November 21, 2010

As I mentioned in a previous post, the retaining wall is finished. This is a look at it as I stood down close to the pond. You might notice a bunch of brush to the left of the tree (in the middle of this shot). This is from the tree we had to take out. Alan continues to work on it, and if anyone wants to join us cutting, splitting, stacking, and hauling wood, please feel free. You can take what you want! We plan to be there again Friday 11/26 and likely Saturday 11/27. We haven't been working on Sundays, but Alan was there again this morning working on the tree issue. (more below)

Alan, both of our girls, Sgt. Feick and Sgt. Young met at dad's at 8:30 am on Saturday morning. The Sgt's worked on the deck (picture below) while Alan, the girls & I worked to clear out the tree. It is amazing to me how much wood is still in the way. Directly below this paragraph is a picture of Sgt. Feick's back. He has his hand on the pier -- the 5x5 post we thought would enable them to jack the deck back up to the house. It didn't work like we thought it would, so they are looking at a Plan B. Sgt. Feick is the person who has really taken ahold of this project to make it happen. He has also gotten his family involved. I was humbled and grateful when I learned Saturday that several members of his family in towns around the US have given money for this renovation. They don't even know dad, and yet they are willing to help. Amazing. Humbling. I am so grateful.

The decking has been taken off the deck in order for them to work on the frame of the deck. Anyone interested in replacing the decking, we will be working on that this weekend as well.

It amazes me how MUCH wood is STILL on the ground. Alan took off work last Wednesday and Thursday and cut and split as much as he could. The picture below was taken after the girls and I had moved and stacked 2 truck-loads to the wood pile (another pict. down). Dad's place is looking different, but it's still in the woods... it's still peaceful; the pond is still there, but it will be handicapped accessible for him. He keeps asking me for a date (to go home); I don't have that yet. We still have much work to do, and I'm trying to be patient. As I've mentioned before, I'm not very good at patient.

Just some notes-- nothing new, really.....

Well, I just got out of class, and there is nothing more I have to do tonight, and it's only 8:00 pm. I'm behind at work, but I don't have so many meetings scheduled for tomorrow, so I can (hopefully) get caught up pretty easily. Tonight, I'll do a bit of laundry and clean the kitchen (some) before I go to bed. I have class on Wednesday nights. After I finish in a few weeks with this one, I have only 4 more left, and then I'm finished with course work. It will be another year, though. I can take only one at a time. (working on a PhD) After course work, I have comps and then the dissertation... a LONG way to go. It has been a crazy night at the Stanton house, as usual: I left work a few minutes early, took Malerie to her violin lesson, went to get Allison from dance practice, talked to Mom and my mother-in-law about Thanksgiving dinners, took Allison to guitar, and then got online for my class from 6:00-7:30. Alan made dinner tonight, which was VERY helpful. He has been sick since last Tuesday, but is feeling better now. He bought a truck in Pennsylvania last week and drove it home on Saturday. Crazy man. :) It is presently up on jack stands as he completes the brake job on it. Says it's the hardest brake job he's ever done.

Now that the project to take dad home is in motion, it's hard to be satisfied with working only on the weekends. I know the soldiers are using their own time, their time off even, but I'm impatient.

This weekend we will be there on Saturday. I hope they will work on the plumbing, but there's a chance that guy who is (was?) going to do that is going to have his house-closing scheduled for Saturday. They are going to work on pulling the deck back up to the house, and I'm ready for them to be hanging sheet rock in the bathroom. The bathroom is still bare. I think we're about ready to ask for help, but it's also deer season. And, while I'm grateful for any help (especially around painting and cleaning time) I really need people right now who have experience with plumbing and hanging sheet rock, but I don't even know if they'll be getting to that this weekend, so I don't want to ask people to come. I will try to learn more this weekend and maybe try to put together something more structured when I ask for others to pitch in.

Dad seems excited. I went to see him last night and he seemed more talkative to me. I ran into one of his CNAs from Parkview at Wal-Mart this week. She is very good to dad and he likes her (no small compliment coming from Bogey). :) She asked me when he was going home, and I explained that I had no idea. (patience, patience) She said she asked him if he was excited, and he said "Yes, and nervous." It will be different for him, for sure. I have been so grateful for the calls and words of encouragement.

I continue to be amazed at what great friends he has.

