The end or the beginning, why God blesses us, repositioning, slowing but not stopping

Mission’s conference officially ended last night. Shaking hands with, hugging and then parting from those missionaries we have come to know and love is the sad part of every Missions conference. Now we begin to put into practice those things we learned through the preaching during those five short services. That is the tough part. When there is a task to be done, sometimes just getting started is hard. But once a reasonable start is attempted, things generally come more easily. Once the momentum has set in, especially on a long-term, daily sort of task, the most difficult part comes – to keep going. At the beginning of the year I pledged to learn one of the promises written in the Word of God every week. We are in week number 17 and I have learned twelve. I will get caught up at some point, but you get the idea. Now, we have been alerted to our failure to pray as we ought. It is time to begin to correct that failure. It will be one of those life long changes that will take some discipline to make habitual. Today is a good day to get started.

One thing that was made clear to all who would listen to the preaching was that God does not bless us just so that we can have good things happen in our lives. He blesses us so that, in those blessings, those around us who do not know Him can see the goodness of God in our lives and give Him the glory. If we take that thought and apply it appropriately, every blessing ought to be an opportunity to witness. We are not blessed for our own private and individual edification. We are blessed so that God can be glorified. I do not know about you, but that changes my perspective. I have been careful to give God praise for His blessings when I am with our church family; with fellow Christians. I have not given Him that praise as much when I am with those who do not know Him and how very good He is to me. That is also going to change. I am saved to serve Him. I am blessed for the express purpose of praising Him so that the lost can come to know Him. This could actually be fun.

Speaking of blessings, Mama has thoroughly enjoyed having Zoe and Sophia with her. Victoria was off yesterday and will be off today as well. She too has enjoyed having the girls with us. No mommy. No daddy. (No Papi during the day.) It has been all about Grammy and Tori. Sadly, that will last only a few more days. Brittany and Andrew are scheduled to get to the farm late tomorrow night. They, by the way, are enjoying beautiful weather and beautiful beaches. Mama is almost jealous. Hopefully, they will not get too sunburned as they enjoy all that sun and surf.

Before we left for church last night, we turned the girl’s car seats to the forward-facing position. Actually, we turned one around – Zoe’s. That was to enable Victoria to more easily access the back seat. When we put Sophia in the car and she saw her sister’s car seat orientation, facing the rear was not going to be an option. “Up. Up. Up.” Was all she could think to say – repeatedly - but we got the picture and turned her seat around as well. She was thoroughly excited about the change. All the way to church it was like having Pooh in the back seat. “Cow. Horsey. Cow. Cow. Chicken.” They were thrilled to be seeing out the windows on the vehicle. On the way home, still very excited by the change in seating, they were so loud Grammy had to tell them to be quiet – about every three miles or so. They were asleep almost as soon as they were laid in their beds last night. They had had a busy day. I am assuming they will sleep as late this morning as they did yesterday. That morning they got up at 8:30.

If there has been contact from any of our children or grandchildren, I have not heard about it. Mama’s focus has been singular regarding that relational plane. But I can imagine that Savanna still calls Victoria daily as they count down the days until Victoria is scheduled to visit her in Honduras. Whether or not Walter still wants to “face” Grammy on her phone, I have not been told, but I would not be surprised if that is still happening. And Becky generally calls several times per week. All of that happens without necessarily being relayed to me. I was shown a video of Owen playing with a leaking water hose. That was hilarious.

Our busy week will begin to slow this evening since we do not have to rush off to church, but our days will remain full while we have Zoe and Sophia with us. Oh, the trials of grandparenting.

Life with the twins

It is sometime difficult to get started when writing. There are so many incomplete thoughts. So many unimportant distractions. So little focus. I am amazed that I can go through an entire day and not be able to single out a significant remembrance of that twenty-four period. Of course, we still have the twins with us. We still went to church last night for the mission’s conference. The twins went with us. Victoria even got her shift swapped so she could go to the service and the preceding dinner as well. It was a rush through the chores and the evening routine to get ready to go – especially with having to get the twins ready as well. But we made it. We enjoyed it. We will repeat the process again this evening for the final service of the conference. It has been a great time of recommitting ourselves to missions in both our financial commitment as well as renewing our spiritual focus to support our missionaries in prayer. Substantive, specific prayer.

