New instructor, deliveries, Mama’s computer, shopping, New Year’s Eve

Class yesterday went well. As expected, our newest instructor had the perfect class to try out his presentation. The six participants were engaged, encouraging, and very supportive. They all knew each other well. Five of the six had worked together for many years and four of the six were launching into a new employment opportunity to join the two evaluators familiar with both the new employer and the new processes they would be taking on. They all seemed to have a good time in the class which made things somewhat less of a strain for our new instructor. I interjected a couple thoughts into the class as needed but largely I sat by and let Russell do the class as much on his own as possible. Now he knows what it is like to present the class and I am sure he will work to smooth out the rough patches he struggled through yesterday.

Mama was loathe to leave the house yesterday because her new computer was to be delivered at some point during the day. She wore herself out cleaning around the house even going so far as to thoroughly scrub the kitchen cabinets. She was hesitant to go to church last night for fear of missing her expected delivery, which, as it turned out, came just a few minutes before I left for church. Plus, she had overdone it through the day and was in considerable pain by that evening. When the UPS driver, whom we have gotten familiar with, dropped off the packages, we gave him a small bag of Mama’s fresh baked goodies. He was delighted. So, Mama stayed home last night and watched the service from the couch.

I, on the other hand had a good time at our last service for the calendar year. I pretty much had to go. Not because I am the song leader but because Mama and I had caught six chickens to be rehomed and the purchaser – a church friend – was not able to collect the hens as expected yesterday morning. She was sick and asked if we would bring the birds to church to make the exchange.  I was happy to do so. While the hens spent the entire day in the cage we had placed them in late Tuesday evening two eggs were laid. Both were smashed by the caged birds who probable fidgeted about constantly through the day in captivity, but while they waited in their cage in the bed of my truck during the service an additional two eggs were laid. Those I was able to recover since the chickens tend to limit their movements after dark. The sons of the purchaser were delighted by the bonus in their chicken delivery. I also had to deliver a padded mat bought at Sam’s when Mama and I were there Tuesday evening. Brittany Wycoff wanted Mama to get the mat for her as a gift to her mom, so that was successfully delivered in secret. Mission accomplished!

I avoided working on Mama’s new computer last night because I knew it would require more focus and emotional energy than I had to offer after I got home from church. I started that this morning and was largely complete in only a couple hours. Mama is truly excited about the computer and that is a good sign. I am impressed with the newer model of MacBook Air. Mine seems antiquated by comparison.  I admit that I was a little taken aback at the different look of several programs on the newer operating system but that will not present a problem for Mama because the new look is far less cluttered than what I am used to seeing. We will slowly add links, shortcuts and apps over the next several days if not weeks.

Mama will launch into the computer operation as soon as she is back from an emergency shopping run. Why it was an emergency remains a mystery to me, but I have to trust Mama’s instincts. She listed off the multiple stops she has planned and as much as I enjoy spending time with Mama, I was happy enough to let her make this trip on her own. I do not expect her back much before I sign out for the day…for the year.

This weekend, I need the extra day off tomorrow offers because I have a lot of freeze prep to get done before our next Arctic blast hits Saturday night. We will spend a couple nights in the teens to low twenties. Cutting in the yard hydrant at the barn is the longest project. It will require several hours to do it properly, but I should have the time and materials to complete it once started. Once complete, I hope it will last me many years.

We have no real plans for New Year’s Eve except to rest up and complete all the chores I need to have done before the temps fall through Saturday night. We will start the year off with what is for us a brutal cold snap.

Should be fun!

Nearing the end, class tomorrow, constancy

Mama and I each follow a Bible reading program that guides us through reading the Bible in one year. We have repeated that process for many years, but each year, near the ending of the calendar year, it is nice to come to the end of the guide and know we have accomplished that goal once more. Having the Bible in audio format facilitates the daily reading. It is nice, where needed, to have someone else pronounce those names that are difficult for us to sound out. Every year there are new discoveries in our daily reading and every year, though we follow our guides to repeat the process, the Bible seems fresh and new.

So, on December 31 I will read the last chapter in Revelation, and January 1 I will read the first chapter in Matthew. I will read the last chapter in Malachi on the last day of the year and read the first chapter in Genesis the first day of the New Year. Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs are read daily with the Psalms and Proverbs being repeated twice through the year.

