We are in!

In the past few weeks, progress has continued in the new school building.  A ship playset was donated to the school by a generous local neighbor and was installed at the school on May 31.

We have now relocated from this building...

 ...to this building! Praise the Lord!

     

 

The school's basement is not finished yet and the upstairs still needs some work.  Last week the building was inspected and we were granted a temporary occupancy permit!  On Saturday night, we had work night at the new building to mop floors, clean, and set up chairs.  On June 3, the first church service was held in the new building. 

 

Thanks to each of you who has supported us in various ways.  We praise God for his awesome blessings.

More progress has been made on the school building in the past few weeks.  The restrooms downstairs are  now in working order with toilets, sinks, and running water.  Trim was installed and puttied.  Vinyl tile was laid upstairs in the hallways and restrooms.  Hand rails were put in place by the staircase.

On Wednesday, May 16 there was another work night at the new school building.  The trim was sanded and painted.  Closets and other details were painted.  A few men worked on the indoor plumbing.  A lot of clean-up work was done in preparation for our first formal service in the new school building.

Graduation was held in the basement of the new building on May 20, 2012. The building easily accommodated the 120 people in attendance.  We are hoping to have our first Sunday morning church service in the new building on June 3.

We praise God or His continual blessing and provision.

Progress...

First of all, a big apology. We have been making progress on the school building project, even though it doesn't appear that way according to this blog.  

I guess I'll attempt to give a brief update in pictures about what happened in the past year.

A crew from Ohio came out in October 2010 to lay concrete in the basement over the in-floor heating.

In February 2011, the split-faced block was completed on the outside of the building.

In February 2012, there was a work night at the church building.  Some clean-up work was done, but primarily, opinions were stated about the color of walls, tile, restroom stalls, etc. 

This spring we've been doing quite a bit of painting work inside.  With everyone working together, work gets done quickly, and the interior is beginning to look very nice.

We've also been preparing ground, sowing grass seed, spreading straw, and watching the grass grow.

I know I missed a lot of details here, but I guess this will have to do for now.  As of now, we're hoping to move into the new school building before the end of this school year.  We greatly appreciate the ways various people have shown their support throughout the past few years with sacrifices of time, money, equipment, prayers, etc.  

The Cold Spell Has Broken

...and we are making some progress with the masonry work again. On the inside, volunteers are working on the in-floor heating system and plumbing. The electrician is doing the rough wiring. Currently (2/26/2011) we have about $30,000 in hand which will not be enough to totally complete all the mechanicals. One of the issues we are running into is the increased cost of everything involved with a commercial building. We are grateful for the donations that have come in, but we will need a continual supply to proceed with the work.

Under Roof

"Many hands make light work." This old maxim has proved true over the last three weeks. Thanks to a number of volunteer masons and carpenters, our new building is under roof. In the picture the foyer is on the left side of the building and includes the main entry to the school. As you circle the building to the right, the terrain slopes away to reveal a "daylight" basement which will house our future church auditorium. Dan Alvarez is working on the in-floor radiant heat today after which we plan to pour concrete. If funds allow, we hope to complete the exterior with split-face block before winter.

Permit Obtained

This is the go. Praise the Lord with us.

In Motion

To all looking on it, appears as if little to nothing has been happening over the last number of months. However, behind the scenes a few wheels have been turning. We successfully appealed the use of a more expensive elevator and were granted the option of using the cheaper model that we had been considering. This week, plans cleared with Code Systems (the review board for the state) and have been passed on to the township for permitting. This is a giant leap forward and we thank you for your prayers.

Walter Worstel began digging on the property again yesterday to do the final levelling of the ball field and to finish to basement hole to final grade. Next on the agenda is digging the footers.

Currently are needs are time and funds - time in our busy schedules to work on the project once it begins and funds for the completion of the work. We are required to put a down-payment on the elevator in order for the elevator co. to release blueprints to the architect to incorporate into our prints.