hidden hours

As I watch this stage of Hobbs house construction, I'm amazed at how tedious and numerous the tasks are, and that nobody will ever see or even be aware of the work it required.

Thomas has spent a lot of time making sure the construction of the house below is sound. He has reinforced the kitchen floor and rebuilt beams that were rotten. He has laid new pillars and set new jacks under beams. Since the crawl space is so tight in some places, he has to slide around on his stomach to get to where he is going. It's a lot of work that no one will notice.

This is between the kitchen and bedroom inside the rotten closet.

He also filled in many of the holes in the floor and put plywood in several places that were just open, like the high wall out to the carport.

Thomas and Walker took out the door jam from the kitchen door and prepared the frame for what will be the window. No more walking into the kitchen from the carport!

When my dad was in North Carolina for the holidays, he spent a day helping Thomas frame in the door from the back bedroom into what will be the new bathroom, the coat closet in the main room, and the closet in the front bedroom. Since nothing in the house is square, it took a whole day of work, which eventually, will be covered up and hidden by sheet rock.

And now the electrician and plumbers have begun their work! Wires and electrical boxes are everywhere.

The bath tub is installed, as well as connections for sinks, toilets, etc.

Thomas is excited that other people are getting to work on the house. While he has done some electrical and plumbing before, he is happy to have experts getting it done quickly and right. Although he has found it challenging to act as the "contractor" without any experience. He is realizing that some of the professionals he is working with expect him to give more direction. I think he's doing a great job of managing so many details and schedules!

Our exciting New Year's Eve was spent preparing for the plumbers to lay the new sewer line. Walker brought the tractor and Brite brought a concrete saw. And Micah got to watch his first John Deere. 

We are excited to enter 2013 and continue on this journey!

hope is here

What a sweet holiday season. We enjoyed lots of time together as a family. Micah babe of course loved discovering the lights, wrapping paper and boxes. And I enjoyed two weeks off of work to be the mama.

Watching my baby boy gave new meaning to celebrating the birth of Christ. In the midst of all of the wonder of the season, we had a bout of stomach bug, Micah had to get tubes in his ears after 3 ineffective rounds of antibiotics, my mom had a major scar on her nose from removal of skin cancer, and my sister is wrestling with treatment for epilepsy. All of the struggles our bodies endure are evidence that the world is not as it was meant to be. And it makes me ever more grateful that Christ was willing to leave perfection to identify with our suffering and rescue us. We rejoice that in the birth of our King, light entered the darkness and will reign forever.