Buddy Christian Family Home: Week 18, 19 & 20

Well, here we are coming up on the last few weeks of construction. As you will be able to tell, we are finishing with the same special hearts as when we started the building of this precious home. The stories just continue as the “troops keep marching in”….maybe I should say “Saints keep marching in” for that is what they are for us…Earthly Saints…pure and simple. Let me again introduce you to a few.

Pat Halloran of Halloran Masonry made a special gift for the home that is now mounted on the brick wall of the front porch. For you see, Pat, in his spare time, is a stonecutter. On the front of this particular piece of Jerusalem stone, he carved a Bible verse that kept coming to him as his crew was working on the Christian home. On the back, he carved a blessing as if Buddy had spoken it to his two small children. Pat also made 2 additional and identical stones for Callie and Wyatt to take with them when they have their own homes. The pictures of this special gift are below, and truly tell the story of the giving hearts that we have had the pleasure of working with during this entire process.

Another wonderful gift for the home came from Lade Danlar Lighting. Picking out lights for an entire house is not an easy task. Melissa and I went to their showroom in Conyers months ago to start the process. Wayland Boozer and Jimmy Royals of Lade Danlar have been wonderful in this entire process not only supplying the lights, but the wiring, receptacles, switches, cans and everything else to make the house work! You guys are the best, and the lights are incredible! Of course, when you have lights, you have electricians. All-Bright Electric, John Hadden sent us out two of the best that I have ever worked with. These guys can hang lights and fans like you would not believe…and such attention to detail! I thank you John for being the “Head Electrician”. It has been a pleasure getting to know you and your guys.

One of the things that progressed and changed, as we have been building, has been the deck/patio area on the back of the house. We wound up with a super deck that was framed by Cruce Construction Inc. Kane Cruce, Matt Gordon, and Parks Williams did a wonderful job and are due back to put the finish boards on next week. The deck framing package was provided by Lowe’s, Stacy Tolbert. More on Stacy later but at this time, I want to say how helpful everyone in Lowe’s has been for this project. I believe that I could actually work at the Eastside store since I know where everything is, AND it is probably one of the deadliest credit cards that I own!!

At our first Athens Area Homebuilder meeting that I spoke of the Christian home, T.J. Gay of K & G Installations, Inc. volunteered to provide whatever his Co. could contribute. I had NO idea at that time what all they could provide…but boy do I now! T. J. and his partner Omer Kacevic installed the closet shelving, interior door knobs, all bath accessories, door bumpers, shower curtain rods, and the full length mirrors! They do more, but others had already stepped up to provide these services. They are certainly a one-stop shop and the installation was superb! Such a super contact for all of us builders!

Stanfield Air Systems, Sally Stanfield Allen, and her guys were back to install the Lennox air units provided by Lennox Industries, Randy Head. What an incredible gift these units are for this home. Again I want to thank you for allowing us to have the furnaces installed and running during the Winter months. We would not have made it without the heat! Sally, I thank you for sharing your contacts and your talented installers with me. They are as talented as they come, and it has been a pleasure working with them. Stanfield also installed the professional vent hood provided by Athens Refrigeration, Marilyn Wilkes. When you have a professional range, you need a professional hood, and Marilyn we thank you. More on Athens Refrigeration next blog!

The plumbers on this job have been nocturnal! I rounded the corner one night at almost dark and there were 6 plumbing trucks in the driveway! As I entered the house, each Co. seemed to have claimed a room and busy installing the new plumbing fixtures. As I have said so many times…just like Christmas! I want to again thank Brannon Plumbing,-Mark Brannon, T & E Plumbing - Tommy Epps, Towns Plumbing - Mark Towns, Seay Plumbing - John Seay, and Ash Plumbing - Wally Ash. You guys were terrific. I also want to thank DeVore and Johnson, Mike DeVore for the entire house of plumbing fixtures. The kitchen and all the bath fixtures are just beautiful. Nothing has been left out, and I thank you. Gary Armour of Armour Plumbing and Well was responsible for procuring our two water heaters. They were supplied by Marathon Lifetime Water Heaters, a division of Rheem Manufacturing. Thank you both for this wonderful gift.

I have told the story of how building this home was affirmed within three days after reading Melissa’s story that Sunday afternoon almost a year ago now. One of the first people that I ran into while trying to confirm this calling was Stacy Tolbert. Stacy is our District Commercial Sales Rep for Lowe’s who attends our Athens Area Homebuilder monthly meetings. When I shared the story, he immediately signed Lowe’s up to participate in the build. Mark and Daniel Brannon of Brannon Plumbing were my second confirmation who volunteered to line up the plumbing labor. Mike DeVore of DeVore and Johnson volunteering all of the plumbing fixtures and rough-in material was my third. None of us knew what those affirmations were going to lead to. Just steps of faith at that time, and now look! A beautiful new home almost complete. I thank you all for being part of this journey.

