Discovering New Realities / Dismantling Old Phobias

From Les

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPEDITIONS AND JOURNEYS

     I’ve never been a history buff.   In fact, I always hated history in high school and college because I was a dysfunctional reader, and my grades in those subjects reflected that.   Last year I guess I had an out-of-body experience when I actually went to the bookstore and bought a book on a history subject. (Remember, it’s never too late for a new adventure). J The book was “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose follows the daily journal entries of the Lewis and Clark expedition, detailing the scenery with its flora and fauna, friendly and hostile encounters, hurdles and challenges, disappointments and surprises, achievements and costly miscalculations.   In the end, I have a better appreciation for the word “expedition” and how it is under-used while the term “journey” is so over-used.

     Journeys are like what people used to do, sailing the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary on a month long vacation to Europe. For the most part, everything was fairly predictable . . . you’d be staying in various hotels or homes, dining in restaurants and cafes, touring the sights and attractions, and grabbing some souvenirs for your knick-knack shelf back home.  Meanwhile, expeditions are anything but predictable in that they usually set out with a poorly defined route, combined with inherent dangers along the way. Every day becomes a challenge of survival as you endeavor to reach a certain destination, not knowing where to find adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care. You have no map to follow because you’re actually doing the mapping, and others will be able to “journey” toward the same destination because of what you’ve learned and discovered. That’s an expedition.

FORWARD MOTION

     In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became the 3^rd President of the United States, he was perhaps the most intelligent man of his time given the spectrum of his knowledge that came from his insatiable hunger to learn. His personal library was the most extensive of any known to exist at the time, and the envy of the scholastic world. For the most part, he had become a self- taught authority on all of the known sciences of biology, botany, geography, cartography, physics, medicine and astronomy, while at the same time being a connoisseur of literature and philosophy.

     His wealth was earned as a Virginia tobacco farmer, and he knew by his trade the necessity and advantages expanding his borders and perpetually acquiring more land, since the nature of tobacco growing meant the repetitive depletion of the soil. In his opinion, one could never have enough land – that status quo meant certain ruin, and what our young country needed was a step forward to explore and possess that mysterious frontier west of the Mississippi.

     Jefferson had no advocates in Washington, for he alone championed this idea before his Congress endeavoring to convince them of the need to acquire the western two thirds of the continent. He was absolutely convinced of the vast wealth of natural resources waiting to be discovered in the great beyond . . . a land that he also had estimated to be full of active volcanoes and prevalent with dinosaurs. The propositions of discovery and advancement were exhilarating, while the threats of uncertain adversities and dangers loomed in everyone’s mind.

     For Jefferson to get his proposal approved and funded by Congress, a lot of promises and crafty deal-making had to take place. Eventually, Congress did approve the venture for the sake of expanding trade and commerce, appropriating funds to underwrite it. Jefferson knew his estimates of the costs were probably not going to be enough in the long run, but trusted the eventual success of this historic expedition and sentiment of the populace to round off the edges of political opponents.

GREAT IDEAS NEED TEAMWORK TO SUCCEED

     No one was more intellectually geared for this advance than Jefferson, yet he could not forsake his office and go.   He had known Meriwether Lewis from his youth and saw him develop into a man who would one day accomplish a great mission.   Lewis was the kind of young man that Jefferson could share his vision with and pour his passion for learning into, so he personally tutored Lewis in several of the scientific disciplines required to lead this expedition.  Lewis was smart and learned fast.   He was the embodiment of the kind of adventurer Jefferson needed, having the savvy and survival skills of a rugged frontiersman, as well as the solidarity of purpose to be a pioneer and discoverer.  What Lewis lacked in assets, General Clark provided, bringing in the prowess and disciplines of a seasoned military officer.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED

     Even the most learned and persuasive visionaries among us have their misconceptions and unfounded conclusions about what awaits us if we choose to move forward.  Benefits usually come with risks.   Jefferson knew that, and was willing to prove or disprove his assumptions about a land of certain richness with its presumed perils.  In the end, there were the expected benefits and perils, but they did not materialize as imagined.  However, if they hadn’t followed through with the dream, their misconceptions would have remained the standard of our understanding about the west.

