A Long Break and Busy Doings

In my last post I said I was going to take a short break. Well, that short break became a l-o-n-g break.  And then it got even longer! That wasn't my plan but life got terribly busy out of necessity so I've not been able to come back sooner. I'll share a bit about what I've been up to during this break time so you'll know some of the things that I've been doing. It's been super crazy busy around here and it seems I'll never catch up. But, someday I think it's possible!

The reason I took a break was because I went away. Out of town! With my sweetheart and two of my teenage grandkids.  For the first time in a long time I was able to go to deer hunting camp in Eastern Oregon with my sweetheart. It was a different experience than the last time I went. Back then we had our first, little fully self-contained trailer.  This time, because we still don't have a big trailer since the trailer fire last August, we took my sweet, little vintage trailer - Miss Daffodil.  She didn't fare as well as I had hoped.  A few broken dishes, things that bounced on gravel roads more than on pavement and a few nicks and dings as things moved around inside. It's nothing that can't be fixed or replaced but, in the end, she was such a blessing. We had rain and cold temps, sunshine and clouds.  Our oldest granddaughter and her sixteen-year-old brother slept in a tent.  Those two were such troopers - not a word of complaint or grumbles.

 We had a great time together and saw some beautiful country.

Our grandson was successful in the hunt but deer were more sparse in our favorite area than before so he was the only one to come home with meat for the winter, which he shared with us. 

When we returned from hunting we got busy with preparations for an estate sale for my dear, little mother's things.  Oh, my! What a big job!!  But, in the end the sale was successful and many treasures found new homes.

I couldn't have done the sale without the help of two antique dealer friends who spent hours helping get ready and many hours during the sale.  Another dealer friend joined us at the end and she so sweetly pitched in to help deal with things that were left when the sale was over.  All three dealer friends have taken things on consignment so the sale goes on. 

My mother collected, read and loved old books.  She had quite a collection and one room of her home was a library/office.  In addition to that she still had most of my father's ministerial library.  So, we needed to deal with these old books and handle them in a way that would preserve them - and we had to decide which books we would keep and what we would pass along to others.  In that process I decided to have one of my dealer friends who specializes in old books sell them online for me.  That will happen after the holidays are over so we rented a very small climate controlled storage unit for a short time.  Twenty seven boxes!  That's right - twenty seven boxes of old books carefully stored by author and labeled went to our storage unit.  Here's a photo of my sweetheart taking the first load of boxes to storage.

Once the estate sale was finished my sweetheart and I worked day and night - literally - to finish cleaning and repairing and painting in preparation for the sweet young couple who moved into my mother's home last Saturday.  They are friends from church and we are thrilled that they are there. Their five-year-old girl is a darling and my mother absolutely adored them.  She would be thrilled that the home my father built when I was in high school will continue to be filled with love and laughter and prayer and faith.  I have to admit that it was hard to drive away late Friday night for the last time as the 'owner'.  My emotions hit hard on Saturday and I realized two things: I was exhausted, and letting go of my parents' home was another step in the loss and grief that is part of the process.

A couple of days ago I drove by to see my mother's home again.  As I approached I felt such joy!  The home that sat empty over these last months was filled with life.  Seeing window coverings and furnishings that could be seen through the big front window made my heart explode with joy!  Late yesterday afternoon we went to 'their' new home to give them something and we were blessed with an invitation to stay for dinner.  Seeing their things in their new home was such a blessing.  The house feels homey and cozy and so well decorated already - and loved.  It wasn't a sad thing at all and I left thanking God for the chance to sit at their table in the dining room where I often sat at my dear mother's table.  Their piano is exactly where my piano sat through the years until I was married, before I took it to my new home.  They asked me to sit at their piano and play some old hymns and Christmas Carols.  I felt so at home as I sat in that place where I sat and played so long ago.  And my heart was filled with gratitude and joy - and satisfaction that God had brought us to this place in our journey.

My sweetheart and I are in a 'strange' new place right now.  We've told a few people that we don't know what normal is.  We are transitioning from one season of our life to another.  We have plans and dreams but we must be diligent at home because it's been a long time since we've been able to focus on keeping the home fires burning. Many things have had to wait while we worked on my mother's home.  Christmas decorations are still in the attic (they may come down today) and some things that belonged to my sweet mother still need to find their place in our home.

That's why my blog break lasted longer than planned.  We will adjust to this new season we've begun and life will be busy and fulfilling and full of more joy and gratitude.  We are blessed!