Build it Stronger
It’s taken me months to sit with my feelings before writing about this. A while after we came back to the States from Perú, it seemed that all was well at our new homestead in Jaguey, despite our absence. I received fascinating images of spider webs and hawks from the security cameras. The work continued on the platform for the water tanks, and the tanks were even plumbed and installed. Papá Miguel and Mamá Irma made trips out to the property occasionally to check in on the continued work. Don Jorge, our neighbor who worked for us as a sometime caretaker checked in on the place daily. Despite some ups and downs with the solar array, even that had seemed to settle in with the installation of an old refrigerator and Jorge using the electric to charge some of his lights/batteries. It seemed as if all my pre-Peru-trip anxiety had been overblown and unnecessary.
But…
On May 21 around 1:15AM, three thieves broke in to our property. They cut the electric fencing, cut the wires on our security cameras and stole them, and broke the plumbing on our water tanks and stole those as well. Thankfully they did not attempt to steal nor did they damage the solar panels and batteries.
Despite the fact that about three months have passed, I can’t help but still feel dejected that this happened. I only feel somewhat secure in writing about the property now, because we have a family friend of my husband Jhan’s father named José and his partner María living and working on the property now. We had Maestro Santos, who installed all the gorgeous flooring and bathroom tile create cement pads beneath the large steel doors to prevent ingress from below those. And José and María (with some assistance from Santos) are working to add rows of cement block to the wall around the main house section of the property. It should help to make the property more difficult to enter uninvited.
Life is full of setbacks. In the grand scheme of things, theft is a minor issue to face. While it left me feeling that our personal space had been violated, I prefer to maintain the perspective that there are far greater difficulties in life.
I look at several people in my life, who I love and respect, that face vastly greater difficulties daily. They fight the good fight in the face of metastatic cancer, in the face of severe back pain, in the face of chronic pain and fatigue, in the face of the loss of a spouse, while facing the health difficulties of a child. I won’t name names, but these folks who are just a bit older than I am, continue on in the face of great adversity. So who am I to baulk at these minor difficulties? With prayerful consideration, I continue on.
So…after my brief hiatus, I’m leaning in. I’m going to try harder.
We’re going to make things stronger, safer, and we’re going to continue to work as we are called to build a haven for our family.
