July 14, 2016

Greetings My Friend, As with most people I find myself getting caught up with day to day business. In retirement I am learning how to live with a broken body and as I build myself back to a sense of energy I have started doing more around the house. Since our kitchen has been mostly finished I have become a cook and putting up food for the winter. My food preparation is dehydrating which is mainly slicing and putting the food on the dehydrator. It still occupies a good portion of my day several days during the week. Since it is summer I am not as involved in in depth cleaning around the house but more of a glossing over daily routines like cleaning the bathroom and making the beds. I am enjoying myself a lot. In the evenings I have been cutting out squares so I can make a denim memory quilt. Before I start my day I do a Bible study, hang around on line and social media before entering into my day's physical work ending with writing for the blog. I love having my days filled with meaningful activity again and I have been pushing myself to do the work. Saturday we were invited to Debbie and Boogie's for an afternoon of celebrating the 4th of July. Junior and I went with our share of the food, spaghetti salad and buns. We loved chatting and hanging out, then sweetly curling up in their front room for an afternoon nap. It has been a long time since we celebrated a holiday with someone. After our visit ended we went by the church for the potato bar they put on for the holiday crowd of people. The day started with a parade, there was music in the park and later fireworks so the church felt a time to eat and watch movies allowed people to stay around for the day. Along with the baked potato bar the church showed 3 movies so people could enjoy the air conditioning too. We stayed long enough to eat a baked potato before we headed home. We got up and went to church on Sunday and when we got home both of us slept for a few hours. Later I cut up more squares and made dates and walnuts to snack on. Junior and I found ourselves spending time sitting on the front porch watching the lightening bugs light up the night sky. We chatted, the fur children were out there with us snoozing as we talked. In the midst of this quiet is when I discovered how awesome the rest of the afternoon had revived me. I realized that business is good but so is taking time outs and doing something different. Up until this year I had not gone outside in the evenings due to fear of wild animals coming out at night. I had given up on the fear and wondered out to the porch just to rest and enjoy myself and I did. Junior closed off the porch so the dogs could be in the front yard too. They have a way to choose to be on the porch, in the house or in the back yard. They all are contained now and that feels good. We had gotten into the habit of letting Brendy and Biggie out in the front yard because Val is the alpha dog and can be a bit strict with his children as he perceives them. After Chiari was hit we felt we needed to contain them so this project was begun and now it is finished. When money becomes available we will fence in the front yard too. While we sat there on the porch I felt I understood God when He rested on the 7th day more so. I also understood more fully when Jesus teaches us to come to Him with our burdens. In that still quiet with dogs and even Sammy and Jack our new kittens I felt so content. I realized that sometimes life does not work out the way I imagined it would and that sadness stays with me a lot. On the porch though I realized that sometimes you just need to let go and move on. My heart will always be prayerful things will change but if they don't, that is okay. I am so happy to be Junior's wife, the mother of our fur children and life is truly sweet. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet