Under "Re"-construction

I've been noticing a theme recently regarding this whole move to Columbus, IN. Though it sounded like God was up to something completely new in our lives and writing a new song on our hearts, just like the name of the ministry He called me to, I'm realizing that it's not about doing something new. It's about making all things new, taking what already was, reconstructing and enhancing it, until it becomes new again. The old is still there, it will just be better.

It's kind-of an exciting, adventurous twist, but it takes a lot of patience and faith in the process. Though I've been here for two and a half months now, I still feel so unsettled. I'm back to living in a camper, with some of my stuff in my house, some stuff in the camper, most of my things are in storage about 20 minutes away,  and still a few more of my things are at New Song with me in my classroom. Some of my clothes are in a big bin in the camper (but definitely wrinkled), some clothes are hanging in a closet in the cat room (and have taken on the "smell" of an old house), some are in boxes, some are in suitcases in the back of my car, and some are still sitting in storage. Life is definitely scattered, which explains my current difficulty in concentrating. 

My kitchen has no sink in it currently, since Mike and Matt pulled out the rotting sink cabinet to build a new one and fix the wall behind it, so we have to wash dishes either in the little camper sink or in the bathroom. My main fridge is still in storage, so any groceries I buy are only on a week to week basis because they have to fit into two mini fridges. We threw out the old disgusting stove and picked out a new one, but we haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, so we're doing all of our cooking out of a microwave/oven in the camper. Lots of ready-made items for us, which saves time and effort on cooking, but isn't always the most cost-effective. (To be honest, though, we seem to be eating a whole lot less now, too.) The AC is not working in the camper, so when the temps are above 65 or 70, ants come out like vultures if I leave a single crumb out anywhere. 

We're in the process of working on rebuilding/reinforcing the basement walls--something Mike and his brothers are experienced in doing, so this last weekend brought a lot of digging and left a lot of mud and huge dirt piles in the driveway. Which means a lot of mud gets tracked into both the camper and the house. Thank goodness there's no rain forecasted for awhile. 

I'm a linear thinker and tend to be very narrow-focused, so it's hard for me to start a project and not see it to completion before starting a new one. My husband is quite the opposite, as he's got projects going on all over the place, and he just jumps between them all depending on his time, his mood, his energy, or the weather. Since most of the house remodeling is his specialty, guess what that means? I just bite my tongue and smile, saying "Thank you for all of your hard work." Though inside I'm cringing that little gets done to completion. It's hard to get momentum going when you're always overwhelmed--until I take the time to count all the things going on and all the progress on each one. I'm trying my hardest to look around and find things to appreciate every day. 

So for now, New Song will be my "clean" haven to go to, where I'm thankful to spend at least 8 hours each day. 

On that note, New Song is also in a period of reset and re-construction. Though the buildings are all finished and look great, the ministry is in a period of transition and enhancement. At a time when the campus is usually full of life, activity, and energy, it sits quietly on most days with very little noise other than meetings and zoom calls going on at the main house. 

We're still waiting on God to reveal the new houseparents He's going to bring to us, with a few prospects still chewing on the possibilities, while trying to work it out logistically. Our prayer is that they'll just know when God calls them and won't be able to resist because the calling is so strong. Like Peter and Andrew did when Jesus called them--they just dropped their nets and followed. He did it with me, so I have no doubt that He's in the process of calling them now. All I can say is, despite how unexpected the opportunity arose, I have felt 100% at home since the day I arrived on campus. Like God literally prepared a place just for me. 

My team is amazing. We spend a lot of time just talking, connecting, and praying together. I work with a 25-year-old teammate who's known God called her to work in missions for as long as she can remember. We both have traveled and lived abroad, and I've been able to listen and understand her current period of readjustment to our own culture and society. We connect easily and really get each other on a spiritual level. I couldn't ask for a better teammate to work with. 

I have one student, whom I have absolutely fallen in love with, but we communicate through a computer screen each day for now. We start our mornings by playing some kind of ice-breaker game to get to know each other more, then we read a biography or autobiography of someone who demonstrated godly leadership, I pray over him, and then he works on his own and lets me know when he needs help. He's a great kid and works hard (usually, unless he's hungry or out of his normal routine), but he's lonely. For the most part, I'm the only interaction he has with anybody all day, all week, besides his mom and older adult brother. I take that very seriously and am humbled that God thought of me to be that teacher in his life. My heart hurts for him, and he's longing to be back on campus where all the life is. When I'm praying for God to bring houseparents, my prayer is also for my little student and the waiting list of more students than New Song has ever had waiting. By the time we get houseparents, we may end up with the largest class ever here at New Song so far. Which I guess is why this "lull" on campus is so important right now so we can be prepared to offer the most enhanced New Song Leadership Academy that we can. God's up to something.

In the last 6 weeks or so, we've revised and rewritten New Song's mission statement, developed a mission statement for the new New Song Leadership Academy, worked on writing or purchasing curriculum for a Spanish class, a leadership class, an Econ class, and a Bible class. We've worked on strengthening relationships with another organization that works with families and sends the kids to our camps (which opens the door for them to come to our school). And we're not preparing for a Mom's spiritual retreat here on our campus in the end of October. I'm really looking forward to blessing the moms through that upcoming event. Most of them come from Indianapolis, so giving them a chance to get out of the city and spend a few hours on our peaceful campus will be so refreshing and rejuvenating to them. Just one step onto this campus and you'd understand. 

Though I do look forward to actually teaching a class again, I can't say I'm not appreciating every second of this time to prepare. I could have been back in Garland today, preparing for or analyzing meaningless test scores that take more away from teaching than anything. But instead, I sat in a quiet room, listening to quiet music, watching a quiet fireplace, while creating a prayer walk activity for the mom's retreat. 

