Airport successes and failures, meeting the kids, Meeting the MMO team, baliadas

 

Yesterday worked out almost better than expected. We met James Wycoff at the church at 4 am and got to the airport al little before 5 am. All six pieces of our luggage cleared the scans, and we were through security very quickly. There were less than ten people in line to go through security, with the other six bags – carry-ons and personal items - so there was little for the ten workers to do other than clear us through the scanners. When we arrived in Houston, we went to Chick-fill-A on our way to the terminal we needed for the flight to Honduras. We had plenty of time and our luggage was checked through to Honduras. It will be on the way back that we have to deplane, collect our bags and recheck-in for our flight to Dallas. 

When we got to San Pedro Sula, we made it through customs very quickly. The flight was not full, so we were able to reseat ourselves to give us more room during the flight. However, as the bags came out, we ended up short one bag. I took a lot of time to file a claim for the bag, but I do not have high expectations. There were mostly personal items in the bag as well as out bathroom stuff, so if we cannot recover the bag, we will have to replace all those items during our time here. The important stuff made it here, all the Christmas presents, all our regular cloths and all the items we were bringing specifically to answer special requests made by Nate, Cori and their team. We are still waiting news on the suitcase, but I do not have high hopes because the suitcase made it to Honduras with us. Someone picked it up by mistake – we hope – and left their bag at the airport. After all, our stuff may be better to keep than to recover their items. We have prayed about it and are leaving it in God’s hands.

I got out of the airport last since I filed the claim on the bag. Nate was waiting for me to lead me to the vehicles where the grandkids were already chowing down on their chicken minis from Chick-fil-A in Houston. Hugs all around. It was a welcome arrival. On the drive home from the airport, I got to see some of the damage and mug left from the flooding from the two recent hurricanes. I also go to see the ramshackle hovels built by families displaced by the flooding. To see poverty like that is sobering. To consider that those living in those conditions may have actually improved their past living conditions by a considerable amount in the “new” structures built on higher ground. The fact that all that “housing” was on the very side of the highway, was a tragic thing to see. At specifically staged areas potable water was provided in a variety of temporary stations. Three were no bathroom or cooking facilities that I could see, but somehow, they are getting by in a very minimal fashion. 

Shortly after we got to Nate and Cori’s house, while Mama and Cori unloaded the bags to extract all the presents and get them arranged for this morning. Nate and I went to the surgical center to deliver their evening meal. In that delivery, which was not hurried, I go to meet several members of the team. I could have hoped for more interaction, but that may come as Nate and I run the remainder of the team to the airport tomorrow afternoon. I am praying we also get the opportunity to retrieve our suitcase on that trip as well. 

On the way home from meeting the MMO team and delivering their meal, we stopped to get baliadas. The Honduran equivalent of tacos or what Mama calls fold-overs. While I waited on the food order, Nate went to get gas for his truck. I got to talk with the kitchen help as they made the tortillas. It was a fun evening.

This morning, helped Nate repair the waterline to the house. That was fun.

Cabinet rescue, a truck delivery, great news

 I worked from the office for a few hours yesterday after we got our COVID tests done and I managed to get a lot of little things done. It is so much easier to have multiple screens as I do the spreadsheet updates which requires gathering information from multiple sources. While I was working, Mama called to tell me about some cabinets she saw sitting by a trash can at one of the homes on FM 1810. She said they looked pretty good to be discarded and that they looked like upper cabinets. I am in need of upper cabinets, so I was interested.

On my way home a few hours later, I stopped to look them over. It was two complete units of upper cabinets, solid wood, mostly oak. They were wet from the rain we had the night before but did not look worse for the soaking. They were heavy, so getting them into the bed of the truck took a lot of effort, but I managed because they were too good to pass up. One unit was over seven feet long. The other was shorter but deeper with a wine rack build into the lower half of the cabinet. I have places in the shop that seemed to be set up for the cabinets, but I will have to wait until I get back to mount them. Obviously, mounting them will take more strength than I can provide on my own. I will have to call for help. Just handling the cabinets yesterday – into the truck and from the truck into the shop – required me to use the TENS unit on my back as soon as I got up this morning.

