Ruins

"Rebuilding the ruins" is my theme for 2023.  Some people choose a word and last year we did - "focus", but this year, for me, it was a phrase.  My phrase comes right out of Scripture.  Over and over since I started re-reading from the beginning, I found myself in Chronicles, Ezra and now Nehemiah and the theme is rebuilding the ruins, over and over.  

This morning as I read in Nehemiah I saw the words, "rebuilt", "restore", "repair" repeated all throughout the chapter.  I circled the words each time I saw them.  Family after family was named, each one restoring the wall in front of them.   They weren't worried about the wall space beside them or down the street, just the wall in front of them.  Focused.  They laid down beams, set doors, bolts and bars.  And, it seems, they just did it, no obvious complaining written down or recorded.

The whole timed I'm reading this, I remember years ago how I was reading in this same area of the Bible and I was struck then how we had purchased "ruins" and how I longed even then to rebuild them.  We literally have a sawmill on our property from the 1930s and I met an old couple a long time ago who knew the property we lived on and said they used to get their wood milled at our place.  You would never know that now.  The buildings were standing when we moved in here and fell down after a major windstorm.  We've always wanted not to rebuild them, but to remove them!  They are kind of an eyesore now.  But the rest of our property is definitely needing rebuilding.

Even as we plan for this and a designer is officially hired and working on an overall plan, we've been watching a hilarious series called Island of Bryan.  This couple from the town near to the one we moved from, bought a dilapidated resort in the Bahamas and attempted to fix it up and bring it back to life.  Right from the beginning we felt we could relate to these people on many levels.  They risked all their financial resources, brought the kids along for the ride whether they liked it or not, went against all the worldly wisdom that told them they were nuts, fought one another and yet were on the same page throughout the experience, went through wild highs and wild lows and yet managed to succeed (though we haven't finished the series, we know from the internet that the resort is open for business!).  We don't quite have the resources they had, but we have lots in common with them, including the drive, the willingness to take on things that make no sense to anyone else, dragging our kids along for the ride, etc.  Our story could have been a mini-series, too, but we didn't document it quite the same way, though if we had it would have been a VERY long show as we've stopped all renovations to plant vines, have babies, homeschool, plant gardens and the list goes on.  But now that we are in the potential renovation stage and we see how much they took on and how much they accomplished (with what seemed like an unlimited budget), we are starting to think our renovation is small!  In fact, this Island of Bryan guy, aka, Bryan, is the one we've sent our application to for his next show which doesn't even have a name.  Now that he's done his own start-up renovation, he realized there are probably other people out there wanting to do a similar start up, but lack the resources and he wants to be the guy to come in and help AND get it done fast.  Man, that's what we want.  Let this be the day he contacts us!!!!

All this to say, there seems to be a theme in our lives and all throughout Scripture.  In fact, I even had my son put on a playlist this week and as I was listening, I saw on the screen the name of the song, "Ruins".  I was immediately curious what it was about and sure enough the lyrics were all about rebuilding, restoring, repairing what has been broken, what has been stolen and that God is the God of repairing the ruins.  I couldn't believe it as I sat there listening to this amazing song.  Lord, you are the God who repairs the ruins.  Can you help us repair ours?  Of course it's a much bigger picture when Scripture speaks of rebuilding the ruins - treasure in heaven, not treasure on earth.  I know this, but I also see our farm as a symbol, a picture of what God can do, what He is doing, so I still pray and I still hope that He'll restore our place, always wanting Him to get the glory, not us.

So, even though I sit among ruins and literally see ruins from my window, I see how slowly but surely God is bringing the ruins back to life and I'm so grateful for these themes in my life and these real life pictures all around me. 

Jan/Feb Recap.....Keeping Records of the Blessings

I'm tracking our year this year.  By that, I mean I want an actual written record that we can look back over on December 31 without everyone sitting around saying, "I can't remember what happened this year!"  So far, it's only February 12 (I can't believe we're midway through February already....) and a lot has happened.

January was the continuation of stained glass classes which are sustaining us on a level we could never have predicted.  The classes keep getting filled up and the people keep buying wine so we are in awe of what God has done with those classes.

Our son did his first set of exams with the school he's attending and we officially signed him up full time for the next semester.  Will we send all of our kids?  I don't think so.  I'm enjoying the Classical Conversations so much that I really think I'll try to go the distance with that program.  

My daughter entered her last semester of her program at the college and began interning with us at the winery.  She is an amazing addition and brings in sales like a pro.  She'll start full-time with us in the Spring.

