End of the year...

Today was the last Sunday of the year! A new year will begin in just a few days! With that brings OUR NEW BUILDING!!!

Here is the announcement in today's Sacrament Bulletin:

CONCORDIA MEETING HOUSE UPDATE:
Much has changed on the outside with the plantings of landscape galore! The outside trim is looking complete. We will know about the status on after the project manager meets with the architect and the contractor this Wednesday, December 29th, 2010. The Project Manager's message to President Knapp (Stake President) was that he expected we could begin meeting in the building on January 16th, 2011. That is only three weeks! Most exciting.

From our observation, we have noticed lots of trees and bushes planted along the church grounds. Then it was followed up with a thick layer of mulch. While driving past the building in the dark, we noticed parking lot lights and they were on! What a beautiful building this is! We just cant wait to see inside! Hopefully we will learn on Wednesday details of the repaired damaged parts from the water leak.

Moving Forward...

Lots of progress on the outside of the building this week! We are surprised to see that trees and bushes are being planted for landscaping! How exciting! I didn't realize that these could be planted in the winter.

No word on the work inside. Certainly the contractors are feverishly working to correct any water damage that was done!

GoOd NeWs Or BaD nEwS?

The good news is that progress is still going forth on the building. The contractors are very dedicated to this project. It has been said, the General Contractor has come in the middle of the night to check on things.


The bad news is that things have changed....delayed. The water was turned on on Wednesday, and the carpet was laid on Wednesday, not on Saturday as I last reported. We drove by on Saturday and saw all the carpet laying outside in the parking lot. The workers were using a little bobcat to smooth out soil.

When we got to Church this morning, my dad was telling me a story. I didn't believe him because he tells stories to get a rise out of me, and I was NOT buying into this one. Then the announcement came over the pulpit by President Powell. My dad's story was not at all an embellishment. I nearly cried. The story goes like this:

The water was turned on in the building on Wednesday, and carpet was laid. Work was continuing as usual. The General Contractor woke in the middle of the night, went to check on the building, and everything was fine. Thursday morning, when workers arrived, water was coming out of every door. :( I don't know what has happened, if a water main broke, froze or was not hooked up completely, but it was really bad. The font was only a foot or two full, as far as I can remember Sister Powell telling me, but it was because all the drains in the building (bathrooms, font, kitchen, custodial closet) were working over time, but were not able to keep up with the water flow.

Damage: Reportedly, the sisal has been removed from the walls now. Fans are blowing trying to dry things out. Sheet rock will have to be removed. I am not sure if it is from chair rail down or all of it. It depends on whether it wicked all the way up or not.

Someone said to me when we heard this was that God was punishing us, but it is Satan who doesn't want our building.

So, as it stands, work is continuing on. This is but a small set back. Disappointing for sure, but at least it wasn't a fire. :O)

Looking at the pictures, the trash is full of debris left over from the flooding, and the carpet still sits out in the parking lot. It will be replaced as well as the sisal (sisal is sort of a jute twine carpet that is used for walls). Another big plus is that there is NO furnishings in the building that could have been destroyed, although I wonder about the lower kitchen cabinets.

Work will continue, and even though this is a wound to the building, we will still have our beautiful building to meet in soon!

The trash over-floweth.

The ruined carpet, blowing in the wind.

Latest Update!

It has been a long time between posts. This is due in part because lots of times, there is nothing new visually to report, and other times, time just gets away and I have not had a chance to blog! Here are the latest things happening:

November 21st, 2010 Sacrament Meeting bulletin from the Branch Presidency

• The contractor expects the building to be completed by December 16th. The exterior is mostly done, inside the ceiling and walls are painted and doors are hung, sidewalks are in place and parking lot is being poured. Pray for dry weather so they can finish the outside work

December 5th, 2010 Sacrament Meeting bulletin from the Branch Presidency

• Inside the finishing is progressing rapidly; the exterior is mostly done, the parking lot is poured, the topsoil is being replaced around the building, and the sprinkler system is being installed. Pray for dry weather so the contractor can finish the grounds work. It will be too cold to install the sod and some plantings so these will be done in the spring when the soil warms up. The contractor expects to be completed in 2-3 weeks. The project manager said we could likely meet in the building in mid January.

