September 8, 2012 Greetings My Friend, One of the joys I have is taking a walk down the country road. We have very little traffic and we are on 9 acres so we let the dogs walk along with us without a leash. The dogs think that is the most fun taking a walk down the road with us. They run ahead and smell everything. When we get to the place where we turn around we yell “home” and they turn around run fast until they are ahead of us again. It is funny. I like not worrying about them running along. Many days I find myself thanking God for all this. I am amazed at what we have been given. I never thought I would live in the country, have beautiful scenes surrounding me. I feel a peace with each walk and even in the house I find a comfort level I have never known. We felt God telling us to move and we did and well I am amazed. I love this new life, this new area beyond words. I marvel at God knowing what was best for us. I would have liked to be a snow bird. Junior hates the heat and here in Virginia we have the best of both worlds. Junior hates the heat about as much as I hate the cold and the snow. The weather out here for us is perfect. The winter temps are on average 40 degrees. Not bad at all. The weather stays warm well into November and it warms up by around February. I am good with that. This weather fits the two of us quite well. The house we have is the same way. I have wanted a one story home for years. We have that. Even the laundry is on the same floor. I have trees all around to look at, I love the sound of the birds as I sit on the porch and butterflies tend to flutter around everywhere. I have never known peace like I have out here. It is beautiful, quiet and serene. As I ponder all this I marvel that God seemed to know what my heart truly wanted and then God said “move” and again I am so grateful we listened. Have we had moments since moving? We sure have but in the end I know that I know we are where God led us. I know because of the peace I have being here. I love watching Junior fix on the house. At present he is building us a car port. That will be nice come winter and even this summer because we can get the vehicles out of the heat. I almost think that my fear of sitting on the porch after dark will subside with the carport hooked to the porch. I will have something between me and the dark. I tend to be overly cautious in the dark. The carport hooked right to the porch will give me a sense of protection. I hope soon we will get a fire pit and enjoy that in the evenings. Having a thankful heart has been a blessing. For most of my life I focused on what was not right in my life. The more I focus on what is right I find I have peace. I also see that God has been giving me gifts all along. I may not be rich or have the fanciest things but I have the things that touch me to the core. Junior loves me. He treats me like I am a precious gift. After feeling so unwanted for so long it is about one of the most precious feelings being wanted. I remember asking God if I should run off and marry this man. I felt a peace come over me and I did. Frankly our life together has been so good. Do we have moments where we don’t know how to deal with each other? Yes we do. Still I would rather be with Junior than without him. Junior lets me love him as well. I like watching after him in my girl kind of way. I like making him meals, making our bed, keeping up the house. Junior accepts these gifts that I give him. That feels wonderful. I don’t have to cook him 3 meals a day as well which I am not so good at. He accepts me the way I am and of course the more he accepts me the way I am the more I want to accept him the way he is. I almost feel foolish when I think on this. In a prayer after my divorce I asked God to be married again. I told God that the man did not have be rich but I asked that he pay his bills. He did not need to have a fancy career. As an afterthought I asked God to give me a man who took his faith seriously. I wanted to be in a healthy relationship. I wanted to be able to look up to the man I married. Again as I do the look back I find that God gave me the man I asked for. The best part is Junior takes his faith seriously. He treats me the way he thinks God wants him to treat me. The more Junior seeks my best the more I seek his best. To me life could not be sweeter. qhyqGod is always there, that has been an amazing lesson. I don’t feel alone anymore. God guides me and I find myself making better choices because I am hearing God’s direction. When I can truly open my heart to God and live the way I hear God teaching me, life is nice. God doesn’t take struggles away but He will walk through the struggle and that is wonderful. I am not alone which is something I hate to be alone. Have you begun your faith journey? Is it time? May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you. Love Janet