Hi everyone,
We had a great day of travel. We had some challenges. We had an unusual phonomena of freezing fog this morning. It left beautiful frost on the trees, but unfortunately we experienced some very slippery roads. In fact, near Wausau, Wi. this morning we saw 3 vehicles in the ditch in 2 miles. We also experienced a snowstorm in Illinois. We experienced strong wind gusts near St. Louis.
After driving through the St. Louis area, we drove completely out of the snow and below freezing weather.
We spent the night in Perriville MO. This was our planned rest stop. Most of us enjoyed the pool. We are on schedule and made the goal of 625 miles today. We plan to arrive at our destination by 6:00 P.M. tomorrow evening.
God bless each of you who takes the time to check on our blog.
In Christ
The Haines family
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
A nasty snowstorm
LET IT SNOW...
LET IT SNOW....
AND LET IT SNOW
!!!
!!!Hi everyone
As we write this blog this Sunday afternoon, we have received another 12 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. It has been accompanied by 30-40 mph winds. Our temps are low as well. Wind chill temps are below zero. It takes a lot to stop life in Central WI, but this storm has us paralyzed. The worst aspect of the situation is the blowing snow which caused total white out conditions. It is very dangerous to travel when it is this messy.
We did decide to cancel our Colby service today. I think it was a good idea.
We had an exciting week at work. Brian subcontracted to a large construction company to help frame up a 60 unit assisted living center 1.5 miles from our home. It is a panelized wood frame building. It is amazing what can be accomplished with a crew of approximately 10 guys, a couple of Pettibone lifts, a crane and a bunch of nail guns.
Brian took one of the boys each day, they hired us as a 2 man team. They assigned us to build interior rooms. We were able to build 20 interior units. Brian and Nicholas crawled trusses on Tuesday and tied the trusses together with 2x4 perlines. This work was about 30 feet in the air and we had frost and ice to deal with. On Friday, Brian and Nicholas were assigned to frame 2
interior rooms. After this was completed, they installed 36 large windows in 6 hours.
As we write this blog this Sunday afternoon, we have received another 12 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. It has been accompanied by 30-40 mph winds. Our temps are low as well. Wind chill temps are below zero. It takes a lot to stop life in Central WI, but this storm has us paralyzed. The worst aspect of the situation is the blowing snow which caused total white out conditions. It is very dangerous to travel when it is this messy.
We did decide to cancel our Colby service today. I think it was a good idea.
We had an exciting week at work. Brian subcontracted to a large construction company to help frame up a 60 unit assisted living center 1.5 miles from our home. It is a panelized wood frame building. It is amazing what can be accomplished with a crew of approximately 10 guys, a couple of Pettibone lifts, a crane and a bunch of nail guns.
Brian took one of the boys each day, they hired us as a 2 man team. They assigned us to build interior rooms. We were able to build 20 interior units. Brian and Nicholas crawled trusses on Tuesday and tied the trusses together with 2x4 perlines. This work was about 30 feet in the air and we had frost and ice to deal with. On Friday, Brian and Nicholas were assigned to frame 2
interior rooms. After this was completed, they installed 36 large windows in 6 hours.
Joshua and Samuel helped frame rooms. Needless to say we were exhausted each evening.
Brian had the opportunity to meet the owner and general contractor. He also met the owner of the framing company. They have all been very nice and took a bit of time to visit in the midst of all the action. This center is a duplicate of one they opened in Wisconsin Rapids recently. He showed pictures and pointed out the advantages of his unit. The Center will be upscale and impresive. There are huge commons areas with high vaulted ceilings, fireplaces, even a baby grand piano will be included. We are excited that this facility will provide some jobs and a reason for some people to travel to our community.
We did have fair weather last week, but we will return to a serious mess tomorrow with the snow.
Brian had the opportunity to meet the owner and general contractor. He also met the owner of the framing company. They have all been very nice and took a bit of time to visit in the midst of all the action. This center is a duplicate of one they opened in Wisconsin Rapids recently. He showed pictures and pointed out the advantages of his unit. The Center will be upscale and impresive. There are huge commons areas with high vaulted ceilings, fireplaces, even a baby grand piano will be included. We are excited that this facility will provide some jobs and a reason for some people to travel to our community.
We did have fair weather last week, but we will return to a serious mess tomorrow with the snow.
We have decided on the logistics of our return to Mississippi. We will travel New Years Eve day and arrive in Biloxi on New Years Day. We will stay at the camp that CCLA has set up. They have dedicated a portion of the facility to accomodate relief volunteers. They have a R.V. park set up right behind the church. It will work out real well for several reasons. We will partner with them and the things they are doing. The kids will be able to participate in many of the activities that go on there. The little ones will be able to play on a playground. They are also located near an on ramp to the freeway. The older kids will probably sleep in the dorms rather than tents.
One of the reasons we decided to go with this plan is that the large kitchen our family parnered with last year is shut down. This will give our family tons of opportunity to serve as Brian works.
Our Chrismas plans are simple. We will have our Christmas eve service on the 24th, we described the details in the last entry. We will get together with direct family and that is pretty much it.
In Christ
The Haines family
One of the reasons we decided to go with this plan is that the large kitchen our family parnered with last year is shut down. This will give our family tons of opportunity to serve as Brian works.
