Today, Saturday is the end of week two. So many changes have happened this week – both in the appearance of the land and in our plans.
The trailer is gone! The buildings are gone. It is amazing to see the changes that 2 weeks has brought.
But so much trash still remains. I think we will still be cleaning 5 years from now. People have used this property as a dump for years. We know that we still have a refrigerator, 2 satellite dishes, 3 TVs, a shower stall, and a washer. Need anything? Bags of rusty tin cans, bags of dirty diapers, glass, bed springs. . . You can tell this is Pam writing and not Noel. I am overwhelmed and don’t even know what to do next. Noel has a vision.
In the last 2 days, Noel has taken 4 trees down and removed the old waterline coming in. He added a toy to his arsenal; she remains unnamed. She belongs to me however; I was informed she is my anniversary present. How romantic – he’s even a couple months early! I hate when she rolls over rocks and feels like she is tipping me over. But I love putting her in high gear, full throttle and barreling down the road at a whopping 5 miles per hour. A girl and her tractor!
And Jimmy and Gloria remain. They have salvaged all the scrap metal which made a huge difference. Jimmy has picked up bucketfuls of glass, and Gloria makes wonderful sweet tea.
Our plans have changed – of course. The shop and house have flipped positions and moved over one lot east. That means my brain that has been envisioning the house has to flipflop and imagine the kitchen where my office used to be. I’m not good at picturing things, so this is more difficult than it might seem. I now have an understanding of where my garden and front yard will be so feel like I can accomplish some good things this week. But first the clean up must continue.
While Noel finds joy in digging out trees with Mini and digging holes and trenches, I’m thrilled to see blooms. I have found my peach trees. I have beautiful flowering quince that I’ve never had before. I found elderberry bushes, and will be planting 10 new blackberry plants tomorrow. I have multiple packs of zinnia seeds because there is no end of places I can throw them.
We have had some visitors over the last 2 weeks. We’ve met several people in the area; they are a friendly group. My parents came to see it; they might think we are a bit crazy. =) Our friends, the Bishops, came to visit, and today the Ahmadzai’s came. Ehsan got to dig with the digger and spin in circles.
This week the shop will begin. A prayer request is that those who need to help will somehow have a spare day so we do not have to wait when Noel is ready. Our concrete guy and the ones who will help with the trusses are booked about two months out. We can’t wait that long, but we’re just a “little” job because Noel is doing a lot of the work. So we are praying to be squeezed in.