bldg blog

10/17/09

Patience and Persistence! Yes, the two can go hand in hand. This week God decided my lesson was to learn how to be persistent and yet wait on Him and be patient. My last update noted that we had finished painting the inside of the store and we were moving into installing the AC duct work. Well, we had a crew come in the store last Saturday and they worked all day and got all the duck work taped and ready to install. Then something unexpected happened. The AC company that committed to the installation had to lay off 6 people because their business was so down. I am learning that when these things happen, it’s really because God has something and someone else in mind. Remember He did promise me that He would provide everything we need to complete this building. We really do need Air Conditioning! So, after a few nights of praying and seeking God, I realized I had a part I had to do and the rest was in God’s hands. Much easier said than done! I called everyone I knew to get a new company on board. I had lots of great feed back and yet as of today, I do not have an AC company to donate their time and labor to get this duct work installed. But, I am trusting that God does have someone in mind, and that it will happen on His timing. So I am in that place of trusting and being patient. I learned that we are called to do something, to try, to be good stewards, that’s the peresistent lesson. The hardest part for me is that all work at the building is stopped until God sends the new company. He Will!

Other exciting things that happened:

Eurocraft Kitchens and Princeton Kitchens have donated the kitchen cabinets, the hardware and the sink to our new kit

The landscaping plans have been approved! driveway and landscaping will begin this week!

A $10,000 gift from wonderful, incredible people we call our family! Christ Church we love you!

Needs:
2 1/2 slabs of cream granite

wall oven

floor molding for store

10/11/09

What a week! We completed painting the inside of the building. 4200 square feet is a lot of space to paint, especially without air conditioning. But we loved rolling up our sleeves and doing physical work. It was so good to take a break from the business meetings and be at the building watching each room be transformed. The colors are amazing, thanks to Shannon and Fern! What would we do with out our special designers!

Lot’s of incredible things happened this week. There are so many stories of how God answered our prayers and blessed us!

I received a call this week letting me know that our duck work was ready to be picked up. I had hoped that it would be delivered but, the company wasn’t able to help us out. So, I asked Teddy and Teresa to borrow their pick up and Lindsay and I went to pick up the duck work. I wish you could have seen the look on the guys face when we pulled up and told him we were there to pick up our duck work. He took a look at me and told me he would be back in a few minutes. While he was away I approached one of the boxes and tried to lift it. I knew we where in trouble. I turned to Lindsay and said “we need to pray for favor right now” So we both asked God to somehow arrange that this company would on their own decide to deliver the duck work to us, even though they had already said they couldn’t. The owner came back and looked at me and said, ” Linda, we’ll take care of getting this to you, it’s too heavy for you girls”!

Lindsay and I praised God! It was truly too unbelievable. As we were driving to the new store, we got a call from Donna Cleveland our dear friend and Christ Church Property Manger. She wanted to tell us that they had a few guys from the church who wanted to help us with the labor of laying the floor tiles. If you read my previous blog entry you will see that it was on our prayer request. God is so good and He truly is providing our every need for this building.

We hope to complete the AC work this week, get our inspection and move on to installing the electrical components and the ceiling grids.

We are still in need of the following items:

floor molding for the entire store

2 slabs of granite for the kitchen countertops

a kitchen sink

God is good and His promises are true.

Linda

9/25/09
The dry wall is up, the seams and patching should be finished this weekend. Painting on Monday!

As I walked around the store yesterday, I was in awe of the transformation of this building. I remember the day Lindsay and I walked into the old Thrift Store. God placed a dream in our hearts and a vision in our minds of what we could do with this building so the girls who come could feel His Love and His presence. Our dream was a big one. I can still hear the words He spoke to me as we began to calculate the costs and all that was involved in the renovation. “I will provide everything you need to complete this project”. I guess He knew that I was so afraid that a small little ministry like ours could never afford to take on such a big project. He has truly given us everything we need thus far.

We’re so close to finishing this project. We still have a few needs. Today I feel His hand and His voice reminding me of His promise.

Please pray with us that we will continue to walk in faith that “He will provide everything we need to complete this project”
specific prayer requests:
- completion of kitchen
- labor costs- installing the floor
- the back stair railing
- costs of fixtures
- financial support for several misc. items

Linda

9/23/09
Obviously, this will not be a daily blog! I’m trying! Lindsay and I are back from NYC. It was a great trip, lots of work and lots of fun!

Yesterday we were able to get the plywood delivered, although it was not donated, 84 Lumber did give us a discount, with was a blessing. Today the remaining drywall is going up, with an afternoon inspection planned. Tomorrow we will patch the seams of the drywall and hopefully tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning we will have an inspection. I’m hoping to start painting over the weekend, but most likely it will be Monday! I am looking for all able bodies who can volunteer to paint for a few hours on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

As for the outside of the building, Curtis you are an angel. Thanks to the Slama family who paid for the painting of the outside of the building, we are just about finished. What a difference paint can make! We have lots of final touches to make to the outside, as I told Lindsay yesterday, now begins the accessorizing to a very basic outfit!