I have been challenged several times to try a different program for my daily reading, but I have stuck with what I am used to for about fifteen years. It takes me about twenty minutes each morning because I read the assigned passages in Psalms and Proverbs in both English and Spanish. That is one of the means of keeping Spanish in front of my mind on a daily basis. It is a nice way to begin each day and over the years has become a habit. Sharing those moments in the morning with Mama, thought we are reading separately, is one of the blessings of working from home. Until that changes, we will enjoy that time together with each other and with the Lord. Soon we will have a new year to look forward as we start once more at the beginning.

I will be in class tomorrow. I will not be the designated instructor. I will be there to evaluate the presentation given by a fellow employee who will be presenting the class for the first time. I do not anticipate any issues, but it will make both my management and the presenter feel better to have me in the class as he gives it a go. This will be the last class of 2021. Next year, we start off with a full schedule beginning on January 4. Classes are scheduled out through the first quarter at the rate of two to three classes per week. I will be busy keeping that schedule and it will help to have two backup instructors qualified to present classes when I need to take time off. That was not possible this year and as a result I am carrying over almost a week of vacation which adds the complication of having even more time off to use up next year. A good challenge which I am certain Mama can help me overcome as long as I have backup instructors to fill in for classes during the time off I am assigned by Mama.

This coming weekend we are forecast to have a couple night in the teens. Daytime temperatures are predicted to be in the forties, but when we see twenty degrees and below in our area, that is a challenge for me and Mama to keep our waterlines from being damaged. I am especially concerned about the line I installed for a temporary line at the barn. It will not survive a night below twenty degrees without some extra precautions, so I have to take the time to install the yard hydrant I purchased for that purpose. Fitting that into the schedule over the next few afternoons is going to take some coordination. It is one of those chores that I should have done weeks ago, but it has not been an urgency – until now. Nothing like an emergency to get me to do what needed doing for some time already.

Having the farm to tend to lends a constancy to our lives that anchors us well. Regardless of the season, the chores continue, and the animals pass the days in our care unaware of the passage of time or the other cares of life we deal with. They know when to expect us to put feed in their feeders and they treat each feeding as though Mama and I had forgotten them even though they were fed only hours ago. It is fun to participate in the continuum, especially with Mama to share the experience with.

The calendar may change in a few days, but our lives remain fairly constant.

Last week

Since I last wrote, a week before Christmas, Mama and I have been busy. Friday the 17^th we had our Sunday School Christmas party at the church. We sat with Sam and Erin Echeveria, Paul O’Conner and Elizabeth Miller. Sam has a very quick wit and an extremely dry sense of humor. Mama and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. Saturday evening, we had a double date with the Cantrell’s. That was a very relaxed, comfortable evening out. We ate at Texas Roadhouse, had a good long visit while our food was being prepared, just enjoying each other’s company. Mama presented her Color Street nails to the waitress when the receipts were being paid and we looked over the area we were in at Christmas lights. Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the church. I was hurting badly so I did not eat anything, but Aubrey and Cheyenne loved the fare. They concentrated on the donuts and biscuits. Services afterward were great and that morning, the choir sounded amazing.

For Sunday night, pastor led a testimony service. We sang a couple hymns and then set up a mike in the front of the church to allow anyone who would to give their testimony to the congregation. All in all, fifteen or so people gave an account of their salvation experience or some other aspect of their walk with the Lord. It was a very intimate moment for the church, and it will be remembered for a long time to come. Mama even got up and shared her testimony as did I. What was most interesting was that some of the persons who chose to share were not among those I would have expected to do so. A few very timid folks let us into some of the most precious moments of their lives. I have a feeling we will repeat that order of service again.

Since Mama and I had been rescheduled for our meeting with the title company Monday, we went to Bowie and had lunch with Victoria. I had never been to the pizzeria they both talked so much about, so they were anxious to show me just how great it was. They were not wrong. It was good and Mama and I did not have to hurry through the lunch hour Victoria was sharing with us. However, we got a call from the notary shortly after lunch – about the time we were originally scheduled to meet - to see why we were not at the appointment. Fortunately, he remembered calling me Sunday afternoon to move me to a later time slot. He admitted that he had gotten confused on the many appointments he had scheduled for that day. We were able to keep our appointment at the new time so it all worked out eventually.

