Why is it so hard to come up with a title for this post?

I've spent the past five minutes trying to come up with a title.
I got nothin'.

So let's just move on...

We've had some crazy weather this week. Sunday night a huge thunder and lightning storm woke us up from a sound sleep, and the torrents of rain kept us up. Discovered a few more leaks in the roof. *sigh*  Three small ones in the bedroom (where the roof had been fixed -- we thought) and a big one in the kitchen (that roof is still waiting to be fixed). We realized that the leakage issue has more to do with wind velocity and direction than the actual rain.

Then Monday night we were awakened by a huge wind storm. A few loud booms were kinda scary but, since the power went off and the flash light was in the garage rather than the house, we had to wait until morning to investigate and find out what caused them.

One was simply a few metal shelving units falling over like dominoes on the patio. Ivan bought them at a compre-venta (used furniture/odds 'n ends place) on Saturday and we have to do some organizing in the garage to make room for them. So we'd put them next to the garage, on the slab that will someday serve as the floor to our home. We're calling it the "patio".

The other big boom was a tree falling on the roof of the casita. Thankfully it was a small tree that did no significant damage. We are grateful for the Lord's protection!

The tree that fell on the casita was in the green space behind our property. We saw four other trees that went down back there, too. But our only concern was cutting off the one that landed on our place.

It was nice to have a more restful night last night, somewhat making up for all the sleep we missed the previous couple of nights. But I'm still kind of dragging today.

Our field leader is here for a few days, and he and Ivan are checking out hotels, looking for a possible venue for our missionary conference next year. We're also gearing up for tomorrow, when Ivan and a couple missionary friends will be going into an area high school. They'll be leading some team-building games and giving a short talk. The school has experienced some serious problems with violence and intolerance so the principal asked Ivan if he could help. He'll also be going in next month to talk to the students, and then the parents. But tomorrow is more about utilizing some fun activities to get the kids to think about communication, cooperation and team work.

Meanwhile we don't have a lot of time to devote to projects on the casita, so those have been put on hold. We did get the shelf up over the bed, but the ones I painted over the weekend are still out in the garage. Poco a poco.

We discovered that garbage is only picked up three times a week in our neighborhood: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If there's a holiday -- and most holidays fall on Mondays or Fridays, to take advantage of a long weekend -- there's no make-up day. So since we moved here and have had several holidays, the garbage has only been picked up 7 times in 4 weeks. I wonder why the difference in service between here and where we used to live? Garbage was picked up five times a week there, and if there was a holiday, the garbage was picked up the next day even if it was one of the days it typically didn't run. Sound a little inequitable to you? Hmmmmmm.

Before we moved over here, we learned that drug dealers lived across the street, so we began praying that God would move them out. He did! A couple weeks after we moved in, they had a really LOUD party that lasted overnight, and then they were gone. Our next-door neighbor told us that the woman who owned the property had somehow managed to get them evicted (they had usurped her land, and here usurpers have more rights than land owners most of the time). That last big party was their final parting "gift" to the neighborhood. Amazing how much quieter it is now that we don't have a constant stream of people going in and out over there.

I so enjoyed seeing lots of autumn foliage in the Project 365 posts this week! It's the one season I really miss, since this is a more temperate climate and we just don't get a very extensive color change in the fall. Here we're experiencing a lovely spring, with everything green and lush, and quite a few trees already flowering. I'm looking forward to (Ivan) working some magic our yard. WHEN the bobcat guy finally makes it over here to level out the lot, he will be able to get started. Although, seeing how many other things Ivan has on his plate, I'll have to help out or we won't get anything done.

But can't do anything until the bobcat guy makes his appearance. We were rained out last week, so rescheduled for this Monday. Which is when we got the big torrential downpour -- so now he's supposed to come the end of this week. We shall see...