Weekly Update: 9.10.23

This week, tent evenings remind me of when we first moved out here -- the air conditioner off and the windows open to let in the cool breeze. With the cicadas quieting down, the softer songs of the crickets lull us again. We even have been hearing our owl, both in the evenings and in the early mornings. Suddenly, tea and hot chocolate sound good again, and we find ourselves ending our days with a steaming cup. We even had to stock up on some instant sugar-free instant hot cocoa mix.

That was the sort of week it was -- productive peppered with enjoyment. There is so much to do all the time, it is difficult to just be. But even in the busy, we can carve out moments to savor. Several times this week, my mom and I found time to listen to an audio recording of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small while doing tent chores. We had started reading the book aloud before moving out here, but life has just been too busy to keep it up. Listening to the book has felt like a real treat, as we folded laundry, turned paper towels into homemade wet-wipes, and tidied the unending clutter.

The week started out with a bit of a bang on Monday. The day started off sunny, so we finished our little porch project by building some stairs. Grace helped all the guys finish it up, and it turned out great. Having stairs makes accessing our build much simpler.

During the afternoon, we were surprised to see the sky cloud up suddenly. We hadn't heard anything about rain or bad weather. Minutes later, we got hit with some dust-filled high winds that cracked several pieces of our tent frame and twisted two canopies beyond recognition. It happened so fast -- we had no time to prepare. Thankfully, all the guys were home and made quick repairs to the tent frame while we tried to take down our last canopy before it was destroyed as well. It was a process to get everyone down to the shelter, but we finally settled in down there for a little while -- but at that point the worst seemed to be over. When we came up, we had a terrible mess. All of our trash and recycling buckets had blown over and debris was everywhere. Pool floaties had blown all over our field and one even went across the road. The lid from our well house had been ripped off and bent on one side, breaking the lock holding it in place. Bonnie-Jean had been cooking, and some of the food had literally blown away. We spent about an hour cleaning up, collecting trash and ruined food to compost. We were thankful, though, that everyone had been home and that the guys had thought to act quickly to save our tent. If it had just been us ladies, I think we would have just ran for cover without thinking about anything else. Who knows what damage the wind would have continued to do if left unchecked.

The storm ushered in cooler weather, which is always a blessing. I spent the first part of the week working on the plans for our walls, checking and double checking window and door placements, making sure the math all added up. I had a set back when I realized that, in construction, an "eight-foot wall" is not actually eight feet tall. Rather, using standard 92-5/8-inch studs, the wall comes to 8 feet 1 1/8 inches. The extra space gives you wiggle room when finishing the interior of the building.

One realization brought on another -- I could have ordered pre-cut 92-5/8-inch studs. I had seen them while ordering lumber, but dismissed them as some odd-sized thing. Now, I feel silly, as it would have saved us time and money. But that's the homestead journey -- learning as you live.

While I drew up our plans, Bonnie-Jean and Grace spent a couple days getting caught up on camp chores. Grace finished reorganizing our tools and supplies. Bonnie-Jean did some deep cleaning. And like always, she took good care of the pups -- even chipping extra wood for the bedding in their kennel.

On Thursday, we got busy building components for our wall. Grace and I cut copious amounts of lumber while our dad assembled Jack studs, T's, corners, and headers. Grace and I cut studs, plates, cripples, and more -- all day Thursday and most of Friday.

Cutting so much lumber was rather monotonous, so I used the time to get caught up on my Bible plan. While I've read through the Bible yearly many times in my life, I was not satisfied with the amount of scripture I was able to ingest the last couple years during this crazy season. I tried, but it is always difficult to find as much time as I would like. This year, I decided to try to listen to the whole Bible, while choosing specific books to study more deeply as time allows. It's worked out well, as I can often find time to squeeze in some listening, even when I'm busy working. True, it's not as deep an experience as just sitting there reading during a quiet time, but it's better than not reading through the Bible, which would have been the alternative. This week, I listened to half of Joshua and all of Judges. It made the time pass much more pleasantly while measuring the hundreds of cuts we made.

When we were getting started on Friday morning, we found ourselves working in the midst of some sort of dragonfly swarm. They were everywhere, dancing through the air at a dizzying pace. My sister-in-law Erin caught some photos of the rather enchanting sight.

When we had finished cutting almost all the lumber for our walls, I started working on layout. It took me a couple hours to get all the plans copied onto our bottom and top plates, and when I was done I felt rather victorious. (I may or may not have danced the Electric Slide to some Alan Jackson in our will-be living room.)

On Saturday, we had to pick up groceries early, but we spent the rest of the day actually assembling walls. I don't know what it is about the walls that feel so much more real than everything so far, but it feels like we are actually building a bunkhouse. We were thankful to have both our brothers, Levi and Jeremiah, home to help with the heavy lifting. We tried to get three-sides up on one end of the house. It took us a long time with our first section, though, as there was a small learning curve figuring out how we wanted to do it. After that, we went more quickly on the next two sections. We worked until after dark, but the atmosphere was festive, as we had desperately hung a box of twinkle lights up in order to see. Bonnie-Jean made everyone sandwiches, and she even fixed us hot chocolate while we cleaned up. Even though we were exhausted, I have to say finishing beneath a blanket of stars was a rather lovely experience.

The weather was perfect, with even the hottest part of the day sweetened by a breeze. We saw a flock of some large birds fly over in V-formation at one point. We think they may have been Great Blue Herons. I've lived in Missouri for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like it. They separated into two Vs at one point, then joined back together, doing what seemed like a little air show for us. It felt like a blessing in the midst of a busy day, stopping us in our tracks and inviting us to delight a little in the beauty of creation.

This next week, we will continue working on the walls. In our free time, we will be working toward planning our roof and ordering the necessary supplies. Building the roof is a bit daunting, but I'm trusting God will be with us. This last week at church, the pastor preached on Proverbs 3 -- and for some reason, I heard verses 5 and 6 differently than I ever have before.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV

Instead of hearing them as a command, I heard them as an invitation. I don't have to lean on my ability to figure the build out. I can lean on God instead. Several times this week, He intervened when I was going to make a mistake -- prompting me to stop cutting one size of stud when I had planned to cut too many, or inspiring me to suddenly double check things only to find a mistake that I wouldn't have otherwise found until later. It may sound like little things, but it's incredibly comforting to know that the same God who helped Noah build the arc is helping us build our little bunkhouse. We can trust Him, knowing he will make our paths -- and hopefully our walls -- straight.