Houston, we have completion!

Yipee! Woo hoo! Oh yeah! Far out! Scooby Dooby Doooooo!

We're in! Yes siree, it's done! Done enough to live in that is! You've seen the completed bedroom. Now feast your eyes on the completed living area. (small side note - the bathroom in our room still has some work, but hey we can use the rest!)

It's been nearly a year since we sent our boys "digging for gold" in the back yard. They were digging holes to try and find the sprinkler system. Since that time we've had a lot of ups and downs a TON of help and some pretty awesome stories to share.

In a time when the financial markets are a mess, the world is imploding on itself, nature disasters are prevalent, we find ourselves with this incredible blessing of a completed addition!

How did we spend our first night in it? Check out Vicki as she drives her chair in the expanded space. She wanted to work on her "reversing" and also took her dog for a walk. It's absolutely wonderfully awesome to see her spend extended time working on her driving inside the house!

You may also notice a certain male type searching the inside of his eyelids. He just passed out from being overwhelmed. OK he was tired from being awakened several nights this week. He was enjoying the new couch purchased one week ago from the neighbor who bought new furniture. Even the timing of that is amazing! Not to mention the color is perfect!

So enjoy the pics while we enjoy the house. Thank you one and all and especially Jeff W. And most important we thank God for choosing to bless us. Yes, God himself showed up many a time during this project and I'm confident He will have more to show us in the years to come.

A room with a NEW view!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, an event never before seen on television! The Prices move in to the master bedroom!

After a LOT of work by MANY people, the final key to this room was installed. Our feet are happy feet as they walk about the new turf. The laying of the carpet allowed us to move into the bedroom. The bath is not yet done, but we can still sleep soundly behind the new six-panel door. Soundly that is if the dog isn't getting sick.

Let me back up. On Thursday the carpet was laid. Due to other activities and logistics, we left the little boys in that room until Saturday night. After a long day of putting up shelves in the closet, a valence over the window and moving furniture, we turned in for a short fall's nap (as opposed to a long winter's nap).

We awoke to some clatter to see what was the matter. And what did appear, but Hajik and 8 tiny little, well not exactly. It was more like a bucket of... Oh wait I'd better not really describe it or you too might do what he did. You get the picture. He got sick. Vicki woke up. We got up. We cleaned up and went back to bed - for about 2.7 seconds. Then we got up again to lots of noise from the dog, but not so much mess. About 2 hours later the sounds and mess finally ended and we finished our short fall's nap.

However, the few minutes we did sleep in our new room were wonderful! It's a bit more spacious and the carpet is nice on the toes (Thanks Al).

So tonight I can say "Happy Fall to all, and to All a Goodnight."

Go Green!

No, this is not a post about saving the planet. After all, the planet is a ROCK and rocks don't need saving last time I checked. This is a post about getting some sod!

I'll begin with the Thank You's!

Gary, Jeff, and Rich and his kids for their time, ideas and muscle!

Andy from Nature Scapes Landscaping Inc. for his time, advice and help with the sod costs.

I continue to be amazed at what can be done with a few extra helpers, regardless of their age. What fun to see it go from dirt to grass in a few short hours.

We have been really blessed throughout this project with the right people, donations and materials at the right time.

Paint, and there was light!

We needed to spruce up the color scheme a little - off white is a tad boring. So we enlisted the help of Barb S. and Gaston K. and finished the two big rooms in one day! Thanks so much for your help. It's very nice to look at now.


Ever been in the dark? I mean the real deep dark where you can't see your hand in front of your face. I have. One time in a cave. That is a strange experience. Well, it's never been quite that dark in our addition, and now it never needs to be dark again - unless you want to get some sleep.

We have lights thanks to Grounded Electric. Need a good electrician? Give 'em a call at 763-753-6215.

Here's a small sample of their handy work.

20% to go

They say the last 20% is the hardest. You want to finish, but you want it to look great so you take the extra time needed. Well we're at that 20% and we can see the finish line.

