Fruit fast, sale fail, long weekend plans

Somewhere in her online searching Mama found out about a fruit fast. A three-day exercise where you eat nothing but fruit. She seemed excited about it. Victoria seemed excited about it. I told her to go for it. So, Wednesday night after church she and I went to Walmart – the source of all things necessary – and bought about $50 worth of fruit. Mangos, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, plums, apples, kiwi, nectarines, cuties, grapes, cherries, bananas, etc. Yesterday we ate only from that mix. Mama packed us a large container of fruit she had cut up and mixed together for our lunch.

She called me before lunch and apologized that she thought she had not brought enough; she was hungry. I was not sure what size container she had filled but I was not worried. I could have gone without eating anything. As it turned out, it was more than enough for the two of us. In fact, we were struggling to finish it so that it would not go to waste. When I got home last night I cut up the watermelon, cantaloupe and the pineapple. We ate on that for dinner. The chickens ate the scraps.

Mama asked me if I thought she would make it three days eating only fruit and I told her the truth. I did not thing she would do it. Not that she could not do it. Just that she probably would not do it. Victoria did not make it through the first day. She made herself eggs and toast for a late breakfast, ate fruit for lunch and then had a bowl of cereal for dinner. Still far less than she would normally eat. Maybe that will inspire Mama to stick with the original plan. Maybe not. For lunch today, I am expecting a fruit medley again. It is substantially more than I take in when I am doing my typical three day fast. I marked my weight and blood pressure before we started. I will see what results from the fast when I get up Sunday morning. Even after one day, I like the results I can see. I weigh myself every morning. I believe the adage, “What gets measured gets managed.”

Our original plans for the day included Mama meeting a buyer this morning. I asked Mama last night to text the buyer and make sure he was still coming. She got a text back pretty quickly that he had purchased a stock trailer closer to him, so he was no longer interested. I am glad Mama double checked. It would have been a very disappointing morning for her to stand around waiting on someone who was not going to show up. So, I will repost the stock trailer in a couple different sites and see what we get. We are still 83 days out from our trip to Honduras, so we still have time to find a buyer. We are planning to use the proceeds from the sale to fund the trip. If that does not happen, we will find another way.

For the long weekend ahead, we have made no real plans other than working on projects at the farm. Victoria is going to visit Brittany, but Mama and I are going to stay put. I will be working on the shop. I did a little last night, but I will have to undo some of the work because of a change of plans for the use of the addition I am putting on the back of the shop. I want to be able to park Mama’s mower in the addition and keep it covered through the winter. Plus, it will be easier to work on if I have it parked at the shop. With a three-day weekend, I should be able to get the addition finished. I my not have materials for the doors, but I can get the structure completed. The caveat is giving her passage into the back yard from the back of the shop. That will take some fencing work, but it should be doable. Moving the mower will devastate Tom. It has become his adopted home. We would have had to do something for this winter anyway – if he hangs around. I am sure he will figure something out. Almost anything outside the house is fine with me.

Hopefully, we will cut down the dead tree by the birthing center this long weekend; providing I can find enough help to satisfy Mama.

Another buyer, garage sale, counting down

Mama has another buyer lined up for the stock trailer. He is supposed to come tomorrow morning. If I remember correctly, he is coming from about three hours away. I hope that he is not wasting his time, but we can only know that when he gets here and actually sees the trailer for himself. That is one of the issues with selling items like the trailers we have advertised. Pictures can only do so much. Until you are standing there looking at the item, you cannot really know for certain that it is what you have been looking for. The buyer is interested enough to make the trip, so we hope he likes what he sees well enough when he gets here. I told Mama last night that if we do not sell the stock trailer there are some improvements I will make to it over the winter months. Things that need to be done but I have had no particular interest in doing because I have little interest in making cosmetic improvements when functionality is adequate. However, it is those cosmetic details that facilitate a sale. Maybe I will luck out and someone else will make those changes.

Victoria is off today. She had talked with Mama about setting up the garage to do an online garage sale. I am not certain what that entails but she should have plenty of room. I know there are items she has been wanting to sell but we are not in a particularly good place geographically for a garage sale. Nor would I want to generally advertise where we are. I like the seclusion of our little farm. I do know this, if Victoria is going to get items out of the last stack of boxes we have in the garage she will have some work ahead of her. It is not a large stack, but it is condensed. I am not entirely sure what is contained in the boxes yet unpacked from our last move – four years ago. If we are going to stay here, it is about time we got around to putting those things where they belong. I am not a huge fan of storing anything long term. If we need it, we should keep it. If we like it, we should find a place to display it or put it to use. If it is cute but has no purpose, we should get rid of it. Very heavy emphasis on the last of those three options. So, I hope Victoria’s approach to getting these things into the hands of anyone else is highly successful.

I put a countdown timer on my phone a couple days ago. Since we suggested to Cori that she put one on a computer or cell phone for the kids to track the time until Mama, Victoria and I visit them in Honduras, I thought it appropriate to do so also. Mama requested I put the same timer on her phone, but I have not done it yet. I seem to only think about it when we are not near an internet connection. I should get that done tonight. My timer says we have only 84 days until we leave. When I look at the calendar it seems farther away than that, but on the calendar, it is more difficult to line out – looking at one month at a time. Google calendar makes it very difficult with the way it definitively separates the months into individual blocks. So, the countdown timer is a help.

It is just moving too quickly.

No sale, evening activities

Mama had a buyer lined up for yesterday afternoon. She had been in contact with him over the weekend and he assured her that he wanted our stock trailer, so she turned away another buyer who was closer. The buyer yesterday lives in Montana. I do not know if he drove down just to pick up the trailer, but he was very anxious that Mama hold onto it for him. He did show up. When he was driving down our road I had a feeling he was not going to buy the trailer. He was driving a very nice Freightliner semi. I immediately thought how our stock trailer would look behind that rig and would have been surprised if he had bought the trailer. He looked it over thoroughly and found enough wrong with it that he offered to pay me $100 for wasting my time. I declined. Mostly, he wanted a trailer with a twenty-four-foot enclosure. That would be a twenty-eight to thirty-foot trailer since trailers are listed in length from the hitch to the tail – not the length of the deck. He also wanted a trailer that was seven-foot-wide inside. It was not what he was looking for. He is used to much, much bigger rigs. Oh, well. It was a little disappointing, but not overly so. Ultimately, Mama and I do not have to sell the trailers, it just would be nice to get the cash out of them since we have limited use for them now.

Mama stayed home yesterday. She was hurting badly enough that she needed to sit still. She did go with Alissa to church last night for a ladies’ meeting – combined with a baby shower. I spent the evening working on a list of songs from a new hymnal bought for the choir to use. It has a lot of newer songs in to as well as many of the old hymns. I have been using it for choir specials for over a year but have not taken the time to make a list of all the songs available for the choir, special groups and the choruses it contains. I sat down last week and made a had written list. Now I am compiling that list in a spreadsheet. That will give me a helpful overview of the entire hymnal, so I do not have to flip through it to find what I am looking for. It also showed me how much I have missed of the songs available to us. I worked on that until very late and still have several more hours to put into the effort. I am trying to consciously use my evenings to do things other than reading or watching something on my phone but I have not gotten the energy yet to practice an instrument or do Ba Gua; but that is probably more of a pride issue than a time issue. Slowly the evenings are getting shorter as darkens settles on us more quickly, so I will have to start adding those activities to my evenings to keep from wasting the time.

