I don't intend to be flippant about the use of "Ground Zero" as a descriptor for the state of our house. But long before it was synonymous for the 9/11 WTC tragedy, it was simply understood to be the term used for a location on the earth's surface where an explosion occurred. If you walked into our house right now, that's exactly what you might believe had happened.
We recently announced our family plans to relocate to Medicine Hat, Alberta to assist in planting a new church. And with that plan has come the process of preparing our house for sale. Built in 1977, 6324 Atherly Crescent, has been our home for nearly 9 years. In that time, we have done quite a bit to upgrade and beautify, but as we take steps toward putting it on the real estate market, we realize that there are some critical things that need to be taken care of in order to get the highest possible price for it.
It's no secret to those who know me that I am not necessarily a "handy guy" around the house. God's blessed me with some great gifts and talents, but I excel much more with amplifiers and drum heads than I do power tools and torque wrenches. This lack of gifting obviously makes the long list of to-do's rather intimidating (and expensive).
Fortunately, for the last week or so, we have been blessed by a small - but dedicated - group of guys from Grace who have pitched in to help us knock out some of our list. So far, we've retiled two bathroom floors, removed and rebuilt 80% of a front porch balcony (including that of our neighbors attached), replaced a few light fixtures and repainted a couple of rooms. There has been quite a bit of dust flying for the last 5 days.
We are so grateful to those who have helped us. It's amazing when God's children use their time and talents to bless others.
So, the plan, as of today, is to spend the next two weeks preparing the house for market. We have another volunteer work day happening this Saturday, October 2. Hopefully we will have the house listed by October 15. We will aim to sell and close in either mid-December or early January. Once the house is sold we will make our way westward.
More to come soon!
Rob and Peter from Grace working on the balcony with my neighbor, Sorin.