Week One - January 5th

Well it’s finally happened! As I’m sure you noticed we have actually started to “Make Room at the Inn”!
Monday January 5th at 7am the crew from Mouw Associates arrived with trucks and equipment and started setting up. By the end of the day the barricades were in place, scaffolding was up and St. Joseph and baby Jesus had been carefully moved from their place in the circle.
Tad Knutson’s crew transplanted several trees both large and small to make way for the new paving. During the week the front of the church was pulled apart and the old carted away in anticipation of the new. The interior was walled off to protect the rest of the church during construction. The Narthex itself will be finished in about three months.
The paving work will take only about four weeks and for a while change our driving habits since the center of the campus is completely blocked off.
On Sundays you can enter from either Seacrest or Swinton and the parking ministry folks will help you find the best spot. If you want to visit the church during the week, the Swinton entrance will be the best by far.

Take a look at the illustration below. If you enter from Seacrest and park in either the school lot or on the grass you will need to take a bit of a walk to avoid the work area. If you enter from Swinton the access is easier, the walk is shorter and there are still two handicap access areas. During the week the Seacrest gate will be open all day but closed after school is finished around 6pm.
Tami Pleasanton and her staff have done a masterful job and risen to the challenge of redirecting the school traffic mornings and afternoons and the students all day long. Thanks for being so cheerful about the whole thing!

There are colorized drawings of this phase of the work posted at the back of the church and in the parish hall that may help you visualize what the finished project will look like. Here's a link to some drawings.

http://picasaweb.google.com/photos.sjecs/109?authkey=o1jyBsVpshw#

Here's a link to the first week's photo album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/photos.sjecs/Narthex1509TheFirstWeek?authkey=lJnwwwnI8Zw#

I’ve been blessed to be part of the process of bringing our plans to reality. I’m also excited and thankful to finally get underway. Please let me know if you would like a closer look at what’s going on and I’ll be happy to provide the nickel tour…

Peace, Ric Filer