Knowing that scripture says, laughter is good medicine, I have a few things to share about another amazing man in my life.....
We have had some ups and downs this past year.
Some of them have been opportunities......."opportunities" are what Ray calls his projects for the whole family!!
The pool..... Well, this past summer, it turned green, and looked natural, for the second half of the summer. We had an extreme winter, and then very hot summer, so our pumps froze, cracked, then melted because of the temps in Texas this past year. We limped the pool along half way through the summer, then when it finally all died, we decided we had to get it fixed or fill it in.
Oh please, don't fill it in, the five kids love the pool, and it is a great place to have people over and cool off in these hot Texas summers. But, we can't swim in green, or we might as well be swimming in our pond!
So, after Ray got several bids on fixing the pool, and about had a coronary every time he received one, he made the famous announcement, "I will fix the pool and save us thousands!!"
Oh boy, here we go again. Honestly I doubted, and kept praying that he would give in and let me call someone to come fix it. But no was the answer to that, and as we began to receive large boxes from the UPS guy, with the words "Discount Pool Supply" stamped on the side, I knew it was inevitable. We were going to fix the pool ourselves.
Well, life does not stop, nor does Ray's schedule, babies coming, emergencies at the hospital, so the pool continued to turn into a deeper, lovely, aquamarine color, all while these large boxes sat posed on the back porch, ready to be unpacked and installed.
Again I asked if I could hire someone to come finish the job....No way!
Eventually, the job began to unfold, as Ray would find little sections of time to unpack the pumps, begin the fitting process, and carefully place them onto the concrete slab, to connect to the already existing pool equipment that had not died.
Well, these pumps are heavy, and awkward to lift, so as Ray was working on this, he was also working on making his back worse. (he has some disk issues)
So, about 2/3 of the way into the job, he was out, with back surgery!!
Yikes!! what are we going to do now, not only with the pool, but with Ray's work?
In short, God got us through, He provided, and He used some of the men in our church to help meet the need. As a matter of fact, I had 2 of Ray's good buddies tell me, "When Ray tries to do something stupid, call me, and I will come do it for him." (Partners in crime :) ) (He was supposed to be on total rest for 2 full weeks after his surgery!!) Needless to say, he was out trying to work on the pool equipment to finish the job, the day after surgery!! I quickly called these guys, and they came over several times during the week, and helped him finish the job. They truly were the "hands and feet of Christ" to Ray. Literally!!
I have to say, I never thought the water would be crystal clear again, aside from hiring help, but it is! He did it, Wow!!! What a man. And really without much encouragement from me, I am sad to say. It only took a few extra months, but he "gotterdone!"
Now, one of the additional things Ray wanted to do, was build a shelter around the pool equipment, so that we would not have this problem again. (you know, protect it from the heat and cold) He did wait another month or so, to let his back heal, before he began to tackle this job. When he finally did, he headed out to Home Depot to purchase a prepackaged shed to build around the equipment. Again, he came home with just some lumber and nails.
"What?! where is the package deal?" I asked.
"Oh, those stinking things are so expensive..... I can do this for so much less!!!" Really?!
Oh boy, so here we go again. Jesse and Ray started building the foundation to this shed, trying to level it, trying to get it just right. I have to say it actually looked pretty good, but because of time, it was a slow process. Over the next couple of weeks, they completed the floor, but before adding the walls, we had a friend stop by, who is a professional builder. Such a kind young man, who loves Ray. Ray took him out to show him his progress.
He didn't say anything negative, he just offered to come help Ray out with the rest of the job. He said he could come the next day, but that was Ray's surgery day, so Ray wouldn't be available until later on in the day to work with him. The friend came on out anyway, that morning, and when Ray got home that afternoon, He had completely redone the entire job, it was perfect.
Ray had mixed emotions, sad that what he had done was gone, and obviously had not met the professional builders specs., but also amazed and thankful/overwhelmed at what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time. :)
Again, the hands and feet of Christ, at work in our lives. Ray accepted the help from our friend, to get the walls and roof on, but Ray and Jesse are finishing the job, as I type, of putting on the tin roof, and building doors to the shed. I saw the doors a little bit ago, and they are amazing.
Who knew?...he can deliver a baby, save a life, and build some pretty good looking doors. Maybe he needs help on leveling the floor of a building, but, hey, you can't be good at everything!
As I think back over the past few months, Ray has tackled a few other great feats. One that stands out was burying the large square trampoline in our back yard, like Kanakuk's if you've ever been to Kamp.
Some asked "why are you doing this?" Ray said "Why not?" Sounds like what Robert Kennedy said,
"Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not."
It really is cool, and the kids love it.
Digging the hole
The funny thing was, that when Ray finally got the hole dug, this took weeks, it is a huge trampoline, he wanted to line it with creosote soaked railroad ties, to keep the dirt from caving in. He found some at the local feed store, and was so excited to get these ties cut and in the ground.
Ray finishing the logs and the trampoline leveling.
Well, did ya'll know that creosote burns?? We didn't!!
Ray was working on this job alone, for some reason, all the kids were gone, and he had a free Saturday, so he attacked, knowing he could get it done if he just kept plugging along. I was in the house, it was hot, hot summer, but would occasionally go out with a glass of lemonade, or an encouraging word, to cheer him on.
He would use the tractor to lower one of the logs into his hole, then use the chain saw to cut the log into the exact length he needed.
Chain saws usually cause sawdust to fly in the air, and coat whatever it lands on. Ray, being careful, had protective goggles on, but because of the extreme heat of the summer, had on work boots, with shorts, and a short sleeve shirt, along with work gloves.
After several hours of cutting, moving, placing, and shifting railroad logs, he noticed a little burning on the exposed parts of his skin. He assumed it was the sun, and he was feeling the affects of a sunburn. He thought if he could just keep going, that he would finish quicker, and get in out of the sun, so he kept working.
He was almost done with the lining of the hole, when I looked out and noticed him, almost hopping around. Puzzled, I walked outside and asked if everything was ok. He said no, and by the sound of his voice, I could tell things were not good. He said, "I'm on fire, something is burning me!!!"
What?
Then he hollered something about creosote. I ran back in and googled creosote. The first thing that popped up was, "Danger, do not touch creosote with bare skin, can cause severe burns!!"
Oh crud!!! I then quickly read what the treatment was, and as I ran back to the back porch, Ray was running, no, sprinting to the house. I hollered what I had just learned, and instructed him to remove all clothing that had creosote on it. Well, this included everything he had on!!! Thank goodness all the kids were gone! As he ran from the back of the yard toward the house, clothes were flying, leaving a trail behind him. As he came in the house, I sent him straight to the shower, where he was to rinse off with soap and cool water for at least 20 minutes. I then made ice packs, and had him lay in the recliner, where I had to rub "Preperation H" of all things, all over the burning parts of his body, which was most of his legs, arms, and face, then we packed him in ice packs. This was supposed to stop the chemical from continuing to burn. I felt so bad for him, but kept thinking, this is great stuff for the blog.....you can't make this stuff up!!!
The good news is, the treatment worked, and within a few hours, the burning had completely stopped. Thank the Lord for google.
I am never short of being amazed at the crazy life the Lord has given us to live here. We truly are trying to worship the Lord through all of this stuff. God is good, and funny at times. He is faithful, even in, and especially in, our crisis.
Thanks for reading.
I will post again soon, Lord willing,
JJ Ford
