Full to overflowing, church vs. life, work issues

Grandpa reported yesterday afternoon that the big tank is almost full to overflowing. There is a very well engineered overflow and I am anxious to see it in service. The creek that was dammed up across the road is now flowing from the overflow of that tank and in only a couple days we should be seeing the full promise I received of the Lord in the height of the drought. He promised He would fill the tanks to overflowing when the level of this particular tank was about twenty feet lower than it is now. Maybe this summer we will stock the tank and be able to fish from it late in the fall.


All this wet weather has given Grandpa a chance to see where our fields hold water and he is devising a plan to ensure better drainage. With the way all the collection areas are laid out we should have water where we want for a couple months. We will have to work on the areas where we do not want water to stand. It will be interesting to see if we have to deal with mosquitoes in the smaller collection pools. Right now we are elated to have an abundance of water knowing full well it will not last long.

Mama and I will go back late this month and I will take vacation the first week of April after which I will stay in Bowie and work from the Decatur office through the following week. That will put us in the church in Bowie for Easter Sunday. We will miss seeing the little ones in their Easter clothing at our church here in Amarillo. I spoke to the pastor last night to tell him we would be out quite a bit through the months of April, May and June. He was not pleased but Mama and I are obligated to many other family events through that time and there is little way to get it done from Amarillo. We will probably be replaced in our Children’s Church functions for that time.

Mama and I have always placed a high value on church attendance and we do hate to miss. We will be in church during every one of the services we will miss at our primary church, but we will be missed at Central Baptist Church in Amarillo. It is very often not Mama and I who suffer the loss but the congregation we normally worship with feels the empty place we leave behind. Our little ones in the Children’s church will miss Mama Kim.

I have been given several more unpleasant details to manage at work. The least palatable is to offer to my boss a more streamlined (read that smaller) organization. I have been asked, along with two of my peers, to take my group from twelve people to eight while they shrink their groups also. It is starting as a paper exercise, but it will not stop there. Our boss feels compelled to get rid of any contract employees in order to absorb a financial cut he sees coming. Sounds prudent - but painful.

Before I forget, the pigs have been given shots to fight a serious worm and parasite infestation. Grandpa is very unhappy about it. That kind of infestation can easily spread around the farm. Victoria took the lead on cornering the pigs one at a time so Mama could play nurse. Grandpa was very impressed with them both. Next week we will have the vet look at specimens again to see if further medication is needed. He told Mama it was one of the worst infestations he had ever seen, leading us to believe we may have more work on our hands. My one worry is that the dogs tend to lick around on all excrement – the infected poop was no exception.

Sasha is now fixed. She is almost fully recuperated and was returned to the farm from her hospice care in Grandma’s house. Both Sasha and Grandma are relieved.