The Trusses are Up

Day 2 has been a very productive day.  The men were able to get all the trusses up and all the rocks were moved for the retaining wall for the outhouse.

The first truss going up

Crash! Moving rocks down a steep hill

Chopping down weeds around the trees

Working hard and getting a nice tan

Trusses going up

Laura painting the bathroom door

All the trusses up!

The teams from Forest Baptist and Alberta are here!

After a long trip the group from Forest Baptist and Alberta arrived this morning in Atrel.  We are so thankful to have them here and right after lunch and getting settled they started working.

Caleb started clearing the brush around the outhouse toilet, so that it can be back filled with dirt

 Helen and Laura helped remove the brush.

 Simeon and Caleb moved rocks down by the toilets so that a rock retaining wall could be built.

 Taking a break from the heavy load before going down the hill and making a sharp left.

 Walter and Mitchell built a wall for the cold storage room, so that it can be used as a storage room for the tools.

 Bryon, Kyrk and Simeon were putting the finishing touches on the trusses so that they can be set tomorrow.

 Helen helping to clean some of the floor upstairs

Bob and Brian moving the scaffolding to the second floor.

This is a bowl of turkey that was a gift from the local pastor's wife.  She wanted to give us a gift and thankfully some of the local ladies were willing to kill it and prepare it for us.  It sure smelled good.

A Few Pictures from the Past Few Days

It is amazing how quickly the house is being built.  These guys are really doing a wonderful job.  Special thanks to Jake, Peter, Jake and Steven.
Our crew of Haitian men are working hard also and finishing the last bit of concrete work.

 Finishing the floor for the second floor.

 Starting to put up the plywood on the inside of the walls.

 The boys love seeing what is happening and pretending they are building also.

 Naomi and Anna standing outside their bedroom.

 Yesterday a truck load of much needed supplies arrived with materials from Fermathe.  So thankful that the roads are passable right now for this big truck. 

 The outside sheeting being put up on the house.

 Anna loves her room and always asks to have a picture taken in her room.

 Yesterday they started framing the second floor walls and building the trusses.

Today we spent the morning visiting a large local market and also visiting a local school.  This afternoon the guys hope to continue building the trusses and finish all the interior walls.  They would really like to get all the trusses up before they are finished on Saturday and have to start their journey home on Monday.

The Walls are Going up!

 Wow it has been a very busy past few days around here.  The four men from Ontario are very hard workers and a great help.
They started to put the fence up on Thursday and were finished by early afternoon Friday.  Then on Saturday the walls started to go up.
It was such a great sight to finally see the actual walls of the house being constructed!

Kyrk laid out all the track for the walls while the men were working on the fence.

 This was the results of Saturday's work!

 The team of masonary workers were able to finish the back wall on Saturday also. 

Yesterday we all enjoyed a great service at the Atrel church.  It is always a special time worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Christ from this area and we pray that we may continue to get to know the people as we fellowship with them.

 Today they started putting up the floor joist and even got some of the plywood floor pieces laid.

The Floor is Poured and We are Ready to Build

Yesterday our team of Haitian men were able to pour the basement floor.  They did a great job and now we are ready to start putting up the steel studs to build the house.  Kyrk started marking out the walls on the floor this afternoon.

Today a group of 4 men from Ontario arrived to help start the building.  Their first job is to put the fence up around the property and they eagerly started that job shortly after they arrived.
They will be here for 2 weeks and I think that we are going to get a lot of work accomplished in the next 2 weeks!!

Marking the lines for the walls

Naomi was given the job of sweeping the extra concrete off the edges

Putting iron through the poles, preparing for the fence to be put up

We are "Living" in Atrel

On Tuesday we said good bye to those at the mission in Fermathe and moved to our little home in Atrel.   The welcome that we received was very encouraging.  As we came through the town of Atrel we saw Pastor Fritz visiting with a deacon and they were so pleased to welcome us to Atrel.
On Wednesday a man who has a garden right beside our property wanted to welcome us by sharing some of his beans with us.  This meant some work for us yesterday, but when everyone helps out, it can make a job more fun.  We enjoyed great bean sauce last night from some of the beans.

Sitting together taking the beans out of the pods

 Having power is very helpful.  We have a small solar panel, but it is not quite enough to keep up with charging telephones, a computer and lights, so the men installed the wind generator yesterday.  We truly are thankful for power!

 Gerben and Ellen are here with us right now and it is so great to have them here helping out.  Gerben was a huge help to Kyrk as they set up the wind generator yesterday.

In a couple of weeks we have a group of men coming to help build and we do not have enough space inside for them all to sleep, so we set up some tents.  The kids are enjoying them now and have spent the past 2 nights in them.

It is extremely dry right now and very windy.  Farmers are really struggling right now.  It has been over 6 weeks since it has rained here and our cistern is almost empty.  We were so thankful when this water  container arrived yesterday from Fermathe and the men filled it with water from the spring in town this morning. 

Work is progressing on our house property.  The men have been working on some concrete posts and cementing in metal fence posts.  Hopefully by the end of the week or the beginning of next week the fence can be put up.

Praise:
*  Great trip to Atrel and amazing welcome from the local people
*  Everyone seems to be adjusting well to life here
*  We have water for the next week or more

Pray:
*  That it will rain!

Birthday Celebrations

The end of December is a time for celebrations around our house.  Yesterday we celebrated Kyrk's birthday. 

 This is the cake that we called Kyrk's "Birthday Cake"  Yes it was given to him just like this, with a couple pieces out of it and the words on the top say Merry Christmas. 

Robert's Birthday was today and he enjoyed being King for the day.

 Enjoying the air hockey game from Grandma Campbell.

 He wore this hat almost all day.

 Enjoying his gift from Gerben and Ellen.

No birthday in our house is complete without Ice cream.