Mostly easy, pre-packing, temporary packing, repurposing, exploring

Today was a lazy day, sort of. It was cold and very windy outside, so we all spent as little time outside as possible. Mama and I did our normal feeding in the morning, but I did not work in the container at all today. I am letting Norman take the lead on trimming out the windows inside the container and I did not want to alarm him by starting a project he has promised to take on. I was still hurting badly from yesterday, so I needed a day to recuperate anyway.

Since we were inside for the morning, Mama and I got out the suitcases we plan to use for our trip to Honduras and began to pack those suitcases. As we did so, the anxiety of all we have accumulated to haul to Cori began to abate. We have been easily able to fit everything we need to take into two large suitcases and two carryon suitcases. Cori alerted Mama that there is more to come which is more important to carry with us than anything we have in our possession, but with the space left in the two large suitcases, I cannot foresee a problem. As far as meeting the weight limit for the suitcases, we are well under the allotment at this point. That may not remain true as we finalize everything, but we are ahead of the game for now. 

Later in the day, Mama emptied a cabinet in the dining room that she and Norman are going to prep for paint. As Mama packed the little tea sets and pitchers that have set in that cabinet for almost fifteen years, I began to wonder once again, why we are hanging onto these unused, and potentially unusable, fragile items. The tea sets and pitchers are beautiful, and I am sure they have some value, but they have very little value to us. Keeping them in the cabinet has preserved them and kept them clean, but they will almost certainly never be used. Having to take the time and care to handle all the little cups, saucers and pitchers was a reminder of how much we have that we simply do not need. Finding ways to get rid of or sell such items is a challenge – which is why Mama and I have never pursued that. It may be time for us to try again.

Norman and I split some more firewood from a tree we had cut up earlier in the week. Since it was very cold today, we started a fire in the fireplace early this morning and will keep it going for the next few days and nights. We split the extra wood, not because we needed it, but because rain is forecast from Sunday through the week next week. It seemed a shame to let the wood we cut for splitting get soaked when we had a chance to split it and bring it in. So, we will have plenty of firewood for this little cold snap. 

I do not know why we did not think of this before, but Norman showed Mama a picture on Pinterest of someone using an old crock pot as a heated waterer for their chickens. Mama and I just threw out a crockpot we had had for years because the ceramic insert was seriously cracked. Fortunately, Norman has three old crockpots in storage, and he gifted Mama two of them to use in the coop. That is far better than paying a high price for a company engineered heated chicken waterer. I need to buy two short extension cords to place the pots somewhere other than under the roost – where the water will get contaminated with poop – so I will make that purchase tomorrow morning after bus calling and put the not so fancy heated waterers in service tomorrow afternoon. 

Early tomorrow afternoon, Mama, Norman and I are going to look at a toy hauler RV for sale. That is, if it is still available. Mama and I have talked about purchasing an RV for some, but there was not really a need to part with that much money unnecessarily. Now, with me praying about spending at least one night per week in Glen Rose, owning an RV has some merit. Timing is the issue. We are not obligated to buy this VR, but it would be prudent to begin searching for one so we can determine what we need and want when the time is right. 

I am still undecided about how to handle the schedule I will need to meet when I do start doing research at the Creation Evidence Museum, but I have until the first week of March to pray about it. 

It will be interesting to see how God works it out. I just need to stay out of His way.