Weekly Update: 4.26.25
Tears pricked at my eyes as I sat crumpled on our bathroom floor, head pounding as the nauseau hit me in waves. It was a cool, beautiful Monday morning, but the weight of everything needing to be done and my inability to do it hung over me like a cloud. Normally, pressure energizes me -- but not this week. A series of bad migraines left me drained, useless, and uncharacteristically overwhelmed.
It had been a rough start to the week, full of storms and drenching rain. With all the wet weather, we didn't even try to work on the bunkhouse on Saturday. We ladies spent most of the day cooking for Easter Sunday -- making potato salad, rolls, Jello eggs, and carrot cake.
With the forecasted storms, we decided to spend Easter morning at home to watch over Tilde's puppies. We ate jelly bean scones for breakfast -- a new flavor invention that was surprisingly delicious. Then we streamed church.
The storms began in the morning, turning more severe as the day went on. We were shocked when, during a heavy bout of wind and rain in the afternoon, water started pouring into the bunkhouse on the south and west walls. We couldn't understand. We grabbed towels to mop water that seemed to be coming right through our walls and around our windows. When the deluge ended, we walked outside to see what looked almost like snow scattered all over everything. At first, we couldn't identify the small white flakes peppering the area around our house. And then we realized -- it was particles of our house wrap, which had failed.
The Block-It house wrap we had installed back in 2023 is supposed to be exposed to the elements for no more than six months. It's taken us much longer than we expected to finish the inside of the house. We've been hoping to start on the exterior siding in the next couple of weeks. Jeremiah and Levi have both been treating our cedar boards. Unfortunately, we realized on Sunday, house wrap really does have an expiration date. It had become water permeable, allowing rain to blow right through every crack and spacing gap in our exterior sheathing. The experience was disturbing, as we wrestled with how to immediately protect all of our hard work.
We lost power during Easter's storm, and it stayed off the remainder of the day. Thankfully, our ham had just finished cooking, and the rest of our holiday meal was mostly prepared the day before. We enjoyed our dinner in the post-storm quiet as we pondered what to do about our bunkhouse.
First thing Monday morning, we needed to pick up a grocery order at the Bolivar Walmart. We made a stop at Meeks on the way, purchasing rolls of house wrap, sheathing tape, and flashing tape. Since our brothers were working, Grace and I planned to start on the house wrap as soon as I got home. Our dad was home and wanted to help, but his upcoming neck surgery makes us wary of letting him do much.
As I shopped, my headache that had started the day before began to throb. By the time I got home, I collapsed in the bathroom, sick and completely overwhelmed. We already had a deadline to complete our bathrooms and my dad's bedroom before his surgury, and I knew the house wrap installation was going to put us days behind schedule. I've learned to trust God about such things, but there are days when the mounting to-do list begins to feel impossible -- especially when physical limits come into play.
Eventually, I made it to my bed and fell asleep. Grace and my Dad started work by repairing our tent fly, which was both damaged and in the way of installing the house wrap. My mom watched Bonnie-Jean's puppies so Bonnie could help as well. By the time I woke up late in the afternoon, both my brothers got home and started working. I felt a lot better, so I poured myself some therapeutic green tea and joined the crew.
That Monday, we worked until dark. Levi took the next day off, and we worked on house wrap all Tuesday as well. It was a much more difficult and tedious process the second time around -- as we had to deal with all kinds of windows, doors, and vents. We felt like we were racing against time, as storms were forecasted for Thursday.
Tuesday marked the two-year anniversary of living on our property. I got up early to make what is becoming our traditional anniversary breakfast of pancakes with buttermilk syrup -- the first breakfast we had when we moved out here. My niece Chloe helped me, making the syrup herself and learning to pour and flip the pancakes.
Tuesday evening, after a long day of working on the house, we held our family Easter egg hunt. The men hid 70+ eggs for our nieces and nephew to find. And our youngest brother hid quite a number of grown up eggs -- filled with everything from bath bombs to jerky to boozy treats. While the kids hunted, the adults enjoyed hiking around our property using Jeremiah's geocache-style app to find the hidden eggs. We laughed, talked, and scratched our legs up terribly. After so much stress, it was fun taking time to just enjoy our land in a recreational, silly way.
On Wednesday, we still had a lot of house we needed to wrap. Grace and I worked all day on the lower parts of the house, hoping to have one of the men help us with the big ladder later in the day. Thankfully, Levi got home in time to help wrap the highest portion of the house. We finished taping the last window as the sun set Wednesday night. We were exhausted but felt like celebrating. And personally, I felt encouraged.
The life we have chosen is far from easy. It's challenging physically and emotionally. In order to pursue our dreams, we've all had to make counter-cultural choices that have opened us up to questions and even judgment. None of us is rich, but we have managed to make sacrifices and work towards our goals debt-free. Health issues continue to loom for many of us. And then there are all the normal ups and downs of life. Some days, life can be incredibly heavy.
But then there are weeks like this one, where our family comes together to do what needs to be done. I see God's hand guiding us, shoring us up where we are weak. Life doesn't always feel victorious. Sometimes it feels like we are limping toward the finish line. But this week, we did it -- and I am reminded of what we are capable of with God's help. When I heard large rain drops begin to pelt the tent Thursday evening, I didn't bat an eye -- because we were prepared. Looking at all we have to accomplish in the next weeks, I feel at peace. I know God is with us, and with his help, I know we will accomplish what we need to.
