My Heart (part 2)

Click here to read the first part of this story.

DAY TWO.
I arrived at the house just before 7 a.m. and Ben and Jesse were already up and working on clearing out more stuff. This was going to be a huge, long day. I went upstairs to Rebecca's room so that I could get her closet painted. California Closets had donated the labor and materials to give Rebecca a new closet system, and they were arriving at 10 a.m. - so I knew that was a priority. As I was painting, I could hear more and more people arriving - people ready and willing to lend a hand and do some good for this family.

I soon had help in Rebecca's room when Jen arrived, and the closet was done in no time. We painted it a fabulous teal blue, and also painted a wall in her room the same color. It looked so cool to have two of the walls done. I had bought this paint on a whim a month ago, thinking it would look good in Rebecca's room, and I was so excited to see just how perfect it looked. Leslie and Cheryl, Rebecca's friends, soon came in to help Jen with the painting, and they started on the other walls in the room - a gorgeous apricot color that looked amazing with the blue.

At 8:30 a.m. the house was hopping with help, and we took a moment to stop, hold hands, and pray for the day and all that we were to accomplish. It was exactly what we all needed. Within moments, the truck with all the landscaping materials had arrived. Volunteers were outside shoveling the pea gravel from the front yard onto the street to be hauled away. The closet guy arrived at 9 a.m., just as we were removing the tape from the freshly painted walls - PERFECT timing! Each room inside was abuzz with activity, and the outside was full of people digging holes for plants and trees, unloading rock, loading up trash, and more.

Ben came up to me to tell me that his mom and sister needed fancy clothes for the show they were going to see tonight (someone donated tickets!) - Le Reve at the Wynn hotel - but they didn't bring any, and could someone get their clothes to the Tuscany sometime?? Ack. I was sure it would happen, I wasn't exactly sure how, though.

As the clock turned to 10 a.m. the house was in full upheaval. Every room was being painted, repaired, or cleaned. Bellies were full - Diana Barnes arranged for food to be donated all weekend as we were working. Last night was barbecue beef sandwiches with salad, fruit, cookies, and brownies, and this morning was fruit, pastries, muffins, and juices.

At about 10:30, a pickup truck from Republic Services pulled up (were they thinking the trash would fit in the back of his truck?), and when he saw the pile of trash we needed removed, he called a big truck to come get it. They would be arriving in half an hour. Woohoo!! The trash would be gone - which would be another big morale boost for the group - we would be seeing progress yet again.

Meanwhile, someone got on the phone to a friend in the carpet business and the carpet company said they would donate new carpet for the whole upstairs of the house (downstairs is all tile) if we had an installer to come do it. With one phone call, we found Craig at our church, who lays carpet for a living. He said he would absolutely do it, and he would be at the house within the hour to see what needed to be done.

This threw a big curveball into our plans - now we needed to unload the entire second story of the house so that carpet could go down in the bedrooms, stairway, and hallway! But we would have new carpet, and it would be done TONIGHT! We couldn't resist the challenge.

Craig arrived and assessed the situation, with a promise to return at 5 p.m. to start the carpeting process. WOW!!! What a blessing - these carpets were a huge undertaking, and we knew that cleaning them would not do much to make them look as good as we hoped. But new carpet - no one was expecting that. What a blessing!

Next, Ray at our church found out about what we were doing. He's a professional painter and he offered to spray the entire exterior of the house. We needed him so much!! We had the paint and the tools, but no one to do the work, as the guys that originally offered to do it were stuck inside on other projects. The house was going to get painted, too!!

Republic Services arrived with their big truck and the outside group turned their focus to getting the trash into the truck. The trash guys were awesome - once they heard about our project and what we were doing, they were even more jazzed to help. After loading the entire truck with all the trash (I couldn't believe it all fit in there!!), they offered to take the pea gravel, too! Everyone started shoveling the rock into the back of the truck... We wouldn't have to find someone to haul it away anymore! As the group was about two thirds done with the rock, though, the hydraulics went out on the compactor in the truck... And we wouldn't be able to get any more in there. Not to worry, though - the Republic Services guys were so great. They put in a call to get someone out to repair the truck so they could get the rest of the rock, and in the meantime they stayed and helped out around the yard! Both of them were Christians, and after talking to Ben, they prayed with him - for his family, for the project, for healing for Rebecca... It was so cool. They said that they weren't even supposed to be doing trash pickups - they work at the main building, and had always wanted to drive the big truck, so the two of them volunteered to make this run. Both of them were pretty sure it was all part of the Divine Plan. I had to agree.

Twelve tons of rock were dropped off in the driveway, and the workers started moving it around the yard where it needed to go. It was blazing hot all around us, and the humidity was creeping up again. Jenn Gomez bought cases and cases of waters for everyone, and we had coolers full of ice stationed all around for anyone that needed it (and we all did!!). I brought several bottles of sunblock for everyone to use, too, so no one would get burned in the 110 degree heat.