Zoe and Sophia did well through the dinner and the service last night. Our nursery provides little pagers to call mothers as required to the nursery. The pager Mama was given did not buzz until the service was almost over. So, the twins did very well in the nursery. Although, I am certain they were happy to see Victoria when she answered the summons. Once the service was over they happily marched through the auditorium greeting everyone with their sing-song “Hi! Hi!”. Everyone loved the rather loud greeting. The fact that it was happily repeated to anyone who made eye contact made everyone laugh. Erin Echeveria suggested that if she could record the greeting, she would make it her ring tone. That would be awesome. We need to get Brittany to market that.

The girls must have been pretty worn out because once they talked to their mama, they went right to sleep. I heard a couple early morning cries as I got up to get ready for work, but other than that they seem to have slept well through the night. In spite of the storms that thundered and flashed through the late-night hours. The storms abated before I got up this morning. I am not sure how much rain we have gotten but so far, but we are forecast to get at least one more inch through today and tonight. To say that we are thoroughly soaked is an understatement, but it is a blessing to start our Spring with plenty of rain. The precipitation will end soon, and the heat will start to bake us. For now, we are enjoying the moist respite.

Victoria is off today and tomorrow. That will be a help to Mama and a fun time for the girls. The twins still will have little to do with me because of my facial hair, so we make it a teasing time. I do not overdo it, but I do have fun with their reaction to my approaches. They are very definite. I have to assume that the beard makes me look less like a man to them. They know it is me, but they seem to associate the facial hair with something more animal. At least, that is what I am assuming by their reaction. I promised Mama I would make a decision whether or not to keep the beard by the end of the month. I intend to keep that promise.

For now, it is nice not to have to shave…or constantly be in need of a shave.

The twins, the weather, what’s missing

Brittany, Andrew and the girls got to the farm just before I got home yesterday evening. Unfortunately, I did not have much time to visit. I had only an hour before I needed to leave for church. In that time, I needed to feed the animals, haul feed for the pigs and goats and take a shower. Mama was moving between preparing food for the dinner at church and visiting with the girls. In the end it all worked out, but it was a mad dash for a bit. When we have our mission’s conference, we serve dinner to our missionaries and our speaker prior to the service each evening. It is set up so the entire church can participate. Everyone brings enough food for themselves and some extra. Most of the time there is a lot extra. It gives each family in the church time to visit with the missionary families in a more casual, unhurried setting. We have come to enjoy that as much as the services each evening.

Mama stayed home last night to help Brittany and Andrew get the girls settled in. It was a good move on her part. It took some time just to get the paraphernalia associated with the twins brought into the house and get set in place. Then Andrew had to repack the car in preparation for their early departure this morning. Victoria and I got home from church just as the girls were singing their bedtime song. Zoe will not kiss me because of my beard. Sophia let me kiss goodnight her but only reluctantly. They are still both excited to see me every time I walk into the room. They just do not want me to snuggle them with my facial hair. It makes for some very funny interactions.

Brittany and Andrew were off to the airport at 5 am. They are not going out of the country for this little vacation. They chose a destination in Florida. They should be on the beach by lunchtime. Meanwhile, back at the farm, Mama will have to balance care for the animals with care for the girls. My personal opinion is that the animals will take second place in that order. It is forecast to rain two or more inches over the next two days. That always adds an interesting dynamic to Mama’s daily routine. Not only does it make the feeding routine more problematic, but Mama has to deal with the dogs going in and out of the house for the breaks they need to have through the day – since they are not allowed to come into the house with wet paws. Hopefully, the forecast will be accurate, and the rain will not start until much later today. By that time, Victoria will be home to help.

Last night one of the missionaries that has attended our church for the last year – they have been studying at BBTI – gave their presentation. In the video, the wife of this young couple stated that, in her late teen years, as she got serious about serving the Lord, she promised the Lord that she would serve Him even if it meant staying in the United States. That statement struck me. She had grown up in the Ivory Coast. That was home. To her, America was a foreign land. I am wondering about our grandchildren now growing up in Honduras. Will America be a foreign field to them in the years to come? That would not be a bad thing, just something to consider when they are visiting state-side; away from their home in El Progresso, Honduras. On the flip side, we have a missionary in Mexico who is relatively new to the ministry there who battles homesickness for the US in a very tangible way. It affects their ministry there. The teenage child they took with them to the field is struggling with a sense of displacement that is almost overwhelming to him. It burdens his parents as they serve on the field.