I try to take an hour every evening to work on something on the farm. Something outside. Lately, that time has been given to arranging the inside of the shop, but I am at the point of needing materials in order to do more inside. So, over the next couple evenings (tonight excluded) and Saturday I will go back outside to get the addition put on the shop. I have materials for that. Since I had plywood to enclose the wall I will be exposing in the retrofit, the building will still be sealed up when I take off the metal siding I will reuse at the back of that addition. I do not have panels for the roof of the addition yet, but I have all the metal siding I need. The only caveat is that the panels I will install where the used ones are being taken from will be red instead of tan. That is why I am moving the panels. It will keep the outside of the shop all the same color. The three red panels will be on the inside wall of the addition and will not be seen once it is enclosed. I plan on having all the gas-powered equipment in the addition so the shop can smell more like a wood shop…and for safety reasons.

As the shop fills, the garage empties. It’s a win-win.

Spanish, 76%, three weeks out, potential sales

Nate, Cori and the kids are continuing to learn Spanish – and progressing very rapidly. Cori has had the kids quote Bible verses to me and Mama in Spanish and they are learning choruses and songs to sharpen their hearing. Savanna even sang Jesus Loves Me in Spanish to me and Mama last night: however, there are moments that temper the enthusiasm and realign focus on the needs of the kids in this transition. One such moment happened when they all got home from church and Grant asked his daddy if he could do a lesson in Spanish, so they could understand it. His daddy happily complied. We do not, as adults, see the disconnects our children struggle with so it is nice to have them pointed out. That way they can be properly dealt with. As the children learn the written language as well there is a tendency to superimpose Spanish phonetics onto English words. Cori did not think too much about it until one of the kids pronounced Italian as “it-e-lee’-an.” Mykenzie told her mommy that every time she sees a double “L” she wants to pronounce it as a “Y”. She has some work ahead of her. Savanna seems to be ahead of the game. The other day when Coir was struggling with a question in Spanish, she started with “Como..” and hesitated. Savanna quickly helped her out. “Mommy, do you mean ‘Como se llama?’” (What is your name?) I imagine she gets asked that a lot.

Mama got both good news and bad news from the doctor and the physical therapist yesterday. First the physical therapist news. The bad news. Mama is now only at 76% of the bending motion she needs from the repaired joint. Manipulation under anesthesia is unavoidable. The therapist suggested they wait until after Mama’s upcoming surgery to continue the regimen they have been on in physical therapy. That way he can help Mama after the knee is more pliable. He was not discouraged by the measurement, but he knows it needs to be corrected in a way he cannot do through therapy. Last week Mama was at 74%. This week at 76%. With all the effort the two of them have put into exercising and attempting to flex the knee they only gained 2% in one week. That is progress, but Mama has only a couple weeks of therapy left in the agree upon plan set out by our insurance company. It is assumed that the internal scar tissue is what is causing the pain that is hindering the motion. So, the next surgery is on the schedule for sure. That surgery is only three weeks away.

Now for the potential good news. Based on x-rays taken yesterday at the doctor’s office, the doctor believes he can do a full repair to the right knee and get Mama another seven to ten years of function on that knee – avoiding a total knee replacement for now. That would be a blessing. The recovery time is much shorter with the knee scope than with the replacement. Hospital time is reduced to more of an outpatient basis or overnight at the most. Another blessing. Mama is excited about that possibility. She will have to get another MRI done to confirm his diagnosis. That should happen this week. Regardless, she will have one surgery or the other on the 18^th. That timeframe will allow her enough time to recover fully before we head to Honduras. She will still need to be careful, but the trip will be more pleasant when she is able to sit comfortably on the plane.

The timing of the surgery will still keep me from going to any of the Arkansas sales, but there is always next year. Mama and I are working on post-auction lists in Arkansas as well as Florida. We are also looking at the foreclosure list for Comanche County Oklahoma. If we keep at it, we will find what we are looking for. Also, Mama was talking to Becky last night and she mentioned someone Mike had talked to that wanted to sell his house in town for a price Mama and I might be interested in. The price was about what we would have in a house going through a tax auction. We will see what comes of that. We asked for pictures and a physical address. You never know.

We have a man coming to pick up the stock trailer today and we had a local man come by and look at the flatbed trailer yesterday. Selling those will bring in some money, most of which we have already assigned a purpose. We still have the utility trailer which I use far more than the other two. When we need to move our cattle, I will borrow a stock trailer if Mama and I do not find a smaller one we like. We are not planning on doing anything with the cattle until around Thanksgiving.

That gives us time to look.

Meeting minutes, the tolls of eating out

Friday evening when I got home from work Mama was feeling better than she had when I talked to her in the afternoon, so we headed to our meeting in Ft. Worth. It was an easy drive. Mama and I got a chance to talk on the way – more so than we would have at the house, so the trip was worth the time for just that. Gill and Debbie were already at Panera’s when we got there. They were at the counter starting to order when we walked in. Hugs and hellos were exchanged all around. Orders were put in and we found a table. The place was not too busy, so we took a table set up for six. Both Mama and Debbie are recuperating from surgeries. Mama’s knee replacement surgery is only ten weeks old at this point. Debbie’s foot and leg – injured in an accident – were operated on a little over a year ago. She is able to walk but has a special medical boot on her right foot. Friday evening, she was wearing a boot on both feet. For some reason, she is not healing up. Mama and I can celebrate her recovery by comparison. Anyway, we neede the extra space for Mama and Debbie to stretch out safely.

We talked a gambit of things while we were eating and long after. It was a good meeting for all of us. We gained a lot of insights into each other’s lives and ambitions as well as sharing investment strategies. Gill shared some very helpful tax lien auction information. Mama and I needed those practical observations. As we talked, Mama and I became more settled on the idea of investing in foreclosure properties. It will take a great deal more capital to do so. That will require some aggressive strategies to be implemented to get the money we have in various areas into an investment account – which I already have set up. We are praying about that right now but have set a soft deadline for the end of the week to make the decision on those financial transactions. We would appreciate your help in those prayers. When we left the restaurant, we made plans to meet again. I believe it is a plan we will follow through on. It was fun and informative. It is always encouraging to spend time with like minded people. When we left I found it funny that our vehicles were parked side by side in the handicapped parking area. Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be young enough or mobile enough that the spaces had not been needed by anyone else during our meeting. Perhaps the next time we meet we can use the regular parking spaces.

That was not the only time Mama and I ate out this weekend. We met the seniors from church at Catfish O’Harley’s for lunch Saturday afternoon. It is a moderately expensive restaurant. They have a very limited menu but pretty good food. The problem for me is that almost everything they offer is fried. I stuck with the salad bar and ordered a baked potato with that. Mama got catfish and crab cakes. I had to give the potato back to the server because it was cold. Not even the least bit warm. When she told me that it would be at least twenty minutes before she could bring me a fresh one, I told her I would pass. Mama gave me one of her catfish strips and the salad bar had some pretty good items on it, so I had plenty to eat. One of our friends got the fried oysters – nine of them. When she offered me one, I gladly accepted. It was only after I cut it in half that I realized the oyster did not come from the sea. It came from an animal. It wasn’t terrible, but I passed on the next offer. We had a good time eating and visiting, but that evening I did not feel good. I was nauseated, and my stomach felt bloated. Very uncomfortable.

Sunday morning, I still did not feel good but went to church anyway. I almost had Mama take me home after Sunday School, but stuck it out. I am glad I did. We had a great service. As is out custom now, we ate at the Chinese restaurant after church. I do not eat too much. I was afraid to put anything more on my stomach. But by late Sunday afternoon, I was feeling pretty badly. Mama was feeling the same. All of us stayed home from church that night. I hate to miss but it seemed best. The nausea stayed with me through the entire night and into this morning.

