For the last 3 days we have been framing our garage and rec room. We had made sure that we had a sturdy foundation and all was great with that. Friday around 4:00 we decided to call it a day because we had been going since 6:30 am and we were on day 2 with one more day to go. We had pretty much framed in 3 exterior and the interior dividing walls and had sheeting on 2of the exterior walls. As we were wrapping up we put a support against the two walls that would be attached to the 4th wall. We went and picked up a few more supplies, watched a movie, and went to bed. Well around 11:00 pm the wind started kicking up and gusting. It woke me up around 11:30 and I kept thinking about the house and with each gust would listen for a noise. Shortly after midnight I heard a smallish noise, and I decided to go check on the addition. Well as soon as I turned on the back porch light I saw that one of the garage walls was down. The interior dividing wall was swaying too. I ran and got Eric. I told him a wall was down and at first it didn't register to him, but the 2nd time I said it he bolted up. I then ran and got Carsyn, and by this time Ashly had heard me running and knew something was up so she came out to see and help.
I ran out and started holding the dividing wall up so nothing else would go down. Carsyn came out and helped me while Eric and Ashly put on a lot more supports. We worked for 45 minutes until we felt comfortable going back in. Then shortly after we went back in the wind stopped! It took us 3 hours the next day to put things back in order, before we could move forward. We actually counted ourselves very blessed that it was only 3 hours :) Some of use were literally holding a wall up for 1 1/2 hours, while others did the fixing! Here are my aha moments: 1. Just like our house foundation was strong, the Gospel is a strong foundation to build on, however we can't be lazy or casual with our "supports." We need to be diligent at the end of a long day to finish out doing the things that will make and keep our testimonies strong. 2. It did take effort to get ourselves back on track, and it was frustrating, and holding up the wall was boring, but with work and following through what we knew we needed to do we got ourselves back where we wanted to be. (This included not wrapping up on that day without double checking that we had enough supports to last through another wind storm!) If we stray from what we are taught that we should be doing, we can get back on track. As I'm writing this another windstorm is supposed to be coming and I know this time I will be able to sleep :) Putting oil in our lamps not always easy, but definitely worth it!
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We poured cement today and each of us who had moved more dirt than we want to remember had a great sense of relief, accomplishment, and yes even joy at seeing the cement done :) I'm sure those will be some of the same emotions we feel when we are done in this life. Well done, you've done what was required.
Today I had one of those moments that you just have to laugh at. I play the organ in Sacrament Meeting the first Sunday of each month. Well for some reason this month has thrown me off and I forgot it was the first Sunday until yesterday. So I looked at the 2 songs and I thought, okay I know those, so I just ran through them at home a couple of times.
Well the closing song has a suggested introduction that really doesn't click in my brain, but I decided to go ahead and do that one anyway. So anyway, I start the introduction and within the first few notes realized I was in the wrong key. So did I look at the key signature, NO I did not! I thought, oh I must have missed a sharp, so I added another one! Well two measures later, I realized that the fix had only made it worse. So I did the only thing that I could do. I stopped and said, let's start over :) And guess what? I looked at the key signature and it had two FLATS!! If I had started at the start of the song like my gut told me to do, I may have been able to adjust much sooner. What's funny is I had several people after comment along the lines that it was nice to see someone not worry, or fall apart, about making a mistake. So I guess the unexpected object lesson resonated with some :) Well my little life lessons here are: 1. Maybe go with your gut when it is telling you to do the other introduction. 2. Look at the key signature!! 3. It's okay to make mistakes even if it is in front of the whole Ward. (My family especially liked it :) So I feel like for the next few weeks most of my aha moments will be centered around building our garage! Well today we were setting the rebar to prep for the cement. I had been helping a bit, mostly cutting the bits of wire to hold the rebar in place where they connect. It didn't seem like much until I realized it was going to be 100's!! Okay so then I thought I am being some help.
