Not Again!! (1 Corinthians 15:58)

The last weekend in April, Paul and I went up to the farm with the intentions of getting a lot of work done. It turned out to be a cold and rainy weekend. So we did the next best thing and poked around in the house. We found wood sheathing, which is very similar to shiplap, on all walls and we found gorgeous old oak floors throughout the whole house. The hallway and kitchen are going to be a little more difficult to uncover. It has 2-3 layers of different flooring and then a sheet of plywood and then an additional 2-3 layers of vinyl.🤦🏼‍♀️ We pulled back some of the vinyl siding and found old clap board that appeared to be in fairly good condition. Hopefully, most of the siding will clean up and we will be able to use the majority of it. We did have a new garage door installed. Paul is planning on redoing the siding to the garage soon and installing a side door. The opening was so large, it had to be framed in some.

After our previous estimates,  Paul and I have decided to back up and approach this differently.  We are getting plans draw up as to how we want the house to look with RL Home Building Consultant. They have been so helpful.  We told them about our builder experience.  They explained that there are New Construction Builders and then there are Renovation Builders and they do not like each others work.   We did find someone to fix the rolling floors and secure the foundation.  After floors are repaired, we are going to get someone to gut the house.  Once all that is complete we plan to start getting remodeling estimates again with Renovators/Remodelers.  

The first weekend in May was beautiful 80 degree weather.  Paul and I got a lot of work done.

We got the creek all cleaned out, which involved me using my chainsaw.  Paul kept telling me what not to do when using the chain saw, but failed to mention that the bottom of the saw gets very HOT!!

My arm was so tired from holding it that I stopped & rested the chain saw on my leg. That didn't work out so well.  Now my leg looks like I have been branded with some "Craftsman" tribal design.

Paul was able to use his new, old farm truck.  With all the tree limbs and brush we cleared out, he had to make a couple of trips with Ol' Red to carry limbs to a burn pile. 

During this creek cleaning, we found 4...yes, 4 SNAKES!!  Paul said they were not poisonous, but does that really matter??!!  It’s a snake!!  Hope we got all of there hiding places cleaned out and they will have to go find some other home.

Our kiddos & dogs had fun again.  This time we brought their GoKart and they rode all over those hills.  Murphy Loves riding in the GoKart with the kids.  Bentley would rather just run along side it. Murf made his best efforts to get in the GoKart whenever he saw someone getting ready to leave in it. Paul and I were able to sneak a ride in too.  The kids played in the creek.  And, yep.... they were playing in the same creek we found the 4 snakes. 🤦🏼‍♀️

By 4:00 Sunday, we had to head back to Alabama to return Grant to his mom. We were not expecting a storm, but we were on the outskirts of one most of the way home.  We all felt like we were in a storm chaser movie, but instead of chasing, we were trying to out run it.

In Ardmore, we got into some very strong winds and it was a little scary.  By the time we dropped Grant off and started heading South we were out of the storm.  However, when Paul arrived at Tennessee on Monday morning, all our work was in vain in that little creek.  Seventy mile an hour winds had come through middle TN in a severe Thunder Storm and blew over 2 trees by the creek and split a few others.😟

Tin blew up on old barn.

Multiple trees and limbs down.

Looks like we will be working on that creek again in the very near future😢
Do you ever feel like everything you do is in vein...just spinning your wheels. You finish laundry, just to do it again the next day. You mop the floors and within 1 hour of being done, dirt is already tracked back in the house. I struggle with this quite often. I want to mark these tasks off my lists so I can move on to the next task, and before I can get a start on something else, that same old task has made its way back to my list. 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV) says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Esther Smith wrote, It’s important to know what Paul means when he talks about “the work of the Lord.” The general consensus is that this means any work you do in the name of Jesus. Any activity, no matter how small, that fills your day that you do with a reliance on God and for the glory of God is the work of the Lord. As you take care of your kids, go to work, serve at church, or make dinner, God isn’t watching to see if you are doing enough.

He cares about your faithfulness, sacrifice and attitude, and that you are working to give Him all honor and glory in all that you do. God’s work will never be in vain. So don’t give up. No matter how hard it becomes or how many times you have to do it, don’t give up your faith. We are stewards, which is, being charged to oversee the possessions of another. God has blessed or loaned us with everything we have, so we must take care of it. We shouldn’t worship our blessings, but we don’t want to ever devalue them or take them for granted either.