Tuesday, I took my chain saw to be repaired. It was leaking fuel past the point that I could even think about using it. While I was in town, I took the car to Auto Zone to have a code read to let me know why our Check Engine light was on. It was a code dealing with a catalytic converter efficiency issue. Not surprising since the catalytic converted installed were not genuine Toyota parts. Those are currently unavailable. The error was reset but came back after a few miles of driving. Fortunately, it is something we can live with long-term. I got my repaired chainsaw back later that morning and worked on cutting up a lot of fallen branches as well as felling a dead tree behind the chicken coop. Later that evening, Mama and I packed for our overnight visit to Amarillo.

We left for Amarillo after feeding Wednesday morning. It is an easy 5-hour drive and seems to pass very quickly.  Mama and I were looking forward to our visit with Chase, Makaila, Owen and Gailyn. Any uncertainty that the grandchildren would remember or welcome us was eliminated as soon as we sat down and Gailyn crawled onto my lap to be hugged and snuggled.
Owen did the same for Mama fairly soon after we arrived. We had a wonderful, comfortable, relaxed visit over the course of Wednesday and until naptime Thursday. Mama and I were even permitted to take Owen with us to Academy Thursday morning to return some items. It was sad to say goodbye. We got home just after dark Thursday night.

Friday, Christmas eve, Mama and I went suit shopping at the outlet mall in Ft Worth. I got two sport coats versus getting any suits. The suits were too plain and drab for my tastes. Mama and I shopped around a bit before leaving the outlet malls and headed to Sam’s for some last-minute dinner items for Christmas day. On the way to Sam’s, we stopped at Rooms to Go to look for a sofa or sectional to replace the broken down one Mama is currently using and were surprised to find something both of us like very much. I had not been in favor of a chaise per se, but Chase and Makaila have a sectional with two chaises, and it was a nice arrangement. It changed my mind, much to Mama’s delight, on the efficacy of including a chaise in our shopping requirements. We may look seriously into getting the sectional we were most interested in.

Saturday, Christmas Day, was unpleasant for me as far as my gut was concerned, but we had a great Christmas morning with Victoria at the farm and virtually celebrated Christmas with several of the children and grandchildren. About noon, Mama picked up Aubrey and Cheyenne to spend the day with us since the restaurant was opening from noon to 6 pm Christmas Day. They made a couple different types of cookies; they opened the presents Mama and I had gotten for them and they helped us feed before we took them back to the restaurant a little before 6 pm. The restaurant was packed. It and Jack in the Box were the only eateries opened. Yesterday we had great services at church.

It was a fun few days.

Class, Children’s Christmas Program, guests, tomorrow

Class yesterday was a great class. I felt like I was a little off my game doing the presentation in a slightly different format for an audience sitting with me, but it turned out well. Three of the five participants were from client companies. Two were from my team at Energy WorldNet. Everyone participated throughout the class which always makes the class more fun. In these face-to-face classes that is typically the case, which is why I enjoy that format so much better than online. It had been almost eight months since I did a face-to-face class, so I was a little out of practice, but having presented the online version nearly sixty times in that space of time, it was only a matter of making sure I followed the printed book the class was referencing. I had to make sure all the activities included in that book were offered to the participants. That is something we do not offer in the online class. I enjoyed the day and the participants seemed to do so as well.

Mama had spent the day out shopping so when we both got home, we hurried through the evening feeding to allow us time to get to church almost an hour early. The Master’s Club Christmas Program was last night, and Mama and I had to get our girls to the church for the final run through. Since I had not been a participant in any of the practices Monday or Tuesday night, I needed to see the order of service so I could get things coordinated for the adult choir which had several songs to sing as a part of the program.

The program went off without a hitch. The children who had lines in the dialogue all knew and spoke their lines loudly and confidently. Cheyenne had a speaking part in the program and even she did her part as though it were a small thing. All the songs they sang were very well done. (I have found myself wishing the adult choir would always sing with that level of confidence and volume.) For the adult’s part, we had practiced the songs we contributed to the production over the past couple weeks, so we were well prepared to do our part. Pastor preached a short sermon and passed out bags of fruit and candy to all in attendance, which was a sizable crowd. Who does not like to see a children’s program? It was a fun evening at church.

Later this afternoon we will be entertaining a family that has spent the past year at BBTI. They have been faithful attendees to our church and Mama and I have wanted to have them over for dinner for months. We finally were able to coordinate our schedules and settled on this afternoon/evening to get together. They are headed to the mission field in Mozambique. In a few weeks they will go on deputation fulltime so their schedule will – hopefully – be full for months to come. The couple and their three children have never been to the farm, so they are looking froward to their visit. The youngest child, just over a year old -born to them during their sojourn at our church – is a handful so we will need to be on our toes, but we will manage.

