It's All Connected

I apologize for the late post. Life has been extremely hectic and unpredictable . Let's get right to it then. Last week was starting the final touches of the plumbing on system one for the plumber to approve so we could begin gluing it all together. Patrick did a fantastic job of making everything perfectly square(which unfortunately meant he painstakingly chiseled away at certain studs to get things to be just right, then re-cut some pieces to fit new lengths, etc.)

It was all very well put together until my uncle and I started to glue things together. We marked each joint like we were supposed to but we started assembling them in isolation. In our efforts to move along quickly, we ended up mis-glueing two of the four pieces we assembled because things need to be adjusted to fit the space, not necessarily 'exactly' square. It may 'look square, but like most of the rest of the house, it's not REALLY square.So we tore it all apart and started over, it's amazing how much faster is goes together the third time (I had messed it up once already). Needless to say we learned our lesson of slow and steady wins the race - that sounds SO familiar for some reason...

Tim with the offending assembled pieces/The FINAL stack in place

Then Jonathon VH (who is recently home from Managua, Nicaragua worked on repairing the roof after the leak-hound Kevin F. located where we were getting rain in from the previous day's torrential down pour. Not that Kevin is lazy and needed as stand in, but he had things to do elsewhere and Jonathon was the only one brave enough to walk out on my very steep roof and fix it. After a little bit of a 'refresher' course from me, he had it squared away in no time flat.

Jon's handiwork (He didn't stay on the roof long enough for a photo)

Next were the cleaning crew that went throughout and replaced wet cardboard from the aforementioned rains, swept up all sorts of mess and straightened after a week's worth of work. We also went on an hour search for two measuring tapes. It seems that the measuring tapes that I have bought (6 to date) all must have small legs installed because they seem to misplace themselves and not end up on the storage shelf or anywhere else in the house for that matter. So I'm thinking of instituting a sign in/out system for some of the smaller tools as it's getting a bit expensive to continually replace tools. If you see any red-painted tools in your toolbox, please feel free to drop them off, no questions asked.

As I mentioned, my week has been an up and down week. everything related to my house has been a positive thing, but have had some challenges at work. Through a few discussions with good friends, I have come to feel more convicted on a few things. One is that I am continually blessed. I have spoken to this many times before and it honestly continues to amaze me how the people around me are so generous, caring and genuinely concerned about how Ellie and I are doing. Not just on the house, but emotionally, financially, spiritually and health-wise. I cannot tell you how much that encourages me and lifts me up during weeks like the past one.

Then there are the donations and giving hearts that continue to pour in. This past week I was told of another donation that is not only of substantial cost, but one that will help create the home that I know people will feel comfortable and welcomed in. For those of you who know me, that's a big deal. The friends and family that come to visit must always feel welcome and wanted and the kind of surroundings that are in your home have a great impact on that, and I am forever indebted to those that continue to help me with that.

Another conviction that I have had strengthened is that of the belief that none of these things going on in my life are 'random' or 'coincidence'. I have had so many things in the past few months happen that I think most folks would chaulk up to happy accients or being lucky. Simple things like timing of certain materials not being ready when I first wanted them, but then when they were, a better idea had come along and I chose a new route because I had time to think it through more or had time to ask for another opinion that ended up being much better than my own. Then more important things like I just recently met someone that I met because my babysitter decided to not continue full-time daycare and I was forced to find another provider. Through a friend of a friend (and after 6 calls to full daycares) I found a new day care that I'm REALLY excited about sending Ellie to that is classroom structured but is still a ton of fun that I hope will better prepare Ellie down the road. On top of that I had asked for a reference list of parents before I had decided, one of them happened to work at Meredith and happened to be someone that might be able to help with my house. Not only has that person started to help with the house, she has taken away some burden of choosing all the paint colors, all the knobs, all the tile in all the rooms, all the light fixtures. Things that I would have heavily relied upon Leslie to do. I will still need to do some of those things for most of the house, but some of that has been taken off my shoulders. Which means I can spend more time with Ellie, not just in physically being there, but also mentally because I'm not concetrating on other details as we play 'food' or ready "Go dog, go!" for the tenth time. The Lord knew that I needed that help, he knew that Ellie would be better prepared for school if I started now, He knew that I like my guests to feel comfortable and relaxed in my home, He knew all of these things and although I didn't see what was going on at the time, he put the people in my life that I need.

I thank those people that help me. I praise the Lord for never leaving me.