Journey to Fulfillment

Losing Thirty-Five Years of Hard Work

My husband had grown up in the city on a very small

lot and always felt crowded. He had spent each summer

at his grandparent’s house in the country and

enjoyed the freedom to roam. He wanted some land

so that he could plant a garden and raise animals. He

wanted our children to have room to run and play

without disturbing the neighbors. In

sons were one and three years old, God blessed us

by allowing us to build our house. We lived in Port

Neches at the time, and our new house was in the

county outside of the city limits. The house cost way

more than we could afford; therefore, we had to complete

some of the work ourselves. We would drive out

to “the property” almost every day. Darrell, our threeyear-

old, called it “the plopity.”

We worked hard to achieve our goal. My husband

completed the wiring of the house. Not being an electrician,

he ordered an instruction manual from Sears

for fifty cents. Since he did not want to pay shipping

on a fi fty-cent item, he bought fi ve books and gave

them away as gifts—I am sure they were appreciated.

Anyway it was a good little book, and he followed the

instructions. He and a friend textured and painted the

ceilings and walls. I stained every door, cabinet, and

trim in the house. I took a class at Sherwin Williams

so that I could hang the wallpaper. There was literally

our blood, sweat, and tears in every wall. When our

friends would stop by to see the house, they would ask,

“How can you afford this?” We always replied, “God

gave it to us.” We were careful to give God the glory

and praise for our beautiful home.

Moving day was exciting and exhausting. My

husband was ill tempered due to being stressed and

fatigued. He blamed me for everything that went

wrong and didn’t mince words when he told me. I

knew he was tired and stressed, but his actions weren’t

helping anything. I was so angry with him it was hard

to feel sorry for him. But I felt so sorry for him it was

hard to be angry with him. I thought about fi ling for

divorce, but I didn’t have the money. I thought about

killing him, but I needed him to pay the mortgage. It

was a long day, but we worked through it and our marriage

survived.