The crew is putting in the underground sprinkler system now. It is going to be beautiful once it is landscape in the Spring!

This is the back view of the building. You can see the large parking lot. It is a beautiful site to see through the bare trees!

Looking through the doors (from the road), we can see that there is trim up on the walls, fire alarms in place, lighting in place as well! It is hard not getting to see the inside. I hope that once the contractors are finished that we will be able to go in for a tour. (hint hint). :)

Parking lot, sidewalks, stucco and more!

Work is continuing, even when it rains! In some of these pictures, you will notice tarps draped across the front of the building. It has been raining and the workers are trying to get the stucco applied to the outside of the walls. Parking lot in the back is progressing nicely, even though it is hard to see in these pictures. So far, two sections of it has been poured. Sidewalks and curb work has been done as well. There have been things going on inside the building. It sounds like it is painted, and cabinets will be installed soon. While we cant see inside yet, we know work is continuing on. By the sounds of things, January 2011 will be the dedication to the building, and the open house will take place in the Spring, April?

Bricks!

The bricks are climbing their way up the front of the chapel! It is looking absolutely beautiful! The warmer days of autumn are nearly over so we are looking forward to seeing this getting completed!

LoNg TiMe...

Been a while since the last post. There are still a lot of things progressing at the new Church building! MOST of it is on the inside. Retaining walls are coming up around the East and West sides of the buildings, and brick is being placed along the lower sections of the outside of the building and shed! The under ground work "seems" to be completed and it looks like the area set for the parking lot has been worked on as far as leveling it out. I know that on the inside, sheet rock is in place, and textured, ready for the paint! Besides all of that, I don't know of many details that are happening. It drives some of us crazy that we cant see the inside yet! :P

New Stuff!

It has been a while since we have seen much change on the Church site. The crew have been digging up the entire lot, and across the street to the North so they can put the cement drainage pipes in. But today there was a LOT of different things going on! The street (11th street) has been dug up (rather nicely I must say) to run the sewer pipes through. This is particularly interesting to me because twice a day, that is the most busy road in town! It is approximately 1/2 a block away from the Elementary school and that is where drop offs and pick ups take place in the morning and afternoons. But they had the road boarded over so everyone could just drive over it with no problem, and no traffic was blocked. YAY!

Another new addition is the shed that was built in the back. I am certain it will belong to the Church, as most LDS Meeting houses have sheds to store equipment in.

As anyone who knows, I am NOT a construction person, contractor or especially talented in this profession, so I don't know exactly the correct terminology of things. But today, yellow stuff (insulation???) has been applied to the outside walls. ;')

As we drive by in the evenings as a family, we have been noticing someone is staying late each night, working. We hear hammering, drilling, and you can see some temporary lights on. How neat to see progress taking place, even in the late evening and possibly beyond!

This might quite possibly be the longest update so far!

Lovely...

Here is the Church

Here is the Steeple

Soon it will be filled

With all the people!

ground work...

The pipes are going in under ground! The entire ground at the new lot is dug up and piles of dirt are everywhere! The shingles are all on now. We cant wait to see the steeple placed on top!

Roofing...

The guys are up roofing today! It looks wonderful! Bricks will follow soon! They are sitting all around the building just waiting to be placed!

Shingles and Walls...

The rolled roofing has been placed on the entire roof! Also, we have noticed a retaining wall beginning to be built in the back (West side). Looking awesome! Wonder where the Steeple went....

The Steeple...

As we have been following the progress of the building, it doesn't seem like a lot is happening (or changing) from day to day, though we know it is. The crew has been working on the box on the top where the steeple will be placed! As we drove around the corner, we SAW THE STEEPLE! Just sitting there on the truck! We weren't expecting to see it, but it was very nice surprise! How exciting! In the lower right picture, you will see the cement and behind that are the exterior bricks. Things are moving right along, even though we cant always see the progress!

