Grant work...done!

I have to document the finished product of a year of going through the obstacles that has earned us a new exterior.  The grant process began five years ago and we never thought we would end up here.  A year went by and the funding for grants was cut when the economy took a dive.  This past January we sat and looked at our meager pending tax refund and were trying to figure out a cheap way to fix our leaking roof without killing or disabling ourselves in the process.  I decided not to fret about it since it was only January and we had many weeks of snow ahead of us.  Besides,  God has always provided, he would see this through!  The next day in the mail the grant we had totally forgotten about and had given up  on 4 years previously was awarded to us via a letter in the mail.  I quickly gathered our tax forms and required paperwork and was at the city offices the next morning.  We had gotten the money not only for anew roof but also siding, new attic windows, a new bathroom window, a new side door and  a screen door in the front.  Praise God for his abundant care!!

 I would like to say two weeks later all was set the contractors came and bam we had a new roof and new siding and all that other stuff.  But, it did not go that smoothly.  The paperwork and meetings, inspections, all those decisions, took a long time.  We finally had a contractor and moved ahead only for him to take 5 weeks on the roof and to leave the job with it unfinished and leaking!   The city had never had a contractor quit mid-grant and had no idea how to proceed. That took several more weeks while the city conferred with the state and we just sat while WNY received some of the heaviest rains and flooding it had experienced in years.  If you know us you will recall the kids getting their picture in the local news for biking and rafting in the flood waters on our street.  It was a really good thing the roof leaked where the ceilings were still unfinished  or we may have had a lawsuit on our hands.  It is amazing how little damage we sustained knowing know how poorly the initial roofing job was done!  Another sign of God's protection in the midst of this grant!  Knowing he provided it and would finish it allowed for a calm that otherwise would have been difficult. 

Before...ugly! What did we see in this mess?

Finally,  sometime near the start of the school year the state decided it was ready to proceed and the city was able to award the rest of the grant to the next lowest bidder.  It was the best possible outcome we could hope for at that point.  He came and fixed what was wrong with the roof and then proceeded to get the rest of the job done.  There were a couple of hiccups along the way but they were handled professionally and all went along rather nicely.  Our job that was begun in January was finally completed the day before Thanksgiving!!  God is good!

The first crew doing the roof!

flood

 

The finished product....well almost!!

We will still be adding some landscaping and masonry work in the spring when the weather allows but what a difference!!