If you have never prepped an area for pouring cement, one of the critical tasks is setting the rebar up in a grid pattern so that it helps make the foundation stronger. Just like in the Wise Man and The Foolish Man you want to do your foundation right. So when we started to lay out the rebar in the grid and connecting each corner with the wire, I was trying to figure out how I could help. I started by using a measuring tape to measure each square to the correct specifications. I took a minute to step back and look at the whole picture. I figured there was probably a better way. Then it occurred to me to do something like they use for quilting. So I went inside and made a square out of a piece of cardboard. Presto! instant measure. It went so much faster. It was still work and still took time, and it did blow and rain on us a bit, but it was much easier. So now to my aha moment tie ins: #1 I really don't like quilting, but because I have shown up through the years to help on projects I had that knowledge to pull from. It makes those service projects even more worth it! #2 Small things can make a big impact. My husband has definitely been doing the lion's share of the work, but I try to be there helping too. Cutting those 100's of pieces of wire was help, but that piece of cardboard was even more help. Even if you don't think you can do a lot, you can contribute more than you think you can. #3 Just like I stepped back to take in the whole picture, Heavenly Father has the whole picture in His sights and he has given us our "pieces of cardboard" to help us along the way. It will still be work and it will still take time, and yes it may even "rain" on us, but if we use all of the helps that he has given us; prayer, scriptures, the Gospel, Church meetings, Church leaders, families, friends, etc. , we can do it! We are in the process of building a garage and family space. So far we have moved dirt, and more dirt, and more dirt! As most people know one of the most important steps of building a house, or in our case a garage, is the ground prep. It is almost lots of manual labor.
Well we moved dirt and moved more dirt to get our footings and foundation ready for compaction test. (Initially the footings were dug out with a backhoe, but then with shovels and wheelbarrows we started moving dirt back in and compacting. We also moved dirt from other parts of our property.) I believe we initially had to do 8 inches for the compaction test. So we did 4 inches at a time, which if anyone has done this it's not just 2 layers, because once you run the compactor over it you no longer have 4 inches :( So needless to say this was about 4-5 layers. Then after that we consulted with a professional and found that it would be better to build it up another good amount so that we were still in the specifications we needed for the footings, but didn't have to use so much cement. So here we went again, and this time we were also doing the main part of the house too and not just the footings. Another 4 inches, compact, measure, 4inches, etc. It seemed like the 4 inches that would never end. If anyone has ever done this there is not really any visible reward. You get done with one layer of 4 inches and it looks pretty much the same as it did before. I probably should say at this point that we are frugal and so we are pretty much doing this ourselves with the help of some awesome neighbors!!! When we finally reached our goal there was much rejoicing. I thought of how this is kind of like life. We work and we work. We may not see any visible rewards that are super in your face, but progress is happening and if we endure to the end, we will rejoice! This last week I was at the hospital with my dad and my sister waiting for my mom to get out of surgery. The time finally came when she was out of surgery and so we were heading to another part of the hospital to get lunch. Prior to this time I had been giving them an update on Brooklyn and her trip. I had just started to show them an Instagram video from her when we moved to the elevator. Well we pushed the button on the elevator to take us down and then turned our attention back to Instagram. The door eventually opened and we got on still looking at the video. The door opened, a lady got on, and we got off. We looked around and my sister and my dad who knew the hospital better than I did both said hmm this doesn't look right.
We figured out that we had been so focused on the video that we didn't pay attention to what the elevator was doing. We had simply got on the elevator and found ourselves in the wrong place! The lady who had gotten on had called the elevator up to her which was higher than the floor that we were originally on. So we went up instead of down. A couple of parables from this. The first and most obvious one is to not get so distracted by technology that you lose sight of where you are going. The second was know where you are going. Luckily for me I was with someone who knew that we were in the wrong place. Now obviously I was not in a dangerous place, but it still wasn't where I needed to be. If I listen to those who know I can get to my final goal. So if I listen to the Church leaders they will help me know where I am supposed to be so if I do get off track I know that I am off track. |
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June 2021
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