in His time

I bought my house almost a year ago. I knew it would be a challenge. It's 80 years old, and was a foreclosure house with lots of issues. A guy gave me a great estimate on the major repairs, and my plan was to have him finish them before I ever moved in. A couple weeks later he got sick. (Convenient, eh?) He never could come do the work, so I had another guy give me an estimate. Basically, after asking me how my realtor convinced me to buy this house, he said he'd let me know if he thought it was "worth fixing." He never got back with me. I had a third guy from the Summit come and give me an estimate, and his was pretty reasonable, but still over $1000. I figured I'd just take a part-time job, and wait till the summer to be able to get the work done. Then I found out that Kevin, a guy who helps out on the first impressions team on Sunday mornings (as do I) remodels old houses for a living. How I had not known that previously, I have no idea. I asked him if he could come check the house out and give me an estimate. He came out a week or so later on a Sunday afternoon. On Monday night he called me and said to find out who was willing to come out and help (young professionals from the Summit). He also said that he was able to get everything donated. I was floored. I was humbled. And I was in shock for a good 30 minutes. :) That was a month ago. Yesterday a year of prayer and tears came to fruition. Around 10 young professionals came out ready to work, and work HARD! They dug deep ditches for the french drains, cleaned out a nasty crawl space, jacked up the floor, installed a sump pump, fixed the front stairs, installed the french drains, ripped up carpet, installed new (well, new to me) hardwood flooring in the living room, and I'm sure I'm missing something... As I watched all of this unfold, I had to stop myself from tearing up many times. Was this really all happening? Indeed, it was. This is what the Church is, my friends. I don't have a clue how people ever make it without family like this. Where would I be without the Summit? Where would I be if God has not sovereignly placed me here almost 5 years ago (wow... it really has been that long!)? I don't even want to think about it. I'm sitting in my living room as I type this. I look around and see the handiwork of so many summit members in this one room alone. Thanks guys, you've made this house a home.


I uploaded all of my pictures from this weekend onto facebook. Let me know if these links don't work for you!
Work day page 1
Work day page 2

here are a few random shots... but the links above have almost 100 pictures, so take a look!



Link to other pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81