WE NEED EXPEDITIONS

     Imagine if Congress had refused Jefferson, and what we call America failed to advance westward, remaining just those states east of the Mississippi for these last two hundred years.   Consider the Kansas wheat fields, the high plains, the Rockies, Yellowstone and Yosemite, the northwest timber region and salmon, the Pacific coastline, and so much more . . . all belonging to other countries.  What if you had to have a passport to visit Lake Tahoe?

     We need to move forward as individuals as well . . . refusing to be stuck in a never-changing mode . . . avoiding for ourselves the law of nature like water that seeks its lowest level. Living your one life within the bounds of a single dimension and missing out on the opportunities to discover new ways to define yourself.  The idea of radical changes arouses lots of phobias about what could be out there in discovery land.  Jefferson’s supposition that dinosaurs roamed the western half of the continent eventually was disproven, while a whole new world of wonders and possibilities emerged.

AN EXPEDITION FOR THE CHURCH

     God told Joshua and the children of Israel that after crossing the Jordan, “wherever the soles of your feet trod, you will possess it.”   They had never forgotten the legendary reports of old that the land beyond the river had its adversaries, while Joshua’s zest for life and faith to follow God’s leading had made its indelible mark on them.  Their future was at stake.   So is ours.  Through the apostolic leadership of Paul we learned that the future of the New Testament church is with the Spirit . . . that

     “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God.” Romans 8:14-19

     Our future and glorification hinges on our reliance and obedience to the Spirit.  There is no other way and no other debate.  We stand on the shore with enemies behind us and before us.   Who will be the first to put a foot into the water? 

We Bought a ???

We closed on the new house yesterday! Yep, it is ours. We won't get possession until Dec. 19. We have the foundation man, heat and air man, a plumber, and pest control lined up, ready to roll.

The roof was finished last week, so that is one thing done.




 And the sellers hired someone to clean up the yard!! Yay, he did much more than we expected, actually cleared out the brush, didn't just pick up trash and debris like we expected.

This is the back yard, all cleaned up, looking our from the back of the house, where a deck will be pretty soon. 

We will tear down the old fence, and have an unobstructed view to the back .

This is the "back 40", behind the back yard area. It's hard to believe this is right in the middle of town, a few blocks from the courthouse square. 

 If anyone needs to buy or sell a house, we can recommend Joyce Holland with White Real Estate. We were looking for cheap properties, and ended up buying a REALLY cheap property, but Joyce treated us like we were her most important clients, took all the time we needed, and was super helpful.

Wasted Spaces, Barren Landscapes and Tin Cans Part 2

From Les, continued from Sunday

Hour of Power

I recently had lunch with a friend named Brent who has worked with the family dairy his whole life. After years of trying to maneuver through the mine field of constantly increasing feed costs, and the prevalent drought conditions that affected hay crops yields each year, they had no other choice but to sell off their herd of milking cows and stop the financial bleeding. He shared with me that for decades the acreage around the place had been so barren and bleak looking due to the constant trampling by the cows . . . not to mention the incessant barrage of manure and urine. Now that the herd was gone, he was beginning to do some much needed dirt work and seeding to reclaim the usefulness of the soil.

Much to his surprise, after just a few weeks, things were already looking quite promising as the fuzz of new grass was popping up all over the place. No doubt the years of animal by-products have enriched the soil making it incredibly fertile. A month ago he was on the verge of caving in emotionally due to the pressure of the unknown, and sounded as if they had been stripped of all options. The only career and livelihood he ever knew had become a dead end street. The lunch time and conversation we shared was a real “power lunch” for me and my interest was incited as he talked about new ideas that were beginning to emerge in his mind. His heart was coming back to life and a new day was dawning as his ideas were developing into viable plans to repurpose that hallowed ground and foster new ways of producing income for the family.

By the end of our lunch visit, I had an epiphany about the dynamic relationship between God’s role as our Sovereign Provider, and our responsibility to partner with His creative enterprises on this planet. I immediately thought of Adam working with God in the development of this newly created world. The earth needed a caretaker to channel its resources for the greatest good. Although Creator God spoke everything into existence including Adam himself, and provided everything he would need to live and propagate, He did not want to DO everything.