Mama and I have been struggling lately. There seems to be a constant nagging in our hearts to be doing more. We have never been sure how to approach that unsettling feeling. Last night, through the preaching, I believe God revealed to me what we have been neglecting in our walk with him; prayer. Not general prayer, substantive, specific, focused prayer. Prayer that takes hours, not minutes, to accomplish. It is something I used to practice in my life but have drifted away from the work of prayer.

It is time to pick back up the mantle and begin again to really pray.

Home inspection, Mission’s Conference, visitors

Mama and I had a good trip up to Lawton Friday. We left about 9 am and got to Lawton about 10:40. When we got to the first house we bought, there were a couple men working on the floors. They were doing the final cleanup before starting the layout for the tile. Hopefully, that will get done this week. Both bathrooms have been totally ripped out and once the tile is set, they will be remodeled with updated showers and fixtures. Only the kitchen remodel and the building of a pantry remain to be done. We will not be ready to sell by the end of this month; perhaps next month.

Mama and I got our first look inside the second house. It is much cleaner than the first house. Just as we got there, a crew arrived to begin tearing out a wall that divided the garage into two rooms One side with a working garage door. The other side served as an enclosed space that was perhaps an additional living room or office. We have not talked with our realtor to get his ideas for that space once it is opened, but if I were to guess, we will turn that into a large living room. The rest of the house was in very good shape. Clean, painted and ready for upgrades. Depending on how many people our realtor has access to, the second house will be ready about the same time as the first house. That would be fun. Anyway, Mama and I were well pleased with what has been done and what is planned for the next couple weeks. We had a leisurely lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, made a stop at Hobby Lobby and were home by about 4 pm.

Saturday, I spent most of the day working on the new shelter – after I had rearranged some items in the barn and corral in preparation for our cows being returned. I have the frame of the building almost completed. I have, to this point, used lumber I had available at the farm. Boards repurposed from other projects. Pallets we got for the trouble of hauling them off. I am now at the point that I will need to buy some new lumber to finish laying out the support for the roof. I will also have to purchase metal to put on the sides and roof of the structure. It has turned out well so far. I am pleased. Mama is pleased. Eventually we will use it for separating our goats at weaning or to introduce new goats into the herd as we increase our herd. We are going to stick with goats on this farm. As we drove back from Lawton, we talked about long-term plans for our animals and as a result of that discussion, Mama and I decided to sell our sheep. We are not enjoying them as much as we are the goats. They will go to the sale Saturday. We will keep only one or two for processing – and be done with sheep for now.

Our annual Mission’s Conference started yesterday. A great Sunday School lesson. Two great preaching services. Dr Ken Fielder is preaching during the conference. He is the director of a group that translates the Bible into languages of smaller people groups. We have missionaries visiting for the conference that are going to Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast and Uganda. The couple going to Uganda presented last night. In Uganda right now, half of the total population of that country is under the age of fifteen. What a mission field! Pictures in their presentation were filled with children. This particular couple is quite young but determined to give their lives to evangelize a remote area of the country – hoping to raise a generation that will carry the work forward. What a calling.

Brittany and Andrew are driving over today. They will be leaving Zoe and Sophia with us while they take a mini-vacation to celebrate Brittany’s graduation. She earned a B.A in Business Administration (I think). She is of a growing group of college graduates who took all their required courses online and graduated without a load of debt typically accrued through student loans by those who sit through four years of onsite classes. Four years of heavy indoctrination to earn a degree no more credible than that whish Brittany has earned. A very wise decision. A tough course of action for a wife and mother. So, Mama is going to care for the twins as Brittany and Andrew take a very short break. Mama sees this as her chance to get the attention of the girls sufficiently to get her name firmly ensconced into their vocabulary. That should work until each evening when Victoria and I get home. Then it will be all about Tori and Papi.

This afternoon, several of the missionaries are coming to the farm. One on the wives raised goats for milk and meat. As Mama and I understand it, she had a very successful business making cheese, soap and ice cream from goat milk. She left that to become a missionary’s wife. She is very excited to see our goats and sheep – especially the bottle babies. In preparation for that visit and the twin’s arrival, Mama and Victoria were doing some final vacuuming and dusting after we got home last night. Late last night.

Because of the Mission’s conference, we will be eating dinner at church each evening Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Always a fun time. Always a busy time.