Mama has a busy day today. I will be meeting her for lunch at the school; not that I will eat much, but I will spend the time with Mama regardless. She will go to the school after her physical therapy appointment and stay for an hour or so after lunch. She has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and did not feel like it was a good idea to drive home and back between our lunch and that appointment. There is plenty for her to do at the school while she is waiting to go to the doctor. Things that will be less taxing on her than shopping. Things that will be less costly for me than for her to go shopping.

It’s a win-win.

Meetings, sales and more meetings

I started out the day in a day-long meeting but that rapidly shortened to only a half-day. The last half to be rescheduled for later next week. This mornings meeting was a boon to me because I needed the time to go through the presentation I will be giving next month in Alabama. Since the project was shelved last year I have not had the chance to walk through the slides and book in an audience participatory format since I wrote the presentation. It always comes out differently when people are listening to my presentation than when I practice it in my head. I admit to the whole thing being pretty rough. It was not as polished or as proficient as I need it to be, but now I can get there. It gave me a chance to see just how much more work I must do to get ready and where that effort will be better spent. At least I know what I am going to focus on for the next several weeks.

Meanwhile, Mama stayed home today. She texted me to say she was not going to her PT appointment this morning because she did not feel well. As soon as I got a break, I called to see what was hurting enough to keep her home, so I could get some context. It turns out that she overdid it yesterday evening. She mowed last night. All the time she spent on the mower went without incident. Mama enjoyed the time on her zero turn; she always does. However, when she was getting off the mower after she parked it she stepped off the mower like she had not had knee replacement surgery. Her knee bent sufficiently to get her off the mower without falling to the ground, but she did stress the joint itself. I was seed eating around the house, so I did not see her misjudgment. Because of that misstep, she spent the night in considerable pain. She whined a little to me and Victoria. “How long would it have taken for you guys to see that I had fallen down? Would you guys even think to check on me? And a couple other such statement. She was trying to sound casual and humorous, but I think she was more serious than she wanted to let on. I would not have looked for her until I finished what I was doing. Victoria perhaps longer than that. Fortunately, it was not an issue.

Since she was home, it was fairly easy to meet the couple who had arranged to buy our goats. I have been after Mama to get the paperwork together to send off to have the boys registered, but that has not happened yet. Maybe soon. Those registrations will be a big part of the buyer’s breeding program. But as of this afternoon, the upper goat area is unoccupied. That will simplify the feeding routine and conserve feed. Those two boys ate as much as all our girls put together. This weekend I will do some cleanup of the yard and the pig building to get it ready for pigs. So, the conserving on feed will not last long. I think we are looking at October, but we have not set a specific date. Now that we have the money, I do not believe we will wait that long. Right now, pigs seem to be cheap. If we do buy the pigs, whoever keeps our farm while we are in Honduras will have their hands full.

This evening we are still planning on meeting the couple that we are looking to for some help understanding liens and online auctions. Mama suggested this afternoon when I called to check up on her that she may not feel up to going, but we need to get this done. We need to keep going. At the very least, she can get a meal at Panera’s out of the conversation.

So far, I do not have a long Saturday list, but I am confident I can find things to fill the day…after I sleep in a little later than usual.

Looking a bit deeper, old fogies, sales report

Sometimes it feels as though there are days that are completely uneventful. I have had those. Yesterday may have been one. I got home from work, ate a small dinner and went out to feed. Between getting home from her day at school and going to church, Mama spent most of the time on the couch. She always fusses a bit at me because I want to leave the house so early when we are going to church. After thirty-six years of marriage you would think she knows that I like to arrive early. To arrive early, you must leave early, but that is not how she thinks. Anyway, we got to church almost a half hour early, but we were not the first ones there. Several people were already in the sanctuary and the folks from the nursing home were arriving. As I picked out a mission letter to read, the pastor put on his suit jacket and I said, “I got the memo.” At first, he did not understand but we had on suits so similar that we really looked like twins. Mama was just coming into the sanctuary at that time. She had stayed in the car to put on some makeup. I told her the same thing as she walked past the pastor and I. She understood right away. But insisted that the two brownish suits were not the same color of brownish – and that she did not ike the color of mine that well as she liked the color of the pastor’s suit.

I looked at the pastor and said, “Pastor I need to go home and change.” Everyone around us laughed. Mama scolded me right away. Which made everyone laugh again. I told Mama, “I can’t be up in front of the church in an ugly suit. I already feel self-conscious just standing here.” More laughter. More scolding from Mama. Those kinds of conversations do not happen when we get to church just in time. I will not relate other times of repartee throughout the day, at work and at home, but they are worth remembering because they fill the day meaning – if not purpose. My challenge to you. Look for those times in your day today. I am sure they will be there. Perhaps these “uneventful” days will look less sterile. Mama and I are a boring couple to hang out with, but we have interesting and important moments during each day.

Hopefully, we will become less boring as Mama becomes more mobile again, but for now we will tolerate and maybe even find purpose in our “old fogie” lifestyle. It does give Mama time to keep up with our children and grandchildren as she convalesces. Sadly, if I am not included directly in those conversations, I do not hear about the events relayed to Mama. I have to listen for tidbits of information and mine out the details sometime after the conversation has taken place.  But eventually most of the details are communicated. If not, I get the overview and extrapolate down from there.

We did get the check from selling out three Nigerian Dwarf goats. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the proceeds matched our expectations. That money will be used to buy more feed as we let the farm support itself. Friday, buyers are coming for our two Myotonic bucklings. We already have an established price on them and that money will go into the farm fund as well. As that stands, we have enough money to buy feed and hay for several months; perhaps through the end of the year. November-ish we are going to take two of our cattle herd to be processed. We already have several people interested in quarters and halves. We will have only one heifer left to feed after we make that sale. She should be cheap to keep – comparatively speaking.

In addition to meeting the buyer tomorrow, Mama and I are meeting with fellow investors that evening. At the office, I have an all-day presentation to give, so I will be more busy than usual. Fortunately, Mama is not going to the school tomorrow because of her physical therapy session. That will provide her a larger window of time to make the afternoon buyer appointment. My day will be packed. Hopefully productive. I told Mama we need to go above and beyond if we are going to make this business work, so this meeting is a step out into potential partnerships that will help us broaden our approach and hopefully broaden our opportunities to invest. We cannot do this on our own but need to be careful who we yolk up with. Pray for us old fogies as we seek wisdom in those partnerships.

Take time to enjoy – and hopefully remember – the fun moments you experience today.

School, flare up

Yesterday was Mama’s first day back at school. I am not sure how long she will try to work there but it is certain that after her next knee surgery (coming up on the 18^th of September), she will not be able to sit comfortably at the desk they have for her in the classroom. I am not sure she is able to sit comfortably now, but she is trying. She enjoys the time spent with the kids and she enjoys the classroom atmosphere, the fun facts that she picks up from the kids learning materials, the interaction. But her availability is going to be limited. For now, she is going to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week. She still goes to physical therapy on Monday and Friday. I enjoy meeting her for lunch. It makes a good halfway point in both of our workdays - and I get a hot lunch So, we will enjoy it while we can. She has four weeks before her surgery, from which time I expect her to be out through at least November; possible through the end of the year.

As far as her recovery is concerned, she is talking about spending a few days in rehab after the next surgery – if insurance will pay for it. Since we are already $14,000 in the hole for this surgery, I am not looking forward to adding that much more to the financial load. But, what can you do? Mama and I have heard stories about how much a few days of rehab promoted the recovery after knee replacement surgery. We want to avoid having the knee manipulated several weeks post-op. Like we are having to do with this one. We have only a short 27-day period to get all this lined up and hopefully sorted out. Since the next knee is her right knee, her ability to drive herself around will be far more limited than she has experienced with the left knee rebuild. It will take a great deal more networking to get her where she needs to be after the surgery and the therapy offered at rehab could speed the recovery process.

