Catching up, concerning situation

I started the day in the office yesterday. After an hour there, I met up with the Education Team at a local coffee shop. We spent an hour or so just catching up with each other recounting the freeze and how we were each effected. Mama and I are truly thankful for how the Lord cared for us during the long freeze. Others we know well, had significant damage to their homes and water systems. I was asked about Honduras and got to share some of the memories of that trip. I had taken a video of the living conditions along the highway and showed that short video to the group. We were all counting our blessings after seeing that. After visiting and catching up, I went to the office to finish out the morning. I had to get my computer reset again to allow me access to the server, but that was quickly accomplished. Once online, I was able to get a lot of little things done. It felt good to catch up.

Mama needed the vehicle for several errands, so I only stayed at the office until noon. That gave her time to make it to the post office to check on our mail. We have not had any mail delivered since the first snow a couple weeks ago and Mama knew she had several orders that should have been delivered. She was told by the Post Mistress that everything as out for delivery, but our mail carrier had to make two loads to get all the mail for her route. She had just picked up the second load when Mama got the post office. Several hours later, she was stuffing our mailbox full and setting packages on the wall at our mailbox. Mama got her expected shipments and I got a couple deliveries of things I had ordered online. We are all caught up now – I assume.

Zach stopped by yesterday evening just after I signed off from work. He and Ethan helped me get the large cabinet into place and I got enough screws in the cabinet to call it safe. They loaded up and headed home. The entire task took less than ten minutes, but I was very grateful for the help. I hate to inconvenience anyone for that little time; however, it was truly something I could not do on my own. Once I helped Mama feed and tilled a few rows in the garden, I went back to the shop and put everything back in place. I also started to load the cabinets with items that have been on shelves in the shop for several years. I am far from filling them but that is not necessarily the idea. The idea is to use the space wisely and help me group and locate items when I need them. To make them more visible to me when I am looking for a particular tool or other item I know I have but cannot seem to locate.

We got a call from Cori late yesterday that the nails we thought we had taken to Honduras but seemed to have lost in transit were in fact there. By some quirk, Nate found them in a La Colonia bag in his office at the church. How that happened, we have no idea, but they must have been there from the beginning of our stay in Honduras. Mama and I were rejoicing and perplexed. Mama had agonized over the loss for the entire time we were in Honduras and all the while the nails were there waiting to be discovered and then delivered. All too often, things like that happen to me and Mama – and many of you as well. We lose track of something, sometimes something important, and then discover it in the most unusual place. Staining our minds to understand how it ended up in a place that we “would never have put it”. Yet, there it is. Anyway, it all turned out well in the end. Once we really began to pray about it.

Trace and Crystal were at the house when Cori alerted us to the discovery of the nails. They had gone to the dairy and were delivering a gallon of milk. We get that milk as often as possible and since they were going, they got a gallon for us. I talked with Trace and Mama talked with Crystal while Savanna played. The boys were home because they could not all fit in the car Trace was driving. The company Trace is working for is laying off a large portion of their staff and Trace is a little concerned that his position is also in jeopardy. He is on a week’s leave right now. He is obviously concerned but he needs the time to wind down. The job he is doing is a very stressful job. Long hours, heavy lifting, lots of management interaction, taking full responsibility for the work being done, while spending weeks at a time away from home. It is taking a toll on him. He definitely needs our prayers.

I will be teaching classes tomorrow and Thursday. That presents a little bit of a hardship on Mama since we are sharing one vehicle while Grandma and Grandpa have the truck. We make it work, but it constrains her timeline to get things done for the farm, for the home and for her business.

Hopefully situation will be resolved soon.