Demolition Stage

Kitchen cabinets gone.

Mouse house bottom right.  Broken electrical box.  Cast iron abandoned pipe. 

Bathroom gutted.

Bathroom being gutted.

Hot Water Tank in Bathroom.  Lot's of hole for mice entry!

7 Layers of flooring.  There's plywood under the grey material on the right.

Live wires...insulation disintegrated.

Mudroom and Laundry area main entrance.

Inside the Mudroom looking into the house.

Oh the flooring

How many holes in the ceiling where mice can freely commute.

Did I mention the flooring?

The ONLY rot found in the house.  Master Bedroom where an old bathroom used to be (I think)

Up it comes!

Rot gone.

Textured ceilings...bye bye.

Original 200amp panel...bye bye.

Awkward upper corner in kitchen where old chimney was located...let's just say things didn't quite line up.

Oh hello there...welcome to our home...and by our home I mean your (mice) home.

Under the floor is...the leftover brick chimney, covered with cardboard.

Panorama view of mostly gutted main living areas and some beginnings of new framing.

Panorama view of some new framing from standing in the living room 

Panorama view standing in the kitchen.

Pre Reno Pictures...

Here's what our place looked like before the renos starting happening...

Renovations 101

Quite often I am asked just exactly why we are doing renovations or what was in the house that was so bad.  Quite simply, the reality is that in many ways we didn't know what to expect except the fact that the house was very old and multiple previous renovations had been done over the decades.

Here's what we DIDN'T find:

- Mold.  

The house is very dry and even though the exterior walls had not been insulated for decades (just done last year!), there was virtually no obvious mold.  I believe that because the house is built of grade A wood and had lots of air going through it, and a wood burning fireplace, the place was able to breathe and stay dry if it ever even got damp to begin with.

- Asbestos.

We were expecting that at least the "vinyl" tiles under a few layers of carpet would be made with asbestos.  We had them tested and they came back completely negative, along with the drywall mud and tape as well!  This was a huge relief for us as we could go ahead with demolition and not worry about abatement costs.

And here's what we DID find:

- Numerous mice homes, highways and entry points.

- Shared electrical circuits throughout both sides of the duplex...on a single breaker!

- At least five different types of electrical wiring throughout the house.

- Leftovers from previous renovations, behind the walls, in the attic and down in the crawlspace.

- Seven layers of flooring...yup.  Five have been removed and we are left with the shiplap and Fir floors, which we will use as subfloors for the new materials.

- Bearing walls without much ability to bear the load!  Beams and posts have been put in place to help with these areas.

- Drywall on top of Fir panelling on top of shiplap.  No big deal, but still interesting.

- Many walls out of plumb.

- 5" out of level from one end of the house to the other!

- Multiple additions and cover ups from previous renos.

And the next post will show you what we've started to do about the above!

And so, to answer the question of why we are doing all these renos...because Jaxon needs a place of respite for at least the next three years as his immune system rebuilds itself from scratch.  What these reno's will accomplish is a sanitary environment so as to attempt to keep sickness at bay.  It will also mean that our house will make more sense layout wise; that each room will be purposed to have a family of five living in it.

Here's a list of things we are doing (or planning to do) before our family moves back home with the exception of our master bedroom ensuite bathroom which will get a new exhaust fan, toilet and wiring:

- Complete gut of kitchen, main bathroom, hallway, mudroom, school room and most of the living room.

- Re-wire entire side of Zalinko residence, completely isolating both sides of the duplex.
- Completely new HVAC system (wood fireplace gone, heat pump & air handler with electric backup installed)

- All new plumbing and fixtures.

- All new flooring.

- All new cabinets and countertops (Kitchen, Bathroom, Laundry, Mudroom).

- All new lighting.

- All new appliances.

- All new drywall.

- All new windows

- All new exterior skirting

- All new paint

- All new finishing carpentry

- And an updated floor plan for about half of the house in order to use the space more efficiently.

As you can probably imagine, we are quite excited about getting back to our new home.  The Imadene Foundation and countless individuals and businesses have committed to make all of this a reality for our family and we are proud to call ourselves part of the family at Camp Imadene.

One year in the bag...

Just thirteen months ago I was getting on a ferry with a 26' uhaul packed to the brim...ready to discover just what I was really getting myself (and my family!) into.  So many new friends, experiences and opportunities have made this past year seem like a blip on the radar, and yet it seems like we've been here for much longer!

There are two thoughts which often run through my mind: (1) There is a lifelong list of things to do around here, and (2) I hope I'm around long enough to put a dent in that list!

In May our family moved into half of the duplex located on the property.  What a blessing to have a place which so naturally suits our family; with a home school room, wood fireplace, open living plan and of course my shop just a hundred yards away.

And what does every maintenance man need?  Why a minitruck of course!  Thanks to the generosity of a donor I was able to cruise around camp all summer both effectively and in style.

And what would a maintenance man be without, you guessed it, a dog!  Tucker was given to us by a generous retired couple with strong connections to camp, and their desire for him to have both attention and room to run has been met in spades.  He's my pup, and I think he's happy to be so.

