Don’t you just hate when spiders make you think they can think? I opened the front door the other night, and a huge black spider darted away from the welcome mat as if he was trying to sneak in and he had been caught red handed! He made it to the grass before I could kill him, but I almost feel like he deserved to live. I’ve never seen a spider move so intentionally.
Who is sick of hearing about spiders? ME TOO!
In other news, things are moving right along. I’m actually sitting in my most favorite rocking chair right now, and it is IN THE HOUSE- praise Jesus- and my feet are on a beautiful cream colored Pottery Barn rug. Yes, that means that we have SOME furniture in the house! That, in and of itself, is exciting stuff! And as we sold most every piece of furniture we owned on the Nevada side of this equation, we’ve been scouring Facebook marketplace- a brilliant invention- for refurbished pieces to make our house a home.
I’ve decided that the couch we went to Alabama to get and brought home soaking wet, isn’t what I want for this room. So Thomas is humoring me while I have it back up on Facebook marketplace for sale- yes for the same price I bought it for- and we’re headed up to Columbia tomorrow to visit some furniture stores. We went to see two other couches second hand, and it’s just not worth the money to deal with semi to very damaged furniture.
However, the coffee table and end table that I picked up- beautiful antique pieces that were repurposed- are amazing and exactly what I love about Facebook marketplace. We’re picking up a night stand and a dresser tomorrow. And the lovely rug under my feet was a $75 find up near Nashville. #winning
So the inside is coming together, even though it still feels like we have at least 349 more hours of painting left. It’s amazing how much trim there is in any given house, and it’s amazing how tedious trim painting can be. But every wall is the basic color it will be once it’s second coated and cut in and all that fun. So we can really see how it’s all going to look. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much Pinterest really does make a difference in these matters.
In terms of adventure, we flipped a breaker in the shop by plugging our trailer in- yes, we’re still living in our trailer in the front yard because we’re just that classy- and apparently running the air conditioner and the microwave at the same time is frowned upon.
After a lot of poking around, Thomas couldn’t figure out which breaker was the right breaker, so we plugged the camper into the pump house instead, and moved on while adding the shop breaker to the endless list of things to address here at Shalom Farm.
That would have been fine and dandy, except that apparently the sup pump (who has ever heard of that?) in the root cellar under the shop is connected to that breaker that we flipped, and when it rains- as it often does- the cellar floods. And the only way you figure this out, is when you go in to bug bomb it and discover several inches of water at the bottom of the stairs.
And that, my friends, is how things climb the priority list.
Don’t worry, nothing of value is down there yet, and nothing was damaged and everything is now up and running again so another lesson learned without too much natural consequence. But alas, the adventure continues…
We finished the pantry and it’s looking- and working- beautifully. That thing is now so patched and sealed that I would dare a brown recluse to even try to find a way in (except I don’t dare spiders- it’s dangerous).
Thomas mowed a nice big path around the back 40 acres so that we could take a nice big walk around our property at night. It was a perfect idea, and we absolutely loved the ONE walk we’ve taken so far. You see, we want to build our dream home back there and so it was amazing to get to see the land and start to figure out how and where we’ll position it and which way it will face and how the driveway will get to it. The light was absolutely beautiful. The kids were having a blast. The dogs were running through the tall grass, just completely joyful, and we were just so completely grateful to God for this blessing.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… when God shows up big, so does the enemy. We had this beautiful walk with God that night, really feeling connected and blessed and inspired, and then we come back to the house, get in the bath, and discover… ticks.
Yes, ticks. Son of a…
All said and done, Cadence had two, I had one, Ba had one, Ruger (the dog) had two and Harper (the other dog) had five! GROSS! Like SO gross. And so began my research of ticks and all the diseases they may or may not carry.
But thank God for Pamela- the former owner- because she is constantly available, she shoots it too me straight so I can do my research and get the information, but she also manages to somehow quiet my fear. Fear is there, certainly, but it’s a liar, right?
I’ll tell you what I told her: I hardly think God brought us all the way out to Tennessee to kill us off with some tick disease, but if He did, well then that’s His plan. Not much I can do about it either way! So although I’m definitely not a fan of ticks, we now know what dog collars we need to prevent them and what clothing and bug spray we need to keep them off, and even how to remove them should all else fail. So you could say there are blessings in everything.
Out in the garden, we’ve began collecting and drying lavender. It’s beautiful out there, but even more beautiful in my kitchen, and the smell doesn’t hurt either. That’s kind of exciting. I’m sure lavender has a lot of purposes, and one day we’ll absolutely know those things, but for now- smelling good and looking pretty are working well.
Facebook reminded me today that 10 years ago I became friends with Thomas on facebook. 10 years ago, this crazy journey to the farm began. I saw that he was single, I was moving home from San Diego and I thought… I should absolutely be friends with Thomas Cunningham. You’re right facebook!
I had a wedding dress a month later and almost exactly one year after that, I was Mrs. Cunningham. We knew like we knew like we knew. I haven’t been so sure of a lot of things before him, but I’ve been dang certain of most things ever since. And as we near our 9 year wedding anniversary here on the farm- just 4 days away- I can’t help but smile and think, “what a beautiful life.”
We started out just two kids who were madly in love, with deep mutual respect, and a big fat dream of a life that we had no idea how we’d ever have.
And here we are.
Having the life.
God is good. God is faithful. And I’m grateful.