In addition to the house re-construction and the New Song re-set, I'm excited to finally start developing some community outside of my work. I plan on attending an upcoming women's night at my new church, where they say we'll be gathering around the campfire to sing and fellowship together. I have only met a few ladies so far and don't really know any of them, so this will be a new start for me. Then Monday night the ladies' Bible study starts, so I am looking forward to getting involved in that and studying the book of Jonah together. I am also starting to mentor another young woman in her mid-twenties that I go to church with. Women's ministry is one of my passions, especially Bible study, so building that community and finding ways to serve in this area fill me with a lot of hope and purpose. I've really been missing my Bible study community that I left behind in Texas. 

Well, I think I've taken enough time writing this post for the evening. There's a paintbrush and a can of primer calling my name inside.  

Stay tuned on all this re-construction going on. 

He makes all things new

Moving home

Celebratory lunch together on September 9th, right after we closed on our new property. I say property because the house on it won't feel like home for a while yet.  In fact, we're not even living it. We're living in my mother-in-law's camper on the property right behind the house, just going in to take care of the cats who are barricaded in one room and the bathroom right beside it. Both the house and the property have been pretty neglected and need quite a bit of TLC. But thankfully Mike and Matt and Matt's father-in-law run a business for just this sort of thing, so I'm trusting in their vision and hoping the main things won't take too terribly long. I can say, though, that I can see a whole different side of Mike come out here already, seeing how much he needed space to move, breathe, work outside, and just play around. And space is definitely going to be our new friend here, at least outside of the house. 

We've only had possession of the house for four days, and we've already accomplished a LOT. Here are a few pics. 

The first thing I wanted to do was rip all those ugly bushes out. Not just trim them, but get them out of there. 

The second thing I wanted to do was paint over that hideous green wall. 

And that yellow and red kitchen. 

Mike couldn't wait to tear down that old chicken coop.

And we couldn't wait to get that first fire going to start throwing everything left on the property on it. They had cleaned a bunch out, but we've found so many things buried in the brush and vines on the land they had neglected for quite a while.

Who knows how long this swingset has been there, but the vines have completely taken over it and have it trapped now. 

My nephews were pretty excited about the treasures they found, including a Lightning McQueen car, a dump truck, and a Razor scooter. 

Matt and Chrissy showed up with dinner the first evening so we could enjoy exploring the property together. Then they came right back over the next day with tools in hand to get to work. 

First ride up one of the trails to find where our property ends and where the neighbor's begins. 

Just one of the junk tractors found buried in the brush. 

Coming back from that first ride.

Meeting the neighbor on the second ride, who showed them where the property lines were and how to find them. 

Chrissy's boys having a little fun on the trampoline left on the property (the one that is going to disappear very soon either by selling it or burning it!)

Mike and Matt finding the spot that marks where the property ends.

The purple flowers that mark the property line, at least for now. 

Walking back to the house. Our property is on the left from about where I am to take the picture all the way to the top of the hill past their heads. 

The dry-for-now creek that runs on our side of the street. At this point there are no trails leading to it, but we'll clear a trail sometime soon.

The creek that runs on the other side of the street across from our driveway.

A new way to relax in the evenings, (and keep up with all the clean up around here) at least while the temps are nice and it's not too wet or cold.

Another find as Mike was cutting through the vines and clearing more land behind the shed. They chained it to the truck and pulled it right out of there. An old John Deere tractor that I'm sure they'll fix up and get running again someday. 

We went back to New Song to sleep on Friday night, but Saturday afternoon we packed everything up, cats and all, and drove to our new "home". I can't say I'm excited to live back in a camper and to leave our beautiful accomodations at New Song, but it does feel nice to know we're parked at home now and won't be moving to any new locations besides inside the house. 

Little 5 year old Wes came over on Saturday ready to work. Chrissy was ready to help me tear that kitchen apart so we can start the painting and remodeling as soon as possible!

Mike and I went out Sunday to start picking out different cabinet doors, sinks, counter tops, and appliances that we liked. Matt decided that we probably should tackle the kitchen first since it's the first room you walk into in the house. I agree. It will help me see their vision and not feel so overwhelmed at the rest of the house.

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Just another old junk tractor found buried in the brush. 

There sure are a lot of places to play around on the four wheelers here. 

Wes just decided he wanted to hang out on the rock crawler to finish eating his chips after dinner. 

Within 24 hours after we took possession, we got all those ugly bushes yanked out!

Wow! You can actually see the house! I have visions of a nice, wrap-around deck eventually. We'll see if that will happen yet this fall between all the other projects. First we need to tackle those windows and the ugly pink door. Yes, I did say pink. 

Monday night it rained, so we got busy putting primer on the walls in the kitchen. It was so satisfying to see that green, yellow, and red start to disappear!

As you can see, we've got our hands full with lots of projects going on. But it's definitely a satisfying feeling to see things get accomplished every day. The chicken coop got torn down already and now is a covered area to park my nephew's four wheelers. Mike has cleared a bunch of land around the shed/campfire area. We've burned a lot of brush, old logs laying around, and trash. We're hoping to be living in the house within 6-8 weeks, a house that my brother and sister-in-law tell me is going to look and feel completely different. Since this is what Matt does for a living, I trust him. I'm not going to say I'm not overwhelmed, though. This is way out of my comfort zone.

But the cutest comment of all was on Saturday evening, a day after we took possession of the house, when my little nephew said, "This house already looks so much better than when we bought it!" I guess it really is a family project, and WE are all in this together. Stay tuned.