Our Chrismas plans are simple. We will have our Christmas eve service on the 24th, we described the details in the last entry. We will get together with direct family and that is pretty much it.
In Christ
The Haines family
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Sledding, Shoveling and Waterslides
Hi everyone,
Well, Brrrr pretty much sums up life in WI lately. We received a solid blanket of snow and it looks like it will be sticking around a bit. We have approximely 12 inches of snow. The kids have enjoyed playing in real snow. In fact, as we write this blog, Brian, Andrew, Ethan and Rosa just returned from our city sledding hill. It was fun. The kids also discovered that their backyard slide works well for a sled launch.
We did manage to finish the roof in Riplinger. We had to tarp the roof and shovel the snow 2 times. As we mentioned last time, Brian has had his fill of winter with the cold and the snow.
We pulled out the roof jacks and moved off this job on Monday.
The next couple of weeks will be spent helping frame up a 60 unit assisted living center in Colby only 1.5miles from our home. The framing contractor needed some more carpentry subcontractors. In addition to the weather being hard, their company had a couple of their guys hurt in a head on car crash. I suspect they may be a bit behind schedule.
Brian did another ceramic tile tub wall this week. Work included replacing the plumbing, replacing the drywall with cement board and the tile. It turned out very nice.
We set up our Christmas tree last weekend. We do not get over serious about decorating the house much other than the tree.
This past Friday evening our family decided to do a mini vacation and take our first visit to a nearby indoor water park. We spent the night and let the kids stay up very late and then we played hard all Saturday. We actually wore them all out and they were happy to return home.
Once again we had an exciting week at the Church. We had our highest attendance so far this morning with 96 in attendance. We did a music set of Christmas music and had a mini children's performance which was a teaser for our Christmas eve service. On Christmas Eve, we will meet at the Methodist Church for our service. It is at 2 P.M. and you are all invited. The Silva family, which is our new Hispanic pastor family are awesome. Their son Ricardo joined our worship band. He is a very skilled guitarist, bass player and keyboard player. He is a specific answer to prayer as he will be capable of facilitating the worship band in our absence. We had the Silva family join us today for a noon meal.
We have tentative plans to return to MS on New Years Eve day. We will take two days and make it to our destination on New Years day. We will probably do detail finishing for Joan, the last project we did in June. When I spoke to Joan, she was using her A/C as it was still warm.
We do not know what we will be doing but God does and we are trusting for all things to work out.
For those of you in MS, we look forward to seeing you.
In Christ
The Haines Family
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Wanna shovel some snow?
Hi everyone,
We had a productive week working on the Riplinger house. As of Friday we had all of the roofing removed, loaded in the dumpster and all plywood, felt paper and edging installed. We have roof jacks and 2x6 lumber installed. All of the roofing is on the roof jacks and about 30% of the roofing is installed. It was a
brutally cold week with cold temps and 20-30 mph winds most days. The boys worked hard and
we are grateful to them.
We had a forecast for a winter storm on Sat. so we covered the roof with large tarps. Thankfully we did this.
On Saturday we received our first significant winter storm with approx. 8 inches of snow followed up with some sleet and icing.
We spent some time digging out from the snow as did everyone else. We suspect the snow will stay as temps have been cold and the ground is frozen.
We had an awesome Sunday at church. We had two first time visitors at church including a young lady and her children. We have been praying and trusting God to reach her for over 1.5 years. We have been reaching into her life and helping her on a regular basis. Join us in praying for her, her children and her husband. They need our prayer and our help.
It is official that our church has now launched a hispanic ministry. We have added Pastor John Silva and his family on staff. They have moved to Colby this week. We are thrilled to see this happen as literally thousands of Mexicans have located here in recent years and the great majority of them are unchurched. They will be open to a hispanic pastor as they can relate to him. We are also excited that their son is a capable worship leader and will be a great help in our absence this winter.
We just wanted to touch base, keep in touch.
The Haines family
We had a productive week working on the Riplinger house. As of Friday we had all of the roofing removed, loaded in the dumpster and all plywood, felt paper and edging installed. We have roof jacks and 2x6 lumber installed. All of the roofing is on the roof jacks and about 30% of the roofing is installed. It was a
brutally cold week with cold temps and 20-30 mph winds most days. The boys worked hard and
we are grateful to them.
We had a forecast for a winter storm on Sat. so we covered the roof with large tarps. Thankfully we did this.
On Saturday we received our first significant winter storm with approx. 8 inches of snow followed up with some sleet and icing.
We spent some time digging out from the snow as did everyone else. We suspect the snow will stay as temps have been cold and the ground is frozen.
We had an awesome Sunday at church. We had two first time visitors at church including a young lady and her children. We have been praying and trusting God to reach her for over 1.5 years. We have been reaching into her life and helping her on a regular basis. Join us in praying for her, her children and her husband. They need our prayer and our help.
It is official that our church has now launched a hispanic ministry. We have added Pastor John Silva and his family on staff. They have moved to Colby this week. We are thrilled to see this happen as literally thousands of Mexicans have located here in recent years and the great majority of them are unchurched. They will be open to a hispanic pastor as they can relate to him. We are also excited that their son is a capable worship leader and will be a great help in our absence this winter.
We just wanted to touch base, keep in touch.
The Haines family
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