Sunday, February 22, 2009

Water and other events

Well, we've had quite a bit going on lately. Just for kicks, I took the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale test (which rates a variety of life events such as job change, death of a family member, illness, etc...on a point scale) the other night just to see where I rated and found I was well over 300 points. Actually, I came in at 321, which places me in the "severe life crisis" area with a 79% chance of a major health change. Interesting.

Anyway, we've been working hard to get into the house. We've given up on finishing and are hoping at this point to make it livable. One of the last big items we've been struggling to complete is our septic system. Last Tuesday we finally found a backhoe to come out and dig the pit. The next day I drove to all three hardware stores trying to find the right type of rock to put in the drainfield. Non of the stores had anything. I finally tracked down a trucking company and was able to have a load delivered. Now, our house is on the other side of a very steep hill that basically requires a four wheel drive just to climb. Because of this, the truck had to drop the rocks at the bottom of the hill which meant that we had to haul around 12 cubic meters of boulders over the hill, one truck-load at a time in our pick-up. We spent three days working on this and still aren't done. The day after the back-hoe dug the hole, the sides caved in. We worked on that all day the following day and got it opened back up again only to have another day and a half of torrential downpours fill the hole with water and mud. Yesterday, we started over again. It is incredibly difficult to get anything completed here.

Thankfully, things are going well with the skatepark and with our church. We had our monthly cookout on Friday night and there were quite a few youth that showed up in spite of the rain. At one point, the winds and rain were so hard that the movie screen blew down and we were all huddled against the office door trying to keep dry. At least the food was good. Church continues to go well as we work our way through Romans. Tonight we'll be watching a movie about the events that took place in Rwanda several years back called "Beyond the Gates" Two weeks ago we studied in Romans Chapter 5 and took some time to specifically talk about Paul's words regarding sin and grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Tonight, we'll talk some about the existence of true evil while we watch the evidence of God's grace in the midst of horrific events. It is a great movie and truly illustrates this point.

Next week, more work trying to get moved in. We could really use some prayer in this as our next door neighbor continues to make threats towards me (which is another stressor that I don't need at the moment). Thanks for following along with us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey barret! this is andrew perry and im coming on the mission trip in late march with calvary chapel. i'm sorry for all the added stress you have been having lately and i just want to let you know we are all here for you and we are all preaying for you and we will soon enough be there to assist you. so before we meet i want to tell you a little about myself... my name is andrew steven perry and i'm 14, my to favorite things to do are minister to youth and to surf. im a coach at my local surf camp and i havent left florida to surf yet so im very exited to see what the surf is like down in costa. im a freshman in high school and a student leader in the youth group. i have been surfing for about 2 years and just cant get away from it. i love hiking, adventure, and learning new things. i play many, many instruments including guitar, trumpet, baritone, and learning drums. i also sing and am learning to sing and play guitar at the same time. i love skateboarding when the waves are dead and hanging with friends and meating new people. i dont know what else i can put so just drop me an email and ask me whatever you would like to know and i would like to know more about you! thanks for listening and inviting us to meat and serve you. see you soon, andrew

skatingsurfer746@aim.com

Dwight said...

Hi Barret and Amy. I am excited to come down and visit you all in Costa Rica. My name is Dwight I am an adult student leader here at calvary jupiter. I am also coming on the trip coming up in a couple of weeks. We are all here for you and pray that God will get you through this tough and stressful time in your lives. I love to hike, adventure, and I am always willing to learn. I love to minister to people especially students and youth. I do play the trumpet and will be learning to play the guitar soon. I am so excited to meet you all and I am honored to be a part of this amazing team that is coming to assist you. Drop me a line when you can. If you want to know anything else about me...just ask me. Thanks and I hope to talk to you soon and thanks for inviting us to serve you and meet you.
Dwight

castaldid@gmail.com