Property, adoption, Grandpa’s help, revival

Victoria has become an active participant in our search for properties. She has found quite a few that are worth giving a second look, but so far, none of what we have found have had the combination of items that would make us feel right about trading them for the farm we now have. Still, it is fun to have her involved.

Mama has begun making the contacts necessary to formally investigate the possibility of adopting again. She has found out that in October of next year Child Protective Services (CPS) will no longer be handling adoption and fostering in the state of Texas. I am not sure what the whole story is, but all foster and adoption services will be handled through private agencies. This can be both a blessing and a hindrance. We will have to see how it affects our query.

It is good to have Grandpa back – if only for a short time. They are planning on returning to West Virginia late this month. They feel Norman and Seth have greater need of them than Mama and I do. I cannot argue that point, but it does slow us down on work related to the farm. Mama and I will eventually work it out but it sure is easier when Grandpa can put in five hours or so per day.

Yesterday he cut, raked and baled the meadows. We got twenty seven bales of pretty good looking hay; not much, but it is better than nothing. He also trimmed the fence line along the road. It really looks good. The weed eating is something I have difficulty with because it hurts my back. Grandpa seems to be able to do it for hours without any pain in his lower back; another thing I will eventually have to take over – but not yet.

He has also been working on some problems we are having with the wiring in the apartment. It is something else I have to leave to him because he is the one who planned where power would come from at each juncture. He has gotten all but one of the problems I found worked out so I am pretty confident he will get everything right very soon.

Obviously I have not been able to get much work done in the apartment since we got back from traveling to the panhandle but I have big plans for this weekend. Grandpa brought back a garage door that we are going to fit in the north end of the shop. I will also frame out the south end so we are not dependent on tarps to keep the weather out during the coming winter.

The revival services have been great. The theme is Integrity. The preaching has focused on maintaining and persevering in integrity. It has been a little difficult on me because of the shortened sleeping hours but it is always worth the extra effort. The preaching has been phenomenal.  Attendance has been good – about the same as or better than most Sunday nights.

That is an encouragement to our pastor.