A mock rafter, flooring, and walls

The first week of November was a little rainy and cold. Jimmy took the opportunity to work inside his Dad's shop and prep for his rafters. He was very proud of his first rafter raised on the ground floor, no matter that his wife made fun of him for putting up a rafter he was just going to take down. He had to see what it looked like.

Jimmy's brother Ben came to town to help him work on the cabin for a day. We were very thankful for his help. It took them back to the days of old when all 3 Burton brothers worked construction together. Ben helped Jimmy construct the rafters and put the floor down on top of the foundation.

Had to break in the new floor with a little bit of dancing. Abigail loved this.

Jimmy's wife helped him frame and put up the exterior walls. Here they go....

1 wall

2 walls

3 walls

 4 walls

We had to do something with the girls while Mommy and Daddy were both working...

October in Pictures

Jimmy's original hope was to actually cut down pine trees and mill them up into 2x4's, 2x6's, 2x10's, etc and use that wood to build the cabin. We spent some time the beginning of October attempting to locate pines that someone would led him cut down, cut them down, haul them, and cut them up. Here are pictures from one of the pines he cut. He worked very hard and cut down and up several trees, and learned a lot - however due to time constraints we were not able to get the wood we would need to frame the cabin this way. (We keep saying we'll have to do that for cabin number 2) Anyways, good thing there's always Home Depot.

Next came digging the 12 holes for the pier and beam foundation

Then running and leveling strings in order to build forms for the concrete. Unfortunately strings are somewhat inaccurate for leveling due to sagging. We found this out after pouring the first 3 forms. A hose filled with water (which finds its own level) is much more accurate. Thankfully we figured this out and were able to make adjustments before pouring the last 9 forms. After spending several days building these forms and getting them all leveled and in place Jimmy informed me that you can just buy this circular cardboard stuff that's made for concrete pier forms, but he doesn't like the "look" or cylindrical concrete piers, that's why he built his own rectangular ones. (Never mind that no one is going to be looking at the piers since they are UNDER the house!)

Between digging the holes and building and leveling the forms and getting ready to pour concrete it rained several times really hard. Guess who got to bail the water out of the holes for the piers - twice.

Then came the concrete - oh the concrete. My husband can be stubborn sometimes. Never mind that it would have been cheaper to have a concrete truck come pour the already mixed cement we needed into our holes for us. He decided to mix and pour all 100 bags of concrete himself- one wheelbarrow full at a time. (And when I say himself, I mean with the help of his loving wife who felt bad for him in the midst of his stubbornness.)

Once the piers were poured and dried it was time to lay the beams. In order to save money and do things differently Jimmy had come up with the idea of cutting up used railroad ties to make his beams out of.  Good idea, only problem was railroad ties destroy the blades on a sawmill really fast. (They are also REALLY heavy). So after buying and hauling and attempting to cut up railroad ties, we were once again thankful for Home Depot and their supply of pressure treated wood.

Abbi telling Daddy that he's the CHAMPION

Daddy agrees

It took a little finagling to get the beams level and square on the corner pier that we poured half and inch too short due to incorrect string leveling. All the others that we did correctly look really nice, I promise.

So, Daddy finished the foundation (sorry, I don't have a good picture) and then headed back to San Antonio for a couple weeks - his last stint of oilfield work. While he was there we went and played with my family up in Plano. (Oilfield work picture on left, Fun in Plano picture on right - wonder who got the better end of the deal?) 

And that brings us to the end of October. One month down, a couple of good but failed ideas, a foundation built, the whole cabin left to go.

Timber

Preparation for cabin building actually began this summer. Jimmy took a week off from the oilfield and with a couple very kind friends, cut down some large dead cedar trees out at our friends’ ranch, affectionately known as “Barneyville” (which is actually where Jimmy proposed to me and where we got married). Cutting down trees sounds really simple to me, but there is actually a lot involved. The job was made even more difficult by the fact that Jimmy’s nice big chainsaws got stolen right before we got back from Haiti, so he only had a small one to work with. So, if you want to cut down trees, you have to clear out the land around the trees, figure out angles and directions very carefully, actually cut the tree down, and cut off and haul away all the limbs. Then of course in order to get what you have worked so hard for, the bulk of the tree that is left where it fell on the ground, you have to move something VERY heavy. So, being that Jimmy does not have much lumberjacking experience and only had a little help, it took a full week to cut down 8 cedar trees to later be used for siding on the cabin.

Timber!

In mid-September Jimmy finished up oilfield work for the time, and we moved to Lakeside RV Park in Coolidge, Texas. Our move was made a little more exciting when we found out 3 days before moving that the trailer we had made plans to stay in had been given to someone else. As always, the Lord is perfect provider and he supplied another trailer through a friend of Jimmy’s parents.