Thursday 11-11-10 Happy Veteran's Day

I had hoped today would be the day we moved dad home, but the house is not ready yet. As I mentioned in a previous post, the tree was a side-bar project that had to be completed. When I learned the tree was on the ground, I asked if it was going to be in the soldiers' way of working on the deck this weekend. The answer: Oh yeah... it's everywhere. It's a mess.

After I talked to Alan about it, he decided he needed to go check it out, so he dropped everything, left work, packed a bag, and headed for Mansfield. This is the picture he sent me via his cell phone when he arrived. The tree was everywhere. If you look closely, in the bottom left corner of this picture are some of the stairs going down to the deck. The railing is gone.




He worked all the rest of the day Wednesday clearing the small brush out of the way and cutting up the larger branches. He spent the night at Dad's, and worked all day today as well. He used a day of PTO from work.

Later this afternoon when I talked with him, he sent me another picture. He sounded surprised that he had made so much progress. This will make good fire wood next year. Two soldiers are supposed to be at dad's tomorrow to work on the deck and the plumbing.

Thank you, Alan. I couldn't do this "Taking Dad Home" project without you.

The Tree -- Gone 11-10-10

On Saturday, Alan and Sgt. Feick were looking at a very large, close-to-dead tree next to Dad's house. It has been there as long as I can remember and is huge. The trunk splits at the bottom and creates almost 2 trees. At one point, dad had put a strong cable around the tree to hold it together. It had a new split in it, maybe where lighting had struck. Whatever the case, everyone agreed the tree needed to come down. Alan worked all day with the soldiers, and they were able to finish the new retaining wall.

Sunday evening when our family was back together, Alan was telling me that the tree had to come down. We didn't know who to call or where to start. I decided I would call someone at Se-Ma-No on Monday to try to get an idea of what we could do.

Monday morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, which is pretty normal these days with all of the projects going on around dad's house. I don't know how many soldiers at Ft. Wood have my cell number saved in their Contacts list. I have talked to a carpet layer, a pharmacy about equipment, the care-giver organization, and NUMEROUS friends of dad's. This call was from a one of those good friends. She began, "Rhonda, I hope I have not stuck my nose in where it doesn't belong, but I've done something." She had my attention. "Okayyyy....." I answered.

"Well, I was out at the house this past Saturday, just to see what was going on, and I know they were talking about that tree that had to come down, so I made a couple of phone calls, and I've arranged to have that tree taken down this week."

I didn't know what to say. This was going to be my next prayer... and it was going to go something like this: God, I have a huge tree that has to come down and I do not know what to do or who to call next about this. Please show me what to do.

I didn't have to even ask. He was walking in front of me answering prayers before I ever prayed them. I told this very good friend that she was NOT sticking her nose where it didn't belong. She had just been the answer to my next prayer. Now, you might say you believe in coincidence, but I choose not to.

When I got the call this morning that the tree was on the ground, I asked if it was going to be in the way of the soldiers working this weekend. The answer was "oh yeah. It's everywhere."

Alan left work this morning, unplanned, and worked on clearing away the tree all afternoon. He is spending the night there and will try to finish up as much as he can tomorrow. His support through this has been incredible.

Coincidence might have been that there just happened to be a battalion of soldiers at Ft. Wood willing to give up days off, and take days off, and volunteer their time, labor, and expertise to make this renovation happen.

The day before they began working, I still needed a skid steer. I knew what one looked like, but that was as close as I was to getting one to Dad's house. There were 2 people from the care-giver organization who had come to see dad that afternoon. I went out to meet them. I mentioned that the work began tomorrow, but I still needed a skid steer. The women mentioned that she knew the guy who owned Wildcat Rental in Rogersville, maybe he could help. And he did. He actually LOANED us the skid steer for the entire weekend. We have since given him more business. He is a strong supporter of the military.

Later that afternoon, I was disappointed when I learned that Alan's truck wouldn't pull the skid steer. I mentioned this to someone, and she immediately offered her truck for the weekend. We were set.

Evan's Grocery Store in Richland donated a LOT of food for the soldiers to eat that first weekend they worked.

