Kicking Off Our First Work Day!

Well we did it! We kicked off our first work day today! The weather was a little iffy at first, I really thought it was going to rain, but it ended up being blue skies and productivity at Randy's! We worked hard and ate very well! James and I made ribs and Randy's friend Shan and his family came out and provided us with some delicious potato salad, boudan & sausage. Patty and Cliff came with rolls and Cliff went right to work driving stakes into the ground and stringing the house boundaries. We took a break to eat some lunch and then went to work cutting trees, burning old wood and getting the land ready to build on! Don't worry if you missed out today, we have plenty of work days left! I promise! Here are some pictures from today. I will be posting more, just wanted to get these in here so you can get an idea of what we did today :)

Mac and Cliff staking the house boundaries.

Mapping out a plan

Burning old wood

Getting to work!

It's really happening!

Mac working hard getting the logs cut to burn

It was a a great day! Our next work day will include more burning, cutting down more trees and getting ready to lay the pier and beam. Thank you to everyone that came out and got their hands dirty. It is looking great already and this was just day ONE :)

Ole!

Whew! I've got all my running around done for the deliveries tomorrow! Before heading home, we stopped and ate at Casa Ole with Patty and Cliff. We had a great time, mainly discussed the plans for the house and talked about our upcoming work day this weekend. This is going to be an awesome first step! Sunday we're mainly making a material list, seeing what is already laid out there and, as James said it best earlier, having a "meeting of the minds."

My mind keeps repeating itself over and over.."this is really happening", "we're making this happen." I am just so incredibly thankful that Building Bridges has become what I set out for it to become. It has brought Randy's family closer together, it has brought awareness to an illness that reeks havoc on those that are diagnosed with it and their loved ones and it has brought complete strangers together for the same cause.

Okay, I know a lot of you are wondering how much money we've been able to raise to date. So I sat down tonight and tried to give you a pretty good look into where we're at so far. Here is how awesome you all are and how much help you all have been. As of March 14, 2013 at 9:25pm CST we have raised:

• T-SHIRTS - $526.00
• GIVE FORWARD - $490.00
• SILENT AUCTION - $295.00
• TOTAL - $1311.00

and if you are thinking that isn't a whole lot...that is without any of our fundraiser events and that is 90% of that being raised since this past Monday. We already have enough money raised to build the pier and beam for the house to sit on as well as lay the plywood floor! That is an amazing first step! I will be delivering lunches tomorrow morning and spending most of the rest of the day getting ready for our event on Saturday. 

Also...I have big news for the crawfish boil. I got the approval from the core today that we are permitted to host the Crawfish Boil Fundraiser at Shirley Creek Marina in Etoile! That was truly a blessing because when I first talked to them about it, they told me that because we weren't a 501(3)c recognized non profit, it probably wouldn't happen. But whoever is the one to say yes or no to those things, must of been having a great day, because...they said YES! This all must be God's will, because it has not been very hard getting things to come together. 

Good night all. I'll post more after the Brown Bag Lunch Event this weekend. See you there!