There'll Be Hurdles…Your Job Is To Jump

For the first time, I came over to the house and saw a flurry of activity; no less than four trades were present and workers were all over the property. We needed this small glimpse of encouragement. It’s been very challenging to coordinate and oversee such a large project on top of our full-times jobs. Chayce has been using his lunch breaks and working in the evenings to try and keep forward momentum.

But when he forgets one thing (for instance, not posting the proper signage with his name and phone number on it, and the city inspector turns around and says, “Sorry, can’t do your electrical inspection without that sign. See ya next week...”) there is a domino effect where every other trade gets delayed and the house just sits empty for days. Unfortunately, this has happened more than once. If Chayce was working full-time out at the property, we could avoid many of these delays, but alas, this is the price we pay for the manner in which we’ve gone about this project.

To make matters worse, some of our neighbors (who in the beginning were welcoming us into the neighborhood and telling us how excited they were that we were fixing up the only eyesore in the area) are not acting so neighborly. One person has already called the city on us, twice! Once for not having the proper permits (we did) and the other for working after hours (…guilty). Another person wouldn’t even let us use her outdoor faucet to borrow some water—even when we offered to pay! Granted, it’s not her job to provide us water, and nobody owes us anything. But c’mon people, it’s water! We’re on the same team, right?

But like the political climate of our times, we believe that this is the “vocal minority”. The vast majority of our neighbors—and America for that matter—are decent people and ready to lend a helping hand. The call to love thy neighbor is a pretty tall order, but I think most are apt for the challenge.

So don’t be discouraged by the hurdles—just jump a little higher!