Over Thanksgiving break, this past year,
Ryan re-shingled our roof. It was such a big project! For the first three days
Ryan had four young men he’d hired to help. Two were there all three days and
the other two came for part of the time.
On the first day, the giant rental dumpster
arrived and the shingles were delivered. Even though the shingles were
delivered on a fork lift, right to the roof, Ryan and the young men had to
unload them onto the roof. Ryan’s a stronger, faster worker so he was able to
unload the majority of the packages and after they were done his shoulder was
rubbed raw from the shingles rubbing. It looked pretty bad, but that was only
the beginning of his bumps and bruises.
With the young men there, Ryan was able to
get all the old shingles scrapped off and loaded in the dumpster. He was also
able to get some tar paper, ice-and-water-shield, drip-edge, and a couple small
rows of shingles done. He was really hoping to have had a lot more done than
that, but it was progress none the less.
The fourth day was Thanksgiving. I was able
to find a sitter for the boys and I went up to help Ryan for a few hours. A
friend of Ryan’s, from work, drive over as well and was a big help. Ryan was
able to get several long rows done that day. He missed out on Thanksgiving
dinner at our ward-friend’s house, so he could get some work done while it was
light out. But, we brought some food home with us for him.
The next day he again had help, this time
from a ward friend and an old friend from Michigan, Karl Harwood. They were a
big help also; we’re so grateful for good friends! Karl was also able to come
again the next day. Ryan made the difficult decision to stay home on Sunday and
work all day on the roof. We had been so blessed to have had dry weather the
whole time Ryan had been working, but it wasn’t a good idea to delay our roof a
day and having a chance of it getting rained on.
Ryan had to return to work on Monday but he
worked on the roof as soon as he got home and as late as he could. He then
decided to take a couple personal days off work and get the roof completed. That
Monday while Ryan was gone at work though, a sweet neighbor lady of ours came
over and said (in essence) that she was proud of how hard Ryan was working to
take care of our house and family and that she wanted to pay for a contractor
to come out and completely finish the roof. Ryan appreciated the offer, but
wanted to see the job to the end now that he had come so far. So our neighbor brought
us a pork roast for dinner instead. J
Ryan was able to finish the roof on Thursday
evening after getting home from work. He wasn’t completely proud of his work
and wished he’d done a better job. But, I for one have never seen a better
roof!! I’m very proud of him!! While we did save a couple thousand dollars and
experience was gained, it had a big physical demand. He was very bruised and callused,
stiff and sore by the end. He’s made the
decision that he’ll be able to give some valuable help if anyone we know needs
to get their roof done in the future, but if one of our houses ever needs
roofing again, he will be paying someone else from now on. 
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