Now in its second year, Auxano is in full swing as a discipleship program running Sep-Apr; kind of like a first year bible college program (http://www.imadene.com/auxano).  The eight students (and two RA's) help tremendously with keeping the facilities clean and organized!  Because of their help, I'm better able to pick away at the steadily growing maintenance list or even work on a few small projects.  I love me those Auxano students!  I also have the humbling opportunity to mentor one of the guys in the crowd!  Here's a pic of this years students and a few from last year mixed in as well (picture by/from http://jonmarkphoto.com/ ).

Although this year has passed, the memories created have re-introduced me to both intentional ministry and Island life.  The shoulders tend to hang a little lower this side of the Straight of Georgia (ie. less stress) even though our actual day-to-day life/week seems to be much busier than before.  We've met a great deal of new people and have made some new friends along the way.

Here's to this next year and maybe you will want to come visit us on this new adventure!

Livin the dream...

They say time flies when you're having fun...if so, I'm having a lot of fun right now!

Gearing up for summer has meant a lot of loose ends needing to be tied up.  Which loose ends is somewhat subjective for me as I've not yet worked here during the summer so I'm sure by September I'll have a good list of things that I'll need to be sure to do sooner for next year.

Last month we moved onto site in the other half of the duplex.  What a blessing to be on-site!  We're still somewhat living out of boxes and we're fairly certain that this will be our long term residence so we can start planning for that now too!

Something that has been in the works for a couple months has been turning one of my dreams into a reality...to have a mini-truck that I can call (to some degree) my own.  Through a number of phone calls, emails, board meetings, a very generous donor and trips to Vancouver and Victoria, we now have on-site the "Smuf-mobile!"

PS: I'm currently accepting "names" for the truck...

Well...that's enough of that...time to get back to work :-)

Hook or Net...

Well, fishing season has opened back up recently for us on the river.  Got out the fly rod and chucked it around for awhile but haven't landed anything.

I was on this week for telling the kids story at church and it got me to thinking about Jesus' call to the fishermen from Galilee; that they would stop fishing for fish and start fishing for men and women.

Here I was on the dock using a single line and hook, attempting to lure in the fish, to trick them into thinking that biting my fake lure would make their life better, only to find that they have been deceived and now their life is on the line.  Didn't bring positive thoughts to my mind about sharing the gospel!  Are we to "lure" people in, reel them in against their will (fighting the whole way), only to bonk them on the head and throw them in a hot frying pan!!!  Well, I suppose an analogy can only go so far sometimes.

Now, when Jesus uttered these words about fishing it's important to remember that fishing has come a long way since then.  That isn't to say they didn't use single hooks and lines, but that would have not likely been the common commercial fisherman's tool of the trade.  Likely, a fisherman's most common form of fishing would've been by a net.  Dragging the net along the bottom of the shallow shore and then drawing the net up to the boat (or onto shore) in order to gather the fish.  Now, again, I don't think what happened next was what Jesus was talking about; that we are not to then bonk people on the head and throw them in a frying pan (but read into that what you will).

I imagine the gathering by net was a more gentle method of fishing.  And that made me think about how I've sometimes thought about sharing the gospel.  There are some things about current fishing methods that I've used and would say many continue to use.  Take for example the fly fishing angler.  He scouts his spot, tests the water temperature, watches which bugs fly around, calculate the depth of where the fish are located; they consider their prey, plot the most convincing strategy and execute their plan.  This is largely successful.  In fact, much of my graduate studies focussed on how to do this in regards to effective missional activity for churches and individuals.

Now, I'm not in any way suggesting that Jesus was wrong or used a poor analogy to call his disciples.  What I'm struggling with is how easy it is for me to read the Scriptures through a very small personal lens; that my upbringing, experience of church, education, life lessons...these all shape the lens, the perspective by which I often default to when reading God's Word.  In essence I easily fall into the pattern of thinking that the Scriptures were written "to me" instead of "for me."

And there is a difference.  Even though God had everyone in mind when graciously giving us his word, we also must realize that God was speaking to a certain people, in a certain time, in a certain cultural context.  As N.T. Wright suggests (And I paraphrase), "The Word of God cannot mean anything different than it meant to the original audience."  Essentially, what the Word of God meant to the original audience is what it means for us today.  Now, how we apply that truth may indeed look different today because of the ever changing culture we find ourselves in.  That's why it's so important to understand why the original author wrote what they did for the audience at that time.  If I only read God's Word through my very limited perspective then it opens the door for endless mis-truths and heresies.

So, what did Jesus really mean when he told the fishermen they would become people fishers?  Well, he probably meant more than what those first disciples could understand.  Jesus, I imagine, would have intended his words to inspire men to leave their earthly calling and pursue God's call in God's kingdom initiative; that they would lose their lives in order to find them.  Did Jesus mean he wanted us to be gatherers instead of fly fishers?  Probably not.  Would Jesus want us to be more gentle, respectful and kind towards those who have not yet embraced his love?  Probably yes.

I'm torn while I attempt to process this.  I love strategizing, planning, organizing and creating an ethos which attracts people to hear about Jesus' love for them.  But is the intensity by which an experienced angler who knows very well how to deceive their prey a necessary exercise for us in sharing the gospel?

What say you?  I'm curious to know your thoughts...really!