In preparation for their visit, we have a ham on the smoker, and I will be adding corn on the cob to the grill later today. Mama is making macaroni salad, green beans and scalloped potatoes. A pumpkin pie was purchased along with a variety of vegetables and cheeses for a snack tray. It should be fun. Our Christmas meal for the year. Friday evening, we have our Sunday School Class party, but the meal will be Mexican food – not very Christmassy. So, the meal this evening will substitute for that holiday tradition.  

We will not be doing much for Christmas, but we will drive over to Amarillo to see Chase, Makaila, Owen and Gavin during that week. It will be a short trip, but at least Mama will get to see a couple of our grandchildren during the holidays – a rare tactile interaction with our progeny. As much as we tried to plan a longer trip to spent time with children and grandchildren further away, none of those plans have worked out.

I will be teaching my last class of the year tomorrow. At least that is the plan. The only other class on the schedule will be taught by a coworker as his first time to present the class. So, I have a short break before hitting the ground running in the coming year.

I will try to make the most of it.

The fifth tree, saving lights, preparations, stump removal

While I was working from home yesterday, I took time to help Mama get our fifth tree – the real Christmas tree – set up and strung with lights. To be accurate, we got together and put lights on the tree which I had set up the day before. We had to swap places for two trees so that I was not cramped in a forest of fake trees where my recliner sits in the living room. That one placement swap leaves me less crowded in my corner, but I still have to share my corner with two trees. One artificial. One real. For lighting the real Christmas tree, we mostly used lights that I bought at Lowe’s on Saturday. I had headed to church to go bus calling Saturday morning, but I started feeling too badly to go with the group, so I went to Lowe’s for a few items before I headed home. I bought four boxes of cheap lights for the tree along with the stove pipe I needed for the shop heater I was working to complete. I had been hoping that four boxes would be enough. I wish I had a picture of the tree. Mama finished decorating it pretty quickly and it looks really good.

We used three boxes of the four boxes of lights I bought along with two strands of lights we kept from last year. We also threw away four strings of lights that had been saved to be reused but we found that the old ones only partially worked when we tested them this year. I told Mama we need to either plan on buying new lights each year or stocking up on lights after Christmas each year. Saving lights for reuse from year to year has not proved a benefit to us. It is always disappointing to get out a string of lights, plug them in and only about half of them illuminate. Sometimes it is the half nearest the plug. Sometimes it is the far end that is dead. Either way, it is disappointing. Mama knows nothing frustrates me more than when things do not work as they are supposed to. So, from my point of view, new lights each year is a affordable solution to ensure that we have working sets of lights to decorate with.

The practice session I attended today went well. My coworker was very pleased with the two videos I felt comfortable sharing with him to use in his upcoming class. He is nervous about presenting the class, but he will do fine. I feel comfortable with his knowledge base and his preparation. It is also a benefit for him that the class is more or less an internal class. Those he will be presenting to are part of a company that is a subsidiary of our company. That gives us broad latitude to present the class in a more informal format. We still have to get through the information, but we can do so in a relaxed manner. It will be a great opportunity for this new instructor to test his approach to the class presentation, the information he is responsible for, and the timing required to fill the allotted schedule of the class. I will be there to help, but I do not foresee getting too involved.

This evening, I will get to see how well I was able to burn out two stumps beside driveway. I have had great success in burning out two stumps along the other side of the driveway, but these additional two stumps had been left alone. They sit only a foot or two from the edge of the concrete and since that is where Victoria usually parks her car, I have left them alone. Yesterday I decided to see how far I could get if I started the fires over the stumps during my lunch hour. I ringed the stumps with fireproof barriers to limit how much grass was burned along with the stumps and got the fires going easily. I kept the fires going all day and well into the evening.

I burned a lot of old firewood as I did so. Getting all the rotting pieces of wood off the ground allows me to safely mow in areas I have avoided because of the obstacles the firewood caused. Even with the four times I have repeated this process, I still have a large reserve of old firewood to get rid of.  I finally abandoned oversight of the fires about 9:30 pm. Allowing them to burn out completely through the night. I did get up once about 2:30 am and looked out on the fires to make sure everything was okay. It was.

