I can't believe it's been more than a month since the last update I wrote!  Things at the house have moved along quickly, and we're spending almost all of our available time there doing our part.

Two weeks ago we reached a major milestone at the retreat house: the drywallers finished hanging and finishing the drywall. What an amazing difference!  These guys are good, too. They did the whole job, including sanding the floors when they were done, in just 8 days. Shortly thereafter, the contractor doing the deck finished his work as well.

The HVAC people came to hook up the geo-thermal unit and got it running. (You wouldn't believe how fast it cooled the entire house!) The kitchen appliances were delivered last week, and there's was a minor glitch that we had to deal with. The driver of the delivery truck ran over, and broke, the main water shut off outside of the house. We contacted the trucking company, and they sent someone right out to fix it. Amazingly, they didn't even tear up the new driveway/roadway we had built. We also got the final o.k. on the septic system from the health department.

So, that marks the end of our involvement with contractors. From here on out, all the rest of the work is up to Cameron and I. Cameron has been busy working on the soffits and siding (thank you God for such awesome good weather!); I've been inside the house painting and putting down flooring. Believe it or not, I've learned to run power tools (saws, nailers, etc.) and have measured, cut, and installed the subflooring for both the kitchen and the laundry room. Then I tried my hand at putting down the vinyl floor tile. It's amazing what you can learn to do when you have to and when you have the assurance that God is guiding your steps (or hands as the case may be).

As of this writing, we are very near being able to secure a certificate of occupancy. We have a working bathroom (yeah!), and all we need to do is install the sink and the stove in the kitchen and we'll have a working kitchen. Those are the two requirements for a certificate of occupancy. Our plan is to move in to the R&R House and finish it as we go, once our house in town is sold.

And that is where we could use some more prayer. We are fast approaching the date when the construction loan will have to convert to a mortgage, and our house in town needs to be sold before then. There's no way we can swing two mortgages. So if God lays it on your heart, please pray for a quick sale at a fair price. I know that God knows what we have need of, so I know the house will sell. And, as with everything else with this project, it will happen in HIS time, not mine.

Check the construction page again soon. I hope to have some updated pictures there - IF I'm home (and awake) long enough to get them up on line.