The first sheetrock

As Andrea mentioned in a prior post, last Sunday a friend from church (Kerry) asked how our project was going and offered to help with the sheetrock.  It looked like this Saturday (12/14) was the best bet if we wanted to get to it before Christmas.  So, a lot happened this week to get ready and then we passed our vapor barrier inspection and had the go-ahead to put on the ceilings of the upper level.  The sheetrock was supposed to be delivered by a boom truck through the window on the upper level on Friday morning when Chad could be here to help me unload it off the boom and into the house.

Thursday I get a call saying that that boom truck is broken and they won't be able to make the Friday morning delivery, but that parts are on order and they are hoping to have the truck ready again by Saturday morning.  That should still work, Kerry and [his son] Kelly were not going to get here until after lunch on Saturday.  I checked with Chad and he was still available for Saturday morning to unload.  Friday I called to see if they could give me an idea what time they would be delivering on Saturday and I was told that the truck was not going to be ready until sometime next week.  Not what I wanted to hear.  I called Kerry and told him it wasn't going to work because the truck was down and even though he and Chad both offered to pick up materials with their vehicles/trailers, I said it still wouldn't work because we would not be able to get the 12' long sheets up the stairs to the top level.  I was bummed, but resisted the temptation to despair. 

When Chad showed up for bible study Friday night I explained to him what was going on and it was at that point that Andrea suggested I call to find out if they could deliver out of a different store.  Good idea.  I called to check on that and they said the only other stores that have boom trucks were Apple Valley and Hudson and the Apple Valley store's truck was down as well and if I went from Hudson, I would have to pay for the added mileage (25 miles instead of 3 miles).  I told him was not interested in that and that I would just have to wait until the next week when their truck was working again.  Five minutes later the phone rang and it was the delivery guy calling to say that the boom truck driver was just in the store and said that the truck was in working order and they could still deliver Saturday morning, but would not know what time until the morning.  So I called Kerry back and told him the plans were back on and fortunately he and Kelly were still available. 

Friday night I was up again with Rin and then had a tough time falling back asleep as my mind was wondering how this or that was going to work the next day.  What if the windows were frozen shut and I couldn't get them open and we couldn't get the sheetrock in after all?  What if the yard was too snowy/slippery for the truck to get backed up close enough to boom the material in...what if...what if...

I found comfort in reminding myself what we had discussed during study Friday evening about how God provides for us and that we need to be seeking after and following him and not worrying about providing for ourselves.

Morning arrived and Owen and Leah shoveled out some of the snow in the yard to make way for the truck while I was out meeting with some friends for a prayer breakfast from 7 to 9.  When I got home I did a little more shoveling and then decided to check the windows to see if they were indeed frozen and yes, they were very frozen.  After some time with the hairdryer, I was able to get it to open.  Shortly after that I decided to call Chad and tell him to come over even though I had not heard when the truck was coming yet.  No ringing on his cell phone, just directly to voicemail.  So I tried his wife's cell phone.  It rang, but no answer and into voicemail.  Then my phone rings saying the truck will be at my house in 45 minutes and was that OK.  I explained I couldn't get in touch with the person who was going to help me and asked if I could get the next delivery slot, but he said it would be afternoon before they could get to me if they switched the sequence.  I told them to send the truck, trusting that somehow things would work.

I tried called Chad again and this time it rang and he answered and he was on his way.  In addition, we have a neighbor who has multiples times said to give a holler if we need a hand with something (like when he helped us cut down the large maple tree by helping to pull the guide ropes), so Andrea called him up and he said he would be able to come help with the sheet rock unloading.  Then not only did he show up, but he brought his 20 something year old son as well! 

Once again, God had it all covered, I had nothing to worry about. 

Three kids on the couch looking out the window at the boom truck.

Our neighbor standing by to help as I pull the first sheet in off the boom.

It is starting to look different up here. 

It was really nice to have four sets of hands for lifting the heavy 10' and 12' pieces over our heads.  Four people lifting, two people holding and two people fastening.

Nearly there.

By the end of the afternoon, all of the large pieces on the upper level were in place.  There are a few skinny long strips that I still need to piece in on the upper level and two nearly full sheets on the main level link roof to go and then things will be ready to blow the insulation into the roof.  It will feel so good to have insulation in that roof!