September 19 - “Too many steps!”

Pavers: Phase Two: Trying to uncover and fill that sinkhole before it gets big enough to wreak havoc on its own. First step … pull up pavers that are obviously sinking. Step two … dig under and peel back the good sod that has grown over the low spot. Step three … scrape off to the side the good soil. Step four … Fill under the sod and pavers with leftover dirt from the side of house. Step five … somewhat level the area. Step six … reset the pavers. Too many steps! Aaargh! Why didn’t we call in a pro?! I’m stuck somewhere between steps four and five. Gotta plod on. 

We heard on one of our breaks that there was a pretty bad wreck near Cailyn’s high school. Bad enough that they shut down the major road that passes in front of the school. Cailyn was not involved. See, it just so happened that she wasn’t feeling well, so her dad picked her up early. Hmm. Thanks for that protection, Lord. 

Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬ says, God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Father, we do thank you for protecting Cailyn and her friends from that wreck. Your ways are definitely mysterious sometimes. Amen. 

September 18 - “Sinkhole Coming!”

Pavers on the side of the house - including three extra rows and a row of bricks to boot - check. 

Now I’m ready to move on to one of two possible chores:

1. One would be to fill in the ditches made by the fork lift that unloaded all the fence stuff in the front yard as well as the holes in the back yard.
2. The second would be to pull up the patio pavers that are caving in because a big root of a tree that died after Hurricane Ike is rotting away (Sinkhole coming!). Then we need to pour in a bunch of just plain old dirt. 

Philippians 4:6 says, Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 

Father, thanks for helping me get through these chores. Amen. 

September 17 - “Two to go”

Chris had interior duty yesterday. Washing clothes and the like. I dug some more dirt. Had to redo several pavers that settled a little too much. That meant I was only able to knock out one more row. Two to go. 

All that outside heat made it necessary to pull back in the afternoon … a lot. Chris disappeared into the bedroom for a while to try to snooze. I crashed in front of the TV with a Hallmark movie going. No idea what it was about, beyond the usual Hallmark plot twists. Not that I dozed off or anything …

Last night we stayed up as late as we could for the Astros game, but it didn’t start until after 8:00. Those West Coast games are tough to stay awake for. But we did get a scoop of Blue Bell to help us stay alert for a while. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭16‬:‭10‬ says, Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.

Father, please be with Sam in a special way. Touch her where she needs you most. And give Chris an extra portion of strength as she cares for her. Amen. 

September 16 - “A Couple of Cousins”

After church yesterday we were inundated with a mass of guests. Kel and his family came over to hang out until time for the Experiencing God Bible study at six. 

But it wasn’t just them. Micah bright Kaylie. Zak and Lindsay were here, kind of on their way back to Waco. And Cailyn and Gavin even came down from Santa Fe as well. The three young couples had had lunch together at Salsa’s, then chose to come over to continue the cousin extravaganza. It was great to see them all and watch their interactions. Ain’t young love grand? 

Nahum‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭ says, The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; He cares for those who take refuge in Him.

Father, thanks for the chance to hang out with all those kiddos. Bless them as they grow and learn. Amen. 

September 15 - “Back in the dirt”

I was back playing in the dirt again yesterday, first thing. The pavers are coming along, slow but sure. I have three or four more rows to go. Saving those for another day. 

I did have to stop for a while at one point. I had a phone call from a good friend from days past. Ken lived in Galveston when we moved here. In fact, he was leading singing at Seaside the first Sunday we visited - in his bathing suit! He had just come from fishing and hadn’t had time to change. That was an early clue that Seaside was gonna be a great fit for me. 

Chris grabbed the weedeater and finished up the lawn work. Looks really good. She also used to opportunity to water all her outside plants. They look good, too. I’m so glad she has the green thumb in the family. 