In a surprise twist, the college wanted RM back teaching at the high number of hours he used to have before they told him he wasn't allowed to teach that many hours....what a joke.  At first we didn't want to take the hours as is was going to impact the winery and classes.  How would he be able to do all the work if he was driving into the college every day, so he gave them his ideal schedule which was to do all his in-class teaching on one day and everything else had to be online.  After a bit of back and forth, they agreed to all his conditions and even upped his pay to compensate for the prep he would need to do.  This amazing turn of events has allowed us to buy a (used) truck to replace our seriously dying truck.  We'll pick it up this week and all of us are so excited.  I have to explain how our old truck is more like a joke truck and why we are so excited.  Our joke truck is a joke for sooooo many reasons:

Only two of the doors really work.  One of them doesn't even have a handle so you have to go around the other side to get in.  There is no a/c.  In fact, not only does it not have a/c, it blows HOT AIR during the summer on your feet only on the driver's side which makes for super fun summer driving.  The driver's side window also didn't open or lock properly, so while the hot air was blowing, you couldn't even roll the window down!  The radio/cd player stopped working ages ago, so no music, no nothing.  The driver's seat was ripped and poking in all the wrong places.  Oh my goodness, I could go on and on except that I won't because this truck taught our kids so much.  Be grateful.  This truck continued to start day after day (well, after many repairs) and it made us so happy.  For 20 years (that's a LOOOONNNG time to have a truck work) it took us and our animals many places more or less safely.  We ran that truck literally into the ground and we drove it to its death basically.  That kind of feels good when you wear a truck out.  We definitely feel we got our money's worth out of it.  It also kind of feels like the sandals in the Israelite desert that never wore out.  Every day when it started, I just said, "Thank you, Lord" and I really meant it!  So now, our new truck is about 7 years old which is basically new to us.  All of us keep joking, "So you mean the windows work?"  "Yes, son....isn't that great?"  "And what about the heat on our feet....?"  "It has a/c."  "What?!"  This truck by most people's standards is still a basic truck, but to us, it's a luxury truck that has all the bells and whistles and by that I mean, locks, tires, chairs, radio......This is why I love living the way we do.  The kids will appreciate this "new" truck on a level most just wouldn't.  We've been double-buckling here and there over the years, because our other Honda also died.  This truck has a seatbelt for all the younger kids....very exciting.  So I'm grateful to the Lord for this as well.  Such a gift.

February brought another strange series of gifts.  We had hoped that we would hear from HGTV in January, but we didn't.  At least not yet.  We then applied for another show that hasn't even come out yet, but haven't heard back from them either.  So then, we sought out a designer/acquaintance from the area because we can't wait to hear from these potential shows when the spring is around the corner and we're getting behind on potential construction windows.  This lady is yet another gift.  Last summer she drove by and stopped her truck packed with adorable two year old twins and a toddler.  They ran around the property while she and I chatted.  Within a few minutes she found out what we were all about and vice versa.  Turns out she has a farmhouse just like ours, but they went ahead and renovated it making it look like my dreamhouse.  We started following her on instagram and she followed us.  As we saw what she was up to we started to think maybe she could be the designer for us.  We had her come over last week and it seems like she just might be the person we need, Lord willing.  The amazing thing is that she is new to doing this for other people.  She works for a builder, but doesn't normally do individual homes, so her pricing isn't as high as it normally would be as she needs us for the experience as well.  It looks like not only will she be designing and giving us a plan for our house, but also for the winery and then ultimately the landscaping, exterior finishes as well.  This isn't because we'll do it all in one year or even five, it's just so that we have a plan and then as we can afford it we'll do phase by phase.  So essentially we're hiring her for the plan.  Will we ever be able to do all that we want?  Only if a miracle happens.  We are working super hard to hopefully be able to do some of her design this summer.  We'll see how far we can get.  It's free to dream.  And there's always monopoly money which I really love using.

This month also saw our first official employee hired besides our kids.  We use them all the time and a lot of the time, it's for free.  What great kids.  Last summer we met a lady at one of our events who has turned out to be such a gift to us.  She can do almost anything we need her for.  If we need a charcuterie box made for our movie nights?  She's the one.  If we need a stained glass assistant instructor?  She's it.  She even does plumbing and has ran a restaurant....she is literally a Jane-of-all-trades.  And, she seems to like working with us and for us and comes whenever we need her.  We're amazed at her willingness to help us and we are so grateful for God's provision again by bringing her into our lives.  So we hired her for our large class yesterday and she was amazing.  Everything finished on time and it went so well.  Everyone was happy with their dragonfly project and we weren't stressed running around trying to help people.  She's open to more work with us and that means RM is freed up to do more winery work as the season is ramping up with farming and so on.  How does one find someone available and talented enough to teach stained glass and who has actually taught it before????  Only God.

So a lot has happened, but one thing we noticed was that in the many blessings we're experiencing, we've also felt privilege to be a part of the blessing for others.  When RM bought the truck last week, he found out it was the first sale for a new guy at the dealership.  We had to be his easiest and best customer because RM knew exactly the truck he wanted.  He had seen it online and literally walked into the dealership and said, "I want that truck".  It had to be the easiest sale of his life and what a great way to start off his new career in sales.  That was fun for RM to help the guy out.  Then, our new designer friend.  She's so excited to be doing this for us as she wanted to get into doing more of this kind of work.  She literally drove into our lives last summer and we could never have predicted what was going to come out of that random visit, but not only does this bless us, but her and her family as well.  Lastly, our new stained glass instructor.  She is a busy lady, but a lonely one.  We're hoping over time that we'll get to know her better and that by God's grace we can share Christ with her and these other people who are in our lives.  In each case, we were able to bless these people financially which is never the case with us.  We are usually the ones needing the financial blessing.....what an amazing turn of events to be able to do it for others.  Thank you, Lord.

So we're only 6 weeks into the year and already I'm in awe of what God has done.  I keep lifting the year up....so much more has happened, but I could be here all day.