Breakdown or Blessing?

Life is busy for us.  I, the mom, now work.  I used to stay at home serving only MY FAMILY.  MY husband, MY kids; that was all I had to concern myself with. (Our kids are now 13, 16, 18 and 20) We are also involved with an organization that works with youth 2 nights a week, another new endeavor. Sometimes it seems like there isn't a spare moment to even think.  Life has changed!  As you can imagine, this has rearranged how I approach home schooling.  There is a lot of stop and go and not a lot of smoothness, one day flowing nicely into the next.  This has really put many hurdles in my path, I've needed the grace of God in ways I've never needed before.  This is always good though. 

When I plan my home school year, I always over plan.  I set the bar so high, with so many expectations and things to get done, books to make it through.  I've always had this "disease".  I set myself up for a sort of "failure".  In the end, I find that it's really not a failure at all.  The fact is, I succumb to the pressure that comes with rules set by others.  Some of them are necessary, some of them are foolish and unreasonable.  My homeschool year many times only resembles that plan of action I submit at the beginning of each year.  This is all ok, trust me.  They always make more progress than I "planned".  God is a much better planner.

Are you wondering what's up with the title?  Well, we've had a lot of BREAKDOWNS and I'm seeing them as a home school BLESSING, maybe even a PROVISION.  Totally NOT in the lesson plan, but priceless!  Valuable hands on learning!

This is a clutch

this is a rear end

I think Sam is in here waiting for the action on this job.

Bryan is in a tractor here, new for him.

This isn't a breakdown, but a jobsite that dad needed help with.  So Andy is in the ditch putting pipe together.

This is a ring and pinion, which goes in the rear differential.  Did you know that?

Here it is up close, you can see that this in not normal.

Here is another shot of the rear differential, or rear end, or rear "diff".

Andy says in the last 6 months they have put in :

• 3 clutches
• 2 head gaskets
• 2 transmissions
• 2 rear ends
• 2 sets of ball joints
• 1 turbo
• 2 alternaters
• 1 voltage regulator
• 1 water pump  
• trouble shooting battery problems

I don't think this even begins to cover the great hands on learning that has come up with all these breakdowns and business work!  It's been great.  This is shop class on steroids! 

These boys are going to know how to fix anything!



THE END

Bringing you all up to date......



Ok, so I made it through that last hoop, after receiving a nerve transplant from Jesus.  I would come to find out that I would need a couple more (at least) of those 'nerve transplants'.  I've never been so nervous, so much, in such a compressed amount of time ever!  I thought I would just be sick a couple of times.  But all you can do is jump in and do what's expected of you.  All I can say is:  Be nice to your mail carrier!  It's harder than it looks.  There is a lot to remember on serveral levels and a huge pressure to get done by a certain time.  It seems down right impossible at first.  I truly did not know how I was going to be able to do it.  But low and behold, last Tuesday, I finished the whole route alone for the first time.  There were many things in my favor, like light mail and no certified letters (I don't like those things, they eat up my time) and not as many packages as the day before.  So all that helped, but I got done around 3:30 pm!  This was pretty morale boosting.  This Saturday I work again, so it will likely be more challenging.  I will have no help casing, which is putting the mail in the right order, at all.  I'm not very proficient at this part yet.  But I do feel that I'm almost 'out of the woods'.  So, all is well, but looking forward to it being a little better.  I'm still in one piece.   

One More Hoop

Tomorrow morning I have one more hoop to jump through!  I shall have a training course driving one of these around for part of the day and then a *test*?????  Oh my.  So, then it will be on to 3 days in a row of on the job training with another person.  And then, I believe, they finally cut me loose on my own.  Exciting and nerve racking all at once.  Someone pinch me, I still think I'm dreaming. 

Big bummer (not the same one) and yes, some blessings too.

Yes, two weeks ago I did post about another big bummer.  Yesterday our plumbing really gave us some big grief! I left the house with a clogged kitchen drain and came home to the sink filled to the brim with black water.  ew.  We then went out to eat because the kitchen was well, not very usable at the moment.  When we came back an hour or two later, there was water all over the floor because it had back down through the dishwasher.  (which is still broken) So, as things would be, I took a little breather from the great whole house makeover this fine Saturday morning (interrumpted by plumbing troubles) to tell the world about our woas and the neighbor shouts over the fence that she has another lamp for me!  Oh, and it's the cutest one yet.  You see she has given me  five lamps now!  I'm really rich with lamps.  She's de-junking her house and I'm re-junking  benefiting.  The flashligh in the first picture means it was almost time for bed. The other small one shows a very clogged pipe, which explains why our sink has drained VERY slow for years now.  I guess it was just a matter of time....

  

Now for those little blessings........the top photo is the latest lamp gift.  The others are ones I have gotten from the same neighbor in the past week or so.  I'll be hunting for a shade for that one.  I have been wanting a stand lamp for a while now, so I was especially thrilled about that one.  The others need a makeover.  Share any ideas.  I think the tall, skinny, plain one could be a really big candle stick.

and the others....................

ok, now back to work.  Focus......

painting for the neighbor

Right now Sam and I are painting the neighbor's house. I am very tired and very sore! But we are making money, so that is good. I think it's good for any kid to be part of a LOOOONG project like this. (It's really all de'ja'vue because we just did this on our own house just last summer!) It's good to work and make money! Of course, money isn't everything. We are ready to paint a large portion of our first side, a good milestone. The neighbor seems pleased and might just let us paint the whole thing! Oh man. Am I up for that? There's no pressure, just a neighbor that's glad we are here and available and she does not want us to move away at all or anytime soon. We are using an extension ladder and scaffolding, which I am really glad we have. On an extension ladder it seems like you have to strain every muscle to keep your balance while you shake around scraping and painting. The scaffold is better, you can relax. I have bruises on my legs from leaning onto a ladder for so long, owie. We are taking a break for the weekend and then back to work on Monday. work work work. So, that's where we are spending a lot of our time these days and will be for another month or so. Well, I'll have to go now, I'm making Saturday morning brunch, which is going to end up being right at lunch time, and I have a cake to make for tomorrow.

CANOE 2

A few days ago I did some more work on my canoe. As you can see from the pictures all I need to do is paint the wood and put on the canvas and paint it. Then I will be done.

LOOKING GOOD

"It'll get worse before it gets better" seems to fit this scenario well. But things are looking pretty good as long as you keep your eyes up and not on the ground at all the trash and debri. So, in a couple more days guess what, it will be back to painting!!!!

School IS in session

Whew, I was worried I wasn't going to get started on time with schooling! This will be one of our 'occupation oriented elective' classes. Doesn't this look like class to you? Part of our roof is very steep, so using harnesses was a must. So hey, if your worried about your kids' safety, why not just tie them to a tree? What a mess this is making. I will be really glad when this is all said and done. Well, I shall leave you for now, I believe my paint brush is thawed out. I freeze my oil paint brushes between coats. I need to get that second coat on the front door. It is taking forever to dry in these humid conditions. What do you think of the cranberry red door? We shall see.....I happened to have an unopened quart from a project years ago. stay tuned.........

PROGRESS AT HOME

Well, I thought I would just post some pictures of the painting that we are doing. We are over half done and having a break from it today. Here are some pictures. So, what do you think so far?

EXCUSING OUR ABSENCE

Well guys, we have been working on painting the town house after a bad hail storm came through town. We are nearly done with 2 sides now and plan to also replace the roof. work, work, work.....We will post more pictures later, it will be beautiful when we are done and then maybe someone will buy it!