We are so thankful for all the blessings that God has given us, and are excited to do God’s work by helping to build another house for Habitat for Humanity in Sullivan, IL.
We started our road trip about a week ago, stopping in Red Bay, Alabama. Our Tiffin motorhome was built in Red Bay, so this is the place to come when you want experts to work on your vehicle. After a few days there, we made our way up to Sullivan and arrived on Sunday afternoon.
Tiffin’s motto is ‘Roughing it Smoothly’ … we really do have everything we need, including TV, fireplace … with of course, popcorn.
Once we got settled, we enjoyed a happy hour to catch up with old friends and to meet some new ones.
In the past, we have helped to build an entire house in 6 weeks. This year, the local Habitat affiliate decided to add an additional 10 feet to the home to accommodate special handicap needs of the family who will get the home. Since the house is bigger, this year’s build is scheduled for 8 weeks. Joe and I are joining the team at the start of week 3, and are planning to help build for the last 6 weeks. In those first two weeks, the previous team was able to get the walls built and set. Here’s the view of the home when we arrived earlier today.
On our first workday, the team decided to start at 7AM (an hour earlier than the typical 8AM start). We woke up before dawn to a chilly 54 degrees! It was still dark outside as we were having breakfast.
Our goal today was to start setting the roof trusses. The first step is to set up the scaffolding on both sides of the house.
It’s time for trusses … and time to put on the hard hats.
The first step is to place the extremely heavy end gable on the end of the house. We are thankful that the Habitat team was able to get a Lull telehandler to carry the trusses across the yard to put them in place. It is a slow, careful process.
After the end gable was set, Joe and I were on either side of the house setting the rest of the trusses and nailing them in place.
By lunch time, we were making great progress.
For lunch, one of the many Sullivan churches hosted an amazing lunch of homemade lasagna, salad, bread and a wide selection of desserts. The hospitality of this community is truly wonderful.
By the end of the day, we set about half of the trusses and hope to be able to get the rest of them set tomorrow. We are so grateful to work with amazing people.
As always, you and Joe are amazing. God Bless you both.