Mama had arranged for us to get the truck to Grandma and Grandpa yesterday evening. Victoria will then swap her car for the truck on her way home tomorrow night. The car is far easier for Grandma to get into. So, after we fed and I took care of putting a larger water trough in with the heifer, we headed to Bowie. Mama had Rosalee with her in the Sequoia and I drove the truck. I had the truck parked in her way to unload the cabinets, so I had to pull out first. As is typical, it was not many miles later that she passed me up. Mama drives the “allowable” speed limit versus the posted speed limit. Anyway, we visited with Grandma and Grandpa for an hour or so before we headed back to the farm.

Grandma is struggling mentally but Grandpa is aware of her decline and is managing it well enough. For her part, Grandma is sensitive to his guidance as he abruptly halts her conversation when things do not come out right or when she goes off on a tangent that will eventually result in hurtful things being said. It can get awkward, but we spend as much time with them as we can. In my father’s mental decline, I never saw him get angry or lash out, but my sister, who was his primary caregiver until he needed fulltime care, says it happened a time or two. Not often. So it goes as the person who is struggling to speak, to remember, to interact, gets frustrated at their recognition of that inability. Rosalee provided the right distraction last night and we had a good visit. Grandpa sent about five pounds of fudge with us to carry to Nate and Cori. They do not understand the weight restrictions we have to deal with, but their heart is in the right place. They give what they can.

On the way home, Mama got an email alerting her that her lab results were available. She was very frustrated because she could not open the pdf on her phone. She would need a computer to do so – especially since a password was required to access the report. She tried not to be too obvious peeking at the speedometer as we drove home, but she did not coach me on my speed. She called Victoria and Cori as we completed the drive back home even though I cautioned her that it was a bit premature. When I accessed and opened the document it revealed a negative (Not Detected) result. Now we can get excited. Victoria opened her email and found the same results. I had to search for my notification but finally found it in my Junk folder. I also got a negative on the test. That major hurdle is now behind us. Praise the Lord! For those of you who prayed along with us, thank you for your prayers.

We can now do all the final packing. Grandpa will take the truck this morning and pick up the feed we ordered. We needed only a few bags to ensure we had enough for Brittany, but Mama and I were struggling to find the time to make the trip. Grandpa volunteered and we gladly accepted. All the little thing we need to happen are falling into place – along with some other unexpected blessings.

God is good!

Missing passport, still packing, getting tested

Saturday morning, I got Mama’s and my passports out of the safe to make them accessible for us when we need them Thursday morning. I asked Victoria about her passport and she insisted that she had given it to me to put in the safe. I looked through the contents of the safe several times and could not find it. Mama looked through the contents of the safe and could not find it. Victoria was getting ready to leave for work, so she did not participate in the search. Mama and I looked carefully through all the drawers and files in our desks, our nightstands, all the suitcases and backpacks we use for travel. No luck. Having exhausted all the places we would have possible put the passport, I went through Victoria’s desk and then began looking through items in her closet. I opened an over-the shoulder-pack she something uses and rifled through a Bible cover in that pack and among the many items in the Bible cover was her passport. Victoria did not remember taking that pack with her the last time she went to Honduras, but she must have done so. Mama called Cori to let her know the passport had been found and we could hear Savanna in the background squealing in raw, uncontained excitement. Praise the Lord!

Mama and I continued packing over the weekend getting the minimal clothing we are taking chosen and placed in suitcases. We are not taking very much clothing in order to limit the need for carryon bags. It will be challenging enough to get all the luggage items we need to take into the airport in Dallas and again in Houston to make our connecting flight. With Mama taking her walker – which she definitely needs – it will take a good deal of effort to make the transit in both airports. It will be worth all the effort when we arrive with all the things we are taking, especially for Nate, Cori and the kids. We are excited about all the Christmas gifts we have packed and ready for travel.

