Found

     Our project house is way ahead of schedule. We are about to back out of the interior.

     The bathroom is finished and is looking great. I am amazed at how much better it looks than when we purchased the house.

     The floors are all laid and the trim is all up as of this evening. 

     Micah will be around tomorrow and we plan on getting some of the heavy stuff done. Those 2 cabinets need to go up on the wall by the sink and the range needs to be moved in.

    The fridge will need to be moved from our garage to the house. That is definitely a 2 man job.

     Last week Saturday Micah and I put in that door. We needed a couple of shims and we could not find them.

     I knew they were in the house somewhere and Micah and I hunted for them for quite awhile. Then I told Micah to just go buy some new ones we were wasting too much time looking for a cheap item.

 

     Later I found them. Notice where they are? They are sitting beside some flooring boxes in a doorway. We were walking past and over them while we searched. I am sure a couple of times I had to step over them to get from one room to the next. But, hey we have a brand new box of shims now.

     The hookup for the kitchen stove in this house was gas. We have an electric stove in storage so I was not excited about buying a gas stove. I was checking the breaker box for a blown breaker one day and I saw a 220 breaker that was labeled "Range". Range? There was no wire coming through the floor of the kitchen. What did that breaker connect to. Rich had put a new breaker box in this house. Why was there a breaker for a Range when there was no wire to the kitchen? I took the front off the breaker panel and traced the 220 wire through the basement and the wire was right under the center of the kitchen. I have no idea why it was there but I took it down, drilled a hole through the floor and pushed the wire up. Today I put the receptacle on it and tomorrow we will hook up our electric range. That was a great find.

     I went down to Menards this week to buy some cabinets and the last interior door. I also needed a 32 inch left hand swing exterior door. They have an area where they mark doors cheap if the packaging is missing or they are marred. They had the exterior door I was looking for half price. That was a great find and Micah can help me get it in tomorrow. 

                                     

     Not everything I found this week was a good find. The one basement window was broken and had packing tape holding the glass together. The other one was covered with something and there was no light fixture near it so I have been ignoring it. Rich had told me it had cardboard in the window and when he put in the electrical panel he could run an extension cord right through the opening. I finally was ready to fix the basement windows this week. Yes, there was cardboard stapled to the frame to keep out the animals and the weather. But this was not just a staple up cardboard fix. Oh, no they had nailed what ever that green thing is in front of the window as well. If you are going to do a job do it well I always say. Don't take half measures.  

    I found a lot of things when I got some light on that basement room. see those foam seat cushions. They were using them for insulation along the sills. Waste not want not I suppose. Still I think the landfill will be their final destination.  

     Once there was light in that basement room it was time to tear out the carpet I had been ignoring. Now that I could see in the room, I noticed the carpet was littered with something. OH NO, they had left their dogs in this room for long periods of time. I very carefully rolled up that carpet and folded it over. I hope to get it to the landfill without the dog waste falling out. That was not a good find. How can anyone live like that? The Lady who had owned the house was older and had over her life helped a lot of people in need. I am sure when she rented to the last tenants they were needy. I am all in favor of helping those in need but sometimes you also have to set parameters for them. You take your pets outside. You do not leave doors and windows open without screens.

     While cleaning out the furnace ducts I saw way down in the vent what looked to me like a rolled up sock. The shop vac was not picking it up so I grimaced and put my hand down there to grab it. Oh, yea, it was a desiccated dead bird. That was not a good find either. 

     Last Spring while I was putting siding on a house one of the kids from the neighboring house, which we also own, came over and pointed at their cat with a dead bird. "Our cat caught that bird in our house". That kid picked the wrong landlord to complain to. My answer was simple and forceful. "I have watched your cat going in and out the screen it has ripped all day. I think your cat caught that bird and carried into your house through your unprotected window. That is not ALLOWED." That tenant and I soon reached a mutual agreement that they needed to move.

     Some days good things are found, some days bad things are found. The song Amazing Grace has a line, I once was lost but now am found. We were all lost once, many are still lost. I would like to say I was a good find when God "found" me. I say God found me because there is no way I would have found God on my own. I know the truth is when I was found I was a lot more like the dung covered carpet or the dead bird in the duct than a brand new door marked down because the packaging was missing.

     Jesus says, Here I am, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. 

     What a promise, Jesus doesn't say we have to be anything when He knocks on our door. We just have to open the door and be "found " by Him.