I was not up that early because I was worried about the fires. I was up because the big toe on my left foot was hurting so badly that it woke me from a deep sleep. I spent about an hour trying to deal with the pain and get back to sleep. Some pain cream rubbed gently on the toe and a couple Extra Strength Tylenol eventually dulled the pain and allowed me to sleep until about 5:30. It was a short night.

Hopefully tonight will be better.

The party, Sunday, this week

Mama and I attended the Christmas party Saturday evening and had a good time with my fellow employees and their significant others. Charcuterie boards were the theme for the snacks served. Our host and several other helpers loaded the boards with items each of us (twenty attendees) brought to the gathering. The boards were piled to overflowing with crackers, cheeses, meats, spreads, and fruits of all sorts. There was certainly something for everyone. 

Mama and I spent the bulk of our time with a young couple who are relatively new to the area. The husband, Clinton was hired by my company about three weeks ago. He and his wife, Shelby, spent several years working as chaperones for a Kenyan Children’s Choir as those choirs toured the United States. A very interesting story to tell. Shelby still works for the organization that sponsors those youth choirs to promote community awareness for the Kenyan bush tribes those children represent. That made for a very pleasant evening as we talked about missions across the world. Mama and I left shortly after the gift exchange, so we were home before 9 pm.

Sunday, we had an evangelist preaching in both services. He and his wife have run a youth camp in West Virginia for 46 years, so Mama and I got to connect with her West Virginia roots through the couple. They were delightful. During the Sunday School hour, he gave us a lesson on things that have been shaken and things which cannot be shaken. For many, this year has shaken their faith. It has certainly shaken our culture at home and abroad, but God is still in control and His Word cannot be shaken. He will keep all His promises, both for good and for judgement. 

Bro. Taylor spoke in the morning service about what it means to be lost. No joy, no peace, no hope beyond this life. Sometimes we as saved believers forget the precarious condition of those around us who do not know the Lord. It was a good reminder of the urgency of our mission to tell the Gospel story, because those who die without Christ will wake in Hell. And Hell is as eternal as Heaven. An unchanging condition of suffering, of torment, of loss. It was a brief, but powerful sermon. I am certain that in my past I have walked away from opportunities to present the Gospel to someone the Lord ahs placed in my path. I am looking for those opportunities now. Hoping to make the most of them rather than avoid them.

This week will be busier than I had anticipated. Two of the classes that I had assumed would be cancelled are still on the schedule. We had enough registrants for each class to move them forward. So, tomorrow I will spend the day doing a mock class with a coworker who wants to begin teaching classes. Wednesday I will be presenting a class to six persons at the conference center here in Decatur and Friday, I will be presenting an online class to four of perhaps five participants. I have not had a face-to-face class in months so I will have to get my presentation ready for that format. It is all good. I feel better when I am teaching, like I am earning my paycheck. I get fidgety when I have too long a stretch without teaching classes.

I will be off Christmas week. I am taking off Monday through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are company holidays. I will have quite a bit of vacation to carry over into next year, but there was no real opportunity to use more time off than I have requested through this year. Perhaps, as the general populous gathers their collective voice and shouts down the useless and overbearing rules imposed on us in the ongoing fearmongering, there will be more opportunity to travel and enjoy life in a les restrictive manner than that which is now afforded to us.

It is reassuring to see the Democratic Governor of Colorado end mask mandates, stating that the pandemic is long over, and emergency powers granted to public health officials -who have overstepped those powers – are rescinded. That is a huge step forward. Away from the fear porn used to control behavior of those willing to submit. Now we wait for the vaccine mandates to be rejected at the legislative level and next we will start to hear how dangerous the “vaccines” actually are; how many people have been crippled for life by the vaccine; how many people have died as a direct result of getting the shot. Small steps toward our individual freedoms being once again recognized.

I am hopeful, but not overly confident.

Shop heater, Skinny syrup rack, party

 For over thirty years I have carried about in all our relocations the parts needed to convert an empty 55-gallon drum into a shop heater. A sort of cheap potbelly stove. Last weekend Mama and I bought two barrels to attempt the conversion. Two in case I messed up on the first attempt to do the cutting needed to fit the cast iron parts onto the drum to complete the conversion. All in all, the retrofit was easy to make. I had the jigsaw blades needed and was able to fit the door, the legs, and the flue adapter onto the drum in a couple hours.