Sunday evening, Seth called Mama and asked if she could keep Rosalee for the next couple days. Of course, she agreed. So Rosalee went to church with us last night. She loves being with Mama. When Seth dropped her off late in the afternoon, Rosalee squealed and started getting her doll baby and the tiny rocking chair to begin her play. By the time we had left for church, there were a wealth of toys scattered about the living room, but the baby was happy, singing and chattering to herself as she played. That happiness continued through the evening and until we put her down for the night. She laid down in the pack-and-play set up for her and went straight to sleep. She woke this morning at 7:30 singing and chattering. She has been an easy baby to keep.

This morning we went to a local laboratory to be tested for COVID. That result will be the determining factor in whether or not we can travel. Mama (with Rosalee), Victoria and I met at the lab at 9 am. All of us had to take separate vehicles because Victoria and I were heading to work after the test. Mama was headed to Walmart and a couple other stops. Her day will be spent in furthering our efforts to have the house and farm ready for Brittany Wycoff to manage in our absence. One thing we lack in being ready at the farm is having enough feed on hand, especially hog feed. That will be remedie this week. I was hoping for that to happen today because Mama wants to take the truck to Grandpa this evening. She does not haul feed in the Sequoia because she says it makes the vehicle smell badly.

Anyway, our focus is on making the final arrangements for travel and care of the farm while we travel. In that effort we went Saturday morning to get a large bale of hay for the calf who is corralled at the barn. To help Brittany manage the care of the calf, we wanted to make sure the calf did not have to be fed daily. We have a water trough that will last the calf several days so we wanted to arrange for her hay to last the entire time we will be gone. The man that sold us the hay was an interesting fellow. He lives only a mile from us as the crow flies. If Mama and I could have driven through the property adjacent to us, we could have gotten to the hay he sold us is a few minutes. As it was, the trip was a total of eight miles each way. We will probably go back to him when we need other bales.

Please pray for us as we await the COVID test results. God has worked everything else out. I am sure He will work that out as well, but we still appreciate your prayers.

Hawk attack, a question of when, our need to work

Yesterday afternoon, Brittany Wycoff came over to get a refresher walkthrough on the routine of feeding all our animals. As we started out of the door of the sunroom, we saw something happening at the front of the coop, but we were not able to make out what it was. As we got closer, we saw a chicken being eaten on by a hawk that had just recently killed it. The chicken while it was one of our newest and smallest ones was larger than the hawk that had claimed its life. Even still when we got very close to the hawk, it tried to lift the chicken off the ground to carry it away. The chicken was too heavy for the hawk to manage and it was only able to drag it a couple feet before it abandoned the effort. And unhurriedly flew off. It perched in a nearby tree and waited.

As we went about feeding the flocks and herds the hawk swooped down directly in front of Mama and Brittany to try once more to collect the chicken which I had set on top of the burn barrel. Mama’s scream was unmistakable from where I was at the goat barn. I decided we had to frighten off the hawk determinedly. That required a shot of buckshot into the tree where the hawk was perching. I eventually disposed of the dead chicken. We hope the issue is resolved but hunters like easy prey and I am afraid our chickens are too often easy prey because Mama does not like for them to be cooped up, thus offering them to the hawks as the chickens peck and scratch around the property. As far as we are able to determine, this is the first time a hawk has killed one of our flock, but we cannot be entirely sure.

Mama will spend the day chauffeuring Grandma, Grandpa and Normal around Wichita Falls. I am not sure what they need to shop for, but Mama will be worn out by the time they all get home. Grandma is not able to keep up the pace of Grandpa and Norman so she will be the determining factor in the length of the excursion. Mama made her list last night but I am not fully aware of the contents so this afternoon will be a surprise for me. Based on our travel next week – Lord willing – she will be getting some of the final items we need to pack along with us, but I am confident there will be sundry extra items. It should be a fun day for all of them.

