All Hard Work Brings a Profit....Proverbs 14:23

So, up until last week, we have been "making it" to our house. The road, er, Smith Street, was rutted, muddy and in total and complete disrepair. And after a rain? Forget it. The road problem/s have been the most stressful tasks weighing on us since we moved in. 

Well, why didn't you just fix the road before you moved in? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because it was FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. American ones. Puh-leese. Get outta here. 

We're Smiths. We. Got. This. 

So, we had two dump trucks of "road base" delivered, spread it with the tractor and voila! Phew. That wasn't so bad. $500, a long morning's work and that's it. What a relief. 

Oh Smiths. You are fools. 

The next day it rained, not a lot, but when we tried to drive out the next morning, it's like our new, and "improved" road was sucking our tires in like sinking sand. All that "We're Smiths" talk  is now total disappointment, and "we don't know what we're doing". Both of us were feeling really down about it. After sulking about it for a day, Brian said, "You know, I think we're looking at this the wrong way. We want to learn new things. We wanted to do this stuff, and establish ourselves." Brian just really has a knack for that. He really can get a cool head, see reason and save the day. 

So, we sought wise counsel (a helpful, local, country fella) and laid down some large, some jagged rocks as phase one. 

Phase one was back-breaking, time-consuming, blister-forming work. We dumped the rocks with the tractor bucket, but then had to arrange them all the way down the road BY. HAND. Bend over. Pick up two big ones, replace with one. Stand back and look....Nope. Three smaller. Nope.....you get the picture. This went on for three days.
Phase Two:  two truckloads of road base. Dump loads on the road with tractor. Spread with tractor attachment. Stephanie uses metal rake to smooth.

                                                
Throughout each back-breaking phase, we had our doubts. But, it looks really great. And more importantly, it is smooth, and functional. We even made ourselves a little parking pad.
Like most things in life, in my opinion, hard work was/is so rewarding. We can drive on this road, with pride, and it has to be said, with a lot more money in our wallets. I think this obstacle/project is a pretty accurate picture of how things around here will go.
I am thankful, overwhelmingly thankful for these opportunities and for a partner who can guide us. So we see that these are opportunities, rather than a reason to feel defeated. An opportunity to build our home together, improve our land, and leave it better than we found it. Because we're Smiths.

Thanks for reading! XO, Steph