Well, we have done it.  Today we finished the work on the house.  We started the day out in cool, damp weather, but by mid-afternoon we were in warm, sunny weather.  The temperature got up to 75 by the time we finished today.  The project went much better than we had expected when we started almost three weeks ago.  You can see by the pictures below what a big improvement was made from the beginning to the end.  I will give a little explanation with each picture.

This is how the house looked when we started.  Another NOMADS team had worked on part of the house for the three weeks prior to our arrival.  They got things started by completing the north side of the house, we picked up from there.

This is where we were by noon on the first day.  We were learning what to do on this part.  We picked up the idea pretty quick.

This is where we were on Tuesday morning, day 10.  We tore out the siding on the back and finished the siding on the left side of the porch.

By lunch on day 9.

This part of the back porch we are going to cover with hardi board siding and paint.

End of day 10.  We have attached hardi board panels to the right side of the back porch and painted the back wall.

The right side of back porch and the back side that was painted.  You can see some on the unfinished hardi board, it is the parts that look yellow.

Here's Leanne caulking along the spaces in the trim work.  You can tell by the way she is all bundled up that the morning was cool.

Art and Sue are working on the back porch windows.  Sue is doing touch up painting on the trim.  Art is installing hardi board trim around the windows. 

Steve is up on the back porch roof paint the eaves.  He painted the overhang white, then painted the wall part brown.  Glad he enjoyed doing that part, I am not the best at working on roof tops.

Here everybody is doing their job.  Everybody had something to do to help finish up the final steps in the completion of the house.  Some were doing trim, some were painting, some were caulking, and some were just cleaning up.

                                                       The completed back porch.

Behind the green door is the hot water heater. Painted it green to match the front door.

                                                            The completed house.

The team with Brian and Sue Dixon, the home owners.  From left to right:  Brian Dixon, Art, Sue, Sharon, Steve, Sue Dixon, and Leanne.  I am behind the camera.  We were all so excited about the completed job.  The house went through a complete transformation.

Along with the getting to know Brian and Sue Dixon, we got to know a lot of the members of Taft First United Methodist Church.  The minister, and the entire congregation made us feel very welcome.  Many of the members provided snacks for us on the job site.  We enjoyed home made cookies, blueberry muffins, fruit, trail mix, and drinks such as juices and plenty of bottled water.  We also got to participate in the church services.  Along with the Sunday morning services, we attended a prayer and healing service, a Shrove Tuesday service, and Ash Wednesday service.

Tomorrow, the very last day of the project, we will start our day a little later than normal.  Several area churches are giving the community seniors a special Valentine's day luncheon.  Since we are all seniors, we have been invited as the churches guest.  Looking forward to that, we have already seen the menu.  We will then go back to the house to to final clean up.  We have a lot of building materials that will be returned to Lowe's.  We will load it all on a trailer that belongs to one of the men of the church.

On Friday, Sharon and I are off to Brackettville, Texas, for another project.  We start that one on Sunday with a get together with the team leaders and other team members.  Looking forward to the next step.  Always a very rewarding time no matter what the work entails. 

I start the blog again from Brackettville.

Remember, God Loves You