We've primed the walls. Now we need some color - Laura wants it to be homey. I want what she wants :) That's my way of saying I really don't care what color it is.

Here's a couple of prime pics from our sheet-rocking and paint job.

Insidulation

I'll be you've never heard the title of today's post before. Of course you haven't since I just made it up. It's a word to capture the work that's been accomplished the last two days.

On Monday just before 7 am, the siders were here ready to go. Just before 8 am the insulator was ready to primp and fluff the place. It's just amazing to me what gets done when people are professionals in their trade. Things that would take me forever (if I could even do it), take them only minutes or hours.

The tricky part comes when I the homeowner need to make decisions, but I don't really know the answers. I end up getting a little concerned because I don't have the expertise. It seems to work out best if I get options from the professionals, weigh them out and then make an educated guess. So far it's working.

By afternoon the insulator was done and the inspector signed off!

By the end of the day the only thing left for the siders was the back. They had to piece our existing house together with what we had torn off last fall. They did an awesome job!

Useable Space!

For the first time since we started, we actually used some of our new space. Rachel, the little boys and I played my favorite game - hockey. Here's a peek at their performance.

A Tale of Two Days

Many of you read this back at the end of November in the form of an email. It is reposted here.

Day 1

So we're in the midst of this building project and we need to tie in the plumbing from the addition to the existing house. To do that two things had to happen:

1. A large hole (the one that will eventually be the access to the lower level of the addition) had to be knocked out/cut of the basement block. This would be messy.



2. A LONG trench had to be dug - think the entire length of the house back to front. Before it could be dug, the concrete had to be cut with a saw and then jack hammered.





So our new friend, Jeff Wunderlich, from church had the saw. We busted a small hole in the house and then embarked on cutting the concrete. We were warned that the concrete dust would be *everywhere*. I put poly up over all doorways and taped it tight - it helped, but the dust was everywhere.

During the process, we had to step out of the basement several times for air. Try running a gas engine in a small room and add enough dust that you can't see your hand in front of your face - now you know what I mean. Jeff actually passed out for a few seconds near the end of the cutting.

We also had to warm the addition so a trench could be dug for plumbing. A propane heater was brought in to do this. Well with the need for fresh air from the dust a few windows were opened in the house. This turned out to be a bad idea because the house filled with propane fumes. For Jeff and I, we were exposed to high levels of CO with the engine plus the propane.

Laura managed to put all of the kids to bed. Little boys in our room, big boys on the floor in the living area and the girls in their respective rooms.

When I came up around 9:00, it smelled bad. By 10 it seemed worse and the CO detectors in the smoke alarms were beeping. We went to bed but felt uneasy. By 11 we made the decision to call Laura's sister, Elaine, and ask if we could bed everyone there for the night. They graciously agreed and we loaded up 2 cars with kids, blankets, pillows and some necessities. We were in bed by midnight feeling safe, but concerned about our house with all of the gas.

I was very discouraged. We had a big mess, I had put my family in danger, we had not made enough progress on the trench and the plumbers were due to come. It was at this point I said to myself "I wish we had moved."

Day 2

When we returned in the morning, the house was still there and so was the smell. We got everyone off to school and I sent Laura and the little boys out for the day.

We found out today that Jeff's wife sent him to the ER last night to be checked out because of his 'fall'. His CO2 level was high enough that they put him in a hyberbaric chamber for 90 minutes to force oxygen back into his system. We felt sure that our decision to leave last night was a good idea.

I had called a friend from church to come help me with the trench. I knew I couldn't do it by myself. He came and used the jack hammer to break up the rest of the trench. In about 45 minutes, he completed the breaking of the concrete. All that was left was to haul it out and break up any thicker chunks. In that 45 minutes of time he turned an all day project into a half-day project.

