HARD WORKER

We've had several months in a row where everything - house, yard, furniture, appliances, vehicles - seems to be falling apart. It's discouraging and stresses me out, but Tim just keeps fixing things without complaint. He takes care of things he knows about, looks up YouTube videos for things he doesn't, and calls friends in the know for advice if his efforts are unsuccessful.

Two Saturdays ago we went to mow the lawn for the first time this year and the lawnmower wouldn't start. He spent a chunk of time working on it with Naomi that day. It's still not running and our yard looks like a jungle, but the lawnmower repair place was closed yesterday when Devon went to buy the part we need. He'll head back today and hopefully we'll be mowing our lawn again tomorrow.

Tim headed to his sister's after church on Sunday morning to help tackle some projects their family had going on. He came home that evening and immediately started cleaning up the mess left from his attempts to fix the used dryer we bought five months ago when our other one died. The replacement is now dead, so he got everything squared away and ready for the new one that's coming.

That task finished, he moved straight to the kitchen. While he'd been wedged between the dryer and the wall, I'd noticed the pipe under our sink was leaking. Again. So he spent time trying to figure out the problem. The job had to be temporarily abandoned because he needed to go buy a part.

Yesterday he put in a long day of work, then, skipping dinner, got busy with the sink the minute he walked in the door.

He took a break from that project to run to the store for supplies, then had Silas and Devon join him to collect some free wood. We're hoping to have a wood stove by next winter, so now's the time to start gathering fuel! He'd lined the back of the van with a tarp and was going to throw wood in, but a friend let him borrow a truck. Thankful for that! The guys hauled two loads of wood, pieces big enough that our house shook each time they rolled one from the bed of the truck onto the driveway.

Once that was done and vehicles were in their own driveways again, he took the part he'd bought at the store and headed back to the kitchen to finish the sink project. Finally, around 10:00 last night, he sat down and ate dinner.

I woke up at 3:45 this morning for no reason whatsoever and moved out to the couch to keep my tossing and turning from waking up Tim. I was still awake at 4:30, so I decided to get up and make use of my time. Filling up both sides of the non-leaking sink with tons of dirty dishes that needed to soak because food had crusted on them, and lining both sides of the sink with other dishes that needed to be cleaned, I paused for a moment to take in the scene.

I'm so grateful for a husband that isn't easily stressed, is willing to learn new things, and works hard to take care of his family in practical ways (which, in turn, helps with the less tangible issue of maintaining his wife's sanity).