Semi-Normal

I love a yellow tree on a rainy day.  It seems more brilliant against the gray day.

 We love even more that the basement stayed dry!

The pic above is the same tree the next day with the sun shining.  It seems to fade into the background now.   Something else that is brighter is our basement.  The electrician came last week to repair the electrical wire that broke with the wall.  His crew took out our single bulb fixtures with pull chains in the four corners of the room and installed 4 fluorescent double light fixtures - - - with a double switch-plate at the base of the basement stairs.   What a wonderful difference!  (Remember this is an unfinished storage basement.)

 No more work was done this week with the basement.  The wall is still curing.  At the end of last week, only the bottom corners seemed to need a bit more drying out.  That wall is a thing of beauty to us - - even if it is grey cinderblock.

 Do you remember when my husband was a volunteer at the Honors Course for the above tournament?  If not, it's okay.  As a reward for the workers, they got to play eighteen holes of golf there today. 

 He had a WONDERFUL time - - - great weather, played decently, and enjoyed talking with his partner - - who happens to go to church with us - - - but they never met until today.  These things happen in a big church.

 On Saturday night, Bill and I enjoyed a fun couple of hours at a couple's home.  They invited quite a few people in for delicious finger foods and  fabulous fellowship.

Some of you mentioned Trick or Treaters in today's blogs.  We generally get none since we are at the end of a hilly street and the houses in our subdivision are too far apart for kids to walk.  (Plus with ten foot deep trenches around two sides of our house, we don't need kids in the yard.)   Also, our city has two HUGE festivals tonight in addition to activities in our indoor shopping mall. 

About your blogs ---- I have read most of them but will never get caught up on comments.  Sorry about that but . . . . Y'all - - - - semi-normal feels WONDERFUL!  It's a great respite from the stress of last week!  Catch you next weekend - - probably!

Its leaves were lovely . . . Daniel 4:12a

 

Maestro Masons!

Just some pics of artists at work.

 

 

 

 

The "cool" thing is nothing is getting into the basement now unless we invite it - - - that would include deer, possum, raccoons, and skunks!  Those were more of a concern to us than household items disappearing. 

I do have a different set of pictures to post - - - not house related - - - maybe you'll get to see them sometime before more house repair.  If you get tired of it all, you don't have to read it.  However, I am doing it for our scrapbook.

. . . . See, the Lord has called by name . . . . and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship . . . . .   Exodus 35:30, 31  

. . . . . every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work . . . .   Exodus 36:2  

 

More Beautiful than Legos

 

This is inside the basement - - NOT being able to look outside  Praise God!  Our wonderful workers were done by mid-afternoon!  The construction crews are our heroes.

 

There is obviously more to do - - and he told us all the steps including letting the blocks/mortar cure before jacking the house a bit to put in a beam - - and waterproofing, drains, retaining wall, landscaping.  I'll take pics along the way  - - - and have more from today but realized that I am tired.  The relief of having a closed basement allowed me to "stop and rest".

We are soooo thankful for the workers and their great demeanor - - - always polite.  They never tired of educating and updating us on their progress. . . . . so I'll write again in a few days or next weekend but thank you, friends for praying us through and PRAISING HIM, too!

So we built the wall . . . Nehemiah 4:6

Walls on Wheels

See the truck with the concrete blocks - - - - our new basement wall was delivered this morning!  That is not our house you see just past the truck.  Our house is on the right hand side of this picture.  The blocks had to be transported UP the hill and around all of this . . . .

 

This would be the left side of our house if you were looking at the house from the front.  (We know some of the trim near the roof is blue - - - those boards are going to be replaced so there was no need to paint them.) 

I know you are curious about the height of these piles - - - so does this help?

I am sure most of you know that a forklift was used to transport the block.

 It is quite an impressive sight to see a fairly small machine lift a stack of these and haul them up a hill and over some uneven terrain.

The blocks are actually located on the left of this ditch across from the gate.  (Nothing like having your septic exposed for the world to see, is there?!!  We discovered the septic is full of tree roots and needs pumping, too.  Rid-X does not destroy tree roots.)

Do you remember what the front of the house looked like Wednesday morning in our yard during clean-up?

 

Here it is that same afternoon!  Pretty impressive, isn't it?!!

Now you have to hear two more "God-things".  The first is that we were able to have one of the very best backhoe operators in Cleveland available to work on an emergency project with no advance notice.   We were told it would take 1-2 weeks to schedule this excavation work.  Because of the rain the night before, his other job was cancelled for the day.  Because of the rain the night before, our wall fell and we needed him.