Storms, home inspection, long weekend

Through the day yesterday, there was a lot of talk about storms heading our direction. As the day progressed, the weather event was delayed. What was forecast to take place through the afternoon, did not begin to hit us until late in the evening. As we left church it was easy to see the gathering storm. It was huge and looked potentially severe. Most of our severe weather comes out of the west. This was no exception. On our way home, less than two miles from the house, Mama and I were driving through some significant hail. Mama was fussing for me to hurry up and I was slowing down. When she asked why I slowed the vehicle I explained that not only were the roads covered with water, but I was hitting some sizable hail. It just seemed that hitting those falling ice cubes at fifty miles per hour was fast enough. I did not want to give them any additional energy to shatter our windshield. She reluctantly agreed.

When we made it home, we squeezed Victoria’s car into the garage with the Sequoia. It was a very tight fit but folding in the mirrors on both vehicles and parking so close that I could barely get out, made it possible. The hail continued for about an hour. Sometimes accompanied by heavy rain. Sometimes the hail was the only thing falling. When I went out to close up the chickens, I picked up a couple pieces to show Mama. Most of the hail was marble sized. About a third of the hail was the size of ping pong balls. In all the storms we have been through, that is the biggest hails we have had to deal with. It would be fine with me if that was the last time we had to worry about any hail, but that will not be the case. This morning Mama will see if our garden was hurt. Hopefully, it made it. I will look this evening to see how badly it hurt our fruit trees. On the bright side, the storm brought us about one and one half inches of rain. Last weekend we got two and one half inches. That is a blessing.

Because tomorrow is a holiday, Mama and I are going to head to Lawton to look inside our second house. That will be a first look for us. As we buy these properties, Mama and I need to accumulate the expertise to see the investment potential without seeing the inside of the property. That takes a lot intuition and we will not always be correct in our assumptions. But with much prayer and a patient approach, we should do well. Since our first house is right across the street from our second purchase, we will also be able to check on the progress of that remodel. We are at the point in our financial outlay, that we really need to sell one of the two properties soon. Realizing we are only weeks away from that happening is encouraging, but it only takes away a little bit of the anxiousness. When our first house sells, our lives will change, and we are ready for that change. All in God’s time.

Having a long weekend will be nice. Mama has a lot of things she wants to get done. Some of which she has actually told me about.  Being able to stretch those farm chores, visits and shopping sprees across two days instead of condensing them into one, will help with the pace demanded of the itinerary. No, I did not say that wrong. A normal weekend for us is one day off to get things done and one day off to go to church. Having the second day to get things done is a real delight. Catching and giving shots to the sheep, cleaning the chicken coop, working on the new shelter, cleaning the house in preparation for guests, visiting Seth and Gabriella to see their baby, taking Grandma and Grandpa to doctor’s appointments, shopping at Sam’s and/or Costco, mowing the yards, hooking the brush hog to the tractor, hauling gravel and dirt to fill in holes the dogs have dug, and several other dozen little chores should keep us busy.

Along with bus calling Saturday morning and Men’s Prayer Group that night, we will have plenty to do…and the extra day to do it.

Mama, work, animals

Mama started feeling badly yesterday. We do not know if it is a relapse of the flu or something entirely different. She scheduled a visit to our local doctor and an appointment with an ENT specialist tomorrow. With the ear issues I am having I need to see an ENT also, but I am waiting until we are self-pay to do so. Mama is convinced that something is wrong with her ears in addition to the congestion she has in her head and chest. We will see. She has not really felt good since retuning from Wilmington, but there are so many here suffering from allergies. What is causing the discomfort is anyone’s guess. We do have a good number of allergens being circulated by the recurring storm systems passing through our area right now. When the rain clears the air it helps, but those benefits are short-lived.

I have not typically suffered from allergies, so I am not sure this is a common event – based on the time of year – or if this is unusual. Regardless, Mama is feeling badly enough that she is reaching out for medical assistance. She was telling me last night that she is going to request a chest x-ray. I am not sure how that will go over with our primary care physician, but it would not be a total waste of time or money to have the x-ray done. At the very least, we need to determine if what she is suffering from is infectious. If that proves to be true, we will react in a slightly different manner than if it turns out to be just allergies.

I am not pleased with the change in momentum at work to shift the burden of all instructor let training to me. When the time comes for me to announce my departure, there will be a good deal of consternation caused by the shift in the training to be carried exclusively by any one person. My greater concern is that it eliminates any employee development. The fact that I have insider information as to my longevity with my current employer, is problematic, but the shift in focus away from employee development is going to hurt the company in the short run. It will be devastating in the long run. The fact that I cannot more positively affect the outcome bothers me, but my plans to move into a fulltime business in real estate, though not set as to a particular date, are progressing. It will be a matter of weeks not months before I announce that change to my employer. I have done my very best to help, without costing me my job by announcing my intentions unnecessarily early. I am sure the company will survive, even thrive perhaps. But the outcomes could have been vastly different. Much less anxious. Much more fluid. Oh, well.

