Expensive Ice Cream?

 Today as I left the shop briefly to run to the bank, I popped over a hill to find a truck flashing it's lights at me; the four-ways were on. I turned around and towed them back to the shop. Guess the test drive didn't go so well. I thought about how often I get to tow someone. Or watch someone be towed. As was the case yesterday.


  A good percentage of our customers are Hot-Shot haulers. Some haul cattle. Some are farmers. Most of them though somehow use their trucks for work. Consequently when their truck dies, they are in a panic. A vehicle is typically quite crucial to someone's income, but when it is their main tool, it is a problem.


 Yesterday I did not want to be at work so I convinced Blake to let me stay home until noon, on the condition that I would answer the shop phone from home. The first phone call was from a customer who hauls calves. He needed to talk to Blake because he had BIG problems. Turns out his wheel had fallen off. He had a double-decker cattle trailer behind him with 100 calves that had to be in Indiana before feeding time. So Blake spent a good portion of the day with Steve, one of our mechanics, helping fix the wheel. About three o'clock Blake was finally back at the shop to stay so he came to pick me up. I had greatly enjoyed my "half day" at home. :)

  We had barely been back to work for a full hour when we got another phone call. An older gentleman was in a predicament. He owns three trucks, which he rents out to Amish men who cannot own a vehicle but need one for their business. Last night on their way home from work with a gooseneck trailer loaded full of green logs, these Amish guys and their driver decided they'd like some ice cream. Stopping quickly was hard because they had a large rig, and when they backed way off the edge of the parking lot pavement to get enough out of the way, they didn't realize their trailer wheels sunk several inches and the trailer tongue gouged into the slight hill. When they came back with their ice cream and tried to leave though, let's just say it didn't move. One of the Amish guys decided to try driving. He put it in 4 wheel drive and dug four black holes in the pavement before Snap! And their rear axle popped.

  So Blake hooked up to his gooseneck and the truck owner took his other truck and we all headed the hour drive to the ice cream shop. Then after two trucks were hooked to the heavy load, the thing succeeded in rising up out of the soft soil back onto solid ground and no more rear axles were snapped. We hauled the dead truck home on our trailer and the other guy hauled the logs home behind his truck.

  The truck with a snapped axle now sits in the line with all the other trucks here at work. I'm sure if we don't get to it soon, he'll call in a few days saying he definitely needs that truck in short order. And we'll work a little later to get it fixed for him. No, it's not scheduled. It's called life. And until I get that phone call, I'll go back to working up an estimate for another truck that needs a head gasket while I continue answering the phone for people who are waiting on their trucks. Perhaps it has something to do with too many distractions. That being said, I think I'm distracted from that estimate. :)

X's and Hearts ...

Simple things, like fabric scraps,

can create

unique designs

 and finally- finished gifts.

He's My Friend

 Why?

1) He genuinely cares about me.
2) He loves God and encourages me to live for Him as well.
3) He inspires me to use my brain.
4) He has an amazing work ethic!
5) He willingly helps those in need.
6) He has the most winning smile- that is, when he is extra happy and extra tired. :)
7) He is patient. And by patient I mean really patient.
8) He understands me, even when I am confusing and no other person can seem to understand.
9) He has an excellent sense of humor.
10) Last night [when he was exhausted] I was too tired to think straight and he was sweetly doing what had to be done. I sleepily asked him why he is so nice to me. His answer?        
"Because he loves me."

I love you Blake!

Amish and Cummins

You say: "Tell me, how do they mix?"
Well. I saw it today. Here's how!

 I was traveling along the road and came upon a buggy. Since it was on a hill, I was not able to pass. I followed and saw this. Upon closer inspection I confirmed that there on the slow moving vehicle sign I was indeed seeing this:

 

 Typically it goes here:

Yes, they do drive buggies, but it just goes to show what some of them would really rather be driving! :)

You Never Marry the Right Person

 
Written by Timothy Keller, excerpt from his book "The Meaning of Marriage"

How our culture misunderstands compatibility.