I admit to being stressed out about it. It is not a conscious awareness of the stress, but it is there none-the-less. Emotions running the gambit from “God is bigger than our need” to being so overwhelmed that I feel like I am being crushed. From “Thank you Lord for being so near to me” to “Why do I feel like I am all alone in this?” There are so many we are praying for that are going through so much more than the small trial Mama and I are fighting through, I am often ashamed at my lack of faith. Faith always wins out. Even when I do not see the answer, I know God will glorify Himself though our situation if I continue in faith. Eventually though, the stress catches up to me and I have to deal with it. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

Case in point. Yesterday evening was not a good time for me. After I spent some time getting feed barrels filled up and making sure all the animals had water, I sat at the kitchen table to cool off for a few minutes before getting our laptop out. I had planned on Mama and I working our business for a couple hours. Mama and I have not spent much time on it since we got internet at the house –about six weeks ago. We have given an hour here and there, but we need to get more involved in it. Even though the auctions we have been preparing for are out of reach for now, there is still a lot we can do. Sadly, that did not happen last night because my plans were fouled by technical difficulties.

When I tried to log into my Mac, it would not recognize my password. I have purposely not changed it since I bought the computer, so I am not sure what happened, but it would not let me in. My emotions were pretty raw to begin with, but that really irritated me. (One of those times when the stress caught up to me.) I slammed the computer closed and went outside to work until the anger abated. That took about two hours. By that time, I was a sweaty mess and it was too late to do any research. So, I took a shower and go the laptop back out to see if I had been locked out for a specified time after too many failed attempts. Fortunately, Apple has a backdoor for access to their devices when a password is forgotten – or has been changed by some unknown force. The prompts finally popped up onscreen and I was able to reset the password through iCloud. That process took about thirty minutes in total; after which I had to rebuild the desktop so the files we need to access were obvious – in case Mama ever tries to work at this on her own.

So far that has not happened, but it might soon.

An ear for languages

As Nate, Cori and the kids immerse themselves in the language of their field, it is interesting to see which of them has an ear for language. Having an ear for languages is more than amassing vocabulary words and conjugating verbs. It is the innate ability to imitate diction and inflection of the native speakers. It is an ability to connect root words to other root words and hear the flow of thoughts not through the words that are spoken but rather by how those words are spoken. Cori and Nate both seem to have that ability. For Nate, this is a third language, so his ear had been tuned to those subtilities long ago. Cori likes to dig into things and see the overlap of ideas and expressions. She, like Nate, loves to communicate. Both of them have been exposed to cultures and foreign mission fields throughout their lives. For the children, this is a first.

From what I am able to pick up so far, here is what I am seeing. Mykenzie loves to communicate but she is quiet and studious by nature so her path to mastering the language will probably be memorization – at least until she is moderately comfortable speaking. She may lack confidence for a while, but she will get it by working at it. I have not heard Grant speak and Spanish, but my thoughts are that he is a born communicator, a leader, a friend maker. He is probably more open to trial and error than his older sister and will learn by doing – mistakes and all. Blake, I imagine will be dragged along for some time, doggedly resistant until there is a real reason for him personally to learn the language. When that need is expressed in his life, he will master the language quickly. He is already immersed in it, so his mind is acclimating without him being aware of it. I can picture him authoring in both languages. Savanna, will be interesting to watch.

Savanna seems to have that intuitive ability to hear the language meaningfully. She is young and will use the same listening, imitating and verbalizing skills that all little ones use to communicate and build language. She is far ahead of most of her English speaking 3-year-old peers because she understands concepts – both through generalization and abstraction. For instance, Cori shared a text about the use of the Spanish expression (or word) verdad. In simple equivalent English, the word means “true”, but – as in English also - it is used to convey an expression of total agreement So true), of “I can go along with that thought but listen to this side of the argument” (true, but), of questioning the statement, just made (Is that true?), etc., depending on the inflection. What Savanna found in the word was the root word equivalent to her English knowledge base – dad. Everyone thought it was so funny when they would say “Verdad” Savanna would say “vermama”. She cannot read, so the spelling does not influence her cognition. She heard that. It made perfect sense to her to make the connection. I find that impressive. It will be interesting to see how she does with learning to read and write the language, but I will not be surprised if she is coaching Blake at some point in the future.

I set up a stereo in the shop over the weekend. I have had this stereo for a lot of years. If I remember correctly I bought it before Mama and I were married and have boxed it up for every move we have made. I have not had it in service for a couple decades, but I wanted to find it a home. In tuning the radio, I stumbled across multiple Spanish radio stations finally picking one to listen to while I am in the shop working. It is not the best way to immerse myself in the language, but it will get my ear acclimated to hearing the language in practice. As I worked for a few minutes last night I was able to understand most of the repartee between the DJs although I struggled to understand the lyrics to the songs. But I struggle with that in English.

It would be nice to have my ear tuned to the language before we go to visit Nate, Cori and the kids.

The shop, selling goats, birthdays

Although there were other chores or projects I could have focused on Friday night, I decided to start setting up the shop. I had already put up three pieces of plywood reclaimed from the little metal building on the east wall of the shop - it was only in one small area – but I had not taken time to move items from the garage to the shop in order to actually set up a work space. So, Friday evening and into the night, I focused primarily on that. I had purchased some metal pegboard panels almost a year ago but had obviously never installed them. That was first. It took me three iterations before I got them where I wanted them with the workbench and desk. Once those were in place, I moved the desk we have carried with us from the shop we set up in Bowie out of the garage and into place in the shop. There is about 60 feet of wall space to work with in the entire shop and I have set up about twelve feet of that total, so I still have a long way to go. But it is a start. I worked until well after dark and by the time I came inside and showered, my eyes were burning from the sweat that had been constantly pouring into them. That sting is still with me this morning.

In addition to getting the shop looking like a shop, I got cages out and cleaned them up so that we could load up goats Saturday morning. Bowie has a sheep and goat sale every Saturday morning and we had decided it was time to let the Nigerian goats go. Along with them, we were also planning on taking the two little bucks to the sale. Mama, however, found a different home for them. She called the lady who had bought Kia and Yukie to see if she was interested in buying one of the little males. She quickly agreed to our price on one but called back a little while later and told Mama she wanted both bucks. (She is enamored with the personality of the Myotonic goat breed.) So, selling these five goats will bring as much money to the farm as selling Daisy. Cattel are selling very low right now and Daisy was not a particularly desirable cow. I am slowly convincing Mama that we need to do more with goats and less with cattle. She is starting to see the potential is doing that. The hay we have to buy and feed out right now is getting expensive for the three bovine we currently ow. Fortunately, two of the three will be going to the market in October or November.

Anyway, Saturday morning, Victoria and I loaded the three Nigerian nanny goats into cages and we headed to Bowie - later than I had wanted. Mama and I had talked about getting the goats to the sale early, eating breakfast at the Longhorn Café and getting back to the farm in time for me to go bus calling. Somehow, between the time I went to bed Friday night and got the goats loaded Saturday morning, the part about getting me back in time to go bus calling had been forgotten. Now the plan was to visit Grandpa after we ate breakfast. Saturday was his birthday. He is 76 years old. Grandpa and Grandma appreciated the visit. Obviously, I was not back in time to go on visitation, but Mama and Victoria felt like we had accomplished everything they needed to get done. So much so that they both laid down for a nap as soon as we were home. I went back to work on the shop.