Mama and I are held off until the 5^th of May to take our nanny goats to Ricks. That is not an issue. It happens when it happens. We are praying for a much better outcome this year versus last year when we got only one kid. On the bright side, I should have the second shelter completed by then. If I can get the paddock fence finished, we will have a permanent home ready for them on their return. While they are gone the pigs will be taken to market and I will be able to redo the area we use for pigs. Concerning the pigs, I will be relieved to have them gone. They are a smelly pair and about the nastiest pigs I have ever had to deal with. But they have stayed in their very wet, very nasty, very slimy enclosure throughout their time with us. Right not there is not a single dry place for them in the enclosure, but that is their own doing and I have nothing else to offer for their care. Fortunately, it will not affect the quality of the meat they will provide. They are scheduled for processing on June 5^th.

Mama and I have been picking spinach out of the garden every couple days for the past couple weeks. Just enough to fix for a day or two. It is delicious. And you can’t beat the freshness.

Steve, new business, new shelter

I got a call from a family friend Sunday night. It was too late to return the call by the time I saw the missed it, so I called him back yesterday evening. I had texted him earlier in the day to let him know I did get the call and would be catching up to him late in the day Monday. When I did give him a ring, he was out on a tractor somewhere. I had to hold while he got whatever he was working on paused. Steve had passed over the Guadalupe River earlier in the week and it brought to his mind all the fun we had on our excursions canoeing down the river. The nostalgia encouraged him reach out so he could get caught up on all our kids – the playmates he lost when we moved to New Jersey. The rundown took about thirty minutes, but it was a pleasure to reaffirm the friendship. Steve, now in his mid-seventies, still does consulting work for a drilling outfit and never sits still when he is at home. He has stayed connected with us since we moved into his neighborhood in the late 90s. In all those years we have witnessed to him and he has remained gracious to our witness, but resistant to the Gospel. We will see him at Joshua’s wedding in a couple months. We will share the Gospel one more time. It would a pure delight to share Heaven with him.

Yesterday morning, Mama and Kim Cantrell worked at the church for a couple hours. They were decorating Mama’s Sunday School room. One of the Sunday School rooms is decorated to resemble a farm and all the children get to be the animals on the farm. Mama’s will be a garden where all the children will be flowers in the garden. They did not finish yesterday, but each of them have high hopes for the project. Right now, Mama does not have anyone in her class but when those in the farm class are promoted, they will enter the garden. She has been talking about doing this for some time now. Seeing it finally become a working project has her quite excited. Having help makes it even more fun for her.

While the two of them worked, they developed a business model of sorts. I am still trying to piece together the marketable items this partnership will offer but they seem committed to the idea. Both are anxious to generate some income. Right now, Mama has only her egg money to spend as she sees fit. Kimberlyn does not even have that. We will see what they come up with, but Mama can be quite creative and Kimberlyn is gifted artistically. There are plenty of ideas out there in the internet world. They do not have to come up with something new, they just have to produce something marketable.

I spent a large portion of the day with two of our company partners that will be taking over one of the classes I teach. I am encouraged by their ideas and insights. The wealth of experience they bring to the class will take us to a new level of instruction. They will probably teach the class next month. If we split the class into two groups – as we did this month – each of then will get to present the class on the same day. That should prove interesting. It is a relief to me to have them involved in making this particular class into something more relevant than it is in its current form. It will serve this company well as the industry struggles to make the changes required to meet constantly shifting regulations. And it will help new recruits to the industry to grasp more clearly what is required of them in the role we present in the class.

Once the evening chores were done yesterday evening and I ate a bit of soup, I spent an hour assembling pallets into a shelter in the second paddock. I had laid out the pallets last week, but it rained too much Saturday to assemble them. What I did get done last night made a good start on the building. I hope to complete the assembly by the end of the week. The pallets, once assembled, will require an exterior of either metal or wood. That will be the only expense of assembling this shelter. It is a bit unclear when I will be able to get that done so it will be added to my growing list of almost finished projects. I do believe it will get priority because Mama is desperate to get the larger lambs separated from the ewes. Right now, I have no good place on our farm to offer her to get that done. If she follows through on her plans, we will simply put the lambs in the coop area.

That should make our normal feedings more interesting.