Yesterday I bought the first pieces of stovepipe to exhaust the stove outside the shop. I will, hopefully, complete that work this weekend and finally have a woodburning stove in my shop. That will help me keep up with the scraps generated in woodworking and keep the shop building warm as a bonus. I am looking forward to trying it out. I have avoided spending too much time in the shop when it is cold outside because I do not tolerate the cold as well as I used to. Maybe this will be my solution to allowing me more time in the shop during the winter.

A few months ago, I got Mama to try a Skinny syrup. The syrups are sugar free, so it was a good addition to our coffee routine without adding the calories of any sweetener. Mama has been a regular user of the syrups and as we have begun to accumulate a variety of flavors and the bottles which contain them, I thought it wise to build a shelf to house those bottles versus squeezing them into the limited space on our coffee bar. I had Mama adorn the cedar shelf prior to my putting a coat of urethane on it. She is doing some pretty amazing things with her “wood-burning” pastes and I thought it a shame not to capitalize on that craftiness for our new addition to the coffee bar. It will be several days before I hang the shelf. It takes several coats of urethane to get the proper finish, but I think the project is coming out really well.

This weekend will not be as busy as the past few weekends. I do plan on looking into my two beehives today since the temperature is supposed to get into the eighties. These two warm days are being followed by two cold days as is typical for our area. I will need to protect waterlines and faucets overnight tomorrow night because we are expecting a hard freeze. One night only, but one night of being unprepared is all it takes to cause me a lot of extra work. All the normal tasks will be done in the usual manner, but Mama will spend a few hours at Trade Days in Bowie Saturday morning just to see if there is anything new to gawk at. I will not go. It is largely a waste of time for me since there is very rarely anything I need offered at a price I am happy with, so I find the time more productively spent in bus calling with the church and working the additional hours away at the farm.

We do have a Christmas party at my manager’s house tomorrow evening. It is for our team only which has now grown to about twelve employee’s total. I am now the senior of our group by more than twenty years, but they include me, nonetheless. It will be cold overnight Saturday when the party is scheduled but the house where we meet is large enough to accommodate us through the evening’s activities. It should be fun. They are a fun group of young people. Only a few are church goers but all of them have a good moral compass and behave themselves wisely, so it is mostly comfortable to be around them. Mama and are bothered by the alcohol offered at all these get-togethers but it is a commonality of our culture. What is most concerning to Mama and I are the “Christians” who offer the alcohol and freely participate in its consumption. We are not made uncomfortable by being offered the drinks – they know better - and we always leave when the effects of that consumption begin to show. But there is always a sense of disappointment at an opportunity lost to show Christ to a lost person.

When we are just like them, we have nothing they need.

Mocha, Mama, travel concerns

Mama and I have been watching Mocha (our adopted Yorkshire Terrier) closely over the past weeks. That her health was failing was clear. How long she would last was the question. A trip to the vet early this week cost us almost $100, and the medicines prescribed for her seemed only to upset her stomach and bowels. Hence, there has been a lot of extra cleaning up after her. X-rays taken revealed a heart issue that indicated poor function on one side of her heart. Yesterday, as I taught class, Mama and I spoke on a break, and she was at the point of accepting that we had done all we can to help Mocha. So, Mama and Mocha made their last trip to the vet yesterday evening. The vet put Mocha to sleep to ease her suffering and we buried her at a special spot in the garden. Mama was very deeply affected by the loss. She is sad to see her little couch buddy go. We have housed Mocha for five or six years. I was relieved to be done with all the special foods required, the special care required, the special grooming required, the constant care required to avoid stepping on or kicking Mocha who was always underfoot. Mama is grieved and I am relieved. When it comes to attachment to our animals, that is a common outcome.

With Mocha not laid to rest, our attention is on Samson. There are indications that he too might be near his end. For weeks now Mama has been doctoring Sam with pain meds to help him with the hip dysplasia that keeps him closer to home than in past years. Gemma has borne the burden of running off varmints for several months now. She will streak out of the yard or around the shop with Sam lumbering slowly behind. That will not continue much longer and Sam, unlike Mocha will have to be replaced. I am holding off on making that replacement until the final moments of Sam’ service here at the farm. I am hesitating because if Mama and I were required to sell and vacate the farm, it is uncertain what we would be able to do with our working dogs – our guardians. This has been a perfect setting for them to thrive in, doing what they are bred to do. I can think of no better place for them and would be loathe to uproot them from that service. We have no plans to sell, but life has made some surprising turns for us and we know nothing this side of Heaven is certain – least of all where we will stay for the remaining years of our natural lives. So, for now, I wait.