Home Sweet Home

The end of September was spent getting moved into our new home, getting Jimmy’s sawmill running, seeing family, and doing a couple sawmilling jobs for friends. The only progress on the cabin was putting some more plans down onto paper, getting the spot to build it chosen, and getting the area marked off with stakes and string. Being the kind and encouraging wife that I am, when Jimmy excitedly showed me the spot of our future cabin he had marked off my first response was "Umm... isn't that kind of small? I mean will a bed even fit in there?". Poor husband. It turns out that a building looks much bigger from the inside once built, then when looking at a rectangular string lying on the ground. :o) It also turns out that RV life is a whole different kind of life that Jimmy and I knew nothing about. We had some things to learn those first few weeks....too bad I don't have space to write out the stories that were not so funny at the time but are pretty humorous looking back....Think sewage, ants, AC, mice, rain leaks... we've been learning it all by trial and error.

Haitian Teacher Farmer turned American Lumberjack Builder

I married a “Jack of all trades”. Although I usually just call him Jimmy.

We have been living in the US for 5 months now while the family we teach for in Haiti has been settling their daughter into college.  Since returning to the US we have added a beautiful daughter to our family and Jimmy has spent time working for his brothers in oilfield services. We are really thankful for him to have had an in-between job while we are here, but let’s just say that it was not the favorite trade of this Jack. Jimmy is now finished with oilfield work and embarking on 

The Great Cabin Building Adventure.

A little history on this adventure –

Since he was a young boy one of Jimmy’s favorite things in this world has been wood. He loves to grow it, chop it down, cut it up with a chainsaw, build with it, burn it, touch it, smell it, feel it, talk about it… you get the idea. He really loves wood.

When I married Jimmy I found out that “I” owned a sawmill. At the time I didn’t even know what a sawmill was. Turns out it is this really large machine that you use to cut trees up into boards. During his single days Jimmy had worked hard to get out of debt and then while waiting for God to bring him his wife, had saved up money for a wedding. Well, it was taking longer than he had expected for his wife to come along, so Jimmy decided to “invest” the wedding money he had saved into something that looked more promising, a sawmill. Thus, when I finally came along and we got married, he informed me that the sawmill was really mine and we could sell it if I wanted. Like I would really tell my husband who LOVES wood to sell his, I mean my, sawmill.

When we realized that we would be returning from Haiti for a number of months this year, we planned for Jimmy to build us a cabin (cutting as much of his own wood as possible) at his parent’s RV Park so we would have our own place to live while we were back. Well, plans changed, as plans do, and we will not be living in a cabin before returning to Haiti. However, we are still hoping to get it mostly built and possibly be able to rent it out when we return to Haiti and have here for future use. This is a really big and somewhat scary project for us. (What if we fail?) We are pretty limited on resources, help, experience, and time, BUT it’s something Jimmy has wanted to do for a long time and a chance to learn a lot. So, we’re attempting it anyways and hoping to chronicle a little bit of the adventure here on the blog this next month.

Introducing... Rachel Grace

- by Jimmy

One week ago today, our newest daughter was born. What a joy and a privilege.

 

Rachel Grace

I have been working in San Antonio working in the oilfield, and she was due on the 15th. The jobs we are working on can be long. I was on one job for 3 days. Most are shorter, but a job generally will take a minimum of 12 hours from leaving the house to returning. With a 5 hour drive from San Antonio to Plano, it could be a long time before I could get back up. 

I was a little worried, but we chose not to and expect everything to work out. And they did.

I worked very early Saturday morning and was almost to the house to sleep at 12:00 noon. Becky called. She said she had been to see the midwife on a scheduled appointment that morning, and contractions had begun, but were not too close, and could stop. She did not want me to come up, and have them stop, and have nothing to do the next week. So we decided I would take my needed nap, and check back in. 

When I woke up, I checked back in, and things were the same. Very similar to her contractions with Abbi, so I knew I needed to drive up then. I got in at 11:30, an hour before the midwife, who stayed in town, knowing the likelihood of the baby coming. Fortunately, Becky is extremely gracious and let me lie down for another nap. I figured the baby would come sometime the next morning. I was right, just incorrect on just how early in the morning that might be. At 2:30 Becky woke a very groggy husband, and said that it was time. The midwives were busy getting everything set up, and in no time at all, a beautiful, black headed baby arrived. 

I have the most incredible wife ever. Gracious, uncomplaining, brave, strong. She is all that and so much more.

Rachel arrived much like her older sister, Abbi. One little cry and that was all! She patiently waited as she was cleaned, examined, and weighed. She then found momma and fell asleep getting some new food in the tummy.

Abbi woke to find her daddy first who had been gone for a week at the house, and then daddy got to introduce her to "baby". She did not quite comprehend everything, but took it all in stride. She has been extremely gentle with her sister, and does not like it when she cries. And Abbi being Abbi, where everything has its place, has it in her head that Rachel's place is in her stand alone swing. She will point for us to put her there often.

We were very blessed to be able to have Rachel at home, and have loving, supporting friends and family around us. Becky and baby Rachel are doing so well. Rachel sleeps a lot, and we love it when she opens those dark eyes of her's. We have been blessed with another easy baby.

Thank you God, for every blessing, and for working things out so perfectly.

Next Move...

by Jimmy

Where is home? I feel like a third culture kid. We head back to Texas in three days, but we already have our return flight to Haiti for January of 2014. 

