Christmas

It was a lovely Christmas! 

Zaitz. Mike Zaitz.

A drywall gun! This gift, along with an extremely generous gift card for the actual drywall, comes after a difficult decision to remove the plaster so we can insulate and replace with drywall. No one wants to see the old plaster go, but the walls need insulation. The Geothermal can't do ALL the work, we have to help as much as we can. 

Bye bye, plaster...

Another gift from Mom and Dad Meyers. A Pulpit.  A gorgeous, loved pulpit from Ohio. They said they made a day trip to get it and had a great time doing it.

Wow! 

Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for all your support and understanding and love through all the years. And your extravagant generosity.  Another great Christmas!

Cardinals swarming Mom's head!

We didn't forget what Christmas is all about!

In the Cross of Christ I Glory.

Church on Mars

Well, technically the Church is still in Grindstone City, Michigan, but the landscape has changed.

Early in the summer, I was excited to mow the church plot of land with the John Deere.

Green!

Then came the Big Heat! By the Party in late July, little green was left... except for the army green Party tent!

Summer '12: 23-50-70 Birthday Party

And then the road came in. First step in having a paved road:

What will be unearthed? Worms!

Progress and parking.

Check out the fancy cash I mean catch basin! 

So we're still in Grindstone landscape, albeit slightly modified. 

Then comes the Heat! As summer wanes to fall and then rushes into winter, the need for heat becomes real. The steamy hot hot summer becomes icy windy cold cold winter!

So we pried open our wallets and went with Geothermal heat. B and D were our contractors.

So we're gonna take the warmth from the earth, see....

First, we'll need more electricity. Dig 'er up, boys...

And inside?

New electrical boxes

Then come the pipes, underground, of course!
Dig 'er up, boys...

Now we're on Mars!

Here's the theory:

Here's the reality:

And the unit. This is what takes the warmth from the ground and transfers it to the church's environment. Likewise, in the summer it will take the cooler-ness of the earth and pump it back into the Church. The difference in temps will be made up by the electrical part of the unit, but heating from 55 (earth temp) to 65 is better than heating from 0 (air temp) to 65! That's the theory.

And though I thought about it for awhile, this is the best I could do to show you what heat looks like!!

But this is what heat feels like:

We did the right thing!