Someone else said they had a lift-chair they no longer needed that we could just HAVE when I mentioned that I still had to get one. Dad's friends started donating money for the renovation. One friend allowed us to purchase supplies at Mansfield Building Supply on his account. He provided all of the materials for the retaining wall. Mansfield Building Supply also gave us discounts on those materials. Carpet was the only thing I didn't have figured out. I asked Mike (at Mansfield Building Supply) if they did carpet. They did. I looked at some samples and pointed out which would likely match dad's kitchen carpet the best. He said it was too bad I didn't like this tan (as he pointed to it) because he had a whole roll left over from a project. Well, I did like that tan color, and we will replace what's in the kitchen as well.

The soldiers also took it upon themselves to have a raffle for a Wal-Mart gift card in just the right amount to purchase a gun. That will raise more money for the renovations.

Someone came out to the house to look around and handed me money for the expenses. All of this money has been spent on supplies (purchased and rented when possible), fuel for the soldiers (they drive their own vehicles), and food for the soldiers. These guys are AMAZING. One of them thanked me for the opportunity. Words seem small at times like these. "Thank you" seems pretty weak.

Over and over and over again it has happened that someone steps up with, I can do that, I can help with that, I have one of those you can have. You can borrow mine; pick up the phone and let me know what you need. Tell me what I can do to help, and the offers go on and on. It has been an amazing project. I only pray and make phone calls. I do believe in Devine intervention... and in miracles.

Sunday 11-7-10

This past Friday 11/5, three soldiers met me at dad's again. I restocked the groceries and went to Mansfield Building Supply to purchase a few more supplies and to discuss carpeting. The owner, Mike, has some left over carpet from a job he did in another town and that's what we're going to use. I had to leave Mansfield by 4:00 pm to make it to Springfield in time for Malerie's basketball game. She is 10 and just started playing this year, and she loves it.

We spend the night at my in-laws in Springfield to reduce travel time, because Saturday morning before 7:00 am, Alan and I both had to be on the road again. I headed toward Windermere. I am involved in our women's ministries at church, and I teach during our women's retreat. It was a good time, and I was able to take time to prepare for the teaching. Our entire retreat was about how we waste so much mental energy thinking about the "what if's" in life -- that usually NEVER take place. "What if" this and what if that.... We cannot live life in the What ifs. We also waste time with the "if only's" about the past. If only I had done this or that.... It is futile. God is in control. He is Sovereign, and He is still on His throne. He will do or allow into our lives whatever He wants, and nothing surprises Him... Nothing.

The soldiers finished the retaining wall at dad’s house on Saturday evening. They also “planted” a pier (a 5x5 treated post) 3 feet into the ground with cement under the deck. They will be there tomorrow to pull the deck back up to the house. These two things are repairs that really needed to happen.

The bathroom is still down to the studs and going more slowly than I had hoped. They have the plans in place and the supplies to finish that, but the soldier who is driving that project hasn’t been there the past 2 weekends. He spent 11 years in construction before enlisting, so he knows what he’s doing, which gives me a wonderful peace of mind.

They will take off next weekend because a couple of them are going on a hunting trip. They are a wonderful blessing to me, and they are donating their time, energy, and expertise on their days off. I do not know how I will ever be able to thank them enough.

Today soldiers are at dad’s house working. They were there Friday and Saturday. They took off Sunday, which was a nice break for everyone. Today they had off because there hadn’t been any fatalities on the base for X number of days. Not sure how many days that is, but it’s a reminder of what they deal with. Friday night 2 of them stayed at dad’s. I asked where they would sleep – they said in their sleeping bags. I said, “But it’s filthy in here.” Sgt. Feick answered, “It’s better than the desert.” Wow… Okay… perspective.

They have been amazing! Today they are working to hang sheet rock in the bathroom and to build back the retaining wall. Saturday we rented and they used a lazer/site thing to measure the grade of the slopes for the sidewalk. Sgt. Feick had done research and knew what the slope needed to be to be safe for a wheelchair ramp.

THANK YOU to those who have helped financially with the renovations and for the prayers and words of encouragement.

Today I hired (tentatively) care givers. I still need to check references for the 2 women I have interviewed. Dad was involved in the interviews. They have experience with in-home care and have done it for several years. They both love to cook and bake.

Things are moving along very nicely, but slower than I had hoped. It is a construction project, though. They are kind of that way, I guess. I have pictures on my camera and will try to get them posted soon.

I appreciate your support.