Adam was given the responsibility develop what God had provided. His job was to plow the soil, cultivate the food sources, and to name every living thing: plant life, insects, fish, birds, and every kind of animal life. Now I understand why it’s called “animal husbandry,” because it’s a relationship that requires oversight and stewardship, lest it meander and mutate off course. The created earth with its inhabitants was an expansive “wildlife preserve” that needed to be subdued and given direction to maximize its potential. That was Adam’s part of the partnership, and not an easy one at all.

Even though the animals would line up in pairs to board Noah’s ark much later in the biblical record, it doesn’t say that they did the same for Adam. Therefore, I assume he had to seek and find them; invest lots of time and effort; and utilize his intuition and imagination in order to accomplish this task. Yes, God’s part to produce the created things was super-natural as only He could do, but Adam was charged with the responsibility to appropriate them with his God given abilities.

Lemons to Lemonade

Sometimes everything we need is at hand but fails show up on our radar until we engage, invest, and imagine. The barren landscape around us appears hopeless until a caretaker’s plow turns the dirt over and new seed is sown into its crevices. If you ask me, too many conversations these days among Christians seem to echo the same gloom of a world gone out of control, as if there are no more options available to us to make any good from all this bad. To hear them wrangling gives one the impression that they think the only thing left for us to do is anesthetize ourselves and play out the clock. No credible or successful coach ever asks his team to take a defensive posture and “play not to lose.” I believe the earnest expectation of rapture has more to do with being catapulted into the Lord’s presence, and little to do with being snatched away from all these troubles. Followers of Christ need to beware of what I call “Christian fatalism,” which basically calls for us all to throw in the towel in our efforts to make wrong things right in our world. This undercurrent quenches our thirst for abundant living and leads to the abdication of our responsibility to partner with God using His assets through our efforts.

Life is challenging and often bitter. I certainly recognize how threatened we feel with the kinds of terrorism taking place at home and abroad. My heart has been restless for some time now as I look about and wonder if I’m really in it to win it, or just running out the clock. Who’s going to step up and step out? What’s happened to our lemonade stands? Isn’t it high time we get busy and join those who are involved in doing something redemptive? Empty buildings and neighborhoods need to be seen as opportunities to invest and reclaim for the common good. So do people.

What about repurposing our use of the internet and social media for the sake of encouraging people to choose life? What if all those scattershot worries, rumors and fear mongering were turned into positive seed sowing? I’d rather keep my self busy as a purveyor of beauty and honorable things rather than breeding the latest scandals and controversies. While this kind of tabloid doom and gloom has spread like gangrene in recent years, hundreds of thousands of children in underdeveloped countries have perished due to poverty conditions, malnutrition, and preventable diseases like malaria.

Plenty to Choose From

We don’t have to look far to find something that begs for redemption or a better purpose. The great humanitarian needs of the world we are supposed to be addressing begin at your doorstep and extend to the far corners of the globe. It doesn’t really matter if you choose to engage, invest, and imagine possibilities to reclaim your neighborhood, or serve as a volunteer in a soup kitchen for the homeless. You might even take the time to travel to Eastern Europe to serve an orphanage for six weeks. What matters is not so much about what you do, but that you are taking responsibility.

An Old House to Restore: An Old Neighborhood to Uplift

So there you have it. This is our new gig . . . taking something old and rundown and pumping new life into it . . . a re-creation of sorts, which is why I named our new enterprise as Maxwell Creations. It’s not about the house per se, but more about where do we go from here and how are we going to make a difference.                   

Wasted Spaces, Barren Landscapes and Tin Cans

Post from Les. 

Some Thoughts on Redeeming, Reclaiming, and Repurposing

Part 1

    

     I still feel I need to convince some of you out there as to why in the world we're shaking things up so radically at our age.  If you know me very well, you know how it takes me a while to formulate a reply to a question because I always want to be understood.  So, this will take a couple of installments to get it all out.  I'll thank you in advance for sticking with this.  :)

     In the movie Amadeus, King Louis of France often concluded a session of inquiry and discourse with the words “There you have it,” as if to say there you have it in a nutshell. Enough said. The title above in like manner just about wraps the discussion to follow before I even get started. So there you have it . . . the proverbial bottom line . . . this is what makes me tick . . . floats my boat, etc.