When I looked back at what I had accomplished, it was a little disappointing that it had taken so much time to get just that little bit done, but I was also dispatching chickens, cutting branches off the dead tree was are going to take down, taking trash to the dump and cleaning up little piles of debris around the coop and birthing center. So, not all my time was spent in that little area, but a lot of it was.

Mama is happy to see things moved from the garage to the shop – especially since she can now park in the garage.

Home study, sales and purchases, chickens vs eggs

With internet available at the house, I have spent time every evening doing research for our business. Since Mama’s surgery is scheduled for the same day as the last auction in Arkansas, we will obviously not be going to that auction. It was my last hope of getting a house in Arkansas, but Mama comes first. So, with that option off the table I have begun to explore the possibility of doing online purchases. Those are almost exclusively for tax liens, but it would keep Mama and I in the business through the end of this year and the beginning of next year. Since our focus has been on tax deeds, I have a whole lot of review to do in order to reacquaint myself with the process for purchasing liens. Fortunately, the couple we helped get a house in Oklahoma spent their entire ten-week training session with their coach working on tax liens – all purchased online. That is the direction Mama and I need to head. So, we called that couple for help. We will be meeting them next Friday evening to get some coaching on the process they were taught and to show them what our coach gave to us to help us buy over-the-counter liens.

Saturday morning, before I do anything else, I will load the Nigerian Dwarf goats into cages and carry them to the auction happening in Bowie. Mama is calling Rick this morning to see if we can trade the two bucks we have for a buck that would be able to breed out goats. A buck he might have that is unrelated to the nanny goats we have. Somehow, he is able to keep the bloodlines in his head, so he would know if he has what we are needing. If he does that would be great. If not, he has always been willing to let our nanny goats get bred on his farm. Mama does not necessarily want to house a buck, but it may work out in our favor to see if we can make the trade.

We could possibly make more off the goats at another sale farther away, but I am not available for too much travel this weekend. Besides, the Bowie Market is the nearest place for us to offload the goats. We just got the check for Daisy and the calf that were sold there last week, and it was not overly disappointing. We will take our chances using what is available to us close by. We are trying to trim back our little farm operation so we can maximize our feed. Perhaps we can make enough off the sale of the goats to pay for a month or two of feed for the animals that are left on the farm. Right now, the hay we have to purchase is the most expensive part of the monthly feed bill and letting Daisy go will help conserve that part of our feed purchases. Mama bought feed yesterday and I will have to buy hay early next week, so it will be next month before we see the benefit, but we definitely will see a benefit.

The thirty hens Mama has in the coop are eating a lot of feed without producing many eggs. Of that thirty, fifteen or sixteen are just now at the point of starting to lay. We are getting some small eggs from those hens that will eventually produce much bigger eggs. Those smaller eggs, along with the Banty eggs, are what Mama allows Victoria and I to eat occasionally. All of the other eggs go to the Chinese and a couple regular customers Victoria has at work. Mama is very particular about taking care of her customers. I do not count among that group. But then again, I do not eat eggs very often. Victoria on the other hand makes some sort of egg requiring meal several times per week. It all works out, but it troubles Mama for too many eggs to be consumed at home. Perhaps when all the hens are laying regularly it will cause her less stress. We’ll see.

Along with the hens we ended up with eleven or twelve roosters. The little Bantam hen that hatched out eleven eggs gave us seven roosters. Four came to us through purchases Mama made at Tractor Supply and one was a hatchery mistake among some very expensive hens Mama purchased. The Roosters that are not Bantam are large. Much larger than any of our hens. They are all beautiful, but Mama does not want to keep any of them. I have had to cull the excess Bantam roosters. I will take the large roosters and dress them out for our use if Mama cannot sell them. We have decided on next week – if Mama can put up with the rough time those roosters are giving our hens that much longer.

They are just doing what roosters do but Mama is very protective of her hens.

Dead trees, on the road

During the storms last week, we had some branches fall out of a dead tree that is standing right beside the little building we use as a puppy birthing center. The first branch fell onto the kennel beside the building and shredded the tarp we had covering the kennel. The second and much larger branch fell onto the path we walk to go from the house to the coop area. Since that ended up in her way, Mama called to see if Grandpa could come over and help me take down the rest of the tree. There is still a lot of the tree standing, so asking for help is a wise move. The fact that it leans toward the building and the kennel, makes the request for help even more responsible. However, Grandma somehow took the request to mean that Grandpa and Victoria were going to take on the project alone since the intent is to protect the building he built for her. I am not sure how that all came about, but as Mama tried to clarify and scrape more help together, Grandma took offence and the whole thing got blown out of proportion. So, even though I would appreciate the help, I may end up doing the tree removal on my own. Time will tell.

In the event that I can find the help, there is one more dead tree that is far larger than the one that threatens our birthing center. It is near the pig building. I have let both trees stand because to this point there has been no evidence that the trees were near falling over, but I may have to be more aggressive in eliminating the threat of both. It is not something I would like to do on my own, but it may end up that way. We are nearing the point of having waited too long – and it is not like I have not been given fair warning that something needs to be done to remove the potential danger. When we lived in New Jersey a branch fell out of an oak tree in our neighbor’s yard and struck her oldest son on the head. She was not home. He ran over to our house for help. Head bleeding and nearly passed out from the blow. We called his mom as Mama and I dealt with the injury. It was far from serious, but he did require twelve staples to close the wound. His mom told us later that he was texting pictures to his classmates throughout the treatment at the hospital. Focusing on the staples in his scalp. All that to say, branches being shed by these types of trees is not uncommon. Dead trees falling apart is another issue.

The class I taught yesterday turned out very well. There were thirty-five participants in the class as well as two observers. The challenge in a class of that size is to engage everyone during the entire class; to speak loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear; to make eye contact with everyone. The room is always set up with round tables. Five people to a table. That spreads the class over a large floorspace. Fortunately, my company had a mic that my coworker was able to get set up for me. It made a real difference for those who chose to sit in the very back of the room. It allowed me to engage those who sat the farthest from me. Everyone seemed to enjoy the class and the activities we had along with the class. Even with the mic, my voice was completely worn out by the end of the class. I had to have Bro. Zach lead the singing in the service last night.

Mama is on the road all day today. She left the house this morning headed to Kim Cantrell’s. From there she is going to Muenster – with Kim – to get feed for the farm animals. On the way they are going out to eat at a Mexican restaurant Kim Cantrell feels is one of the best in the area. After that, she is headed to Grandmas for a birthday party. Grandma, Grandpa and Norman have consecutive birthdays, so I am not sure if today is Grandma’s actual birthdate or if it a convenient day to have the party. Mama made a German Chocolate cake for the occasion. She should be home shortly after I get there. I reminded her that she only has 32 days left to get these sort of things done before her second surgery.

I encouraged her to enjoy it while she can.

Rain, recovery, pregnancies

Of course, our neighbor was right when he told me it would eventually rain. It always does - eventually. It did yesterday. After several seeks of rain passing by us we were happy to get what we got. We got over an inch in long gentle showers and occasional bursts of rain. We are still behind on average totals, but it was a blessing to see the ground soaked. Areas only a few miles from us got several times as much as we did, but that is not something we can change. It is too late for the trees and shrubs that have already given up, but it will be enough to make the grass turn green again. It may be enough to keep the large oak trees we have from dying. Mama may even get to mow a couple times this summer. There is no more rain in the forecast this week, but the temperatures are predicted to stay below 100° F. That will be a nice change. As always, we will take what we get.

Mama went in for her physical therapy yesterday as scheduled. The therapist hinted that she may have healed more quickly than anticipated which could have caused the scar tissue from her surgery to be thicker than he commonly sees. I am not sure what that means exactly other than it may cause her more pain in accomplishing the motion she is striving for. He recommended getting into therapy much more quickly after the next surgery…which he expects will be performed sooner rather than later. Mama and I talked about it quite a bit last night. My thinking is that the sooner we get this done the better, but I am going to be gone the week of the 10^th of September.

