Struggling for direction

I have been asked by several people if I am enjoying retirement. I am, but with a caveat. I am still struggling to find the time to do all the computer related items I used to squeeze into a normal workday, checking account balances, making doctor calls, writing, paying the bills, etc. Somehow all the time spent in the desk chair at the computer seems unproductive when compared to the multitude of projects I have been able to work – some to completion. So, by the time I feel free to do all those electronic chores the day is usually far spent. 

Perhaps next week that will change somewhat. Next Thursday I will be starting to work at the creation Evidence Museum two days per week. I have not worked out all the details, but I feel certain everything will fall into place as I move forward into that role. It is one of those ready-fire-aim circumstances when we step out by faith and let God fill in all the details we did not know needed attention before we started.

Victoria is in one of those circumstances right now. We were rejoicing Tuesday that she was able to find an apartment, a studio apartment, that would accept her dogs. The management even waived the pet deposit to simplify her signing the month-to-month lease. It is not an inexpensive space. The rent is $1050/month for the very small space. It can be compared to having a kitchenette (stove, refrigerator, microwave and sink and cabinets) and a full bathroom tucked into her bedroom. Where she will go from here is not yet known, but she has a place of her own, such as it is.

I am told that she is spending one more night with Nana and Papa Shipe before she commits herself to the apartment. So far, this has been a tough week for her, but all in all, it has been a blessed week. So many at our church, as well as all of us in her immediate family, have been earnestly praying for her as she has met a few difficult challenges and seen her way through each of them. She is not settled yet, but she has a starting point, and she has some onsite help and council. 

I have spent my time this week focused on the container. The walls are painted and now I am working on leveling and repairing the floor so it too can be painted. Mama and I have gone back and forth on what to do with the floor, but sealing and painting it is probably the best option for now. That has proven an unexpected challenge. I ordered a quart of a certain oil-based paint many months ago and decided to apply it to the floor at the far end of the container. It looked beautiful, so Mama and I looked for more of that brand and color of paint. We searched high and low, but none was available. The next best thing was to match the color with a different brand of paint but no one in Decatur had anything comparable. Mama and I finally went to the Sherman Williams store and bought their brand that would match the color and use we needed. It was not cheap. In fact, it was kind of expensive, but it will work, and I am confident we will get what we need out of the purchase. I hope to have the repair to the floor done – some deep gouges in the wood – and be ready to paint the floor next Monday.

My goal is to have the shelving we purchased for the container assembled and placed before I go to Glen Rose Thursday. With that plan in mind, Mama has been aggressively organizing her craft supplies in the house to be ready to fill those shelves once they are in place. That has always been our plan, but it has been a long time in coming. Mama has been very patient with me.

Meanwhile, in-between working on the garden and completing the fence in the back yard, Norman has been sorting through his tools, which are currently filling our barn in preparation for a yard sale this weekend. Mama and I have donated to the cause. Selling scrap, hauling junk and selling his tools is the only income he has had this month. At this point he is very motivated to reassign ownership of all the stuff he has accumulated over the years. He has cleaned out one storage unit locally but has another unit completely full. 

Along with what is currently filling our barn, I have begun to wonder how he accumulated all he has. I realize the accumulation happened over time, but the money spent to obtain all this stuff must have been significant. Certainly, far more than he will recoup in a yard sale. Yet here we are praying wholeheartedly that he attracts a crowd willing to trade their cash for his abundance of stuff.

I think secretly Grandpa would like his barn back so we can buy some cows. 

Fast review, a new garden, a new direction

Since I last wrote, Mama and I have traveled to Honduras and back, plowed and planted a large garden (with Grandpa and Norman’s help) and watched Victoria leave home to start a new life in Florida. Bear in mind, we have only been home for about two weeks. So much happened in Honduras, it is always difficult to summarize. Since Mama and I have been part of the Come Away Conference in Iglesia El Faro for four or five years, we are familiar with most of the attendees each year. Mama and I help where we can during the conference because it makes it more fun to be there when we can support the hosts. The conference is a huge blessing to Mama since it is conducted entirely in English. 

This year we added Marta and John Espinos to our growing friends list. He is native Honduran. She is a Brooklyn Hispanic. They met and married while he was in the states but when he got spiritually convicted about being illegally in the US, he turned himself in to the authorities and was deported. That was five years ago. So during the past five years, Marta will travel to Honduras for a few weeks every other month and return to the United States to continue working here. They are hoping to get John legal entry to the United Stated this year. They were a lot of fun to be around.

We had a great time with Nate, Cori and the kids. We always do. We spent a few days at the beach early in our time there. Since there were not seashells to collect where we stayed, Mama and the kids collected sticks and rocks. I had to figure out a way to get the twelve to fifteen pounds of rocks into our luggage for the return trip, but we made it. I cannot fault Mama for the extra weight in our suitcases, I bought about twenty pounds of leather we had to trim to fit into the largest suitcase. We also had to carry back forty pounds of coffee. Twenty for us and twenty for Victoria. 

Grandpa and Norman had plowed the garden while we were traveling, but renting a large tiller (one that fits on the back of the tractor) to finish working the soil before we could use our normal sized tiller to finish preparing the ground to plant. Renting the tiller seemed straight forward, but the first one they brought home was unusable. It had been broken by some previous renter. Norman and Grandpa had to take that one back to the dealer – over an hour away – and then go to a second location for that dealer to get a working tiller. Five hours in all to return the broken tiller and get home with the working one. But it eventually worker out.

Last Friday we planted six long rows of potatoes, three short rows of onions, six cabbage and six broccoli plants. We will plant more over the next few weeks and eventually fill the entire garden bit the weather is a bit unpredictable this time of year to get too far ahead of ourselves. I am more hopeful of a harvest this year because of the change in location of our garden. 

This morning at 4 am, Victoria loaded up the dogs and headed to Florida. The trip seems to have gone off without a hitch; however, the extended stay hotel where she booked her stay in Pensacola turned out to be extremely disappointing. The room required an additional daily pet charge on top of the money already fronted to a two week stay and the room was filthy. Victoria fussed to the desk clerk and finally asked for cleaning supplies to try and clean the room to an acceptable standard. She has since sent us several pictures of the dirt she cleaned out of the tub and off the bathroom floor. She told us the dogs are whining and laying with their noses at the bottom of the entry door. I guess they prefer the smell of the hallway to that of the room. 

Tomorrow Victoria is looking at an apartment she could possibly rent for a year while she looks around for a permanent home and at a potential mobile home to purchase. We will wait to see how all that works out, but she is safely in Pensacola and has a few days before she is scheduled to start working at the Walmart in Pace, where she transferred to. 

Knowing she is not coming back home is a little saddening, but Mama and I are prayerfully supporting her new direction in life. As long as the Lord is in it, all things will work together for her good and His glory. 

That is His promise to us – and to Victoria.