Travel, moving, planning ahead

I will be on the road most of next week so there may not be much time to write. I will be traveling to Bartlesville, OK for training, Tuesday and Wednesday. Later on Wednesday I will travel to Decatur to work in the office there on Thursday. Mama and Grandpa plan on meeting me in Decatur so we can look at a couple of tractors. Friday I will head home. It will be a busy week.


I kind of talked Mama and Grandpa into making the trip because it looks like the only time I will be able to get to Decatur this month. You have to understand that when I say Decatur (that’s where the office is) I really mean Bowie (that’s where the farm is). With the preparations to move Grandma and Grandma into a rental property in Bowie or Montague fully under way, we are looking for every opportunity to get there and back as often as possible. Thankfully, if I plan carefully, my company helps provide accommodations – even thought the hotel is thirty miles from the farm.

We are actually looking at moving into Grandma and Grandpa’s house after we get them to Bowie. It will save us over $500 per month in rent and utilities. The biggest drawback is the one bathroom. Mama and I have not had to deal with that since we lived in the first trailer on the farm in West Virginia. I have her pretty spoiled and our current rental has only added to the royal treatment she is used to.

There are advantages to the other house; two garages, a large yard, more parking space, lower utilities, a large covered patio, closer to Chases work, etc. Not having to compete daily with the neighbors for parking would be a real stress reliever. Depending on the length of our stay I could set up a study area for myself and Mama and I could try a small garden – if we can keep Ketsia out of it. There are disadvantages also. It is further from Victoria’s work, which is a small inconvenience, and it is an older house with only one bathroom. So when we have visitors, it compounds the problem; nothing we cannot deal with. One thing Mama likes is that there is room for a Christmas tree in the living room.

My boss is encouraging me to assume more and more responsibility within the business unit, which is a good thing. As long as my job has real value to him, I will have a good job. If ever my job or I lose that value I will be forced to look for another one. For now things seem moderately secure, but that is subject to change without notice; especially in this economically perilous time.

It is best for us not to have any illusions about what could be coming at us. There is little hope of a bright economic future in the next several years. God will always take care of us but it would behoove us to be prudent about what we can do to pare back in areas of our lives where we can and plan for tough times. My greatest concern has always been that I arrange my life so we can give more to missions. Sometimes it has been difficult. God has always blessed.

I feel we are heading into very difficult times which is why we are pressing to get the farm going while arranging our finances to protect our ability to give. Keeping a proper focus has been difficult, but a proper focus on money is always difficult to maintain especially in our spend-happy world. It is one of the main reasons we have always sought missions minded churches.

Right now there are millions of people in the northeast part of our country that wish they had made better preparations. Such planning takes time, money and careful consideration.

We have a chance to plan ahead, let’s not waste it.