We're IN!

It is down to details and final connections and things required by city and state building codes. The inspectors don't care about paint, flooring and drapes, they want to see exit signs, smoke detectors and handicap accessibility. Matthew and his kids in his tech school electrical class come and do the final hookups of the emergency lighting and exit signs etc.

We passed the electrical inspection on the panel and underground pipes and wiring, so we can fill the trench. Alexis is packing the trench under the sidewalk with rocks so it won't cave in.


We were required to put in about 200 feet of sidewalk access to the street and parking lot.

The concrete for the sidewalks was going to cost us about 800.00. Fr. Damian called a half dozen concrete companies to see if we could get a discount. Last Saturday morning he called me at 7:30am and said, "WHERE ARE YOU??" A concrete company called him and said they had a truck leave the yard and the customer called at the last second and cancelled the order... if we wanted five yards of free concrete it would be at the Church in ten minutes. I was five minutes from the Church dropping my daughter at a friend's house. A call to the Rehabilitation Center who sent two men over and a couple of catechumens who came on short notice and four hours later we had free sidewalks.

This week we finished the ramp and handrails and the panic hardware on the emergency exits. We got the handrail for a third of retail cost and the guy at the door shop sold us the panic hardware for about 25% of the cost. A couple of days of details and we called for our final inspection. Here is Dave, the City Inspector, signing our certificate of occupancy. We passed!

Fifty eight days from pulling our permit, with volunteer help and a budget under 6,000.00 for a project that would have easily been 50-60,000. 00 if we had hired a contractor, we have a Church we can occupy. This orange piece of paper is "gold". These are three happy guys!

Now we can do all the gingerbread stuff that the inspectors don't care about. I finished antiquing the corbles and five minutes after we had a signed certificate we started on the raised floor for the altar area and the laminate wood flooring. God willing we'll finish flooring and baseboards by Friday, build the temporary iconstasis and move in Saturday and hold our first services this weekend.

Father Damian and I were talking about sending an icon, a picture of the Church, a thank you card and invitation to a special service for all who donated, discounted and worked on the building, including the Mayor of Tempe, the City Planning and Zoning board and City Inspectors who worked so cooperatively and well with us at every stage of the project.

God is with us, understand all ye nations, and submit yourselves, for God is with us.
May we be faithful to the manifold gifts we've been given.