House update

Because I know you all are suffering living vicariously through our house-building experience, I thought you’d be interested in the latest news.

The current projects include tiling bathrooms and installing light fixtures and ceiling fans. We are at the “who cares if it doesn’t work, it’s assembled and hung and it looks good” stage of construction. We feel like horses who have been working in the fields all day and we can smell the oats and fresh water in the barn. If “close enough” gets us a certificate of occupancy, that’s the new goal. We are lowering the bar daily.

Last week we had our well dug, and this week the water line will get run to the house and the septic system will be installed. Tuesday the countertop people are coming to install the granite and the farmhouse sink that almost wasn’t, at which time I will cover the counters and cabinets with paper and tape it all in place to protect them from the horrific mess of sanding the wood floors.

We are still missing three interior doorknobs, and Lowe’s, although they sell Hunter fans, does not sell the downrods that enable you to install said fans in a room with vaulted ceilings. I’m also in the market for a filter for the ShopVac that is older than the hills, if you happen to have a lead on one. It was manufactured before the dawn of model numbers apparently. I have not yet looked at carpet for the bedrooms because what’s the rush?

Back in March we extended our construction loan because, as Ben has now learned, we won’t be in the house in six months. That makes our new deadline September 4, which we felt was probably doable. (Well, I thought it was doable. Ben declared we would blow that goal out of the water.)

Anyway, Ben has been living with a badly damaged shoulder for quite a few years now, which we’ve learned is very aggravated by shoveling wet grain for the cows. Thankfully there’s none of that available in our part of Virginia, so he’s been able to make it work, i.e., put it off indefinitely. A few weeks ago he had another MRI and last Friday it was reviewed by the surgeon.

The current prognosis is along the lines of “we have no idea how your shoulder is still functioning, but it’s about to come apart completely, at which time we will no longer be able to repair it and you will have a complete shoulder replacement.”

In other words, you are toast.

So the surgery that we’ve put off three or twenty times is now imminent, cows and house build notwithstanding. They’ve set a date of May 25th, whether we like it or not, and once again the extent of my and Ben’s oppositeness is on display for all the world to see.

Ben came home excited because this was just the kick in the pants he needed to put it into high gear and get the house done by May 24.

My thoughts go like this:

Finishing the house by May 24 would be great except that we are also delivering four steers to the processor in North Carolina on May 22, so it will have to be before that. And somewhere in there the cows have to be worked and put on fresh grass and the bull has to be put in with the herd and the heifers we don’t want bred need to be taken to the sale barn, plus two or three more calves are expected soon and one will be born to the dairy cow we (Ben) had planned to milk (in the not-yet-built milking shed) and oh by the way you are still the director of your contract and your job starts at 8 am and ends at 10 pm if you are lucky.

But also there’s this ministry we are part of where we go to Colorado and teach young people how to do evangelism while traveling to various cities and camping and backpacking (that means carrying your whole existence on your back in a very large pack that does not favor newly surgeried shoulders) and carrying cases of tracts and books and hauling vanfuls of food to feed all these people.

Also flying in a cramped airplane where people bump into you every 1.4 seconds, and dragging heavy bags through the airport while juggling wallet and phone and taking your shoes and belt off and raising your arms overhead to go through security or else getting the dreaded pat-down. This all happens on June 2, a mere eight days after this major operation.

Also it keeps raining and the house site is a mud pit and I was told today by someone who built a house two years ago not to get in a rush for my grass to grow (he still has bare spots) and that was such a boost to my morale. Thanks, Jerry.

So you can see that life is just going swimmingly and we have not a care in the world. We appreciate your prayers.