Heat rises

The trailer indoor temperature reads 34 degrees Celsius. The sun burns and sweat drips.
 We work in the heat and finish the rafters of the roof. We heave and pull sheets of wood to roof the shed. Jason saws and staples, nothing is square. Feelings of defeat rise. We return to prime and lay the water resistant barrier. The tar melts in the sun, sticking to everything - fingers, wood, and to itself. Anger brews. We finish and pull long metal sheets up to the roof to begin to screw down. The sun sets, the mosquitoes swarm, horse flies bite, we have not the right tools. We tire. The day is over and still we are not finished.

We pause. We breathe. We see. Such little lives we live. What of these things really matter? The sun can shine, the rain can fall; the bugs can bite, the bees can sting; the tools can break, the power can die; the plan can go wrong, the money can be gone. But, we can stop living our little lives and get out of the holes we so desperately hang on to; and, we can remember the big life we can live because of the love we have from the One who loves us. We are given mansions to live in. We are given the Son. Freedom, merci, grace, and the hope that never ends. Live that! and the seemingly big things dwindle to nothing. And we walk, knowing who we are in Him, only because of Him.

Play 'n Nature

Making fairy trails in our secret tree house

I love watching the girls explore our new home. Their excitement for what's real and alive makes me so grateful for this step we have made together as a family. Eyes sparkling and faces beaming they share the treasures they find. Bird nests filled with baby birds, another with blue eggs, cocoons changing colors, and a stellar jay's blue feathers.
Faces close to the earth they look for bugs and sprouting plants. They smell the wild flowers and feel the larch needles between little fingers. Legs run after butterflies and laughter is heard through the trees. The hawk screeches, the deer pauses in the grass.

The song that creation sings is heard - of how great is He.
           Beauty is here.
                         We play in nature.
                                        We play in His masterpiece.

Our days

Another week gone by and we lay in anticipation, praying, hoping, begging that the first inspection for our electricity will get passed. If all goes well, we can finally fill the 100 foot long trench that holds the conduit for our electrical wire. After gluing pipe, filling sand, and clearing rocks, we really would love this step to be soon completed.

The days Jason isn’t home I find my days filled trying to get the girls school year wrapped up. We work though math books, writing assignments, reading, and spelling. I desperately try to add some more fun activities to the day like looking at little treasures found in ponds under the microscope, or making crafts to hang in our forest hideout. Once school has been completed for the day I work until I sweat under the heat of the sun, shoveling and moving barrows of gravel to fill the space around the foundation of our shed for drainage.

We managed to side two walls of the shed this weekend. Thanks to one ladder and the tailgate of Jason’s pick up truck. Some days I wish someone was here filming it all. We must look like two crazies; but, we manage with what we have and get it done.

The fridge did finally quit on Wednesday. RV refrigerators are an absolute rip off. If only we had power, I would get myself one scookum commercial fridge for the price we’re paying for a too-small RV fridge. However, that is the way it is, so we bite the bullet and get the new fridge (it arrives Wednesday). I will definitely be grateful when that arrives.

The nights are hot, with days even hotter, but the sky is beautiful and blue while pink sunsets keep us in awe. The breeze keeps us sane during this early summer heat and we look forward to water to fill kiddie pools.

We found out that we have access to excellent internet, once we have power. Jason will be able to work from home on Thursday and Fridays instead of going down into town those days. This is good news for my job too!

The girls are pumped because we now have a 10 foot bunny hutch waiting for little hoppers. They really have their hearts set on white girl bunnies, but we’ll see what females we can find close by for as little money as possible. I’m excited for them as well.

For now, we continue to take little steps, while trying not to get discouraged when things go wrong (like truck repair bills). However, saying that, we love it out here: in the quiet, peaceful surroundings of His great work.

Each Day

We worked hard last weekend and accomplished getting the four walls framed and raised for our shed. It took us about 4 hours to get the first wall raised as it weighed hundreds of pounds and it was just the two of us. I was certain someone was going to get seriously injured. So, we took it slow and thought out each step. I have a whole new appreciation for simple machines. Levers, wedges, and screws were my new best friends. Literally, inch by inch we raised that wall. I will admit I did a happy dance when it was finally up.

The next three walls were a piece of cake. However, the next challenge is to side the walls, which will be this weekend. I have no idea how we’re going to accomplish the whole task without scaffolds – but I’m sure we’ll figure out something.

The furnace and fridge are back working again – yippee! No more cold nights and no more warm milk.

We continue to truck in water and covet our hot (short) showers in the evening after working all day in the dirt.

Friday was spent taking Daddy to town for work and enjoying exploring our new home town. We checked out Home Hardware and found work gloves for little hands. We found a café with an indoor waterfall and pond to do our school work beside while we treated ourselves to a raspberry strudel and fresh fruit. We headed to the library and found a lovely place to explore books and read stories. For lunch we went to the beach with a fun park to watch the ducklings and play until the rain began to fall. Walking along the waterfront, we checked out the grocery store for weekend food. The cashier was joyful and kind and we ran out into the pouring rain to Daddy in the truck, who was done ‘work’ for the day.

Over the week we enjoyed finding new treasures like water salamanders, fuzzy caterpillars, bird nests full of spotted eggs, tree frogs, white-tailed does, and neighborhood kitty cats.

Each day a challenge, each day an adventure, each day a blessing.