With that on my schedule, I am suggesting she get the surgery on Monday the 3^rd. That way I can spend the first week with her. She would rather wait until the 17^th of September. That would be okay, but we have tickets to fly to Honduras Thanksgiving Day. I would rather her be almost twelve weeks into her recovery versus being at nine weeks when we travel. Since we are at the eight-week mark right now with the first surgery, we can infer what range of motion and level of pain she will be in during the security lines, the boarding lines, the painful seating in the waiting areas, and the long flight cramped into a normal seat on a plane. Plus, we will miss several therapy sessions during our travel. My thought is to have her as far into the healing process as possible. Ultimately, the surgical team will decide the date, but we might have a bit of input. We will know more when she sees the doctor on the 28^th, only two weeks from today.

Trace called Mama last night to ask for a ride over to get their van. He got paid for the work he did at the RV park and it is more than enough to start paying off the work done to the van. Mama will also be taking Krystal to a couple places in Decatur to see if she can get the paperwork put in to get emergency pregnancy care. So far, all her searches have been unsuccessful is getting the help she needs. She is over five months pregnant, going on six months. She really does need to get some care from a gynecologist and get set up for this delivery. I know it will all work out, but we are anxious to see the path forward for her and Trace.

Speaking of pregnancies’, Becky called Mama on our way home from church Sunday evening to let Mama know that she is pregnant. Grandchild number 14 on the way.

Sun blinded, Trace, Tex

Saturday, I spent the entire day working in the shop. Other than about an hour spent with mama cleaning the coop. I really need to finish the outside of the building, but it was far too sunny and hot to work on that. I had to rearrange a lot of items that had been deposited at various places on the floor of the shop so that I could get to the wall I was going to start on. Just consolidating the collection of odds and ends made me feel better about the day. When I opened up the space required to start finishing out the wall, I used the 3/4” plywood I had recovered from the floor of the little metal building we had used for chickens and goats. It was slightly used (three years’ worth of use in catching chicken and goat poop) but not so much that it could not be repurposed. Most of it is going to be covered in one way or another and what is showing looks properly aged.

Mama came out to look things over a couple times through the morning and gave her approval. She was feeling left out. Once I got acclimated to the heat and properly soaked in my own sweat, I did not go back inside the house. Victoria was off Saturday but was watching the Echevarria children. She had taken them to Trade Days. It was some kind of special anniversary there – and they all needed the time out. I probably worked a little too long on the shop because I was hurting very badly that night. Typically, a good night of rest is enough to allow me to recuperate but I had a bit of an upset tummy, so I started out in my recliner. Seven hours later my aching back woke me up and I hobbled to bed. Sunday was uncomfortable, but I do not feel too badly this morning. I am not sure when I will get to continue work on the shop, but at least I got to start making it look like a shop instead of a storage building.

As has become our custom, we went to lunch after church at the Chinese Restaurant. Kenny and Kim Cantrell joined us as did Trace, Krystal and the boys. We had a very good time visiting and enjoying the food that Alex prepared for us. Waiting on Cheyenne and Aubrey to finish always ensures that we are the last to leave if we share our lunchtime with others. When we finally did leave the restaurant and walked outside we were all kind of sun blinded. It was so bright. Mama’s comment was that she could not see in the hot brightness. I am not sure how that thought got put together, but she was definitely heard. Cheyenne was struggling to get into the Sequoia and Victoria was urging her on when she turned around and said, “I can’t see in this hot shade.”  I had Victoria send me a text with Cheyenne’s words, so I would remember to record them. Aubrey is just starting to talk. It should be fun to hear her and Cheyenne converse once she does start.

Mama and I ran the truck out to Trace Saturday evening. He is doing a couple odd jobs for the owners of the property where they are renting. They are in a mobile home at an RV park just outside of Bowie. Within that complex is a common room that was in need of some serious upgrades as far as the sheetrock was concerned. Since drywall is one of Trace’s particular skills, they hired him to do the work. When I dropped him and his family off last night, he took me over to the room to show off his work. He had told me the owners were impressed and very pleased with his work. When I saw the completed project, I could see why. He did an amazing job. He will clear enough on the project to finally get his van out of the shop. He and Krystal are excited about that. They are far more excited to see God working in their lives and finances. The owner offered to set up a website for him. Assuring him that she could get him mall the business he could handle in the DFW area. He politely declined for now but was encouraged by the offer. There are several more jobs they want Trace to do for them, so he will be busy for a few months at least. That will give him and Krystal time to pray for direction and wisdom.

Cori asked for Mama and Victoria to contact her after we got out of church last night. She had some special news. When we did make the connection, she announced that they had gotten a puppy. A Rottweiler. He is a cutie. They are calling him Tex. He will be a good dog for them to have in their current situation.

More about Mama, not so good news

Mama and I sat down last night after she had spent some time on the cooling/compressing device and we let her drive as we opened tabs on the computer related to our business. Working on a single screen is a little more challenging than working at the office on two large screens, but the time gave Mama some confidence in operating the computer. We have not been able to spend much time on our business lately because of my travel, Victoria’s travel, needs at the farm and a heavy workload at the office, but if Mama can take some time every day to work on some lists, we will begin to see a little progress. We are still looking at auctions in Arkansas. The next sale we would like to participate in is on the same day I am required to teach a class here in Decatur. Mama is trying to make arrangements for someone to travel with her to that auction, but she has struck out so far. I am trying to backfill my teaching assignment, but I have also struck out so far. The main reason we would like Mama to get to this auction is that the county is closer to us than any future auctions. It is about a four-hour drive versus a six to seven-hour drive. At the moment, it looks like mid-September is the only sale I will be able to arrange time off to attend. Patience is the key.

Progress on Mama’s knee is painfully slow – really. Painful and slow. I am not convinced at this point that she will be able to avoid being put under anesthesia to induce the motion she is struggling to achieve right now. That may put all our auction plans on hold as far as the business is concerned, but we will deal with that as it unfolds. Mama comes first. If we can get the second surgery done and begin the recovery process in September versus October, it will put us that much farther ahead on her recovery; which both of us hope to have completed by Thanksgiving. Not that Mama will have her full strength by that time, but that she will be able to travel by that time. The only caveat to her traveling – assuming she is able – is having the finances necessary for planning and executing such a trip. Just because I am out of money does not mean that God is. That plan will also be dealt with as it unfolds. Of course, Honduras is the intended destination. We not only want the see Nate, Coria and the kids. We want to see the work there.

This weekend will be a weekend spent catching up to all that has been left undone over the past few weekends of travel and my two days of travel this week. We have high hopes it will rain this weekend which could affect some of the chores, but it will not rain enough to hinder the chores for too long. It is too late this weekend to make the necessary plans for the Bowie Stock Sale so next weekend we will take the Nigerian Dwarfs and the Myotonic bucks to Bowie. We will not get much out of them but selling them will help stretch out our feed for the goats we are actually making money off of. Also, Daisy and her calf have been taken to the sale because she was not showing any signs of improvement. Grandpa thinks she is too infested with worms to treat – or that that treatment would not give us any financial benefit. As long as Mama can let go, I am fine with selling her and the calf. Again, we will not get much out of the sale, but it will stretch out feed for the cows and the steer we are keeping. None of those sale plans are very encouraging, but we will follow through for the sake of the animals we need to keep. On our limited finances.

