This morning, when I sat down to do my morning devotions, I felt drawn to start reading the book of James. I got to the above verses, and I thought to myself, "Although I know this is true, I really don't feel like I am in any trials right now." And then I remembered that my day was just beginning, and I never can know what will come about.
I finished up my "the kids are still in bed" time with a bit of exercise, a shower, and some breakfast.
About 8:30 we got a call from our builder. The project that he was supposed to be starting wasn't quite prepared for him. He wanted to know if he could dig the holes for our posts today. Of course we were thrilled and said, "Yes!" We hurried to finish getting the kids ready, and we were in the truck to meet the builder by 9:05.
When we got to the farm, we went over the building plans once more and then let them get to work. After a quick pass to greet the pigs, we headed back home.
Once home, I cleaned up the house a bit after our rushed morning, had lunch with the kids and Ethan, laid Caleb and Hannah down for their naps, and then started making some more final phone calls about the building project and electrical set up - which has been quite the ordeal in itself, but it is coming along.
Not too long later, we got a call from our realtor. There was someone who wanted to walk through the house at 7:00 tonight. Although it would be another rush time to get the house and youth center cleaned up, Ethan and I were quite excited again. This showing was a second walk through, with someone wanting to show their husband and in-laws the house.
So Ethan and I got the place shined up and then went to McDonalds with the kids so the house could be shown. We decided to also head out to the farm to see the holes that had been dug for the posts. It had been quite an exciting day, building started sooner than we thought and someone interested in the house enough that they wanted to see it a second time.
As we were driving out to the house, we were wondering if our builder was going to continue our project through or if he was just digging holes to fill a day while waiting for the other project to prepare their site.
Our question was soon answered as we pulled onto our property. All of the posts and lumber for our building had been delivered. It was an incredible feeling to see the framework of our house sitting right in front of us. But that is where the evening changes a bit.
I hopped out of the truck to notice that the posts that were delivered were not what we had in our contract. These were solid wood posts, not laminated - which do not warp or twist. I tried to not get too discouraged and walked around enjoying seeing all of the holes dug that outlined our house and showed where the posts would go. I figured I would try to talk to the builder in the morning and deal with it then. After all, it had been a pretty exciting day, and we did have our house being started.
Not much longer though, I heard my husband talking to his dad on the phone followed by hearing, "I have to go." Our new boar was gone. Out of the pen. Gone.
I loaded up the kids and started driving around the roads looking in fields. Ethan was on the tractor checking our property. After a bit of searching, Ethan found the boar. On our land. Dead.
The best we can determine is that he got spooked either by the construction going on or the flat bed that delivered the lumber for the house. He went nuts in his pen, got his nose under the heavy cattle panel fence, and started bending and peeling it up. Then he was off. We really don't know the rest of the story. Maybe dehydration, a heart attack? We didn't see any signs of any other problems on the road or anywhere. We are praying that no calls will come in of problems either, even though we have no visual reason to believe there were.
So Ethan got on his tractor to move the boar while I repaired the fence as best as I could. (Thankfully the boar was separated by himself and no other pigs got out.)
As we started to head back home well past bedtime, and potty time, both kids had to go potty. Unfortunately, there was a lightening storm coming and neither wanted to try outside, even with a portable potty. So on the way home we ended up with a wet car seat to complete our evening.
When you have such a shift in emotions in your day, it isn't easy to keep a level head. Thankfully, my 7:00 am lesson popped into my head.
Facing trials . . . testing faith . . . perseverance.
I am not always a victor in this, but tonight I am happy to say that our children saw Mommy and Daddy deal with an evening turned discouraging in a way that I would like to see them deal with one. I'm sure that there will be many more that will come on our farming journey.
I am also sure that God is faithful and good in all things. I was reminded of that lesson just a few days earlier.
3 comments:
Wow...what a day! It's amazing how He equips us for what we need when we stay in His word.
Great picture!
That you for the post. Rough day and I am sure that losing the boar hurts after just paying money for him.
But boy does that picture show a promise of the future.
Thanks. Yeah, losing the boar does hurt a bit, but thankfully he was only $150. We can deal with that. Now if it was the Dexter Bull, or one of the cows even - that would have really hurt the pocket book. As long as we don't have any liability issues pop up with this, $150 is bearable.
The hardest thing with losing the boar is that it was a Tamworth. These are a threatened breed, and Ethan has looked for months to find one close by. Most are out east. So although it will be easy to financially replace him, it will be quite hard to find one. (The piglets are a cross, so we can't raise up one of them.)
We will still enjoy giving the pastured piggies a try, and hopefully we will be able to locate a boar again to have another litter in the not too distant future.
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