Before and after part 2

Before - Samantha in our dining room. Notice the trim on the wall.

After - same wall, trim taken down to allow for the addition of stairs, a hole to the attic, and removal of the roof!

Thank God for Josh Burg of Burgbuilt Home Renovations.

Before and after part one

Before shot (before I visited the Paste Magazine Website)

Tonight our house is actually a tent. Three quarters of the roof is gone. The attic insulation is gone. A blue tarp is rustling in the cool (15 degree wind chill!) breeze. But before we bring you up to date on the first part of the building project. We wanted to take you back to why we are going for this project. Here are a couple of before and after thoughts at the heart of why we are expanding.

Before we moved to our current house. We lived in a neighborhood that was roughtly equidistant to the main colleges of Atlanta. We were about 25 minutes South of Kennesaw State University and 25 minutes North of Georgia Tech. Before Samantha, our first daughter, arrived this worked fine.

After we moved to Midtown, just one block from Georgia Tech, we literally had students as our nearest neighbors. Even with the odd hours required to do campus ministry, I can spend quality time with family. It is not rocket-science to learn that missionaries will be better positioned to live among the people they are sent to serve. Before we moved here we did not really realize how much more fun and effective the ministry would be. After the move, we realized the great potential of having such a close proximity.

The more Emily and I talked about the possibility of expanding our home, the more we realized that it was about the future of our ministry. We need room to do what we believe God moved us from Chamblee to one block from the Georgia Tech campus to do, share the gospel and our lives with students.

After Shot: Trent has been Obamiconned!

Full Permits Received

It took only two weeks from when we received our zoning variances for us to get our building permits. This was another clear work of God. Here is the story in a nut shell.

After the symphony ifluenced miracle we experienced in receiving the zoning variances, we were excited to complete the final application for the building permits. However, as we called the City of Atlanta building permit office to check on what forms would be required, we found out that things had changed. They no longer offer a simplified process for homeowners to apply for permits. We were counting on that. So, we gathered our plans and our variances and went to city hall to see what would happen.

Somehow, Trent was able to find favor with the building permit office. We received in two days what should have taken two more weeks and left with our building permit. Christmas was at hand so our builder needed a couple weeks to get ready. Plus, we had just started to receive responses to our support letter for the project. The plan was to see how much money would be raised by the end of the year and be ready to start the project on January 5th.