Good-bye to Marble Falls

Our group started this house five weeks or 20 work days ago which is now ready for paint on the outside and the mudding has been started on the interior walls. We now pass on the completion of "our" house to the March crew.


John, Pete and Len build roof ladders and fasten sheeting on Monday of week four.

Our first time working with Hardiboard siding (cement composition).

Len and Pete put up soffiting and fascia while Nettie caulks siding.

All the woodwork is completed on the front porch.

Gerry and Jim worked on the gable siding while Annette and Georgia helped.

Annette with Georgia, Linda and Nettie "the itchy insulation crew" installed all the ceiling and wall insulation and were glad when it was finished.

A noisy bee hive of activity.

As soon as the guys had the drywall up the ladies started on the mudding.

The ladies pose on the front porch with Patricia, the excited homeowner.

Director Warren and Carol with the memory gift from his crew.

We have been an amazing team of nine couples that has worked well together. I think sometimes our director and our construction foreman did not know how to keep us all busy. Sometimes this meant that several of the ladies came to the job site not knowing if there would be work for them, but these willing workers tackled any job and were usually kept busy all day. Looking back at the end of each week we had accomplished a lot.

It has been a joy and delight to have a French couple Andre and Suzette from Quebec join our crew. They have expanded their skills in communicating in English while teaching us some words in French. We commend them for stepping out and joining us at MDS. This made us question ourselves if we would be willing to join a French speaking group.

Our final van ride back to camp.

We began the final week here at Marble Falls feeling it would all be over too soon. There has been a lot of good natured bantering between the Americans and the Canadians in the crew.

The beauty of God's sunset reminds us of the equally memorable experiences we have had at Marble Falls, Texas.

Disappointment and Answer to Prayer

Monday, February 9th began with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for a productive week. But as we got into our day and the rafters arrived, disappointment set in when our construction foreman realized the rafters were the wrong size and had to be returned.

In order to keep our crew busy we got assigned to jobs like putting up the building wrap, installing windows, exterior doors, and started on the skirting and siding. Ron and Sherman took on the work of building the front and back porches and received the help of a few ladies with the fabrication of the spindles.

Lavonne operates the air nailer while Pete and Gerry cut and position the skirting.

Georgia and Nettie at work creating spindles.

On Thursday we received word that our new rafters would be completed and delivered that day. We were fortunate to have the crane available to lift the rafters into place as well. We worked an hour and a half longer to achieve this. This was definitely a highlight and an answer to our prayers. This will allow our project to proceed next week.

Len directs the crane operator while John, Gerry and Jim fasten the rafters.

Jim guides a rafter into postion.


A trip to San Antonio was planned as our February MDS outing. This was an all day event, leaving at 7:30 a.m. and returning at 11:00 p.m. We did a variety of different things like touring the San Jose Mission, a narrated river cruise, learnt more about the Alamo, went up the Tower of the Americas and then out for supper at the Golden Corral.

This is the "Queen of the Missions" which was established in 1720.

Our group enjoying the 35 minute river boat ride.

Annette at the Alamo.

On a Sunday afternoon outing with Gerry and Georgia we toured Benini Sculpture Ranch in the hills near Johnson City. The above steer was made of chrome car parts and a tail pipe. Other pieces of art were made of rock, metal, wood and various other scrap items.

Back at Pedernales Falls State Park again.

Weekend Adventures & Weekday Service

Last weekend Jim and I spent a few hours at Pedernales Falls State Park. A clear, spring-fed river flowing down gently sloping limestone creating lovely falls. We were warned with signs that this gentle river could change to a raging torrent of water in a few minutes after a heavy rainfall.


We enjoyed our picnic lunch on the rocks overlooking peaceful pools of water.

It takes a close look to see the many people exploring the rocks to get close to the water. In this park we also enjoyed birdwatching from a covered viewing and photography blind with feeders and a drip bath.

The lumber arriving first thing Monday morning.

Lavonne positions and Annette fastens joist hangers with the palm nailer. A palm nailer is definitely on their next Christmas wish list.

Floor joists being set in place.

The ladies were kept busy for the day driving screws in the floor. This job made for numerous sore muscles the following days.

While the men were banging around up top Georgia and Annette quietly staple insulation on the underside of the floor.

The majority of the walls were put up in a day.

This tree made a great photo opportunity at Blanco State Park.


Another outing to explore state parks took us to Blanco State Park and Guadalupe River State Park. Both parks were unique, but Guadalupe River State Park has one of the most scenic stretches of river in Texas with its limestone bluffs and giant bald cypress trees.

Jim tests the February water temperature and thinks it's about the same as May temperatures back home.

Lavonne and Annette carefully traversed the cypress tree roots enroute to see the rapids down the river.

This armadillo was oblivious to our presence as he rummaged for grubs in the grass.

Finally Work Begins on Second New Home

Things didn’t come together for the start of our MDS build in the beginning of January as planned. First the homeowner was not able to have her old home demolished in time. Then not all the paper work was in place for getting the building permit.

In the last week or so we have pegged out the building location, drilled the pilings, built and positioned the forms and poured the concrete.

This is the old home of our client Patricia before it was demolished. This old mobile home had an addition on the front side as well and after being flooded became mold infested and not liveable.

The site is cleaned off and pegs are in place for the new house location.

We were glad that MDS rented this auger which made our job of drilling 27 holes for piers a lot easier. This took only half a day to complete.


These box forms sit above the two foot deep holes for the footing and are ready for concrete.

We worked two hours on Friday which is normally our day off to get the concrete poured so it could cure over the weekend.

The concrete crew awaiting the truck. L to R: Warren (our director), Sherman, Pete, Andre, Ron, John and Jim.

We experienced what a winter storm advisory in Texas is about. Jan. 28 we awoke to everything being ice covered and very slippery. We delayed our morning start and within hours the sunshine had done its work of melting the ice.

On Friday night our group was invited to a special horse demonstration at a neighbouring ranch. Their guest was a horse trainer from Nebraska who has been training mustangs for a few years. We were amazed to see the skills he had taught his horse after only eight months. He obeyed his trainer exceptionally well. This 31/2 year old mustang came from the wild in Nevada, and was named Vegas. After only a few months he realized the great change in the horses character and renamed him Christian, because he had been converted. We were told that the U.S. government has a program for adopting some of the 60,000 mustangs still in the wild.