I hesitate to write more because I am not at all pleased with the leadership in our country at this point. God is still in control and I want to cautiously share a link with you that expresses a timeframe for the Rapture that is very short. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7DD6NCGrI Our pastor feels that there is some sound thinking regarding the proof of the timeline offered and the explanation offered for that timeline.

I am not sure about the accuracy of this presentation, but it is certainly a wakeup call to believers to get busy taking of those Spiritual issues that are keeping us from consecrating our lives to the Lord. At the very least, we need to be reminded that “now” is the only time we have in which to serve the Lord. None of us is promised tomorrow. God has been very gracious to me and Mama. This year I will turn 65 years old. Thirty-nine of those years have been spent with Mama as my wife. If that is not grace, I do not know a better example to offer.

I have far less years ahead of me than I do behind me and there is growing sense of urgency that I need to be doing more. I am not sure what that more is other than to witness more, to pray more, to offer my time, energy and finances in whatever task God lays upon my heart. But I know there is more to do and my time is shorter today than it was yesterday. I appreciated the reminder that this presentation offered. I love serving the Lord and by His Grace will continue to do so for whatever time I have remaining on this Earth. It is far past time for all of us to conscientiously begin sharing His Grace with those who do not know Him.

Mama has us scheduled to get out COVID tests done Monday. It is one test I hope to fail again. That is, fail to show any signs of the virus so I can get very positive negative. This is the key to getting us on the plane. I know God is able.

A busy week, transit challenges, little things

I have had a busy week this week. Monday was a Team Building day which started with a three-hour meeting and ended with us all meeting for lunch. I debated going but relented in the end. I am not eating yet so I ordered a small appetizer and ate only a few bites of it. The rest I brought home to Mama. We got back to the office a little before 3 pm, so I did not get much accomplished that day. Tuesday was a teaching day. I was not presenting the class, but I was there to back up Red who was teaching. As happened the last time Red presented, I had to loan him my computer for the morning because we could not get logged into the class through his laptop. I was able to correct that just after he broke for lunch. I stayed at the office so I could be available for the testing portion of the class just to make sure. It was a good thing I was available. He had a student that was not able to submit the completed test and I was able to find a workaround for that issue. Wednesday, I taught a ½ day class but needed to stay after class because I had a student that was not able to open the test on his computer – that happens fairly frequently. I had him sign out and log back into the virtual class after everyone else had finished. I gave him the test orally. I got back home about 2:30 yesterday and finished out the day from home even though I am having issues with my laptop accessing the company server from home.

 

Monday and Tuesday evenings, I used Nate’s saw to make some random cuts just to dirty it up. It needs to look somewhat used when we transport it to Honduras next week. I was able to use a spare tote to package the saw for its flight but was concerned about the changing of planes in Houston. Mama will have her walker so she will not be able to handle very much luggage. The tote is not set up for easy transport through the airport and I needed to take responsibility for at least it and two other large pieces of luggage. To help with that I got out a dolly I have had sitting in the shop for many months. Our plan is to put the tote on the dolly and stack at least two suitcases on top to make our way from the flight taking us to Houston to the flight that will carry us to Honduras. If memory serves me correctly, that was a fairly long walk to make that connection.  It was a difficult walk due to the luggage we were required to drag along with us and Mama’s difficulty with walking distances. Having Mama with the walker often gets us preferential treatment, but even if not, we should be able to handle the multiple bags between Victoria and myself with the aid of the dolly. We will get to test that theory in a few days if we all test negative for COVID.