In generations past, there was far less talk about “compatibility” and finding the ideal soul-mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for.
In John Tierney’s classic humor article “Picky, Picky, Picky” he tries nobly to get us to laugh at the impossible situation our culture has put us in. He recounts many of the reasons his single friends told him they had given up on their recent relationships:
“She mispronounced ‘Goethe.’”
“How could I take him seriously after seeing The Road Less Traveled on his bookshelf?”
“If she would just lose seven pounds.”
“Sure, he’s a partner, but it’s not a big firm. And he wears those short black socks.”
“Well, it started out great ... beautiful face, great body, nice smile. Everything was going fine—until she turned around.” He paused ominously and shook his head. ”... She had dirty elbows.”
In other words, some people in our culture want too much out of a marriage partner. They do not see marriage as two flawed people coming together to create a space of stability, love and consolation, a “haven in a heartless world,” as Christopher Lasch describes it. Rather, they are looking for someone who will accept them as they are, complement their abilities and fulfill their sexual and emotional desires. This will indeed require a woman who is “a novelist/astronaut with a background in fashion modeling,” and the equivalent in a man. A marriage based not on self-denial but on self-fulfillment will require a low- or no-maintenance partner who meets your needs while making almost no claims on you. Simply put—today people are asking far too much in the marriage partner.

You never marry the right person

The Bible explains why the quest for compatibility seems to be so impossible. As a pastor I have spoken to thousands of couples, some working on marriage-seeking, some working on marriage-sustaining and some working on marriage-saving. I’ve heard them say over and over, “Love shouldn’t be this hard, it should come naturally.” In response I always say something like: “Why believe that? Would someone who wants to play professional baseball say, ‘It shouldn’t be so hard to hit a fastball’? Would someone who wants to write the greatest American novel of her generation say, ‘It shouldn’t be hard to create believable characters and compelling narrative’?” The understandable retort is: “But this is not baseball or literature. This is love. Love should just come naturally if two people are compatible, if they are truly soul-mates. “
The Christian answer to this is that no two people are compatible. Duke University Ethics professor Stanley Hauerwas has famously made this point:

Destructive to marriage is the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and the family are primarily institutions of personal fulfillment, necessary for us to become "whole" and happy. The assumption is that there is someone just right for us to marry and that if we look closely enough we will find the right person. This moral assumption overlooks a crucial aspect to marriage. It fails to appreciate the fact that we always marry the wrong person.
We never know whom we marry; we just think we do. Or even if we first marry the right person, just give it a while and he or she will change. For marriage, being [the enormous thing it is] means we are not the same person after we have entered it. The primary challenge of marriage is learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.

Hauerwas gives us the first reason that no two people are compatible for marriage, namely, that marriage profoundly changes us. But there is another reason. Any two people who enter into marriage are spiritually broken by sin, which among other things means to be self-centered—living life incurvatus in se. As author Denis de Rougemont said, “Why should neurotic, selfish, immature people suddenly become angels when they fall in love ... ?” That is why a good marriage is more painfully hard to achieve than athletic or artistic prowess. Raw, natural talent does not enable you to play baseball as a pro or write great literature without enduring discipline and enormous work. Why would it be easy to live lovingly and well with another human being in light of what is profoundly wrong within our human nature? Indeed, many people who have mastered athletics and art have failed miserably at marriage. So the biblical doctrine of sin explains why marriage—more than anything else that is good and important in this fallen world—is so painful and hard.

No false choices

The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the Gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The Gospel is—we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared to believe, and at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God’s mercy and grace.
The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God. But a good marriage will also be a place where we experience more of this kind of transforming love at a human level.

Excerpt from THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE © 2011 by Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller.  Published by Dutton, A Member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Excerpted with permission from the publisher. All Rights Reserved.



http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/27749-you-never-marry-the-right-person

2011- Memorable or Monotonous?

I tell Blake that some of our days are monotonous and boring and greasy... just plain mechanical. (Hence the blog name!) Some of the days are not boring though. Blake keeps life lively when he's energetic or when he's extremely over tired.

2011 went fast and had a few fun things happen.


