot of that the past couple of days.

Forerunner is remarkably precise in the construction. Nothing is allowed to be so much as a quarter-inch off.

The boy and I.

Throughout this project I keep remembering that this cabin we're building will likely as not be this young man's home, with perhaps a young wife and even my grandchildren.

Two walls now up!

In this photo, Jared is holding a brace to be used to help support this second wall until the crucial third wall goes up to hold them all together. In this sort of construction, all of the components work together to provide strength for each other and in the end you have something far more stable than the individual parts. Sort of like a family.

We've got 7 days left and we're $5400 in. Need a few more boards and the steel roof. I think I've found someone to haul us out some water which will get us by until the well is dug and the roof is in place to catch rain. One additional expense is going to be that we need a driveway. The rain that hit a few days ago soaked the pasture and repeated lumber deliveries and driving in and out has damaged our temporary driveway to the point that my wife's van can't make it out.

Pray for us! We're getting it done.