 

The weather here has been wet and cold for the last few days. With the winds blowing constantly it feels uncomfortable to be outside for long periods of time. With the necessity of travel in our very near future, I have been hesitant to spend a lot of time outside in the damp cold evenings. For that reason, I have not gotten much done in the shop or around the farm, however, it has not been time wasted. The time I have spent outside in the evenings has been focused and moderately productive, completing some needed small projects. One evening, Mama got the calf that was returned to us into the corral at the barn. There she will stay until we take her to be processed – many months from now. Or neighbor was offended that we had not spent a greater effort to separate her from his herd and get her back onto our property. The truth of the matter is that I did not want to attempt it by myself and Mama would not have been able to help me walk the one hundred acres to attract the attention of the herd, coax them into his corral and separate out our calf from that herd. So, he did it for us. In order to keep from further offence, she will live out her life in the corral. That is the only way we can keep her away from his herd. Mama does not like the idea, but we have few options to keep her home and maintain the peace. It adds to the scope of work required to feed – especially in our absence while in Honduras – but we want to be peaceable more than we want to make it easy on us.

 

It is always the little things that spoil the peace.

Turkey day, lazy day, packing

Sometime Friday Mama got word from Brittany Wycoff that she would have frozen turkeys to give away Saturday morning. Walmart had donated the turkeys to get rid of them since sales of the turkeys had fallen off sharply and they were taking up a lot of freezer space. Brittany told Mama she was expecting to get one hundred or more of the frozen birds, she ended up getting four hundred. Britany, Mama and several others were making frantic calls to find people willing to get the free food but had not made a significant dent in the supply by the time we picked up fourteen to take home. Mama and I barely fit the birds into the freezer space we had available. We had to rearrange the chest freezer to accommodate nine of the very large turkeys – all were at or over twenty-pound birds. The other five were taken by Red and his wife to be donated to the church she works for as secretary. Two more were given to Kim and Kenny Sunday. So, we ended up with seven out of the fourteen. Plenty of turkey for us. By the early afternoon, all the birds had been taken, the last hundred or so going to a Reformers Unanimous shelter in the Ft. Worth area. All in all, she gave out the 400 turkeys in less than five hours including the two trips to the Walmart in Denton to get the turkeys. Quite a feat. On top of the space the turkeys are now taking up in the freezer, Trace told me last night he was going to give me a supply of pork shoulder because he had bought too much (sixty pounds) and could not store it.

Other than the turkeys, I did not get a lot accomplished Saturday. I spent an hour or more grinding up leaves near the goat paddock. The leaves in that area had accumulated into drifts that were almost two feet deep. The leaf blower/vacuum combination tool I was using does a fair job of chewing up the leaves, but it takes a lot of time to get it done. I have needed a large leaf vacuum for several years but have hesitated to part with the money to purchase one, so I bought the blower/vacuum tool instead. When I use it, I leave the bag attached to the unit open, so the mulched leaves accumulate on the same ground in a much more manageable volume. That creates a lot of dust. I was double masked while I was using the vac, but I got covered with dust and the masks only helped as much as they were able, so I ended up firing up my allergies in a big way. That made it a little challenging to lead the singing Sunday, but I got through it with the Lord’s help.

Mama was supposed to get together with Kimberlyn today but that fell through. She was planning on the two of them going shopping in Sherman, TX. She likes the way the stores are laid out in that area, but she will have to satisfy herself with getting those errands done locally. What she does not get done today, she will do when she goes out with Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday. I was able to do my part on a couple crafts she is assembling so she has those projects to work on as well as continuing to pack for our upcoming trip to Honduras.

Some of that packing took place Saturday as Victoria started to get the items we have to take with us for Nate, Cori and the kids into suitcases so we could test both the volume and the weight of all those necessities. I spent a bit of time Saturday evening at Lowe’s looking at miter saws. Nate could use one and I wanted to get one that would meet his needs as well as being compact enough to fit into a tote or a large suitcase. I found one that I thought would work but I have yet to test whether or not I can fit it into a piece of luggage or a tote. Either way, it will present a challenge for us to transport, but making the extra effort will be a huge blessing to Nate and the ministry there. I will have to use the saw a few times to dirty it up in order to avoid paying steep taxes on a new tool being brought into the country, but I am looking froward to trying to out to see if it is what I anticipate. I have always wanted one of the type I bought for Nate but have continued to use what I have because it meets most of my needs.