My spirits were lifted and my discouragement was gone. Once again I saw how *each* time we've needed help in this project, God provided whatever we needed - the money or materials or the right person to help. So by now you'd think that I should KNOW that He will provide. I've seen it time after time, but somehow keep forgetting when the project hits a low point.

So I'm thankful for God's provision AND for wonderful friends and family that help us during our time of need. THANK YOU!!

Hard as a rock

After a number of weeks of holidays and school breaks, our project got underway once again. Our lower level now has a real hard floor! The concrete was poured today with the temps hovering around 15. The inside temp is a balmy 60+. Enough to cure concrete and keep the boys from getting frostbite.

Check out the cement truck in my back yard! The ground was frozen enough to allow it to come into the backyard. A bucket loader was still needed to pour the concrete into the basement. It saved a lot of time to be able to back it up into the yard.

Old Posts

These posts are from the original site at St. Francis Community Hotline.

Posted 11/1/07
Along with Independent Luxury Homes, the Prices would like to Thank all of those who have already stepped up to help with the addition: Mary and Len Powell~ Dr. Kevin & Erin Steadland~ The Andover Lions Club~ Sowada & Barna Plumbing is donating all of the time for the plumbing~ Flex Fitness

At that time, a handful of folks had agreed to support us. Since that time MANY more have come on board. Watch future posts for a proper "Thank you."

Posted 11/17/07
We are making some nice progress, but still have a long way to go. On November 10th, 8 guys from Constance Free Church were here for the day. They took it from foundation only to a framed addition in one day! It was like our own version of Extreme Home Makeover. It was very exciting to see.

Our Addition

In 2007 we began a journey. We contacted a number of people to help us get started with an addition to our home so we could bring an addition to our home. Huh? Stay tuned and you'll see what I mean.

Since that time, we have received a LOT of help. I'd like to chronicle some of that for you in future posts. This was our original post on the St. Francis Community website:

We are looking for builders, contractors,

anyone in the Home Improvement Industry,
and anyone who is willing to pound a nail,
or donate a dollar.

Come join Independent Luxury Homes, Flex Fitness and www.SaintFrancisCommunity.com, help the Price family add on to their home to give them the space required to take in another special needs child into their family.

Read the Price family story(see below),
and let us know if you are willing to help.
Please contact Rich at Flex Fitness for questions at 763-413-1200.

If you would like to donate materials or labor, or if you or your business is interested in donating money towards the project, please contact Deb at: Deb@independentluxuryhomes.com or (763)-753-5897

All businesses that wish to become involved in this project will receive recognition on the News & Photos section of the community website. Check back to www.SaintFrancisCommunity.com to see the progress on the "Raising Price's Special Addition"

Here's the "Price Story" mentioned above.

My name is Scott Price. My wife Laura and I feel we have been called by God to adopt children with special needs. To date, we have adopted 5 children with varying degrees of special needs.

Our two oldest boys are 16 and 13 and have a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Myotonic Dystrophy. It affects their muscles in a way that will progress over time. Our daughter is 15 and has cerebral palsy. She is confined to a wheelchair and depends on a caregiver to meet all of her needs.

We thought we were done adopting until about 5 years ago. Through a long journey that started by bringing home a newborn baby that returned to his birth mom 7 weeks later, we then adopted two other boys who are now 4 and 2. These two are at risk and their future is unknown due to prenatal drug exposure.

Once again we find ourselves on a journey. We have been asked to bring my cousin’s daughter into our home. My cousin is starting to experience difficulties with MS and has realized the need to place her 12 year-old daughter who has significant special needs in a family that can care for her long term.

There are many challenges we face on this journey. Some of them we feel we can deal with and overcome. Other challenges require outside support. We have finished off our basement, used up all of the livable space and really don’t have a bedroom for this young lady. We truly need to add-on to our home to accommodate this growth in our family. The addition is by far our biggest challenge. We are looking to partner with a number of people with varying expertise to help us overcome this challenge.