Things are happening FAST now...

I am sorry for the lack of posts this month, we are in the final phases of getting this shop up and running and we have been putting in some long hours. Here are some updated pics of what we have been up to.

The flooring guys started two weeks ago. We decided to go with a stained concrete floor. they had this huge grinder that ground the floors down to a base level

After that they cut "tile marks" into the floor, you can see Tropical Storm Fay moving in outside...

and then it was back to polishing, at this point that old concrete slab felt as smooth as marble

Finally the stain was applied and there was more polishing, the final steps involved 3000 grit diamond "blades." Don't mind all that drywall and concrete dust, we were told we couldn't get the floor wet for a week.

With the floors done it was time for the wall guys to finish up the walls and install the counter tops so we could start painting.

The plumbers also returned and got our sinks, mop sink and bathroom hooked up.

Mike Birkey from Cactus Creek Coffee spent two days down here getting all our equipment installed, he is a truley gracious man. We had to immeadiatly cover all our new toys while the wall work and DUST continued to fly.

Meet Tommy our contractor

Our Signs were installed on Wednesday evening while we were at Bible study, it was a neat surprise.

Is that not the bluest sky you have ever seen?

After 3 very long days we got the painting done and Tommy's guys started getting the trim up, we are very pleased at how nicely all the colors came out.

We still have alot to do with all the finish work, clean up, furnishing and inspections but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Lord, you have a very nice coffee shop, and we appreciate all the grace and provision you are pouring out on us thru this process. We are learning to trust you, wait on you and most importantly give our expectations over to you. Your will be done...

Nate turns 18

Last Saturday was Nate's 18th - Happy Birthday buddy.

To celebrate the occasion Denise and Rebekah travelled up to North Carolina to spend the weekend with him. They took all the fixings for a celebration dinner. Here are a few Pics from that dinner:

Nate blows out the candles in his coconut creme birthday pie.

Nate singing lead for the "Rock Band"

Nate and his adopted little sister Gabby opening presents

Nate and Bek enjoying the evening

It seems a good time was had by all, sadly Mom and Bek had to leave the next morning. They will return in two weeks for the Fayetteville Academy game. See you then...

Sunday morning study starting August 10th

Before we arrived in Alabama, we decided we would attend the Calvary Chapel in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida on Sunday Mornings until we felt like the Lord wanted us to start our Sunday morning fellowship. I knew with gas prices near $4 per gallon we wouldn't drive the 90 miles each week so the plan was to watch their live internet video stream on the off weeks. In a litte over two months we have actually only gone twice. Never the less, we (the Lanes and Blakleys) were enjoying our Sunday's in their living room worshipping together and breaking bread afterwards. A few weeks later the Edlers joined us and the first church problem offically reared its head. Each week we had six adults, one Rebekah and SIX kids under nine. After two weeks we decided to start a rotation to teach the kids (was it our desire to minister to them or just keep them quiet? The world may never know.) Thus the Calvary Chapel Enterprise Sunday school program was born. We may not be a church, but we have Sunday school - lol!

I knew I didn't want to offically start "church" until we had enough people to minister to all who would be coming. I figured we would at least need some basic nursery care and an elementary age Sunday school class (got that one) not to mention a PLACE to meet. As usual my expectations and God's will collided. After we had to improvise last week when the Sunday morning live feed just vaporized I decided to pray about starting this week.

My other main issue with starting "church" was a time issue. Preparing to teach 2 times a week has a rather hefty time committment. We will also be opening up the coffee shop soon and to be honest I have no idea what that is going to take out of me. As I tried to calculate six 14 hour work days, study time (12-20 hrs) and then the actual time spent teaching (2 hrs) I came up with about 106 hours per week. So as I started whining to the Lord about this He reminded me that I can do all things thru Him and that His provision is not limited to financial matters.

So with that in mind I see a green light and the door is open... I didn't come all this way to turn back. Keep us in your prayers.

P.S. For Jodi and Laura, I got this cool thing today.

It's a digital voice recorder and I will be able to post up the Genesis study and after the first 18 chapters you will be able to pick up where we left off in Bible 101 - Promise kept :) You can go here for my audio archive, there is not much there yet but it will be coming soon.

More progress...

There is more progress to report this week, despite a slight delay due to flooring issues we are on track again. Tommy and his crew are knocking out the serving area dividing wall and finishing up the back office, bathroom and storage area. We will be priming the walls today and meeting with a second flooring guy to get the concrete floors stained and sealed up. Hopefully by the end of next week the walls will be painted, floors done, trim nailed up and plumbing connected so we can get the coffee making equipment installed. God is so good! We are hoping to be open by the last week in August.

Keep praying please!

After going back and forth about installing cabinets, we finally decided to put up a "serving wall" and use the stainless steel prep tables you see in restaurants. They are much cheaper than cabinets and the health department loves em.

The cash register and ordering area

The serving and prep area

Finishing up the back office, bathroom and storage area

Bathroom floors patched up and ready for fixtures