The new boss wanted to help us get started, now that we were living in the city. He owned a corner lot in town and thought of a way for us to get a bank loan for a house, that also included the price of the house lot. We picked out a blueprint of a house we liked; then we went through the bank, everything was all set. We began to order siding, roofing materials, plumbing for two bathrooms and kitchen, a furnace, a fireplace; then began picking out colors for everything. The trusses were made right at the kitchen cabinet company the boss owned; money was saved that way.

Mike had offered to help us build our house; we were to put a message on "Message Time", on the radio - when we were ready to begin building. We put a message on; and someone told us that he wouldn't be able to come into town, after all. We didn't know why plans had changed. So, Joe (knowing just how to "word it") put another message on the radio. "To the elders at Graham River Farm. Mike will come to town on Friday, with enough clothing to spend a few weeks with his family."

Mike was delivered right to our door, with the van that made the trips to town...the driver wouldn't even talk to us (he was the elder who had pronounced a ‘curse’ on Joe, when we first left the farm). We didn't know Mike was having trouble with his back, he never did tell us until much later.

Besides working at the shop 8 hours a day, Joe was also taking a St. John's Ambulance course (because the boss wanted him to, for the shop), and building on the house. He was having trouble with his prostate gland and was uncomfortable from that, plus dizzy from the infection that just didn't seem to want to go away; he was spread pretty thin.

Years later, Joe told me that the boss had told him to get a divorce from me, because I was still having physical problems and not much help to him. The boss had a divorce a few years earlier, and now had a second wife and young family. The men worked 6 days a week, and after church (on Sundays), the boss always wanted us to spend the rest of the day with his family. We went on picnics a lot; they talked together about the Lord (the boss had some "different" kind of ideas).

One of our "outings" was to cut a Christmas tree for each of our families. We packed hot chocolate, sandwiches, dry sticks and matches for a bonfire (to warm up with). They invited a young man who worked in their office; he was interested in our daughter Mary.

The young man had gone to a church where Mary had played her guitar, for one of the meetings. He was so impressed that he ran home to change his clothes and then he got to speak with her, later. Mary had also played her guitar in the Junior Secondary school that she attended; she was just about to become a "STAR", she had her picture in the newspaper!

In most of our space time we worked on the house; we had put the trusses up, the roof on, the rooms were divided, the floor put down. Friends had helped with the plumbing and some of the sanding on the wallboard.

About this time, everything was coming to a head...Joe decided that his house was going to have a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, that was to "his height", because all medicine cabinets were "standard" and too low for him (because of his height). Well, this was the straw that broke the camel's back...because the boss insisted it be at "standard" height. That did it...Joe quit!

They talked about it, worked something out; but the boss would pay Joe a dollar an hour less than he had been. When it came time to sign the final papers at the bank, they couldn't okay the loan, because his pay wasn't high enough. Everything was on hold...

The boss' wife got panicky, wrote us a nasty letter (which was completely out of "character" for her), and must have reflected his thoughts. I answered her letter and said we would sign it over to him right away, because we were used to having nothing and the Lord had always taken care of us...we weren't about to start doubting Him, now. There was really no reason for a panic, because we weren't about to cheat him out of anything. We quickly signed the house to him.

I don't know how the farm heard what had happened, but within two days, we heard from one of the elders. He heard we were losing the house, and would we consider selling it to the farm - the men could work on it, sell it finished, and make some profit for the farm? Needless to say, we were glad it was already gone - back to the x-boss.

The young man, who was interested in Mary, had gone fishing at the Bennett Dam and caught quite a few large fish. He brought them over to our house, of course, he was invited for supper. Sometime, (I'm not sure just when), he had met Mary some place and they saw each other unknown to us...she had hit her head on something; he brought her home in a dazed condition. She probably had a concussion, but we weren't sure just how much was real and how much was to get his attention. We prayed for her, he joined us (I think it might have been the first time he ever heard "tongues".)

Because the young man worked in the office, he could see just what the x-boss had been doing to Joe, and he couldn't quite believe it was really happening. He quit his job and offered to take Joe (and Mary), down to the Lower Mainland area (where he had originally come from), to look for work.