A few finishing touches came from Webber Coleman swinging through with final trim for the den cabinets. Baxter Hammock of Colonial Woodworks was back to install the iron pickets of the front staircase. Eddie Luther and his crew with L & L Construction came back to install the front porch columns. I had a “blast from the past” with Church Phillips coming to install murals for the children’s rooms that Melissa had purchased. Chuck’s wife, Kathy works with the Athens Clarke County Police Department and heard of our efforts early on. Chuck and I worked together YEARS ago, and he is still the best at what he does! We thank you all for sharing your amazing talents. I also want to thank Larry Gill and his crew at Paul Davis Restoration who spent hours researching pre-finished hardwood floors for the build. We thank you. As I keep saying...it is taking a community!

Our floor crews hit the farm like a whirlwind! Jerry Long headed up the installation of the beautiful carpet provided by Dalton Carpet, Mike Blanton AND the pre-finished hardwood floors. Jerry had spoken with Buddy about the new home he had hoped to build for his family and was ready to get on board as soon as he heard about the build. He enlisted several to help including Jim Marucci and sons Matt and Rick, Bobby Whitlow, Jerry’s dad Jerry Long, Sr, and Joey Gilmore also joined us and installed the medallion and border in the front foyer. The medallion was a special touch that Buddy and Melissa were planning to incorporate while building their new home, and it turned out just beautiful. Mike Blanton of Dalton Carpet was another that stepped forward to volunteer all flooring for the home at that very first Athens Area Homebuilder’s meeting. Mike I cannot thank you enough for all that you have given to this family. Your support at the very beginning was absolutely one of the deciding factors of going forward with the building of this home, and I thank you.

In closing I want to thank two very special men…my “unsung heroes”. David Griffeth, was introduced to me as my liaison between the Christian family, the Athens-Clarke Co. Police Department and also the Noble Heroes Foundation. David is actually with the Crime Analysis Unit with the Athens-Clarke Co. Police Department. For me he became a bookkeeper, confidant, prayer partner, and friend. David, you have made my work so much easier and there is not enough space here to express this! Bless you. I would also like to thank my husband Doug. From the very first day that I introduced the idea of building this home, he has never said “no” and truly understood the “why”. As a married couple at times, we are each other’s strongest supporter AND worst critic. I believe for us, we have a good balance of both. Your love, support and “cheerleading” mean the world to me.

The year anniversary of Buddy’s death is coming up in a few weeks, and we plan to finish up the Christian home very close to this date. What an emotional year this family has had with a lot of “firsts” without their husband, dad, and son. My hope and dream is that in the middle of this loss the Christian home will always stand for the love and support shared by this community for one of our own fallen heroes. For these men and women in blue are our true “unsung heroes”. They provide us with so much and usually with very little thanks. We pray “His faithfulness will be your shield”. To you we say…”Hey, let’s be careful out there.”

Many blessings,

Karen


Roy Dalton of Halloran Masonry adds Jerusalem stone cut by Pat Halloran to front wall of porch.

Front face of Stone

Back face of stone

Lade Danlar Lighting of Conyers delivering entire house of lights.

Lowe's delivering framing lumber.

Lowe's, Stacy Tolbert checking on material and delivering hammer to Matt Gordon and Kane Cruce of Cruce Construction.

Kane Cruce, Parks Williams and Matt Gordon of Cruce Construction framing back deck.

T. J. Gay and Omer Kacevic of K & G Installations ready to work.

Josh Callaway and Matt Hawley of Stanfield Air installing outside Lennox units.

Omer Kacevic of K & G Installations installing closet shelving.

Baxter Hammock of Colonial Woodworking installing pickets of the interior staircase.

Melissa, Callie and Wyatt looking out at their back deck.

Matt Hawley, Ted Richey, Josh Callaway, & Tony Stratton of Stanfield Air Systems ready to work.

Plumbers are here!

Mark Towns and Dylan McCurly of Towns Plumbing working on 1/2 bath.

Drew McCurly of Towns Plumbing, Tommy Epps of T & E Plumbing, Mark Brannon of Brannon Plumbing & Wally Ash of Ash Plumbing finishing up the kitchen plumbing.


John Seay and Jason Ramsey of Seay Plumbing installing the whirlpool tub provided by DeVore & Johnson.

Melissa thanks Carpet installers Jerry Long Jr., Jerry Long Sr., Bobby Whitlow, Jim Marucci, Rick Marucci, and Matt Marucci. Carpet, tile and vinyl rovided by Dalton Carpet, Mike Blanton.