The second thing is it is a miracle my husband is alive.  He was in the basement with the shop-vac vacuuming up water from the rain.  His back was to the basement wall that fell.  He could not hear anything but the whine of the machine - - - which became full.  The sound on the machine changes when it fills up.  Bill cut off the shop-vac and immediately heard a popping sound.  He turned toward the wall - - - saw a vertical crack open and widen with mud seeping through - -- - another pop and he said to himself, "It's time to get upstairs."  The minute his foot hit the stair steps, blocks began popping out of the wall.  We ran to the far end of the house until the popping and crashing stopped.  When we went downstairs and saw the demolition, we realized he could have been under the wall of blocks!

As I said yesterday, we are Praising God through all of this because we see HIS Hand of protection in it.

Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord, O my soul!  While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.  Psalm 146:1-3

 

And the Walls Came Crumbling Down!

This is what happened on Labor Day when we had over 10 inches of rain in a very short time.  Our basement wall cracked and bulged inward due to movement of the earth behind it.   We waited on insurance evaluation and got estimates and education from foundation contractors.  Four days ago, we had given an initial payment to the contractor of our choice.  He was scheduled to be here this morning at 8 a.m. to put up a temporary support wall.  He arrived at 7:30.

Well  - - last night we got another deluge of a rainstorm.  The earth moved again and the entire 27 foot long front basement foundation wall fell to the ground.  This picture is inside the basement looking outside into the front yard early this morning.  See the neighbor's house across the street?!!

 

The next two are more of the same but also show the wall on the floor.

And here we are outside - -- looking in before excavation has begun.  Notice under the window on the left - - you can see through the basement out into the back yard.

 

Inside temporary support wall is up - - - in a very short time.  We were impressed.

Keep us in prayer.  It is what literally has kept our house from collapsing.  The contractors said, "Why didn't the house collapse?  It should have collapsed.  What was holding the wall up?

I said, "Prayer."

One of the men said, "It's all you need."

This experience has been more than we anticipated when we became empty-nesters but we have seen God's protecting hand in all of it.

 

Remember chapter one of the Book of Job - - - nothing happens unless God allows it.  HE walks through life every step of the way with us.

UP

Our house feels a bit like this - - or I imagine it does.  The basement repair involves two walls being clear of "stuff" so we have been tossing and also sending our daughters' storage to their houses.  With so much weight leaving the basement, the house has to be rising up a bit?!!!

The good news is after listening to a lot of ideas about how to best fix the basement, we chose a contractor today who will do a traditional fix with proper drainage around the outside of the house as well as a retaining wall of interlocking blocks outside the drainage area.  There will be pictures for your viewing in the future.

This week, our contractor will build the temporary inside wall that will support our home while blocks are being replaced and excavation done for drainage.  The majority of the repair work will not be done for at least a couple of weeks.

And I have pics from my siblings' visit to show you if there is ever a minute.

He blesses the home of the just.  Proverbs 3:33b

 

Let me first say I am behind in reading everyone's blog - - but only by about a week.  My plans are to try and catch up at some point.  And I won't tell you everything in this post about what we've been doing.  Eventually I'll cover all the high spots.

About a week and a half ago, we celebrated the birthdays of the two favorite men in my life - - - my husband, Bill and our son-in-law, Joshua.

 Josh's Mamaw made a delicious Sunday dinner for us almost two weeks ago.  The birthday boys had their favorite desserts.  Josh had a DQ Reese's peanut butter/chocolate cake.  Bill had homemade banana pudding.

I believe I have told you before that when our Amanda married Joshua, his family adopted us.  That meant we got to be a 'Bandy for a Day' in August.  It was a reunion of Josh's maternal grandmother's family.  The food was mighty fine as was the fellowship.

 

 

Of course there were plenty of other dishes but I wanted to show some summer foods one more time.  Their colors are so vibrant. 

In between those events, Bill got to once again be at the Honors Course as a volunteer.  That weekend, he assisted the PGA official scorekeeper at the Amateur Senior Women's Golf tournament.    This weekend, he is at Black Creek as a walking scorekeeper for this tournament.  He likes it when he can walk the course and see the golfers in action.   It is definitely a beautiful weekend to be outside.

Update on the house - - - have talked to quite a few people about the best fix.  Bill and I are still discussing what is the best option for the foundation repair.  Next week we will make a final decision.  We are moving forward  - - on our own - - - since the insurance has rejected our claim.  We are not the only ones in Cleveland who have submitted the same claim to the same insurance company  - - with the same rejection results.  We will appeal - - and definitely will write a letter to express our disappointment.  I will not say more about our insurance 'provider' until repairs are done.  Life happens. 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!  Philippians 4:4