Major panes

We have windows!! Yesterday family and friends turned up for a working bee to install the windows. Other than the fact that some of the frames were 5-10mm too short for the windows, everything went well. The short frames were easily fixed thanks to some ingenuity by Sweet Talker Walker.

Installing the window way up the top of the house in the Gailey Gable was certainly very hairy and scary! Especially when Tracey forgot that her right brake was on on the tractor and it skidded sideways with James and Adriel about 10 feet in the air with the window on the front forks.

After the weekend, it really brought home to us how blessed we are to have such family and friends who would go out of their way to give up their Sunday to help us. We certainly could not have done it without them and it means so much to us to have taken this big step forward in our dream.

We'd like to take this opportunity to say special thanks to those who gave us a hand yesterday.

First of all, Christopher Gailey. James and I decided to install one of the little windows ourselves on the Saturday and after countless phone calls to Christopher to ask him how to do it, we managed to get it done - so that was our practice run. Christopher has always been only too happy to help when James rings up and says "have you got a minute, mate? I've just got a question" which we did on the weekend. Thanks, Chris.

Noel Walker, aka Sweet Talker Walker, our neighbour from up the road. Without Noel's strong hands and tips and tricks and easier way to do things, the windows wouldn't have gone in as easily as they did. Thank you, Noel.

Uncle Vic and Troy. Without Vic's good common sense and knowledge and Troy's strength and willingness to clamber up the inside of the house to the very, very high roof, things would not have been possible. Thanks, Vic and Troy

Brad and Nicky - without whom there's no way we could've carried the windows and positioned them without Brad and Nicky. Those extra pairs of hands were an absolute lifesaver. Thanks so much, Brad and Nicky.

Aunty Marie and Kate. You guys were just amazing. Going out on that quad bike and finding those fly veils for the horses was an extraordinary feat. The horses have them back on now and are much happier not having to shake the flys away from their faces. Thank you so very, very much.

Marjie and Grant. Without Grant's good common sense knowledge and Marjie's extra pair of hands, we certainly would not have been able to get the job finished. Marjie was also our unofficial photographer and from the couple of pikkies that I saw, they looked amazing. Can't wait to see the results. We know you guys had other things on over the weekend so we are so grateful that you were able to give us a hand. Thank you.

Stuart and Adriel. Again, without those extra pairs of hands, the window installation would not have possible. Also, without Adriel being willing to stand on the front forks of the tractor and be lifted up to the heavens whilst holding onto a big heavy window, there's no way that window would've been installed. Thanks, Stuart and Adriel.

Joan/MIL. Thanks to the mother/mother-in-law for her extra pair of hands too in helping lift heavy windows and position them into place and hold them while they were fixed. She did pretty good for an old duck! Also for cooking the BBQ and keeping us all fed. Such an invaluable help to have someone do the cooking so that we could concentrate on doing all the heavy stuff.

Last but certainly not least, Paul and Kylie for unexpectedly giving us a brand new baby niece, Jessica, five weeks early. We will certainly not forget the day that we installed our windows in a hurry. Every year when we celebrate Jessica's birthday, we can say "I remember this day in 2007, we were installing our windows in our dream".

Again, thank you so much to everyone.