It really amazed me at what we did in a small amount of time and a fairly small budget. The basement that we had in our church was small, cramped, moldy, musty, and contained the only bath rooms in the church. The restoration changed the basement into a first class building as well as added handicap accessibility to restrooms on the main level.
The day that we had the ground breaking ceremonies was one that I will never forget. It was an absolute celebration. There we were in our Sunday best, listening to speeches about the church's future and digging into the dirt with the cleanest shovels I have ever seen. Also, there were a multitude of colorful balloons that needed to be untangled so we could let them go. After the ceremonies my mom found a family friend of ours, Michelle, putting some of the dirt into a Ziploc © bag. My mother asked what Michelle was doing. She replied, " I am taking this to my father who requested to have some of this dirt from the ground breaking over him."" Michelle's father died while the plan to build was in the works and didn't live to see that moment in time. Now I realize what was so important to him.
Howard "Buzz- Osborne was like a grandfather to me, and someone to look up to. In a world where it is hard to find a friend let alone a person who is a role model, if anything Buzz was both. He always said, "Hello!- to you with a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. He would be out in ninety degree weather planting flowers with a heart condition and cancer. Buzz always wanted the church to be beautiful and never gave up hope no matter how hard things were for him or how bad the pain was. He loved everyone equally and didn't give up on anyone or let anyone give up on themselves. .
Buzz never gave up on anything. For ten years he dealt with cancer and Hospice came and left his house four times during those years. For months on end we wouldn't see him at church not because he didn't want to be there, just because he couldn't get himself out of bed.