In January... after returning home from a week long trip over New Year's to Vermont, we settled back into working on trucks:

 and eating some pizza...

 In February we probably did some arm wrestling and hanging out with brothers, although I'm not sure when these exact pictures were taken! :)

Does that look like it's really hard or really funny?!

I think this picture is adorable!

In March... this picture was taken. I can't remember anything else that happened that month! It was the only picture I could find commemorating March.

I think I did a bunch of sewing and scrapbooking too while Blake did a bunch of working on trucks. :) And that reminds me: I made this quilt.

In April... The girls (the ones who became my sisters when I got married) and I put together a baby shower for my mother in law. We had lots of fun, and learned a few things for the next shower we put on.

Yes, this is definitely a diesel loving family! :)

Considering that another boy was on the way, chocolate mud tracks across the cake were completely fitting!

And no, this is not a real baby! It was a creatively wrapped gift from a friend. Towel and washcloths for the body with various clothes to put it together.

In May... Dad and Mom traveled out from Vermont because... Lanna graduated from New Tribes Bible Institute. She worked really hard and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. She is my amazing sister!

 Dad, Mom, Lanna, and my grandparents, who were also able to make it to her graduation.

My siblings, all of us except for Josh. Sorry you had to work and missed out, Josh! :(

Also in May...I met my ninth and newest brother in law, Clay.

And ALSO in May... a long time friend, Daniel, married a really cool girl, Amber. So I took a really long ride to the great state of New Hampshire to get to go to their really cool wedding! Congrats you two!

In June... Holly came for a visit. It was high time for her to come to Ohio!

And in June... Blake got a long over due hair cut. :)

Yes, he was not impressed!


In July... My friend Katrina married Mose. I helped her make a bunch of coffee filter flowers- which are really cool by the way! The reception was decorated beautifully. The happy couple was married. So excited for you guys! :) 

In August... Blake's family all lived through a photo shoot. We even have pictures to prove it!

And also we got a good picture of the two of us. Neither of us are typically photogenic so this was success!

And also in August... I finally got some decals made for our business. I'd put it off for a long time because I couldn't figure out how to make them look creative. So finally I just got them made- even with the boring look. :)

In September... My sister decided that maybe dating wasn't all bad. :)

In October... Maria and I went to a wedding in Michigan and got to experience a police escort- but that's embarrassing. (How about you just read about that here?!)   
Then we went to visit Lanna.

Also in October... Josh came to visit for three weeks... which lasted into ...
November... And of course I didn't get any pictures of him because I'm very bad about taking pictures! He slept at our house but I mostly only saw him at my in-laws house, where he spent most of his time.
The last week he was here, he ended up doing a small remodeling project over there. He was running out of time before he had to leave and started cutting corners. I said that it was going to look shabby, so I spent a bit of time helping him caulk, paint, and lay linoleum.
We had fun working together and were reminded of the old days when we would both work with Dad. He would caulk, I would paint. He would complain about having to caulk and explain how Christine could do it so much better. I would quietly hope that Dad never listened because I detested caulking!!! (Fortunately Dad didn't usually ever act like he heard, at least. :) )

Holly also came out for a week with her boyfriend, Dwayne. A bunch of our friends went bowling one night and then stood around in the parking lot of the bowling alley swapping McDonald stories for a while. Then we headed to Applebees when we realized that they stayed open till midnight. Yep, good times! 
  The month of November spend by quickly and suddenly it was Thanksgiving. Dad and Mom and the kids came out to spend a week with us. We had a splendid visit- my husband even was able to leave work really early a couple of days, making me quite happy!
  Once again though, I took no pictures so I have nothing to document that time. :( 

And then in December... we worked. And we worked some more. We work a lot! And that's what we're still doing even though it's January. Sometimes we come home early. Sometimes we come home at midnight. Sometimes we do things exciting and sometimes we do the same stuff over and over that comprise life.

Most importantly though, I'm learning to remember to live by this:

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."  Colossians 3:17

So. Whether you're sick of just working or whether you're busily making memories to last a life time, remember that verse this year and give thanks!
Happy New Year!