Mama and Kimberlyn are out today for the final disbursement of toys and gifts for the military folks in the units Kenny and Kimberlyn minister to. I believe this will finish the effort for this year, which has been significant on their parts. One obligation met. I suppose it is a part of the season we are in and is a great reminder that true giving takes time and effort to accomplish. In this particular case, it is a small act of gratitude for the commitment to service being honored by those deployed for our safekeeping. Too often these service members are “out of sight, out of mind” as they carry out their duties, so, it is nice to get to help in remembering them – even in this small way. 

Class went well yesterday. There was a lot of great feedback. I have one more class to teach for the year and an additional class to monitor and provide aid in. Other than that, I will be finished for 2021. As the schedule gets filled out for 2022, we will see how that pans out, but it looks like a very busy year. We are making progress on getting the series of videos together to modify the class I present most often. It is a bit challenging to get the presentation right, to ensure everything is said correctly, to keep the video to a usable length, but I will get multiple chances to make the presentations for the videographers.  When I have permission, I will share one or more of the videos, but for the moment, they are not ready to be released. Mama has seen several that have been shared with me as they are being developed, but other than that, they have been kept internally. 

In our current situation nationally and globally, it does not look like we will be going to Honduras next year. Mama and I are still praying about the trip but travel back into the country remains so much in flux, that almost anything can happen -none of it good. I enjoy Honduras and the people in the church there as much as spending time with Nate, Cori and the grandkids, but the airlines are getting extremely demanding with covid protocols and mask wearing, making the flights a function of endurance versus an enjoyable experience. Reentry is the biggest question and whether a vaccine passport will be required to get back home. I put no hope in the current government, either Republican or Democrat to belay that option and I have no confidence in the current administration to ease travel restriction. So, for now, we will watch and wait to see if our annual trip is feasible. 

A small but endurable disappointment should we not go. 

Class, catching up, crazy times, following His lead

Last week was a busy week. We had church service Monday and Tuesday night. We missed the service Tuesday night because Victoria flew back from Honduras that evening. After hemming and hawing about going with Mama versus going to the service, I decided that the DFW area is not  a place I should have Mama go alone at night when I am available to accompany her. Wednesday through Friday I had OSHA classes. In order to make it to church Wednesday night I went to class dressed for church and drove straight there after class. Traffic being what it was, I got to the church at about 6:45. Thursday and Friday, I got home just before 7 pm. It was a long week. A productive week, but a lot of late evenings.

The OSHA class was a good one. By the afternoon of the second day, it was becoming obvious that the majority of the ten attendees in our class were churched people, as was the instructor. When that came to light the class took on a different air, an openness, a willingness to share as we discussed the content of the course, a participation level that is rare in such class settings. Not only was there a commonality of religious views but a commonality of political views. It was a fun class which made the late dismissal every evening a bit less painful. The certification is good for four years – far longer than I will require. At least, that is how I see it from this vantage point.

Mama and Kimberlyn are traveling to Dallas today to finalize to collections that have been gatherer for care packages for the troops Kenny and Kimberlyn serve as chaplains to. So far, the donations collected from Dollar Tree and Dollar General have been enough to fill my truck with boxes filled with those donations. I believe the gifts will be given to the family members of the enlisted members in service away from home, many of whom are on a foreign field. It is a lot of running, gathering, organizing into care packages followed by more running to distribute those packages to get this done. It is all for a very good cause. Mama and I are always glad to help with this ministry when we can.

Meanwhile, I am hurrying to catch up to those things that did not get done while I was in class last week. Mama and I are trying to keep ahead of the requests for documentation required in our work with a lender and that is proving a challenge, but we at least have a functioning printer at the house now. That is a huge help, because without that printer, I had to go to the office to get documents printed and scanned. I will still need to go to Pack-N-Mail to get those printed, signed documents faxed to the lender, but they are ready to be sent. Hopefully, I can catch up today because I have classes scheduled to teach both tomorrow and Friday. That will limit the access I have to those persons who can only be reached during business hours.

At home, boxes are being packed with Christmas presents for the children and grandchildren. Those will be sent out this week to allow for the long delays some areas are seeing in the delivery of mail. What time Mama is not spending getting the work done for the Boots and Badges ministry she is splitting between Color Street, crafting and getting our Christmas presents packaged and sent. My time is being split between work and home and farm. It is a happily busy time with Christmas just around the corner. Special events at church. Parties each weekend. Redoing Joanne’s nails each weekend. Bouncing back and forth between preparing for a freeze and undoing those protective coverings and line warming wires once the danger has passed. From twenty-seven degrees one morning to ninety degrees a few afternoons later. A crazy time.

