A leap forward, helping where we can, working while we can

Today, Norman and I made the biggest leap forward on the container completion that has ever happened. We started about 8:30 this morning putting up the panels of bead board on the walls of the container. By 3 pm, we had finished that upgrade. In all the cuts for windows, outlets and various obstacles within the container, we made no serious errors in measuring and cutting pieces to fit. We had almost no waste of any materials and we had more than enough materials to cover the walls completely. 

We still have a lot of trim work to do around the windows and I have a lot of caulking to do to seal the windows. We had several noticeable leaks into the container during the heavy rain showers we had to today, but there is an easy solution to those address those leaks. Tomorrow, we will pick up the French doors and trim for the bottom on the walls. All that will be installed through tomorrow. We will also hang ceiling fans for some permanent lighting. By Wednesday, Mama and I should be able to paint the walls and begin the final repairs on the floor. A huge step forward in progress. I was very pleased.

There is a church family that lives close to us and we noticed that they were not in services yesterday, so Mama and I asked if someone knew where they were. Turns out that the whole family is sick with some kind of flu. The two preteen kids appeared to be the sickest, but the two-year-old, as well as the mother and the father, were all fighting high fevers and general aches and pains. So, this afternoon, Mama contacted the mother of the clan and asked if we could bring them anything. Mostly they wanted popsicles and Pedialyte. That was an easy request to meet. Hopefully they will not be down too much longer. They have already been sick for most of last week. Sometimes just a little encouragement is a great help on the road to recovery.

There seems to be a flu going around right now, but that is not uncommon for this time of year. So far, no one has been overreacting to the seasonal illness, but I can feel a momentum building. Hopefully, there will not be a repeat of the pandemic we were deluded by several years ago, but something akin to that level of panic is almost always lurking in the background. Be that as it may, as long as the Lord enables us to do so, Mama will help where we can.

As I was driving home Saturday morning from soul winning, I heard a noise as though I was dragging a piece of metal down the road, but when I turned a corner, the noise went away. I can assume that the noise came from the transmission in the truck – which we have been hearing whine softly for some time. I am not sure, but to be on the safe side we are contacting our mechanic to see if he can work on the transmission while we are in Honduras. That trip is still three weeks away, but the way time flies by, those days will elapse before we know it. Hence, the early call to our mechanic. Hopefully, the fix will be easy and inexpensive, but that is not always the case with transmissions. God has blessed that truck for us and we will trust Him to continue to do so. 

I have been trying to write in the evenings versus doing so in the morning. I am not sure which is better. The process of writing about 800 – 900 words typically takes an hour. Sometimes less and sometimes more, but about an hour on average. With feeding chores and a waking household each morning, the time can get absorbed into so many other things so quickly that if I do not get out of the house and begin some project early in the day, or sequester myself in my bedroom the write, I do not get to off to a good start. The fact that I do not have to set a time aside for an employer gives me open opportunities to use the day as I see fit. It also gives Mama opportunity to give me assignments as she sees fit. We are still working on that, but evenings seem more open than mornings right now. 

So, I will try this for a while and see how it works for me and Mama through this Winter anyway.