Of our fruit trees, only the fig tree is healthy. All the others, the peach trees, the plum trees, the apple tree, and the apricot tree are all either going dormant or dying. We will know which next spring if hey survived. At least we are learning what will do well here. As I traveled south Monday and Tuesday it was interesting to see just how much cooler it was on the coast than here in North Texas. It was more humid but the temperatures there were ten to fifteen degrees lower than in the DFW area. On the drive home Tuesday afternoon and evening we gained a full twenty degrees on the thermometer as we dropped over fifty percent in humidity. It goes against conventional wisdom to get hotter as we traveled north, but we lived through the reality of the experience.

A typical Texas summer.

Mama’s recovery, Victoria’s visit

Pray for Mama. She has had a few bad days as far as the pain in her knee is concerned. She was hesitant to go to church last night because she was hurting so badly. She ended up going in spite of the pain – partly because I offered to take her out for dinner – but mostly because she and I enjoy going to church for the preaching, for the fellowship, for the blessings it brings and for the time to serve and to encourage our church family. I was able to get a medical device working that we used on her last surgeries. It will pump cold water through a sleeve that can be wrapped around her knee. The wrap allows both the front and back of the knee to be simultaneously cooled. That should help with the swelling. Reducing the swelling should help with the movement and increased movement will eventually reduce the pain.

Also, the device has wraps that squeeze the calves of both legs while the knee is cooled. That should help. At first, we were not able to get the sleeve that the cold water is circulated through to fill with water from the reservoir, but I left it hanging while I had the device elevated and last night I discovered it had finally filled so that we can use it on Mama. She is excited. She did finally have a good night of rest last night. She was awake when I got up for work, happy that she had slept uninterrupted for seven hours. For her that is a victory we can celebrate.

Last night Mama played a video for me of Savanna counting to ten in Spanish. I am not sure where Savanna got her West Virginia draw, but it will definitely influence her diction as she progresses in both languages. I will look for a way to capture the videos so that they can be shared, but to date I have not taken the time to discover the pathway to accomplish that. Marco Polo has become the de facto communication app and I enjoy the times I get to see those video chats, but they are not necessarily easily transferred to other media for distribution.

Digressing a few days, I have not written anything about the time Victoria spent in Honduras. Obviously, she had a wonderful time – most of it spent in Cori and Nate’s house with the kids. Victoria was only there for a couple days so it was over far too quickly. Probably the most notable parts of the trip were her surprise arrival and her sudden departure. The exuberance at her arrival was answered by an equally emotional response at her departure. Cori told Mama that for several days after Victoria left, Savanna was very needy, always wanting to be help and cuddled, plying her with constant questions about when Victoria was coming back. The lack of understanding about the cost and the effort involved in Victoria getting there and back is lost one so small. But the visit will continue to play out over the next few weeks and hopefully, Mama and I will be able to make our way down there late in the year and stay long enough to make Savanna understand that we are now far away from her house. That we will not be able to come and see her very often.

A few weeks ago, Nate shared a letter with us. It is a letter written by a missionary wife about the emotional struggles of moving to the mission field – especially as related to her children. In that letter she touches on the idea that as family does make their way to the field to visit those serving on a foreign field– generally one at a time – the time they are able to spend with each other during those visits provides a unique context for personal interaction; unlike anything normally experienced when they were geographically close. What she worried about in relocating so far from family was that the connection to family would be lost. However, she has discovered that those connections are only made stronger as, one by one, family members come to spend time at with them at their place of service. It is a bonding that works both ways – on those serving far away and on those visiting those serving in those faraway places.

Victoria found that to be true.

Anniversary #36, travel, Mama

At 2 pm this afternoon Mama and I will have been married thirty-six years. I had wanted to do something special, but Mama is not capable of too much right now. We will celebrate somehow, but it won’t be a big thing. We have talked about going to Roatan while we are in Honduras this Fall as our anniversary present to each other, but that is still only in the discussion stages. Based on how things are progressing financially right now, it is a potential prospect, but not a sure thing. As the medical bills continue to come in, something like that loos discouragingly far away. On the bright side, what is it like to be married thirty-six years? It is impossible to put into words all the trials and victories, all the conversations and times of prayer and answers to those prayers, all the miles we have traveled together and all the sights we have seen, all the private jokes we have between us – the silent knowing and secret language spoken between two separate individuals who share a lifetime commitment to each other.

I love her more deeply now than when we married one Sunday afternoon thirty-six years ago. Our lives are wrapped up so profoundly in each other that we do not think of ourselves individually. It is a unity that is impossible to describe. We live for the dual purpose of honoring God and maintaining that unity. We will not leave a big mark on this world, but we want the mark we leave to recognizable as one of commitment and cherishing. We have not always been in agreement, nor have we always avoided argument, but we have always struggled through to the point where the offender asked forgiveness and the offended forgave. As the song so appropriately says, “we’ve had more gains than losses and we’ve known more joy than hurt, as His grace rolled down upon us undeserved. God’s been good.”

I was on the road with one of our salesmen from work Monday and Tuesday. We visited clients and potential clients in South Texas so much of the time was spent getting there and getting back, but we did have really good sales calls. Two of the three were follow up calls. The third was a first meeting with the potential client. On all three meetings I was able to contribute – “add some color” as the salesman I was traveling with put it – but I am not completely convinced it was a good use of my time. If he feels that it was, then I am good with that. There was some discussion around making this a part of my responsibility within the company. Using me as a subject matter expert to help in sales where such insights would benefit the client contact, but I do not know where that will go. It would require far more travel and my current supervisor has been careful to let me stay at the office in deference to Mama’s recovery. That has been nice.

Especially since, getting back yesterday evening about 8 pm, I felt like it put a little too much on Mama while I was away. I will have to spend the rest of the evenings this week catching up to farm related items that are too much for her to do on her own. Most of the tasks are not difficult, but each requires a certain amount of time on her feet to accomplish. She has a very limited ability to offer much in that just yet. I am concerned about the next surgery which will fall near the time I am scheduled to spend a week at a workshop in Alabama. I should be more excited about the workshop than I am. Instead, I am concerned with the timing and how it could potentially overlap Mama’s surgery. There is no one at the company who can effectively teach the classes at that workshop besides me – which exposes a concerning lack of depth in our ability to support our instructor led training. But I may not be here long enough to correct that issue. Time will tell.

For now, our primary focus is on Mama and getting her back to full mobility.

Multitasking, sorting things out, travel

After feeding the animals and getting the garden trees watered, I got the tiny peaches we got this year and put them in pots on the stove to start cooking down so we could hopefully make jam our of them. Maybe it would be better to call the mash that resulted from the cooking effort preserves rather that jam since I was not able to separate the skins from the pulp or the juice There was not any juice at all in the tiny fruit. We burned a little bit of the peach mash in one pot because I was distracted by other thanks I took on while cooking the preserves. I started replacing the toilet as the mash – seeds and all – began to cook down. That all started about 5:15. I was washing the pots used in the process at 10 pm. I am not sure that the final product will be edible, but we gave it a shot. I ended up with two quarts and four half pints as well as a small plastic container of the preserves. If the whole batch is not worth keeping, I at least made an effort to re-coop some of our produce.

Meanwhile, I assembled the new toilet and removed to old one. It is a fairly simple process to make the exchange but with the back problems I have, that simple process is quite taxing. By the time I got done I was hurting pretty badly. It was not the kind of pain that required anything more than a good night’s sleep and a half a muscle relaxer. When I got everything bolted sown and hooked up, I filled the tank with water. I had one small leak at the base of the tank where it attaches to the bowl, but that was easily corrected. I had not been aggressive enough when tightening the bolts that attached the tank to the bowl. I am always hesitant to get them to tight to avoid cracking the tank during assembly. Now Mama has a toilet set up to accommodate her recovery – and it will service us for regular use as well. I probably should have shopped around more for the toilet, I might have been able to save a few dollars – but it is done now. And I will be able to recover over the next couple days.

