Today was the first day I struggled with homesickness. It was also the first day I had most of my day to myself without being pushed to do some big project. I think the quiet, alone time allowed me to process some of the realities.
It didn’t help that I was cold all day. It was 25 degrees at breakfast…. We worked on schooling after breakfast, again. I am not quite in gear for that; things could be made much more intriguing than I’ve been doing.
Beings it was Friday, Steph and Jolynn went to market. I stayed with the children to finish school. After that, I moved the cow and calf up from their cozy place at the bottom of the pasture to the extreme opposite end of the farm in Lamar’s garden plot.
We wanted them to eat the grass down on the garden plot so we have less to deal with in the garden later. The cows were not on board. It took me over forty minutes of dragging, pulling, coaxing, pushing, begging, threatening–I was worn out by the time it was over.
After lunch, I decided to change out the flushing assembly on the downstairs toilet. I have done such a procedure many times before, generally taking only a few minutes to half an hour.
With rusted bolts and nuts and with insufficient tool supplies, I worked on it from 1:30 until just after 5:00. Of course, after it was all done, the supply line leaks.
It really is not an exaggeration to say pretty well every project here leaks in at least one point. We have tried various glues, varying degrees of Teflon tape, threaded joints, glue joints, putty epoxy, liquid epoxy–stuff still leaks!
I counted seven leaks as I went around and checked buckets before bed. Tomorrow I want to try to eliminate as many leaks as possible. Listening to drips through the night drives me more nearly bonkers.
But tonight was Friday night. Pizza night! Lamar’s came and ate pizza Steph and Jolynn had made. It was delicious, and the fellowship was just what I needed after a day of tedious trials.
Lamar and I balanced the books between us tonight. He had been paying out of pocket for our expenses up until we arrived, even buying our furniture and appliances and pursuing the water system. It was a little hard to give dollars away when I don’t have an income lined up yet, but at the same time, as Steph said, it seems like Lamar’s have done very well with keeping costs as low as possible, and they have poured so much love into prepping for us that it was a privilege to reimburse them for supplies.
We hope we can serve them in other ways as time goes on.
We played Monopoly Deal. It was everyone else’s first time. Poor Joel was picked on at every turn; he just couldn’t get ahead. I nearly won, but Beulah pulled ahead. It was a fun game.
Now to get some rest.
Juan David 