Rick had been at the house all morning, too, installing tile around the fireplace and a new vinyl floor in the boys' bathroom upstairs. The kids were at the church - Bristi Gomez offered to watch them in the nursery so that we could both be at the house working.

At 12:30 lunch arrived... Sandwiches, more fruit, chips, cookies, and veggies. I knew I had to get the kids and get them down for naps, so I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and treats for them. Just as I was about to walk out the door, my friend Adrienne arrived. She wanted to help out because she knew what Rebecca was going through. She just had a kidney transplant a few years ago, and had been through all the same dialysis treatments Rebecca is receiving now. I showed her around the house and what we were doing, and she was ready to help with anything we needed to do. And I knew the perfect thing - she could take the clothes to Rebecca and Sandy's hotel room! She did it cheerfully, and that weight was taken off our shoulders.

I left and got the kids from church, brought them to my parents house where I swam with the kids and tried to take a nap. Riley fell asleep, but Violet didn't, so I couldn't sleep. I did lie down for awhile, which, combined with the swim in the pool, made me feel much better.

When I got back to the house at 3:30, I could not believe the changes in the house. In three short hours all the plants were installed, at least six tons of rock were moved from the driveway to various parts of the yard, and while I was gone all the furniture from upstairs had been hauled downstairs and out of the house - and all the old carpeting was outside, too.

Unfortunately, because Rebecca's bedroom had wood floors, it became the room where all the heavy upstairs furniture had to stay during the carpet install... Which meant I could not get in there and do ANY decorating. Also, the person that had agreed to make a built in cabinet for Rebecca's room had not arrived yet, and no one could get a hold of him. I wasn't sure if it would be happening. And that was the whole reason we were doing this project at all! The carpet guy did promise he would finish everything tonight, so the good thing was that we would have all day tomorrow to do her room.

The boys' rooms got painted - Jesse got two new bright red walls, and Ben got a coffee colored top half of the wall to complement the green on the bottom. Sandy's bathroom was coming along beautifully, too. The bathroom was repainted a Tuscan faux finish on the walls and the cabinets. The boys bathroom was going to be painted white, and we painted their cabinets a bright orange to go with the very bright and fun towels we got (white with colorful circles embroidered across them). The baseboards in the whole house got painted, too. What a difference.... With still so much to do!

Craig the Carpet Guy came at 5 p.m. just as promised and started right away in Sandy's room. Ray the Painter Guy got going doing the exterior paint on the back of the house. Dinner arrived at 6 p.m. - pasta with meatballs, salad, rolls, and chocolate cake for dessert!

Finally at about 8 pm the carpenter that was going to make the built-in for Rebecca arrived. He took measurements of the walls and I told him what needed to be done with the dialysis machine, shelves, and refrigerator cabinet, and he said he was going to go out and get the materials right away so he could start building it, and he would be back Sunday morning.

We repaired and stained all the kitchen cabinets, removed all the interior doors and gave them a fresh coat of paint, painted Rebecca's bed and several other pieces of furniture, and continued on the yard well into the night. As each room was done being carpeted, we vacuumed the floor and brought furniture back in - Sandy's room got a brand new beautiful dresser set donated from Diana. The carpet was done in Jesse's room about 10 p.m. so Rebecca's room finally got unloaded by about 11 p.m. and we were able to start getting a few things back into there and organized.

Oh! I forgot to mention the NEW COUCH the family got, too... Linda, who was working in Sandy's room, mentioned that her mother had just bought a beautiful, tan sectional with two recliners, but she didn't like the way it looked in her house, so she was getting rid of it. A BRAND NEW $2500 SECTIONAL. Donated. It's sitting in the garage (now that it's all cleaned out there was plenty of room!) and ready to go into the living room on Sunday.

I left the house at about 12:30 a.m. and Tish was still painting the railings, Leslie was working on touch ups and details, and Craig had just finished Ben's room. Ray had done most of the outside of the house - he just needed to do the sides of the house and the trim, which he would finish Sunday. My body was so tired and sore, and there was still so much to be done. But I had to remember how far we had come and how many blessings we had already received.

Terry Powell reminded me that God does His best work in three days - He can make this happen. The song that kept running through my head as I was driving home was an old worship song that says:

Lord, we have come
To this house
Where we love to sing Your praises
We lift our hearts
and our hands
to the King of all the ages

Hear us, Lord, we pray
Come, Jesus, come
Come fill this place

Meet us here
Meet us here, Lord
We are few
But we are strong
When You surround us...

Meet us here
Meet us here, Lord.
As we gather in Your name,
Meet us here.

God was meeting us there. He was using us to do an amazing thing.
Deuteronomy 10:18 says He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow. And that is what we are doing here. Rebecca is fatherless. Sandy was left a virtual widow when her husband left her and took everything they had. And God has used us to help them.

One more day to go... I can't wait to tell you how it all ends!

(continued soon.....)