BEAUTIFUL WINDOWS!

It is so exciting to see the progress taking place. Beautiful windows are being installed today. They are different types of windows than I have seen on other meeting houses. Just beautiful! We took a short video of the men working on installing the windows so you can see the work in action! Next will be doors and roof!

September 12, 2010...

BRANCH PRESIDENCY UPDATE:

This is going to be a beautiful building and landscaping. The roof framing is about complete and the contractor expects the roof to be installed in a week with the windows the following week. This stage is called 'weathered in' meaning that they can work inside, protected from weather delays. There is also a reminder that follows to not enter the construction site unless invited by the contractor.

Omaha Temple Trip...

On a separate note from the progress of the building, here is progress of a different kind for our Branch. A sweet TEMPLE TRIP TO OMAHA NEBRASKA! OK, I would name them all, but some are actually back in the back HIDING. So glad it was a beautiful autumn day for everyone to make this trip! What a wonderful turnout representing our Branch in Concordia!

Safe Shelter Over Head...

The South side of the West side of the building (did you get that?) now has a roof! It is my suspicion that the North side of that section will be covered by the days end! As we drove by, Bethanie (8) saw a man on the top peak and said, "That man isn't being safe!". She was pretty worried that he would fall off. He was dangling over the edge.

Moving right along...

The progress is moving quickly on the church lot! Today, we sat and watched the West wall being lifted up and placed in position! Rafters are also beginning to come in sight! I will post pictures of that tomorrow. Pretty soon, we wont be able to monitor the progress of the building because it will be all interior work! None the less, it is all progressing on schedule.

BRANCH PRESIDENCY UPDATE:
(posted in the Sacrament Meeting Program on August 22nd, 2010)

The following tasks have been completed: site preparation, foundation, below the floor plumbing, under floor fill, concrete floor, and backfill. This week the contractor poured the concrete floor and began installing wall framing. Construction is progressing on schedule. Now that the work is above ground it is easier to see progress and it seems to go faster. (Reminder that no one is allowed on the construction site without invitation from the general contractor).

Chapel...

The walls for the chapel are up! The walls for the rest of it are up too! Pretty soon, the roof will go on! It really is beginning to look like an LDS Meetinghouse! At first, with just the foundation and flooring poured, it looked really small! But as the walls go up, and you can see inside the skeleton of the building, you can tell where things will be, like class rooms, bathrooms and offices!

We Have Walls!!!

I am not certain, but I think this is the Chapel with walls. YAY!

How Firm A Foundation!

At the North end of the lot, you can see the foundation taking place! It is so exciting to see progress on our building. The dirt work tends to take a long time, but once they start with the physical parts of the building, it seems like it grows over night!

Branch Presidency Update:

This was posted in the July 25th Sacrament Meeting bulletin:

Site preparation earthwork began Monday 14 June. Topsoil was stockpiled to use later over the yard. The site was leveled; cutting, filling, and compacting several feet of soil. The plumbing below the floor and foundation are being installed. Work is progressing on schedule. The below grade work always seems to go slow, however once these parts are completed including: sewer lines, foundation, and floor. The framing follows and that always looks like progress is going fast.

There is also a reminder to NOT enter the site without permission from the general contractor as this could create a liability.



NOTE: We have noticed over the past few days the pallets of bricks sitting and waiting! The pictures we are taking dont seem to do justice but we will continue trying to get what we can of the progress!

We have a font floor! That is what was announced in Church last Sunday. It is really hard to get good pictures of what is going on because no one is allowed on the lot at all. Rebar is laid on the top level, where we cant see, so it looks like the foundation will be put in soon! This is real progress! How exciting to see so many men on site working, and even longer days!

Cement...

Today we saw something exciting! It was a large cement truck pouring cement in an area on the North side of the lot. There is a build up of dirt at the North end, and so we couldn't see what was being poured, but it was underground what ever it was. My best guess could only be that it had to do with sewer.

Digging...

