We had an incredible day! I got there later than intended due to some GPS problems combined with the fact that I have no natural sense of direction whatsoever!! Thankfully Steve had gotten there bright an early at 7:30 so that he could be the first one there. I left our house a few minutes after he did and took Joshua to our friend Lori's house for the day. (As a side note, Lori brought two precious kids home from China last year and Both Hands was a huge blessing to her, so she wanted to bless us by offering free childcare to anyone on our team. She is a beautiful example of how loving and helpful and supportive the adoption community has been to us!! ) I finally got to Wanda's at about 8:30 and was relieved to find I was not the only one who had GPS issues finding it! I had intended to start the day with a group prayer and pass out name tags and have everyone sign waivers, but that didn't happen due to my tardiness - people were already hard at work!!
Waste management had brought us the biggest dumpster I've ever seen!! My first thought was "Wow. That is one huge dumpster. They could have brought a smaller one!" But by the end of the day that thing was overflowing!!
So here is a list of what we spent our day doing:
MASSIVE de-clutter of house and shed. SIX FULL VAN LOADS to the local DAV and did I mention the overflowing gigantic dumpster??
Overhauled yard. Major trimming, cutting and clearing of overgrowth, bushes and trees.
Tilled and re-seeded yard (with special seed for cold weather seeding) and covered in straw.
Weeded and mulched flower beds.
Tore down rotted privacy fence (and cleared massive overgrowth covering it!) and built a new one.
This is a "before" picture of the rotted, overgrown fence...
Replaced kitchen faucet.
Patched 3 holes in her ceiling from a roof leak (roof has since been replaced!) and painted ceiling.
Installed new dryer vent.
Patched a large section of wallpaper.
Created gravel path in her back yard where she had previously had a bunch of nasty rotten carpet scraps making a path.
Replaced front door lock.
Repaired rotted wood on cellar door.
Due to the very cold weather and running out of time, we did not get to paint the exterior trim as we had hoped. We also did not get to complete the construction of the hand rail for her front stoop. Steve plans to go back down after Thanksgiving and finish the handrail and we plan to go down in the spring and paint her trim. We had the supplies for those projects donated and fully intend to do those things for her! Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, we got NEW WINDOWS donated to Wanda and they will be installed sometime in the next month!!
I've spent this week processing everything that went into this and I just can't put into words the blessing that this was on so many levels! Late that evening after we were home, a dear friend who had spent the day working with us texted me and said "I feel like we need to be debriefed. My head is spinning!" I couldn't agree more!! The obvious blessing to Wanda meant so much to her and the blessing of helping her touched us all. The more I think about it the more humbled and grateful I feel to our team! We had four team members that were 60 or over, 2 that were pregnant, and several that haven't known us even a year! Our videographer was an eighteen year old friend of a friend who'd never met us but wanted to help! Every single person who worked on this was such an amazing blessing to us! The fact that they would all give up an entire Saturday to work their tails off in the freezing cold - and not only that- they actually seemed to enjoy themselves!! I mean we are talking about some AMAZING people!! Many of these people did not know each other at all or had only briefly met at our two planning meetings. New friendships were forged and some serious male bonding took place over hammers and saws. God is so good!
God continues to provide on the fundraising end of this as well. We are nearly halfway to our goal for funds raised for the project, but still have a ways to go. We will post a video this week (it is currently being finalized!) Please spread the word that IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO GIVE to this project and bless our Caleb by helping us bring him home! Thank you so very much to those of you who have already given generously!
If you would like to give to this project (every single penny helps us bring Caleb home!!) you can mail a check to : Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744 and be sure to write "preference Porter #3934" on the memo line. You can also give online at www.bothhands.org/steve-and-amy-porter.
This Thanksgiving was especially meaningful to us on the heels of this project and in the middle of this adoption journey. We are so very thankful for you!!
Amy
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