Building the House!

I am so sorry that i have not done an update on the new house building project!!! God heard our cries, and provided for the building of a house for this family from the mountain!!!! He spoke to me so much last week, and made it very apparent to me that I am going to get to be a vessel for His plans for this family! The money came in, the building crew was hired (will also help give people jobs :)), wood has been purchased and the house is going up!!! I am continually having to remind myself that this money is not mine, nor are these plans.. I even write on my hand every morning, "This is not yours." So that anytime a problem comes up in the building or logistics, i look at my hand and realize that this is God's thing and i need to trust Him.

We had originally planned for a house that would be 20ft x 20ft including the dirty kitchen (where they cook). Because this family is from the mountain, they do not own the land that their house is currently on so we had to get permission from the owner of the land to build them a new house in a new area. like i said before, their neighbors were not christians and would yell profanities and drink and gamble to excess. not a great surrounding for their kids. so we got the permission to build the new house, and started digging holes. the next day the owner of the land saw our holes and told us the house was too big. so we had a whole new discussion over sizes of the house. he originally said it coudln't be bigger than 10 x 10. this would mean two 5x5 rooms and one 5x10 room for 6 people!!! i was obviously a little confused so i asked him to draw it out on the sand.. after 15 minutes of discussion, we finally realized that he meant "meters" and not "feet." HAHAHA. wow! what a relief!

Okay, i'm going to try to let the pictures speak for themselves.. but sometimes i might need to add comments because i just want everyone to get to partake in this adventure!!!

BIG SIDE NOTE: REMEMBER THAT THIS WHOLE THING WILL BE BUILT BY HAND WITH NO ELECTRIC TOOL. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!

This is the original house. 

Original house- size of some of our walk-in closets 

the location of the new house : ) 

Yes, it takes 15 of us :) 

Helping to build a table for them

This is our main builder (ate mimay's husband). I gave him those flip flops because he was building with no shoes on the first day. Also- notice he is spreading the concrete with his hands.. professional :) 

Mixing the cement. I love that everything here is entertainment for the community

My building crew! It's all about teamwork... the posts weren't lining up, so standing on it to force it down was the only viable option ;) 

The framework is finished! 

notice how much i am helping... just giving high fives to kids ;)

oh wait, i can help a little :)

ate Juning is on left- she is the momma of the mountain family. ate grace is on the right (my filipino sister ;))

Tomorrow we put down the floor and add the roof :) we will be adding a front deck as a porch and a side deck for washing clothes and the kitchen will be added on the back of the house!