Moving day - sort of, work bonus, weekend plans

I am meeting with Matt and Crystal (my immediate supervisors) this afternoon to move the cart I typically use for presenting my online classes from the office to the house. The cart has two large monitors mounted on a single stand as well as the power cables and docking station required to use the arrangement. Those monitors can be moved in almost any direction with the arms attaching them to the stand. It is quite top heavy, and awkward so it will be a chore to get the apparatus disassembled, packed into a vehicle, then offloaded and reassembled. An additional set up has been ordered for the office so that we have a backup, just in case. I do not have to use the tall cart, but it allows me to sit on a stool height chair when presenting the class. That positioning gives me a better position in the frame of the web cam as I present the class versus sitting at a desk. It is not really necessary, but I like the look better. It seems more professional. Anyway, the three of us will make that move today so that I can be fully set up to start using the HQ house as my primary broadcast point for the ninety or so classes I have left to present this year.

In recognition of the effort in presenting all the classes I have done thus far, I was given a large bonus by Energy Worldnet. It is not something they do on a regular basis, so the generosity is greatly appreciated on my part. Mama and I are praying about what to do with the extra money so as we make those decisions, the money will sit and wait. What I have told my children over the years concerning money is true for me as well, “You can only send it once. Make it count.” Having just gone through our mission’s Conference only a few days back, I can honestly say the greatest value Mama and I have gotten out of money that we have tried to manage is in the money we have given to mission’s.

I cannot speak to any specific outcome from that giving, but I know in my heart, that that spending of money will produce eternal outcomes – providing for those things that will never fade away, those things that are nearest to the heart of God. Balancing that giving with the day to day needs of our life in this world is the challenge. To spend just enough on our temporal needs so that we always have something to give to the Lord’s work as those needs are presented to us. It is always disappointing to have no money available to give when a need to which we feel compelled to give is presented to me and Mama. I try to avoid that situation as much as possible, but I have failed often enough to be aware of and troubled by the issue. So, Mama and I will consider those needs first, then look to our life and farm needs at present and in the future. If nothing is urgent, the bulk of the bonus will be placed in saving for future use.

This Saturday I will try to complete some of the tasks I have had on a list for several weeks. I am not sure how many hours of rain we are expecting, but we are forecast to get another half inch of rain Saturday, so plans will need to be amended to accommodate the rain if it does come. The beehive work has been tentatively postponed until Monday. That will leave me extra time for a couple other little projects – most of which are cleanup chores. Mama is hoping to mow tomorrow, but again, we do not if that will need to be put off until next week. Besides the ground is very soft because of the recent rains. One of the more pressing chores is to prepare a place for the fifteen chicks Mama now has in totes in the garage. The young chickens in the nursery coop are too large to mix with the chicks we need to put in the nursery, and they are too small to mix with the full-grown chickens in the coop. A difficult situation. It will be fun to see how we manage to work that out.

One of the ongoing projects I have to get done is repairing the fence on the south and west sides of our property. I am not yet sure what is needed, but I will begin that work tomorrow. It will take me several weeks and maybe several hundred dollars to get that done, but I cannot avoid it much longer. I was told years ago that good fences make good neighbors. That has definitely proven true here on the farm. And I do not have a good fence for any of the 1500 feet of fence in question. By Texas standards, that is not much fence, but when all the work has to be done by myself, it is a daunting task. If I can manage to get one hundred feet repaired per weekend, it will take me the rest of the year to see the task completed. The pace of the repair is dependent on how much cleaning each section of fence requires before it can be repaired. Some areas need a lot of cleaning of vines, small trees and thorn bushes. The only good thing I can say about that is that once it is done, it will be done for years to come.

Still, it seems like a huge undertaking.