The Greenup Family

Things had been a little rough there for a while, but God really came through this week.

• Michele’s pre-term labor subsided, and she was able to come off of near total bedrest
• Work actually started on the framing of the house
• My project at work had been going in a really bad way, but suddenly, the whole thing was thrown in the trash, and we were sent back to square one. In this case, that wasn’t so bad.
• Grandma Bee’s surgery on her possible cancer went smoothly, and she started on a quick road to recovery
• Greer started sleeping through the night. (not coming into our room at 3:00)
• The whole family is moderately healthy; which lately seems rare
• A severe problem we thought we were having with one of our subcontractors turned out to be a small miscommunication
• We learned that our next addition looks like a boy

Overall, it was so good that it actually worried me a little, wondering if I was being set up… But I remembered that God REALLY LOVES me, and wants to give me Good things, and not all of those are nasty life lessons about growing my character.

Most, maybe, because that’s what He cares about most, but not all.

Some times a pattern is so thin, you’ve just got to wonder if it is there at all, but it can still be fun to play with. I tripped across this pattern today while browsing on another topic:
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“the Hebrew word for man is ish, spelled aleph, yod, shin. Remove the yod and you have aleph, shin or esh, meaning fire. The Hebrew word for woman is ishah, spelled aleph, shin heh. Remove the heh and, once again, you have esh, meaning fire.
From this we learn that there is a consuming fire in the heart of every man and woman. When they marry, two fires are brought together that are capable of destroying whole worlds, if not properly tended. To quench that fire is impossible – for it generates the life of the world. But to leave the fire as is, is also impossible for it generates evil as well.
What did G-d do? He placed one of the letters of His name, the first letter of the Divine Name, yod, between the aleph and the shin to make the Hebrew name for “man”. And He took the second letter of the Divine Name, the heh, and placed it after the aleph and the shin to make the Hebrew word for “woman.” In that way, both man and woman retain in their names the word “fire,” but when they marry, the Divine Presence dwells in their midst, in the combination of their names.
Wherever G-d’s presence dwells, that fire gives warmth and heat, but it does not devour and consume. If husband and wife do not make the Divine Presence unwelcome, its blessing rests on the work of their hands and they become as partners in the act of Divine creation. But if they make the Presence unwelcome so that it does not dwell in their midst they are left only with two consuming fires.
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Did God intentially make this pattern, or is it a side effect of something else He was trying to do? He’s so good, it could be both a side effect and still a primary purpose. Fun to speculate on.

My foundation guy disappeared on Monday. He had warned me that one of his workers was having a baby soon, and that could have an effect on his delivery; still, I became increasingly uncomfortable about his failure to return my calls. By Thursday, with no contact of any kind (despite several voicemails); I was frustrated and concerned. Did my foundation guy DIE? If not, when will he come back?

This was particularly a big comedown from the panic and excitement of the previous week, when we had been in an insane hurry trying to get everything set up so the foundation guy could come in. Going from that level of activity to a dead stop, with the perceived threat of dropping temperatures stopping us for the winter.

Now, I’m sure there are ways of overcoming the winter, but I also confident that they are not excellent answers, and that they cost a lot. Also, I have pressure in the form of a 1-year construction limit from the homeowners association.

Finally, I got word that recent violent winds had damaged his other project, and he had to wait for an insurance adjustor, and also perform some rework that would mean that he wouldn’t be able to come back to my project until Tuesday after Thanksgiving. (another week and a half)

My trust in my foundation person was shaken; this was a terrible setback, and with the weather, what other consequences would it have? I considered my options closely. Should I try to get someone else in, who could actually deliver? What other resources were available to me? What were the cost and time implications for those alternatives?

A call to my UBuildit rep was unhelpful. They didn’t have any alternatives; at this time, this is their only ICF contractor. It seemed that God wanted me to work on my patience and trust some more. “Unless the LORD builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.” I resigned myself to His timeline, trusting that He would take care of things, even if it wasn’t the way I would have preferred.

Just in time; the foundation guy called back to tell me it was worse than previously projected, he wouldn’t be able to come back until the first week of December. He also pointed out that I shouldn’t be blaming him for the delays, as they were things beyond his control. He did concede that it was poor of him to fail to communicate for so long, but pointed out that I had provided my share of trouble to the project. He hadn’t been getting project schedule information he wanted, the excavator had failed to remove his equipment, and the markings that I had laid out for where the house was supposed to go were incorrect, requiring him to reset half a day’s worth of work.

That’s when the framing guy was supposed to come. If the the framing guy had to delay a week waiting for the foundation guy to get the foundations laid, would he move on to another job, rather than waste time being unbillable? Fortunately God had given me peace and faith, and I had finally gotten around to accepting them.

HE will provide for us, and build our house.

Praise the LORD!

For the last month or so, I have been praying:

“Lord, as in the days of Elijah, when he prayed for rain, and You drenched the land, pour out your blessings on our land.  We don’t need precipitation, but we do need help with our building.  After Elijah had prayed, You gave him strength to run down the moutain faster than the king’s chariot, proclaiming Your power and might.  In the same way, may our building project glorify Your Name, so that all that look at it know that YOU were the power behind it.

The run down the mountain has begun.

Today was an important day; or at least I have been thinking so. Today was the day that we met with our building consultants to do our cost-out. The purpose of this was to discuss all of the bids and estimates on all of the parts of our house to see if we were going to be able to build it. I had been dreading the results, since our initial estimates had shown that our house would probably cost $HUUUGE_BIGNUM and our banker had said that we could only borrow $BIGNUM. Now, in the mean time, we had come up with some additional resources that the banker said we could dip into without trouble (Borrowing from my 401K and IRA) but even the projected base mortgage payments are going to be tough. (twice as big as our current rent/housing costs)

We made it through our meeting. The initial total was as bad as the estimates had predicted, $HUUUGE_BIGNUM. Since max available cash came in at about $REALLY_BIGNUM, we had to find ## THOUSAND DOLLARS to cut out of the plan, despite being pretty careful throughout the planning stages. We managed to do it, first try! I’m not very happy with some of the changes we had to make, like for instance eliminating the insulation under the basement slab, (I am concerned that this change will make it uncomfortable to lounge around in the basement… Someplace I REALLY want to be comfortable) but cuts had to be made. It’s too bad most of the things we cut weren’t “late” things, that we could keep if the budget seems to be going better than anticipated.

After the meeting, at home, I was still hyper/stressed. I was amazed that we had “made it”, to a possible configuration, but also concerned about the steps necessary to accomplish it, like the huge payments. In all of the preparations for building, I have been trying to strengthen/use my faith; it’s not something that comes naturally to me, but without faith it is impossible to please God, so I’ve been trying. After Michele went to her meeting this evening, I noticed that I was still worried about these things, so I realized that I needed to focus more on God and less on this silly stuff, and picked up my bible and opened randomly… to Ecclesiastes 6. It was so good; I praise the LORD for these times when I need Him, and he provides insight for my troubles. The quick summary is this: Enjoy your blessings. Woe is the man who has many, yet doesn’t.

The complete section: (Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:6)

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him — for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work — this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God kees him occupied with gladness of heart. I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

A man may have a hundred children and live many years, yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man — even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
(ok, maybe a little bit of that is “ignorance is bliss, but it’s a gift of God”. Oh well, sounds good to me.)

Praise the LORD!!!