Status Report: October

Well, it has been a good while since I reported anything about the house.  I have to say that it is a little intentional.  It’s been a hard summer.  Chas and I spent the majority of it with family and friends, while Nathan worked on the house.

He got a lot done, of course, without, uh, distractions (ie, me & Chas).  However, we’ve been back together for a while and as you would expect, progress has slowed.  Life keeps getting in the way, the yard needs mowed, the camper (where we are currently staying) needs to be worked on, friends invite us over, the yard needs mowed again!

That isn’t to say that nothing is getting done.  I’m happy to report that we are almost done with deconstruction.  It seems like I’ve been saying that for a few weeks now, but it’s really true.  All the drywall has been removed and now Nathan just has to clear out the living room and rip up the floor.

Then the good part begins:  CONSTRUCTION! (after a visit from the Orkin man – my personal hero)

I’ve been assured by many that this part will go much quicker.  I hope so because deconstruction has almost broken me.  I knew this was going to be a LONG term project.  It is a marathon and not a sprint, but considering I have trouble with a 5K, I’m a bit impatient. 

Every time we push back a deadline or something gets in the way, I want to scream and stomp and throw a tantrum that would make your threenager look like an angel straight from heaven.  I have to stop myself and realize that this is just a season.  Each time I am convinced that we will live in a 30-ft camper for the rest of our lives and I have to renew my mind.

Right now, we are hoping to winter over in the camper.  The roof will hopefully be done by winter and we will actually move into our house in spring.  If all goes to plan, we may actually be done by our projected date of 31 Dec 2016.  This is our plan, our hope, and our prayer.

As for right now, I’m trying to lean into the discomfort.  I am trying to realize that things could be worse.  I’m trying to remember that the suffering makes the joy that much sweeter.  And above all, I’m trying to do all of it to His glory, since that is what it’s all about anyway.

Victory in Inches...

Oh, goodness! This could be the theme of my life. It's a phrase that the Hubs and I coined a while back during a particularly tough duty station. There was rampant wickedness and horrible situations and a lot of issues in our family. We really didn't know where to start or how to fix things. So, we just jumped in and followed Jesus. And things began to change. Little by little, here and there, things got better.

That's when we started using this term, Victory in Inches. There were no huge, life shattering moments, it was just the little things that were happening slowly, over time until one day when we turned around we could see undeniable progress. 

So, here we are again. There's a huge task before us, major house renovation and a major change in lifestyle (hello, homesteading!). I'm glad the Hubs knows where to start, because I certainly don't. And start, we have. Things are going, moving forward, but it seems that it is at a glacial pace. I'm the kind of person who goes for a walk in the morning and wonders if I'm skinny and healthy yet. 

Because of this, I am struggling with this project. It's one of the biggest of my life and certainly the biggest of my marriage. So, we definitely need to take our time and do it right. That's what I want. But I also want it done and want it done now. This is the part of me that I'm having to crucify daily. 

However, there's that other part that keeps sneaking in. The part that's telling me that we aren't making any progress and it's all for naught. All this sacrifice, all this work, it's just spinning our wheels. Oh, how easy these thoughts come. How easily my mind conjures the negative aspects and feeds on them. This is what I'm currently combatting. Every setback, every missed deadline is feeding into this line of thinking. 

This is why I have to occasionally do a "moto check." I have to stop and turn around. I have to make myself look at where we started so that I can see how far we've come. It's not drastic and it looks far worse now than when we started, but there is progress. Slow, steady moving forward. Victory in inches. It's not pretty yet and it isn't comfortable, but it's necessary.

For any person, in any stage of life, it's so much easier to focus on the negative aspects, to spend our time looking at how much is left, rather than what has been accomplished. But we can't live there, in that place. That is not our home.  No, our call is to live in the victory and hope that has been promised to us. When it is difficult and discouraging, we have to remember to take the time to see where we've been and how far Jesus has brought us. Because even when the victory comes in inches, we are still gaining ground.