     God wired me to have a spatial orientation and awareness. I don’t mean that I have an interest in astronomy, but I relate spaces like an office, a room, a closet, a box, or a shelf. Along with that add a propensity to think in linear or parallel terms that result in a compartmentalized world view. My parents wired me to be thrifty and to appreciate leftovers . . . be it food, wood scraps, hardware, paper sacks, etc. With these two genetic codes colliding in my makeup, I’ve turned out to be the kind who scrimps and saves boxes and bubble wrap; a variety of jars and containers; and all kinds of broken gadgets.

     When I was a kid, some of my favorite things to collect were the empty tin boxes that Band-Aids came in. They were just the right size to store playing cards, Monopoly money and game pieces. I don’t believe that I fall into the category of people who obsessively hoard things because I’m not into stashing away large quantities of any particular thing. It’s just really hard for me to throw away cool stuff like a nifty container with a lid that once held other things like film, coffee, Christmas cookies or baby food. The way I figure, these things could be given a new lease on life by using them to rightly divide my random collection of nails, screws and thumbtacks.

Pool Cues and Pot Passers

     I prefer to think of myself as a kind of Re-Purposer. But before I can do that, I have to redeem a spent or wasted item from the trash bin and reclaim it for myself with the idea that one day this item will come in handy and have a whole new usefulness. As I see it, just about everything has multiple applications and possible uses. The Beverly Hillbillies didn’t know what those sticks on the parlor wall were supposed to do and the reason that strange looking green felt dining table had holes in it, but they were really proud to show off their fancy “pot passers” to their guests. Shoot, a little imagination and ingenuity is all it takes to make the world go around.

     The same rule applies when I see a rusty old wheelbarrow in a junk pile; an old gas station boarded up and forgotten for years; or those abandoned factories with broken windows and KEEP OUT signs posted on the chain link fences. I just have to level with you - this is the kind of stuff that rubs me the wrong way. There’s a policy I’ve carried around in my head for decades that calls me to action, and that is that “you’ve paid for this once . . . no need to buy it again.” Why buy a product that comes in a nice box, bottle or protective case, and when the product is finished, toss the container in the dumpster? Then, later on you go out and spend money on some kind of fancy gadget to store your cherished marble collection?

     One of the coolest ideas I’ve have heard of in years was from the person who saw the secondary benefit of those unwanted eyeglass cases that hang out in our dresser drawers. A group of mission minded people gather these up in large quantities from the community and stuff them with combs, toothpaste and toothbrushes, moistened wipes, and bandages. Then they are donated in bulk to the disaster relief agencies that dispatch teams to assist flood and storm victims. This kind of innovation gets me so pumped because we’ve all got those cases lying around somewhere. They’re cost free, readily available and waiting to be redeemed, reclaimed and repurposed. Its pure genius . . .yet simple, thrifty, practical, and needed.

Correct Attire-and for a good cause

When we decided to embark on this new adventure, Les decided that I needed a pink tool belt, like Paige on Exteme Makeover Home Edition. He googled pink tool belt and found a wonderful site, called Pink Tool Belts. They had beautiful bright suede pink tool belts, exactly like he wanted to get me.
What really sold him, though, was the story. A woman set up the company, which sells assorted work accessories in pink, and gives a portion of every purchase to The Kenya Project, which build homes for widowed women and their children.
According to the website, the founder of the company, Terri Ikeda, was in Kenya for two weeks in 2007, helping build homes for widowed women and their children. She was highly impacted by the plight of women and their need for housing. When she returned home, she began to look for ways to provide funds to do more building. She purchased the company Pink Tool Belts and uses the profits to build homes for widows in Kenya.
When Les read that, he knew I would be excited to support such an organization, so he ordered the pink tool belt, and added a pink construction helmet (I wrote hat at first, I'm such a girl!), pink work gloves, and a pink bag to carry my tools??? in.
I was thrilled when I got the box and found out that my gift was also a gift to help widows in Kenya. The quality is excellent, made from very heavy suede, with thick stitching.
If you want your very own pink tool belt, check it out here. http://www.pinktoolbelts.com

Bargain Shopping

Ever since we decided to embark on this new adventure, we have planned to check out the discount, surplus building supply used junk type stores to find bargains. Since we are not too set on colors or styles, we figured we might snag some pretty good deals.
Saturday was a pretty open day, and I needed to visit my mom in Fort Worth, so we made a list of places to visit and headed out. After seeing my mother, we headed east to check out one of the Habitat for Humanity Restores. These stores usually have a variety of new and used supplies; laminate flooring, bath fixtures, lighting, cabinets. We took note of their prices, which were good, for future use.