Now on to the latest in the refrigerator saga. We went back to Home Depot to get the paperwork detailing the canceled order. That went swimmingly. Then we steeled our inner “Are we really doing this again,” and headed back to the appliance department. It took a while, but we finally found one we liked that was a different brand (GE, NOT Whirlpool!). They found one in black … somewhere. And by “somewhere” I mean whatever black hole it takes three more weeks to get out of. Yep. New delivery date: October 5. This is some sort of record, isn’t it?  Meanwhile, as I have requested before, pray for that small fridge that is doing double duty!

Last night we made a quick trip over to a nearby establishment to help honor our friend, Chuck Willett. He was a groomsman in our wedding, and before that he became my friend when he was the counselor at my high school. There were quite a few others there celebrating him. He made quite the impact on a lot of lives. Love ya, Chuck!

Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬ ‭ says, The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Father, thank you for the really helpful sales person at Home Depot. She did go out of her way for us. Bless her for that. Amen. 

September 14 - “Not again …”

Kroger for the win on Freddy Food! And that was good. We needed a win. 

See … yesterday was delivery day number two for our refrigerator. And guess what? It was noticeably damaged. The dent/scrape was so obvious that the delivery guy pointed it out to us. Great. Here we go again. We bought that thing on July 29th. What’s the date now?  Totally unacceptable. We refused delivery again and this time cancelled the order. We are headed to Home Depot soon to make sure they process a full refund. 

In the meantime … sure hope that small fridge we have been using holds up while we start this process all over again. 

We did get a delivery from AT&T. Apparently, our internet/cable box was woefully out of date. They sent a new one, but the only instructions included were how to send the old one back. But meanwhile … I received an email from them saying, “Don’t return your old box. Just recycle it somewhere.”  Well, OK. I chose to go with the email. Less work for me. Oh, and I did figure out the box on my own. Yay, me. 

Sam had a date yesterday. She went to lunch with two good friends. Sounded like they all had a pretty good time. Lots of gabbing and eating and laughing. Perfect afternoon for her. 

Last night we had some visitors of our own. Zakary and his girlfriend Lindsay came over for some pizza. Her family is vacationing over in Crystal Beach, so a quick ferry ride to Nani and DadDad’s house was a must. Great to see those youngsters. 

Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭14‬ says, Wait for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait for the Lord.

Father, please help us locate a fridge and get it here quickly. Amen. 

September 13 - “Re-lay begins”

Two miles … check. 

Once we got home, we each had different jobs to tear into. Chris went right to cleaning house. That’s her Thursday go-to to get everything ready for home group. I went out to the back yard. I started the process of leveling and re-laying pavers on the side of the house where we removed the tree. That’s gonna be one long, dirty project. 

At one point in the process, I took a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. Don’t usually do that, but I was feeling adventurous. It was an inspector from Texas Windstorm Insurance. Well, not exactly. It was an inspector of the inspectors from Texas Windstorm. He was following up on the guy who actually did the inspection. Whew! That’s confusing. He was just wanting to know who did the best job so they can make sure to send them out next time. Oh, and so they can cull out the ones who weren’t so good. I assured him that our guy was amazing. 

James‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬ says, Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.

Father, thank you for the dry weather. Help us use it effectively to get done what we need to out in the yard. Amen. 

September 12 - “The GRM”

We returned to walking yesterday. Two more miles in the books. We are back in the saddle again. 

Speaking of back in the saddle, we also spent an hour or so in the back yard putting together our new swing. The one we had for years officially gave up the ghost to the Galveston Rust Monster. It was getting really scary to sit in. The new one is almost identical to the old one, save of course, for the GRM. 

Chris had an appointment up in Texas. It was with her dermatologist. I like the way Chris determines how to get there. This is the office by Hobby Lobby. Yep. Can’t forget that one. 

Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭4‬ says, Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted.

Father, thanks for one more thing checked off our list. And thanks for the cool morning so we could swing and enjoy it for a while. Amen. 