Seven months in the States. If feels so weird to be returning so long, and feeling like we have a home here in Haiti. I am still not sure what to make of it.

I have been busy over at TeachingKidsAbroad.com, and unfortunately have not updated this blog. Well, we finished our school year, and had a great semester. The time flew by, and we have our first graduate from Heartline Academy. Her graduation ceremony is Saturday. I have to write a speech. We head out Sunday.

The school year has been a joy. Every teacher should have a job like ours.

On the home front, Abbi is getting so big! She is such a little person. She understands what we say, to a large degree. She stays extremely busy. Always wants to go outside. She is fearless. Just like her momma. She loves the swings and slide and trampoline. She loves her classmates. 

 May 2012 & May 2013

Becky is awesome. We are looking forward to our second little one. So strange to have another one on the way. We are so looking forward to seeing how Abbi interacts with this one. Apparently, she did not appreciate momma holding the little premie at the Maternity Center the other day. She will have to get used to the competition. At least back in Texas, she will have her Nana to distract her. We know she will be a great big sister, once she gets used to it.

The plans for the summer include going back to work in the oilfield, hopefully briefly. Having the baby in July. Starting in August I will be building a cabin to live in at the parents RV park, for the rest of the year. 

We will return to Haiti in January, to continue teaching the Livesay bunch. I am already trying to plan for that amongst all the other summer activities. I probably just need to just take things one at a time. 

I thought I would try and pair up pictures from last year and this…

 Burning Papers 2012

... And the tradition continues, 2013.

 

 Beginning of the school year...

 

 ...End of the School Year.

 Looking through some of the older pictures, I found a shot of the original group. My how these kids change! How does 2 years pass so quickly?!

So much fun.

Broken and Crushed, by His own Father, for us

I was an extremely active and fearless child.
Those words might actually be an understatement.
I had 5 broken/sprained arms by first grade and probably innumerable near death experiences throughout my childhood.
My poor mother.

It is becoming evident that Abigail shares just a little bit of my DNA... she loves to climb up as high as possible on anything and everything and certainly does not have any fear of falling.

On Thursday, she was playing on the slide (one of the many places I broke my arm as a child) unsupervised by her parents.... and she hurt herself. By the time I saw her she was crying and being held by one of our wonderful students who had been with her but wasn't really sure how she got hurt. Mom was not worried at first as Abbi is getting into all sorts of scrapes these days. However after about 15 minutes of continuing to cry a cry of pain (Abbi doesn't usually cry more than a minute) and being unable to move her arm, Mom began to think this was probably serious.

The sound of her cries made me cry.
The thought of part of her being broken broke me.
Knowing she was hurting hurt me.

Now, I will acknowledge that I am a woman, I am pregnant, and this is my first baby. Those things could have added to my emotions a little bit. But seeing as how I am typically an overly rational, intellectual, and analytical person, I tend to think that all of those factors combined probably only brought me to what would for many people be a normal amount of emotionalism/irrationalism. I think that for any parent there is just this really deep emotion and pain connected to seeing your child hurting.

Thankfully, we were only about an hour from the end of the school day and the students dad "happened" to come out to the property to take care of some business just before that. So we were able to leave them with him and take Abbi to the hospital. It is pretty impossible to describe the experience of a Haitian hospital. There is pretty much nothing in common with an American hospital other than sick people and people who are trying to help them get better. Suffice to say that after paying our $4.00 entrance fee (which nobody would have checked to see if we paid) and before ever getting checked in or doing any sort of paperwork a doctor (well we think he was a doctor) passed us on the way to help with a major head trauma that had just come in the gate. In about 1 minute of conversation he asked if anyone had seen us, asked why we were there, grabbed Abbi's arm and pressed on it, then said he thought he had fixed it and ran off after the guy with the head trauma. We don't know who he was and didn't actually talk to anyone else. After he ran off, I looked at Jimmy quite bewildered and said, "I think he just said he fixed her arm". Sure enough within 5 minutes or so, Abbi was no longer crying and began to use her arm like normal. Not knowing what else to do we figured it was time to go home. It turns out she had dislocated her elbow when her arm got stuck behind her on the slide. So he just popped it back into place and that fixed things.
Another crazy day in Haiti. Another day of God's wacky and incredible provision for our family.

So as we are driving home, I am no longer crying, I am laughing.
Laughing at our surreal hospital visit, and at my healthy baby dancing in the back seat, and at the goodness of our God.

Until somewhere along the drive, thoughts about our heavenly Father and his Son Jesus, our Savior, brought me back to tears.

Isaiah 53:10
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer... 
But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief...

After what I had jut experienced I could not possibly imagine being the one to purposefully choose to crush Abbi, to cause her to suffer and put her to grief. Could not imagine being pleased to do it. And we're not just talking a broken arm here, we are talking crushing your child in body, soul, and spirit beyond recognition. To the point of death.

How could the perfect Father ever do it to His perfect Son?
How?
How much must he love us? 

Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus, for your saving love that is beyond comprehension.