New power, focus

I expect the power company to come this week to put in service which will be used for the house when we build, but for now it will be for the well. Putting it in service is crucial to meeting our expanding livestock needs. Having new power on the property does not really give me much advantage other than operating the well – which is a need. It really only gives me new power to generate more bills as we expand.


When the well is operational and the pig building being finished it would make sense that hogs would be our next purchase. I am ready to have them there getting fat for butchering, but that requires feed, which requires money to purchase the feed – unless we can take over another hundred pounds of bread as soon as we have them in the lot. It will all work out. It always does, but if I had any hair left I might be inclined to start pulling it out.

Pray for Grandma and Grandpa as they struggle financially. The holiday season with all its expectations is exacerbated by the higher costs of heating the double-wide they are renting. Grandpa was amazed at how quickly the level fell in the propane tank supplying their home when he turned on the heat. We are looking into other ways to heat the space while they are there, but there are limits to all of them. The weather is supposed to turn cold with snow predicted for Amarillo on Friday and Saturday of this week. It will be less cold in Bowie, but the outside temperatures will still require some heating to keep them comfortable.

At 69 I know Grandpa is not chomping at the bit (with his false teeth) to go out and get a part time job, but there has been some talk along that line. I would like to be able to provide more of their support but there always seem to be more pressing matters to pay for. God is good and we will certainly all make it just fine, it just feels stressful right now. As we grow older it is not as much a matter of making wise decisions for ourselves, it is more a matter of making wise decisions in those areas where so many other lives are affected by our choices.

Along that line, Cori and I were talking yesterday and she remarked about a conversation Nate had recently had with his parents concerning his younger brother. He was not able to give any advice but rather was a sounding board for his Mom as she related the trouble to him. That night as he and Cori were talking he asked, “Are we grownups?” The question may have been asked in jest considering the facts of their three children, their mortgage, their leadership positions in church, the nature of his employment, but it is a question far too few young couples are asking of themselves.

The short answer to the question is, “Yes”, and it probably puts them at odds with their friends and peers on more occasions that either of them would like to admit. I remember a young father years ago who was complaining that his very young children were taking up all of his money, all of his time and keeping their mama so busy that even she did not seem to have time for him. “When will it be my turn?” He asked. I smiled and told him it would be his turn when his youngest was thirty. That marriage did not last. (I remember writing a poem in response to his question. I will have to look it up.)

At that time I had seven children under the age of eighteen. Being the grownup is not a matter of age alone. It is a matter of focus; God, husband and wife, children, everything else. When the children are as young as my grandchildren it is a struggle to keep the marriage a top priority but if you do you will have that long after the children are married and repeating the struggle of focus you endured as you raised them.

Keep up the good work my brand new little grownups.