September 11 - “The Visitors”

Ouch. Tough night. All that fence building did a number on me. I woke up several times with my legs cramping. At least they were equal opportunity cramps. Alternated legs and muscles within said appendages. Guess that’s evidence that I actually did some work. Or so least that my body thought I did some work. 

It was really cool when we got up. I don’t think it was the cold front, though. It looked like the outer bands of Tropical Storm Francine may be rapidly approaching. 

Yesterday afternoon we had a great surprise visit from a friend who moved to Ohio. Dan still has a house in the West End of the island, though. He was down here doing some repairs on that house. And as part of his visit, he gave us a gift that he and his wife got for us back when I retired. It was a set of dishes with a really pretty lighthouse highlighted on each piece. Thanks so much, Dan and Wendy! 

Speaking of visits, we also had an appearance by Robert. He came by on his way home from eating chicken somewhere. Just wanted to check on Sam. Thanks for coming, Rob. 

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ says, Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Father, thanks for Adam and Robert and their visits. Special times. Amen. 

September 10 - “Done”

Well, the fence is done. All the extra pieces have been returned. I did spot one strip at the corner between us and our next door neighbors, though. It would have taken a lot of extra cutting and pasting to cover it up. Maybe we can leave it and let the dogs bark back and forth through it. Actually,  the plan is to put the shed back there, so you won’t be able to tell. Hope they can be patient until we shove it back down there. 

We were re-visited during our work by a creature we never thought we would be happy to see again. The Claw was back. But this time it was to pick up the fence debris from our demolition as well as the monster-heavy tree we had to dig up and pull out with Nathan’s truck. Great to see that creature (unlike after Hurricane Ike when it grabbed all our treasured now-trash possessions). 

The return process at Home Depot for the materials we didn’t use was … not exactly customer friendly. We had to unload everything ourselves, after their guy counted it all. God bless Nathan. He did all the heavy lifting. Well over 2200 pounds of it. Hope he gets some rest before he has to go back to work. 

I heard from both neighbors. They both had glowing reports on their view of the new fence. Guess we are all ready for that next storm out on the Gulf. 

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ says, Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

Father, please protect us from that storm. Amen. 

September 9 - “Grunt work”

Well, we were back at it. But probably not what we anticipated for a Sunday morning. Chris had to run Sam up to the Extended care clinic, so I stayed at the house and “supervised” the work on the fence. Read here, “Did the grunt work.”  I was in charge of carrying fence slats from the front yard and driveway into the back yard. I did help Nathan a little bit with setting the last of the posts before Nathan and John Matt did the highly skilled labor part of the job. And they were magnificent at it. Cailyn had a soccer game somewhere in Houston, so she wasn’t here to work this time. Fortunately, she had already done all the heavy lifting! 

Nathan and John Matt were fence machines. They worked all day, anticipating each other’s next move and what tool would be needed. It was a lot of work they were trying to get done. They finished all the framing work. Now today all that is left is nailing up the pickets and building a gate. Bit John Matt is back in school, so the quality of his assistant will drop drastically (read here … me). 

Last night I joined Christina and we got started teaching the Seaside students the youth version of the Experiencing God study. The adult version really had a big effect on my life. So much so that a lot of how we operated at Seaside over the years was based on the Experiencing God principles. About 30 adults are giving it a whirl as well. Praying that God touches them! 

Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ says, Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.

Father, thanks for the ones who were able to start the study last night. Draw them and others to yourself. Amen. 

September 8 - “Fencin’”

We woke up to an interesting development in the back yard. Part of the fence on the other side (the one that was still standing up yesterday) was leaning precariously. We got it propped up again. The hope at the time was that it was just a factor of saturated ground.  But no. Ended up having to replace three of the posts. 

I got a text around 8:30 yesterday morning from the materials delivery folks at Home Depot. New delivery window. Now 9:18-10:18. Well, that’s pretty specific. Way better than 6 am to 8 pm. I texted Nathan right away to let him know. 