Still, all things considered, Mama and I are encouraged. We are taking things one day at a time, but overall, we have a hopeful outlook. God is fully and totally in control – of our lives, of our nation, of our world. What He allows may not be to our choosing, but He is always looking to do good to us so that we can glorify and honor Him. Those things that may not look like good right now will certainly produce the outcomes HE has set for them to produce. In His love for us, we can be assured that every one of these trials will eventually bring Him glory and produce some good thing in our lives.

I got to see that in a microcosm last week during the OSHA class. When God shows up, great things happen. We just need to invite Him into our lives and follow His lead.

Victoria home, insights, classes and early dark

Belated relaying one of the things Mama and I enjoyed during the Thanksgiving holiday was having a fire in the opening in our back patio that we use as a burn pit. The night was quiet, and the wind was still when Mama and I took time to sit by the fire. It was a bit chilly, but we had wraps and blankets to cover up as needed when the heat from the fire was not enough to warm us sufficiently. We had the house to ourselves. Victoria was in Honduras and the Thomason’s had gone home. It is always relaxing to watch a “campfire” burn and we were able to make the most of it that night. Soon, we will repeat the activity as I try to burn through the last of the rotting firewood pile we are cleaning up.

Mama and I missed the service last night because Victoria’s flight was due to arrive at DFW at about 8 pm. Mama had offered, albeit halfheartedly, to make the run by herself so that I could go to the special service. However, with her difficulty and discomfort driving after dark, I knew it would be best for me to do the driving. We made the most of the appointment stopping enroute at Costco to look around and wait out the hour or so we had to spare. We did not purchase much but we did renew our membership for the coming year, so the stop still cost us almost one hundred dollars. From there it is a short trip to the airport, and we were parking just as Victoria texted that her plane had landed. Mama stayed in the vehicle as I went in to greet Victoria – mostly because Mama did not want to put on a mask. I did not wear a mask as I waited during the time it took for Victoria to come through the security doors and as we waited together a long time for her luggage to be spit out onto the carousel. We were home a little after 9:30 pm.

I was happy to be there to greet Victoria, but I regret missing the last service where Bro. Harding was preaching. The insights he had given in his sermons were both encouraging and instructional. One thing he shared was that among the members of Congress if they receive ten phone calls speaking to an opinion or concern about a bill being considered, they will either reevaluate or reconfirm their position on that bill based just on those ten calls. Our communication to them is monumental and we need to be proactive is making those calls to make our voice heard. With that information, I am getting together a list of our representatives and their contact information so I can be one of those ten callers when the opportunity arises. In light of the upsetting things happening in our government right now, we need to remind our representatives that they work for us. They serve at our pleasure and their appointment is not for personal gain or political power but to hear and respond to our interests. Sadly, we have lost that perspective. It is time to regain our authority in our government and making a few calls is a good starting point.

I will begin an OSHA class this afternoon. It is a 20-hour class with four hours happening today and full days of instruction on Thursday and Friday. Where I am sitting for those classes is a little over an hour away so I will have a few late evenings and a couple early mornings, but it should pass quickly enough. Successfully completing this course will extend my trainer certificate for four more years. Probably well past the time it will be an actual benefit to me or my company, but that is how the time is calculated. There is some angst at my employer because a class scheduled for Friday was cancelled to free me to participate in a company-wide get-together and now I will miss that event for a totally different reason. I will find a way to absorb the sorrow at being unavailable to participate. Not! But it is a little saddening for those who sought to ensure I was free to do so. I appreciate their thoughtfulness, but that foresight cleared my schedule to attend the class I am required to take for my trainer certification. So, it all works out well – mostly.

Because darkness comes so early now, I will not be able to get anything done on the farm – at least any outside chores – through the remainder of the week. In fact, in an attempt to make it to church this evening I will shave, shower and dress for church to attend the 4-hour class this afternoon. Since I will be between Dallas and Ft Worth for the class, I will have to go through the evening traffic when I am dismissed from class at 5 pm. If I want to go to church, I have to go straight from class and hope to make it to Decatur before 7 pm.

We will see how that works out, but I am going to give it a sporting try.