Digging is happening on the lot today! It is on the upper North West part of the lot, and I cant tell for sure what they are digging, but it looks like progress! We also saw two baby deer just past the "L" street turn off! How fun. I love the area that our building is being built in! The nature in the area is just glorious!

Update...

I wish I could say that a lot of progress is happening on the lot. Unfortunately they are only working half days, which totally drives us crazy. We are so excited to see this happen, and it feels that it is at a snail's pace. However, there is some different equipment there, and a lot of mapping and surveying is still taking place. We will continue updating as things change.

More Trees...

more trees have been taken down on the South East side, along L Street. I can see this might be to make the parking lot, but I am not sure of the exact layout.

Building the ground up....

The excavator (or track hoe, depending on which family expert [Matthew or Grandpa] you ask, was busy on the SE side of the lot. It was taking out more trees. I actually caught the crew in motion today! Seems as though they are working half days.

More Equipment!

The surveying and mapping crew were there today, and an excavator was on site! More digging and ground work in progress!

Rain...

Over the weekend, our poor little town (and surrounding communities) has had terrible weather. Not only did we end up with around 8-10 inches of rain in 2 days, we also had terrible wall clouds, lightening, wind and tree damage. The site sustained a toppled Port-A-Potty, and lots of mud. The black fence was moved down closer to the road, and doubled up to continue collecting debris from going down the sewer.

Dirt Work...

There has been quite a bit of dirt removed from the land. You can see a ridge in the background where several feet of dirt has been taken off. This lot was originally on a hill, so much of the earth is to be removed. I have a difficult time "catching" the work in progress. Usually when we drive by, no one is around, and no machinery is moving. But, work is going forward!

Utility Work...

You cant have a new church building without utilities! Today, the work crew was there, along with Prairie Land Electric, hooking up the utilities!

Heavy Equipment....

As we drove by the lot today, we wanted to "Catch In Action" machinery that was being used. Sadly, they sat in the same spot most of the day. That said, we could tell that some more of the dirt was moved and they added another piece of equipment. Crew is there, but they must be waiting on other heavy equipment items to come. Looks awesome! I am betting Brother Luckey isn't going to be mowing the grass for a while! :)

EaRtH MoVeD!!!

Earth moved on the lot today! I was really surprised to see that so much dirt was moved. We have had TONS of rain the last few days, and I thought it would be too muddy. I took several pictures from different angles. Its official! No one is allowed on the lot now because construction is beginning, starting with dirt work! Hurray! This is so wonderful! I cant explain the joy we are feeling. As I walked the road along our new Church lot, I could hear the birds chirping, seeing the sun behind the trees, it is such a peaceful place, and it is going to be a fantastic place for a new building! What a great blessing!

Note: Sometimes if you want to see the collage of pictures a little bigger, just click on the picture and it will open it up and show the pictures so you can see them a little better.

Also, check for daily updates. I will blog daily, as long as there is activity on the lot.

It Begins!!!

Finally with MUCH anticipation, there is action on the lot! They have been there all day, and President Powell helped them do some things this morning! They have been surveying the land, and it wont be long now before they are well into production of our new building! How very exciting!

There currently nothing new at our lot. I was sure hoping by now that there was a little action taking place! The weather has been hot and sunny, so at least it isn't the rain holding everything up!

It's Wednesday...

and there is still no activity on the lot. We did get 1 1/4 inch of rain last night, though I doubt that is why there is still no activity. The anticipation is great for all of our members to finally see this building go up! I think this could be a very long six months! Please know I am checking the lot each day. I will report when anything changes!

NoThiNg ToDaY...

There was no new activity on the lot today. I thought for sure there would be some equipment moving in!

Activity on the lot!

On May 18, we noticed the construction trailor was moved onto the lot, and hooked up to electricity. It has been raining since, so there has been no further activity.

Ground Breaking!

April 24th was a wonderful day! Branch members came to our lot and we had a ground breaking ceremony! The lot the Church has purchased is really nice. There are trees around the area and it is in a very nice part of town (close to the Elementary School). We cant wait to see the building construction begin!