Back to the chore at hand … Speaking of replacing posts, Nathan brought over a helper, John Matt. That youngster did some hard work. And speaking of hard work, Cailyn ended up lifting … oh, I would say approximately 1400 pounds of concrete. Plus she carried numerous 4X4 posts from the front yard to their position in back. Impressive! Things are looking good for the project to be completed today. Maybe loose ends on Monday. Just in time for rain to resume on Tuesday. 

In the afternoon we went to Home Depot to get some dirt to fill in all the holes and low spots. We also picked up some gate hardware (with help from Nathan on FaceTime). We tried to get the nails we need, but they didn’t have them. Nathan found them up by his house, though. Oh, and we replaced our loppers. The old ones gave up the ghost. How? They just locked in the open position. No good if they don’t close. 

Speaking of loppers, back at the house (and after some neighborly assistance from Corey and Brennan carrying back our eight bags of dirt) we did a trim job on the wisteria bush. Not a massive one, but more than usual, for sure. It looks a lot better with a haircut. 

Whew! Sounds like another long, hard day. It was. I was tired. 

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭20‬ ‭ says, The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

Father, thanks for you for Cailyn and John Matt and of course Nathan. They did some great work. Bless them for that. Amen. 

September 7 - “Wielding the tools”

Well, yesterday was probably the most tiring day I’ve had in a very long time. We started the process of replacing our fences damaged back in Hurricane Beryl. 

Before 8 a.m., Chris and I were outside. We moved and stacked up pavers from the side of the house. Yep. Heavy stuff. But it was necessary so that we could move the shed out of the way of the fence project. She ended up mowing the backyard (and discovering no less than three really big ant beds. One of them unleashed all sorts of fury upon her. I took over the mowing while she cleared her feet of a few thousand red devils. I also finally managed to heave the shed out from the side of the house and relocate it. After one small adjustment both doors worked just fine. They haven’t even been staying on since the storm. 

Kel’s family came later in the morning and we all took our marching orders from our Big Boss - Nathan. Micah and Josiah and Christina joined in the fence demolishing task. So did our neighbor, Taylor. Kel and Noa took shifts cutting at that tree and digging around the roots. Ezra tried out just about every tool he could find. I mean he wielded a hand saw, machete, shovel, hammer, hoe, and yes, even a sawzall (under Dad’s supervision, of course).  Oh, and Taylor surprised us all by ordering pizza for lunch. 

Before the day was done we had the fences down, and the ornery tree that had grown through the middle of the chain link fence was cut down (Thanks for the big chain saw and even bigger muscles, John Luza. You are a good friend). Nathan hooked the large stump to his truck and dragged it to the street. All is ready for the materials delivery tomorrow. I already received the text letting me know the delivery window. Ready for this one? “Sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.” Sure hope it’s closer to the first time, or we will lose a whole day of work. 

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ says, Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and with all propriety, the younger women as sisters.

Father, thank you for the dry window so we could get the fences down. Now we need more dry weather to get the posts set and later the actual fence up. Amen. 

September 6 - “Getting real”

We spent the morning getting ready for home group. I went over the study while Chris started cleaning house. I did stop long enough to do the vacuuming, though. 

I also spent some time going over the Experiencing God curriculum. Always good stuff, every time I have done it. 

Sam and I spent the early part of the afternoon watching the Astros play again. They just couldn’t solve the mystery of the Cincinnati Reds.  They haven’t won a game from the Reds since some time in 2017. The Reds even had a guy go 9 for 11 over the course of the series (Ty France).  Only good thing about that? He used to be on the Mariners. At least we don’t have to see him that often. 

Nathan called to let me know he made the order for our fence repair materials. Guess it’s getting real finally. The delivery will be Saturday. I’m ready to get this done. 

John‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬ says, I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

Father, help us get these fences up over the next few days. We could use some dry weather. Amen.