We are still waiting to hear back from the city on our landscaping permit and then we can begin to pour the driveway and begin the landscaping.
Keep us in prayer. Specifically we need someone to help us with the kitchen cabinets, and we need to raise about $20,000.00 to complete the project. God has given us everything we have needed this far, I know He will continue this work He started. To date He has raised over $150,000.00 in materials, labor and financial support, $20,000 is nothing to God!

9/18

I am a lousy blogger! Hence the reason I don’t have a face book and I haven’t started this blog sooner. But as my husband so gently reminded me this morning, you started it, so…….

I’m in NYC and have been for 2 days and even though we are far removed from the building, the thing that is constantly on my mind and in my prayer time is the completion of the building.

The drywall is complete, except for one room, the actual store. We ran into a few set backs this week. Although it appeared to be a huge miss on our part, I see God’s hand once again covering us and protecting us.

Lindsay and I decided to design and build our own fixtures for the store. As with everything we wanted a fresh look, unique and special. We had lots of resistance, lots of “you can’t do it”. But, after much thought and prayer and consultation from our friend, Becky Dymond, we agreed to move forward with our idea. This meant installing plywood before the drywall to give the wall the “strength” to hold our fixtures. After searching and asking, we did get 20 pieces of plywood donated. However, the plywood got wet. We had it installed, and then realized the problem! Wet plywood means potential and most probable MOLD! So, we tour it down. Waisted time, waisted money, and the completion of the dry wall and inspections, DELAYED. I’ve come to dislike that word.

However, God is so good! The inspector happened to be in the building and commented to our GC, Wayne Pratt, “you know you need to use fire rated plywood”. God knew, but we didn’t! So once again, God’s protective hand shows up!

I began seeking God, asking him to help! Fire rated plywood is triple the cost of regular plywood. Where do I go, who do I call. I need an extra $900 to cover this mistake. I begin to make a few phone calls, some are people I know, some are complete strangers. I get turned down by 3 companies. Yes, it still feels bad when someone says they can’t help you. However, I have come to learn, it just means God has someone else in mind. One friend has agreed to try to help. She needs some time to work out the details. Feeling a little pressure, knowing that we’ve now lost a week of time, I stop and remember His promise to me. “I will provide every need for the new building”. I continually have these little conversations with myself and with God. One minute I do trust, the next minute I’m worrying……this goes on for about two days. At the same time I’m in NYC, working on trying to get clothing donations and meeting with folks who are helping Lindsay with her new clothing line! Finally, I here God say, “let it go”. After a few hours of resistance and a conversation with my wonderful, strong and very unemotional husband, I step into that place of “it’s in God’s hands”. Literally, that’s when things start to move…….

My husband decided to call a local lumber company and ask for the donation of 20 sheets of 5/8 or 1/2 inch 4X8 fire rated plywood. They told him to send in his request and they will vote on it on Monday. So, we wait, we pray and we realize that God is in no hurry and there is something bigger involved here, it really isn’t at all about the plywood.

I look back and think, God you are involved in every detail of our life and you will not let anything happen that is not in your plan. Yes, we lost a week and in the construction world, that is a big deal. However, I got a little reminder of trusting, and patience and God’s covering. I don’t know if that donation will come through, I kind of think it will, but even if it doesn’t I’m am thankful!

Linda

9/13/09

Today begins the first day of this building blog. Why now you may ask? We’ve been in construction for the past year. Today God prompted me to start this blog. Sept 13th will begin the count down of 52 days to the completion of “rebuilding Taylor’s Closet”. I have no idea where this will lead and I have no idea if indeed it will only take 52 more days until we complete the renovation of our building. This entire building has been a step of faith….so why not!

I need to give you all a brief history. About a year ago, right before we began construction, God gave us the story of how Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in 52 days. To date there have been amazing parallels. To begin with when Christ Church donated the building to us we really had to go through quite a few steps in order to get permission from the board and the elders to get their blessing. Much the same way Nehemiah needed to get the favor from the King to rebuild the wall. Another similarity was how Nehemiah successfully involved the entire community to rebuild the wall, much like we have done with our renovation process. It is even a bit interesting that Nehemiah mentions the “upper room” and how he intended to rebuild it. The upper level of our new store has been called the upper room, the letters are largely written on the building. In addition to the endless specific prayers I’ve prayed for every single need we’ve had, much like what Nehemiah did. However, I could never find the connection with the 52 days that it took Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. Today, I believe I heard God tell me today begins the 52 day count down. So, here we go….I will be updating this each day so all of you faithful friends can watch the marvelous blessings from God. My hope is that this will be an encouragement to all of you who have been so encouraging to me throughout the year.

Linda