Construction on our new home in Lachapelle is in it's 43rd month, and progress is really starting to be made. It's with your donations that keep us building. Our original goal was to be in before Christmas, but seeing how things are going, we have set a new goal for the end of March, 2011!

When complete, the new house will be a granduous 2-story, 7000 square foot palace... especially compared to what we're crammed into now. We're on about 8 acres of land, with lots of grass for the kids to play in. We'll have a river, a soccer field, a bike track around the house, a vegetable garden, etc. all surrounded by a security wall. We've already build the 3-story water tower, the exterior walls of the house itself, and ceiling beams have been built as well.

We're now working on interior walls, finishing the interior floor, and then finally installing the cement ceiling (for the first floor). By that point we should be able to move in. We'll continue to finish the second floor, as well as other parts of the house, once we're already in.

Here's the grand plan...

The 3-story water tower is already complete, and allows for some dramatic photos! You can see the front door of the house in the foreground of the picture below. From there you'll be faced with a staircase to the second floor. To the left you'll find a living room, and in the far corner Trisha's office. To the right you'll come to a play area for the tots, before you get to the classroom/chapel. If you take a right you'll enter the kitchen, and before you exit through the kitchen entrance, you'll pass storage (aka Ray's office) on the left.

Since this photo, we've built a security wall around the house to keep animals and kids in (and everyone else out). We also had metal gates built and installed, including our new beautiful main gate! We've also started work on the fencing around the patio which surrounds the house. We've almost finished cementing the interior floor (we're just missing the foyer, and the play area). And we've built the wall around Ray's office. You'll also see 6 posts to support the second floor, and some of the beams connecting them.

Here are some recent pictures of the new digs!

We've already started building the gate around the patio, as well as put up metal fencing on top of the security wall. You can see we just have a small section of concrete flouring to install, and we're almost done with the support beams to hold up the roof. In the picture on the right you can see our drain hole, which will service the shower as well as the kitchen. It's about 5 feet deep, and full of river rocks.

On this day, we were dropping off sand for a big pour day. You can see our Rasta-mobile, and Mika, part of the crew, coming out of the tower. Between the truck and the tower you can see them finishing up the stucco on the outside shower. And on the far left you can see the new main gate!

Here's a picture from inside the house. To the left of the camera would be Ray's office, and on the right the kitchen. You can see we've already erected the columns that will support the roof, and we're in the process of laying rebar to construct the beams. It's all getting really close!