Lots getting done!

the first layer of cement on the floors ~

Between yesterday and today 4 trucks delivered cement to complete the job.

end of day 2

my two partners for work today

Oksana working hard in the garden

preparing the flower bed for morning glories

Sashinka, my assistant, who loves to garden did a lot of clearing today.

I love the fields of green around Darivka!

Tolic, our metal works artist, began putting up the grapevine arbor today.

All of the columns with the grapes in the center of them, were placed today.

Monday the arbor will go on top.

Oksana's work complete, and a great job she did, cleaning and preparing the flowerbed.

A new perspective! One to enjoy!

Sashinka helped get this area cleared

& these blackcurrant bushes transplanted.

  

flowers on a blackcurrant bush

the transplanted dark purple lilac shoot

Floor prep almost complete throughout the house

A few more pics from our full day in the therapy garden for Stephen's Home.

The tulip tree I pruned, a lot, taking off all the dead branches.

Now we wait and see if any new life begins.

Very hopeful as there is still life in those few left behind.

Hopeful too that we have a better grasp on what the tree needs to survive.

the line up of grape vines and we anticipate some grapes this year

Our biggest fruit tree is a sweet cherry, 

the flowers on it are just beginning to open.

INSIDE: the floor prep and plumbing continues

the house is talking shape

So compare Tuesday's picture with today ~ after a lot of hard work and many buckets of cement that Maxim walked back to the therapy garden plot. These will be the bases for the metal columns that will hold up arches for the grape vines to grow up and along. All 6 grapevines that we originally planted are just starting to bud
and begin new growth. We have one new, large vine from wonderful friends 
& 3 to replace.

It was a warmer sunny day today out at the building site, a lot happened.

Maxim and I worked in the garden to prepare the grape vines for the base of the 

trellis that will begin to go up this Thursday.

I'm going to be sore in the morning, I just know it.

This little pear tree is going great guns, 

I anticipate it may bare a bit more fruit this year.

Cherry blossoms are open in time for Easter this coming weekend.

• one of the transplanted cherry trees

Weak walls going down to the basement under the church got fixed today.

Heavy trucks making deliveries of wood, cement, brick, building blocks, you name it, have made the brick wall buckle. So before more truck deliveries began, 

the brick was removed and the wall fixed. This delivery of sand and gravel was dumped outside the yard, so the truck wouldn't fall into the basement. 

The crew did quick work today to fill the form for the wall with cement.

• NEW WATER WELL & METER GAUGE HOOKED UP

The main two bathrooms for the young men who will live here in Stephen's home.

The floor will receive its first layer of cement this week, hence the funny line

of cement markers, these will be a gauge of height.

• faucet fittings for one of the guys bathrooms

Two end bathrooms, continuing toward the finishing process of plumbing.

This next week the first layer of concrete flooring will be poured.

You can see in these pictures the preparation for this, as the floors are being pounded down with wood and metal mallets, tossed again and again. The house rather reverberates with the sound of the pounding, don't want to get your foot in the way.

what's been pounded and what needs to be, side by side

This will be the fresh air vent for the fireplace. It's sitting

on the foundation of the fireplace currently and at this point, can not be moved.😊

the vent piping, that is

Outside the kitchen, the grease settling tank is being put in, evidently separating out the grease from the water that flows from the kitchen sinks and dishwasher so that the grease doesn't clog the pipes going to the septic tank. There's a new one for ya.

Yesterday was the start of some rainy days were are having. My mood has been rather down as well, having learned that our Tulip tree in the center of the therapy garden is dying. Compared with so many other things, this seems quite unimportant. Though having invested time and money in this special tree, I'd ask for prayer for it to regain new life again this spring. God works miracles in many unexpected ways, hoping for one here.

A warm sunny day, what a delight.

all the bedroom windows look like these, on the left

in the house parents quarters

This floor has been pounded and is ready for the first layer of cement to be poured.

looking out from the utility room to the garden area

The majority of the windows are in. The larger windows are all waiting as the openings for them to be set first with an strong metal, reinforced framing.

what will be the small garden courtyard

back wall of the house, all the bedroom windows

the water hook-up happening

Pasha in the orange, Maxim my manager and Pasha in the blue

are the lead workers on the project now and doing a great job together.

You can't see the guy down in the hole, but he's removing the 

county seal that remains in place on the water counter. It's being removed today

so PROMISE will get it's own water counter, separate from the churches.

My arm has been twisted hard enough, I've given in to having tiles laid for the garden path, rather than just pouring cement. The argument against cement is simply that it doesn't hold up well. My argument is if it's done well, that shouldn't be an issue, but quality here is not what it is in the States. For those of you whole helped lay the sidewalk at the orphanage in 2012, there's not a crack in it yet.

Anyway, above is my 1st option, as the surface of the blocks are smooth, without a beveled edge. Not the prettiest, but we would only use gray blocks, not colored. Sorry, but that's awful now, I can't imagine how the colors will look 10 years from now.

These two below are my 2nd and 3rd choices, but the bevel around the edge discourages me from using them, fearful of kids falling, even if the ground is slightly uneven.