Well, we just celebrated the fourth Sunday of Easter yesterday in church. That means that we started ripping up the floor in the auditorium about 5 weeks ago. It was Holy Week and some of the workers would stop working and go to Holy Week services. At the time, I was thinking that the task ahead was monumental and I wasn’t really sure how far we’d be a month later. Yesterday, Peter and I stayed after church and were finishing the sub-floor the whole way up to the stage area.
I am blown away by how far we have gotten! I am humbled by the volunteers from Trinity, Habitat for Humanity and from England! If you haven’t had a chance yet, please go in and check out the grave markers that our restoration specialist all the way from England, our own Kathrine Graf, found, pulled up, repaired, and started to restore. She may come back again in the fall and do some more work on the markers. We are thinking of ways to mount them in our new multi-purpose room. We are enjoying our vision of modern mixed with historic elements.
We bought a box of flooring to test how it lies on the subfloor. It is a stone and plastic composite that looks like wood. It will be highly durable! Not only is it durable, but it is also rather easy to install. This will be a volunteer opportunity that will not require construction skills. Speaking of which, we will need volunteers to help paint in the multi-purpose room, too.
We bought wooden chairs that are stackable. We are also getting cushions that can be added to the chairs as needed. It is exciting to see the flooring, the chairs and how much usable space there will be in this new room! We can’t wait to see all the events that Trinity members and all the new groups will host.
Finally, in the Welcome Center, we are continuing work on the family bathroom and the garden closet. The drywall is up in the bathroom and we are currently spackling and sanding. Peter will be tiling as soon as the walls are prepped. The top of the wall for the garden room needs to still be framed, drywalled and finished. The flooring in this room will be the same as in the multi-purpose room. Also, the stained-glass windows were taken out several weeks ago and are being repaired and added to and will return in late May or June.
Everybody on the project keeps riding a rollercoaster of ups and downs about how we are doing on our timeline. The work needs to be completed by June 30 to fulfill the terms of the state grant. Even though that is the case, my overall feeling is one of gratitude for our Trinity family. The further we get into this project, the closer I feel to this community of believers. I am proud to be a member of Trinity Lutheran in downtown Reading, PA and I thank all of you for your generosity!