July 7 through July 17th
Lake City Work Team 1
The Lake City Team is here and framing is underway.
July 7
In the morning, we got the footings for the garage slab poured. We also took delivery on most of the supplies needed to frame our house(trusses and roofing to be delivered next week).

In the afternoon, Jon and Ian arrived and we started the team preparations in earnest. Kristan came back from Anchorage with meal supplies and we worked on the ATCO cabin for the guys. In this picture the cabin is being lowered (a precarious ordeal) and then we finished the necessary demolition before hauling out debris, sweeping and vacuuming.

July 8
They're here! Our first team from Lake City Community Church (LC3) arrived today to help us in the framing process of building. Here is a picture of our building site before they have begun framing.

Rob and part of the LC3 team placed rebar in the floor of our soon to be garage. Another part of the LC3 team worked on marking chalk lines to identify where walls will be placed in the basement.

July 9
After attending Big Lake Baptist Church this morning, we went to work. We had good weather, so the younger members of the team completed applying the blue waterproof membrane to the styrofoam basement exterior walls.

Us older members of the team worked on framing the basement walls and installing radiant heat tubing in the garage floor. We are now ready to pour the garage slab.

July 10
Progress! Progress! Progress! With so much man power, the youth dug fence post holes for VFCM, while the pro framers (John, Max, Jon and "Double-duty Steve") worked on framing up the basement walls.

Next, concrete was delivered and the frenzy of spreading, screeding, floating, and troweling began. Here is a picture of the concrete crew (Josh, Karl, Kristan, Rob and "Double-duty Steve").

By the end of the day, our results are very good. We have a concrete slab, ready to build a 2-foot styrofoam wall on it, and a 90% framed basement with the floor joists in place.

July 11
Again today we had two seperate projects going on. The youth, Karl, Kristan, and Rob worked on cutting rebar, drilling rebar holes in the concrete, and setting up the styrofoam forms for the 2' pony wall in the basement. The other half of the team worked on setting the rim/floor joists, attaching subfloor, laying out chalk lines for the ground floor walls, and preparing the plate.



July 12
We serve an awesome God and He does amazing things through His people. Here are pictures from the begining and the end of the day. The exterior walls for the main floor are up, the concrete pony walls around the garage are poured and we are ready for truss delivery.

Here you can see the walls going up. It brings tears to my eyes seeing God provide in such a concrete, physical and visible way. The house is looking like a house.

Amidst the best hard work there should always be a chance to play hard as well. The Lake City team got the chance to flight-see nearby glaciers and see the splendor of our Lord's creation, Alaskan style. Many thanks to Brian for making himself available to give the team this treat.


July 13
Today was filled with two major developments.
#1). Framing the inside walls of the ground floor of our house.

#2). Receiving the truss delivery.

July 14
Because our house is one big long rectangle with a single roof line, the garage walls need to be standing before the trusses can be set correctly. Here Max is posing as he and John prepare to hang the sheathing on the rear or north side of the garage.

By mid-afternoon the north and west walls were standing while everyone was working on the south or front garage wall. This wall was super heavy because of the two garage door headers. At the end of the day it began to rain pretty heavily. Come rain or shine tomorrow, trusses are ready to be stood upright.

July 15
Today the trusses were placed. The bird blocks and bracing need to be finished up before the sheathing and felt can go on.


July 16
A large portion of the roof sheathing was installed today after a well deserved meal out at Evangelo's after church. Here you can see the bird blocks under the eaves and the arrangement for getting the sheathing up to the roof.

It is absolutely incredible that wood first became a part of this structure 8 days ago. We have been so incredibly blessed by this team. Just look at what has been accomplished in 8 days!

July 17
These women were responsible for cooking three meals a day for 17 people. Without them, nothing would have been accomplished. Thank you Amanda, Karin, Gina, and Kim! As the first Lake City team returned to Washington today, we are struck at how much can be accomplished when God's people come together. We are grateful for all of their hard work.