Victoria is enjoying her time with her nieces and nephews. That adds to the push, or pull if you wish, to get Mama down to Honduras to visit her grandkids for herself. It will have to be a more carefully planned trip for the two of us, but I think Mama would be ready to go tomorrow if I announced that we could. For their part, Nate, Cori and the kids are ready at just about any time also. But for now, Mama and I are struggling through the morass of bills and insurance notices we are receiving concerning her most recent surgery. It is difficult to tell where it will all settle out but at the moment it looks like we owe between $10K and $12K. Not too overwhelming when the totals started out somewhere over $87K. Those of you who know how insurance works understand that it will be a couple more months before we know the real total. That is about the time we will start getting the bills and insurance notices for the second knee surgery. As I have said before, God has not run out of money and he has given me a good job to get me and Mama through this.

I will be traveling for work Monday and Tuesday. Look for me again Wednesday.

Safe arrival, upgrades, prayer

Victoria arrived safely in Honduras. I am not sure of the time, but I do know that Cori, Nate and the kids waited for over an hour on her flight. By the time Victoria got there the kids were well past ready to be done with the mission to retrieve someone at the airport. They had not been told who they were there to pick up. If I heard correctly, Savana was the first to recognize her Aunt Tori. The others quickly followed. Mama told me there was a video, but I did not see it. I did see a photo of Victoria with the kids, but I do not have an electronic version of that image. I am sure the rest of the day and evening was a madhouse of activity as Victoria, exhausted from a short night and a long flight tried to participate in all the excitement as the kids tried to show her everything that came to their minds. The next four days will pass by too quickly for all of them.

As soon as I got home yesterday evening I went out to feed the animals and having accomplished that I sat in my recliner and took a nap. I had planned on sleeping for only fifteen or twenty minutes but that is not how it worked out. Though I am not entirely sure of what time l laid my head back, I woke up and realized I had only thirty minutes to get ready for church. We made it to church on time. Mainly because Mama, who also napped for the second time that day, had already showered that day and only had to get dressed. It was good to be at our home church. This week we will get a full set of services. I am looking forward to that.

Tonight, when I get through with the animals, I will assemble a toilet I bought for the master bath. It is a chair height toilet (also called a handicap toilet) to replace the little toilet we have in the bathroom now. I had to order the toilet because the outlet in the floor is not a standard distance from the wall. It was not cheap but with Mama’s recovery from this surgery and the pending surgery on her other knee, she needed the extra height. Long term, it will be a good upgrade to the bathroom. I am also going to take out the doors on our tub/shower and replace that with curtains. We will use a bowed rod to hold the shower curtain. I am not sure that is an upgrade, but without the doors it will be easier for Mama to use our shower as she continues to recover.

Last night the pastor preached on prayer; specifically, what hinders our prayers. The root of unanswered prayer is found in Ps 66:18. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Pastor asked, “Which sins put Christ on the cross? The big sins or the little sins? Does God differentiate?”  All of us have a list of prayers that need to be answered – whether written or mental. Some answers will come only in God’s time. Others may be on hold as God waits on us to respond to Him. Too often we know what we need to do but choose not to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our way seems better for now. More consistent with our understanding; our plans. Yet our prayers wait, unanswered. Either God knows best or He does not. Somewhere along the way we have to choose; His way or our way. If Romans 8:28 is still true (and it is) I believe His way would always be best. The difficulty comes in acting on that belief. Surrender is not natural for any of us.

Speaking of prayer, I am a little concerned about the next knee surgery. At this point Mama still cannot bend the knee that was operated on sufficiently to put on a sock or shoe by herself. She is not far from being successful at that activity, but if the doctor wants to do the next knee at the beginning of September she has lot of work to do to get the movement required to support her daily needs out of the leg in which she is now trying to regain the full range of motion.

September could be a very difficult month for us.

Victoria’s quick trip, Mama

Mama called me yesterday late morning with a “guess what?”. With that contact I was made aware of the arrangements Victoria and Cori had made to fly Victoria to Honduras. Yes, to fly Victoria to Honduras. The driver for the trip is Savanna’s third birthday this Saturday. None of us want to miss the event but sadly, Mama and I knew we could not go. However, Cori found a fairly cheap ticket to San Pedro Sula and Victoria could not pass up the opportunity since she was already off the rest of the week. With that trip in mind, the entire rest of the day was spent in getting items that Cori and the kids needed – Peanut Butter, Marshmallow Cream, Apple Butter and the like. There were also some pants bought for Grant and other sundry items but making weigh on the checked bag was a limitation to the amount that could be purchased here and carried there. Victoria’s bag barely made weight. Fortunately, the birthday party items Mama and I bought late in the day did weigh much or take up much room.

Victoria left the house at 4:15 am. She met Erin and the kids at 4:30 am and they headed to the airport. I called Victoria to check on her and she told me how charged up the kids were at their “nighttime adventure”. The only complaint was that Luke wanted to get something to eat since he was up and of course they could not stop on the way to the airport. Hopefully, soon after he was fed. Victoria was already through security and waiting on the boarding call when I talked to her. Like me, she gets pretty nervous every time she flies – and remains so until safely through security and at the required gate. I assured her there was nothing she could do about it and now that the angst has largely passed, she can relax a moment before boarding. She should be with Cori and the kids by lunchtime. Perhaps this was not the best way to plan an international trip, but it just might work.

Mama is left to feed the animals by herself this morning. That required me to make a couple changes to feeder positions and feed barrel locations. With the boy goats, one of the two is very annoying when it comes to feeding. At least for me it is and annoyance; for Mama his constant pushing against the legs and having to step around him as you pass through his area would be dangerous. I generally use my knees to push him away as he bangs into me. Mama cannot do so. He is not aggressive, but it has tripped me up on occasion. So, last night I moved the feed out of the building where it is normally kept and moved the boy’s feeder to the fence on the coop side of the yard. That way Mama will not have to go into the enclosure and deal with the potential for injury. Hopefully that will be enough to get her through the next few mornings. Since we have not had, nor are predicted to have rain or dew, setting the container of feed (it has a closed top) in the open will do into harm through the remainder of the week. Victoria will be back Sunday night and able to take back over the morning feedings on Monday – Lord willing.

Mama had another follow up appointment yesterday. There was some good news. The doctor is pleased with how well the knee is healing, but not so pleased with the range of motion. He will see Mama in another month to determine whether or not to anesthetize her to force the knee into a fully bent position. If that proves necessary, she will be scheduled for that treatment the first part of September. At that time, the doctor will do the replacement surgery on the other knee. The only caveat is that during the second week of September I will be in Alabama the entire week. We will see how well Mama progresses in physical therapy over the next four weeks. That will determine the timing of her next surgery. Sooner is probably better since we are making tentative plans to visit Honduras over Thanksgiving. A month earlier for the surgery means a month earlier for the recovery – hopefully. Whether or not our pursuit of this business will allow me to be free of my current employment by that time remains to be seen.

Right now, we are focused on getting the swelling to go down. I am struggling to understand the limit to the range of motion Mama currently has and it seems that swelling is the major contributor to that limitation. So, we are refocusing all our efforts on reducing that to get more bend in the joint. Some of our Nikken wraps have been brought out of storage to hurry the healing process and we are reusing a device Mama was given for her past knee surgeries. We probably have what we need. We just need to use every tool we have accumulated to get through this is the quickest possible way.

I know Mama is ready to get through the healing process…me too.