Time to Play Catch-Up . . . and Build a House!

Team season is over and it is now what the good folks at Sowers4Pastors refer to as "catch up season." (Note: If you read the preceding sentence out loud, your brain might hear ketchup season.) Catch up (or ketchup) season is the perfect time to think about construction on the property. 

As you may remember, the Sowerses are currently building a third house on the ministry property. Now, building a house is, admittedly, some pretty impressive catching up. The house was originally intended to be Allen and Trish’s new abode but it looks like it will be housing Rachel, Brandy, and their kids, instead. The previous houses on the property were built during snippets of time. A week here. Two weeks there. That drawn out process was the reason it took seven or eight years to complete the house where Allen and Trish are currently living. 

Rachel and Brandy have many skills, but construction isn’t one of them. Allen is a skilled builder, but completing a house is a mighty undertaking and it isn’t the sort of thing that Allen can easily squeeze into an already full schedule. That’s why the family is looking to bring in a contractor to finish the project. 

Here are just a few of the reasons hiring outside help makes sense:

1. The sooner Casa #3 is completed, the sooner Rachel and Brandy can move onto the property. Having more people living there is better from a security perspective. It will also give Allen and Trish more freedom to travel to the States. They will be able to take extended trips to see the rest of the family and visit churches.
2. Rachel and Brandy are currently paying rent in Gracias. Without hiring outside help, it is realistic to assume that it would take, at minimum, an additional two years for the house to be move-in ready. The amount of saved rent will offset the cost of hiring a contractor.
   
3. It will simply be nice to have the family all together. Nathan, Michael, and Levi will have lots of space to run and will be able to spend extra time with their doting grandparents and Aunt Kirstin.
   
4. The setting will allow Rachel to enjoy her love of gardening and the temperatures are cooler than living in a house with a flat cement roof in Gracias. Rachel said their current house has some oven-like tendencies.

Allen has already made a lot of progress on the house, so a contractor will not be starting from scratch. The construction is almost to the point of putting in the skilled-labor intensive finishing touches, like putting in tile, doors and windows, plumbing fixtures, etc.

The layout of the new house should work well for Rachel and Brandy’s family. It will have three bedrooms and two baths, with one of the baths being in the basement. From a practicality standpoint, Rachel likes the fact that it is on two levels with each level being tighter and easier to hear the boys at play. Like many moms of boys, she would like to be able to head off disaster, daredevil schemes, and potential for bloodshed. 

Please pray that they will find the right person for the job. They are looking for someone who will complete the house with the same high standards with which it was started, but at a price that won't bust their budget. Also, the funds being used to build the house are (as always) funds designated for personal use, not funds donated for ministry use. If anyone would like to help turn this construction site into a home in the near future, you can give through the website as support for Brandy and Rachel, with a message in the note section that the gift is specifically for this project.

- posted by Christi