While we are in Honduras, I may get to help the medical team that will be there as our trips overlap. I am looking froward to that.

God help us

I am not sure what to write this morning, so I will just start and see were my thoughts lead. Often, it is difficult for any one of us to see why we matter, or if we matter. I must needs begin at the beginning to explain our individual importance. Firstly, looking upward, you are here, alive, a part of the cumulative populous of this world. Therefore, you have been created in His image; just who you are He loves you. If God created you, you have a purpose - to love and honor our God. Why do so many feel completely displaced among the living? Because they lack that fundamental purpose. Secondly, looking outward, you have a life that intermingles and mixes with a vast number of persons around you, many of which you are completely unaware. We have loved ones, often a spouse. Many of us have children and grandchildren. We have our church families. We have friends who know us well and we have acquaintances that know us casually. We have coworkers. We interact with countless people, just like us, on a daily basis – even if that interaction is in a virtual setting. We are aware of them and they are are of us.

The underlying dysfunctionality in our culture today is that we do not see “them”. We are so inwardly focused that we refrain from connecting with anyone who does not make us feel better about our selfish selves. Abstaining to associate with anyone who would challenge our way of thinking. Constantly seek reinforcement of our settled ideas about life, about ourselves. That has brought us to where we are as a society. Where we can cheer when the free speech of those we disagree with is silenced. Where we revel in the punishment of those who dare to have a different opinion from that which we hold as truth. This is a dangerous precipice to be standing upon because there is no safety for anyone in that cultural atmosphere. Each of will eventually be judged unfit to linger among the accepted.

Think about it. As we become more and more focused on ourselves, what we like or dislike, what we want and do not want, what we will accept and what we will not accept, we become less and less focused on how our choices in meeting “our needs” affect those around us. We say, “So what if ‘they’ cannot speak. I did not like what ‘they’ were saying anyway. I’m glad I don’t have to hear it anymore.” We do not just want to tune “them” out. We want “them” silenced. And that works just fine for you until something you say is disagreed with. Apologize as you may, you suddenly, without warning become “them”. That is what is happening in our America today. Some of us realize we are “them” just because we believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in individual freedom. In God-given unalienable rights.

That belief is anathema to many – not just to some, to many. Conservative views, my views, have been stricken from the internet with the push of a button. Do not kid yourself into thinking that will not happen to us. Believers are next. I hesitate to use the term Christian, because the meaning has become so watered down as to become contextually meaningless, but any religion recognizing salvation through Jesus Christ alone is something the ruling class and many religions will not tolerate well. When they have the power, and it seems they do at the moment, we will become their prime target. At that point we will get to test the depths of our personal faith. Will that moment come soon? I do not know, but when it comes for us individually, it will come suddenly – without warning. We will simply be unplugged. Unable to communicate. Unable to get on a plane. Unable to access health care. Unable to access our bank accounts. Unable to buy or sell.

For many years I could not see how all this could possibly come about in the Unites States of America. Now I can. Our individual selfishness has been our demise. But…there is a remedy - in the very person that is despised and rejected, Jesus Christ. Only God can heal our land and give us the perspective of true love one for another that will bring about the change that put the needs of others above our own personal needs. Only God can open our eyes to the blindness that has led us into the ditch we are now wallowing in. Our eyes, the eyes of believers must be the first to open to our own lack of faith, our own selfishness, our own desire to see ourselves as justified in our opinions regardless of how the Bible views those strongly held opinions. We, as believers, need to get right with God.

It may be a painful process, but the fruits of repentance are long-lasting. Our repentance can be blessed by God in unique ways. Right now, that is what we need, as individual believers, as the Church, as a nation.

God help us to seek Him and His righteousness. Matt 6:33