We next headed to a store in North Fort Worth, Builders Surplus on Belknap, and were amazed at the huge inventory, and the excellent prices.

All kinds of tile spread out in front of and on the side of the building, plain and fancy, large and small, all at good prices.








Two aisles of laminate flooring, starting at .59 per foot.  Some of it was really heavy, good quality, for less than $2.00.



A long aisle of doors, another of windows. A huge section of cabinets, and every kind of bathroom fixture available.






Les has said that he wanted to use a vessel sink in one of the bathrooms, but they are expensive. We found a ton of them here, many for $49. There were some as low as $19.99, which had small damage.  We liked them so much, we bought two of them, one for each bathroom, expecting to find some cool furniture to set them on later.

 This sink has a beautiful shimmer to it. There are a few small scratches on the edge, which Les can easily sand off.

We loved the shape of this one, and the cool pale color. It has flecks of paint from overspray which will be easy to remove.

We were thrilled with our finds, and after checking out a few other bargains we might go back for another day, we paid for our sinks and went outside.






Once outside, we discovered the huge area of granite on the side of the building. Les checked out the remnant section and spotted a granite vanity, already finished on the edges, with a hole for a sink and faucets cut. When we asked about it, we found it had a tiny crack right down the middle. The granite guy said he could fix it for $100, so the salesman went to check the price......are you ready?...He said, the price for the piece of granite, with a sink included is $132.00. We snapped it up. Les can fix the crack with epoxy. (and now we have three sinks for two baths!) And here it is.

And, up close and personal.

One last bargain (free), we stopped by one of my sisters, and she begged me to take a little table that my three sisters have passed around. It may be perfect for one of the vessel sinks. 

On Sunday afternoon, Les wanted to go to the local flea market to look for old interesting pieces of furniture that might make good bathroom cabinets. This is what I found. 

Yep, boots. Brown Justin boots for $20. I have black cowboy boots I bought at the flea market a few years ago, which I really enjoy. Just that morning, I was thinking how nice it would be to have brown ones to wear with a brown skirt. When I saw these, I just thought God put them right there just for me!

The "New House"

After we made a deal with Emily and Doug to buy our house, we set out to find a place for us to buy.  Since we live in a small town, there were not a lot to choose from. Most of the houses in the area were surprisingly expensive, with few in the lower range under $100,000 that we were looking in. We actually looked at 4 houses, all needed a lot of work, and were priced low enough to allow for possibly making money after remodeling. We settled on a farmhouse near our city park.
The house is in very bad shape, but it seems to be structurally sound. There were a few things that made this one better than the others.
The house was built in 1909, and has 9 foot ceilings. The kitchen cabinets are solid wood, in good condition, which we can use after painting.
It was remodeled in the 1950's, with a second bathroom and laundry room added. The second bathroom was a big plus.
A 2 car detached garage was also added in the 1950's, a solid structure with a concrete floor.
The house is on a double lot, with nearly an acre of land, surrounded by other large lots. Sitting on the back porch, I have the feeling of being out in the country, although the house is right in the heart of town.
The house had been on the market 10 months, with no offers. It was an estate, and the heirs really wanted to sell, even though it is occupied by a family member.
We worked on some calculations to decide what we could pay for the house, what we would need to spend to remodel (which in this case means completely gut and replace, except for the kitchen cabinets), and what we could possibly sell it for, all to work out so that we could make a profit.
We made a low offer on the house and were surprised to have it accepted, not even a counter offer. Now, we are in the process of inspections, deciding what we have to do, and when we will need to do it, and waiting on all the paperwork to be done before we close.

The front of our new place. 

This is the view from the front door, looking through the living room, and the dining area.
The door at the back leads into the master bedroom. 

This is the front bedroom....

the kitchen.

I really like the cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. 

Hall bathroom, above and below. 

The third bedroom, here, and below.

Master bedroom. I want to put a door in the place of the broken window, going out to a large deck (not yet built), which will overlook the large wooded lot. 

Master bath, with a shower on the opposite wall.  

So, there you have it. You can see there is a lot of work to be done. I think I am excited to get started, maybe?