It’s Gonna Get Better (John 5:17)

"It's Gonna Get Better" is my theme song right now.  Things seem to be moving slowly these days.  We have started repairing floors.  It is quite the mess inside & outside the house.  The problem we are having is that the crawl space is very shallow in certain areas.  It is less than 12" in some spots, which makes it almost impossible to get underneath the house to raise the joist or add new supports. 

So large rectangles are being cut out of the floor in certain areas to be able to work on the floor supports.  The rolling floors are looking better, but still have a ways to go.

Last time Paul and I was there by ourselves, we were able to fix a water leak.  In the past, every time we went to look at this place the owners had the water continuously running in the kitchen.  One neighbor even told us that he had seen the owner take the water hose out to their garden and let it run all night and they never ran out of water.  When we became the owners...guess what....we ran out of water.  I had been giving the dogs a bath and towards the end of Bentley's all the water was gone. Paul remembered seeing a wet area up on the hill behind the house.  He thought it was another spring.  We talked about putting in a spring fed pond there!!!  Turns out it was a spring,  the spring that feeds the house and it had sprung a leak. We were able to scavenge  enough materials from the old sheds and Paul was able to repair the leak.  That was a big accomplishment, but something that can't really be seen.

Operation clean up has been a little more daunting than I had expected.  We have been going every weekend and I’m not sure anybody driving by would be able to tell we have done anything out there.   We do have a massive brush pile that we are going to burn one day.  One weekend when we left, the brush cutter would not crank, the chain saw broke, “Paul” broke the GoKart and the ticks are just about to carry us away!!!  We need some guineas badly for tick control!!!!  I went up on a weekday, with big plans to get some work done. However, my plans didn't work out.  I got the mower stuck....which seems to be the norm lately.  We bought a new spark plug for the brush cutter and I could not get it to work.  I sent Paul a text that was full of venting.  He immediately called and as he loves to say, "talked me down from the ledge".  After I got off the phone with him, I just started picking up sticks and limbs. 

That seemed pretty safe.  As I was picking up limbs, I saw something red by the house.  I went over and saw the prettiest little rose. 

It was surrounded with weeds, but still managed to show its beautiful color. I began pulling up the weeds around it and saw another rose bush also.  My friend, Debbie Smith, came out to the farm with me one day.  When we walked out to the barn, she told me we were walking on "Black Gold" (cured Manure).  I thought these little rose bushes  would probably enjoy some black gold around them.  I got my shovel and bucket and headed to the barn to do my first manure shoveling.   I shoveled it all around those little rose bushes.  They are very old rose bushes and most of the branches appear dead. Only one or two little sprouts have come to life.  More rose bushes were in the  backyard and I cleaned out around them as well.  I was in better spirits by the time Paul came home.  That little rose just made me feel better.

When Paul returned home, he fixed the brush cutter (I didn't have the spark plug in there good) and he "unstuck" the mower.  The following weekend he also fixed the GoKart (that he broke😂) & the chain saw!!  He is my Mr. FixIt!!!

We have an old walnut tree out behind the shed and it was over knee high with grass and big limbs.  That's where the mower got stuck.  I was able to get finish the clean up after Paul got home.

I have always told Paul, I just can't believe there are no weeping willows around this creek.   One of the big topics that all the neighbors seem to mention is a tornado that went through and hit the farm. (We think in the early 90s)  We have been told it took out a tobacco barn and part of the big barn.  Another neighbor stop to talk with us the other day. Oddly enough, she said "This creek bank use to be full of weeping willows and that tornado took out everyone!!!" 

Paul and I went and bought two weeping willows and planted by the creek.  I can't wait for them to grow.  Our first storm here took out an elm wood tree and as I was cleaning out my rose bushes a little one had started growing.  I dug it up and we planted it down there too.  Not sure that little guy will survive, but we will see.

We have been working so hard every weekend since we purchased this place.  Not many, or any, fruits of our labor are showing at this point.  After my little melt down the other day, I started thinking maybe that's similar to the way God works in our lives. We pray for Gods help or guidance and feel that he is not listening or even cares about our circumstances if we don’t see an immediate response or answer. When we are in the midst of a storm, we loose perspective.  To make matters worse, satan tries to weasel in and wreak havoc on our thoughts, feelings and emotions.  Faith must step in.  We have to know and believe God is working all things out to our good. It may take time for God’s perfect plan to play out.  During that waiting period, He is right by our side still blessing and encouraging us as we wait.  He loves us so much! He could not, would not, ever leave or forget about us.  John 5:17 says, Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working all the time, so I am working also.” Everything we pray for and ask for is not always what we need. God knows exactly what we need. Prayers are not always answered in the way we imagined... but sometimes.....sometimes they are answered in amazing ways humans could have never imagined!! Trust God and His ways....ALWAYS!!