Last Year's Questions

I've been going through a bit of a blogging dry spell, drought, dehydration,

whatever you wish to label it...

which is a shame because I have plenty to tell you.

But frankly, I've been too tired.

When we moved into this new antique house I was so excited to be able to have

new spaces, old floors, new colors, old fireplaces, new design ideas, old doorknobs

to talk about.

But then as life happened, I couldn't find the time or energy to sit and write about it

(much less take pictures and come up with post ideas).

We've been in this house 9 months and during that time and the brief time before that,

here's what's happened (and I'm not trying to make excuses for not writing, I am simply reminding myself

that it's okay to UNblog a.k.a. "Do Life" once in a while that doesn't need to be blogged about. 

More about that later):

 - my husband I were separated 8 months and got remarried

- I got Shingles from the stress of the separation (I'm recovered now!)

- our youngest daughter graduated from high school

- our youngest daughter started driving 

- my paternal grandmother passed away

- we prepared and staged and sold our last house

- I had a gall bladder attack that landed me in the emergency room, CAT scan showed stones

(which I cleansed out myself!)

- we took a trip to NYC

- my father (whom I was estranged from at the time) died 4 months after his mother did

- sorted through his estate with my mom's help (got a cute Vespa scooter out of it that was his!)

- 2 days before closing on our now house, our lender went bankrupt

- I had a mini-mental/spiritual crisis and decided that we needed to keep looking for another home

- thankfully, my hubby's reasoning and prayers reassured me that this was the home for us

- we rented this house for a month 

- got another lender and finally closed on this home

- settled in and started selling excess stuff that doesn't fit or we don't use

- a water pipe burst underneath our bathroom sink which spewed water 10 feet into our bedroom

- we took a cruise to the Bahamas

- purse stolen out of my car in our own driveway

- we had a house warming party

- we're getting to know our historic district and our new neighbors

- the contractors for our home owner's warranty have replaced our microwave

- the contractors for our home owner's warranty have replaced our dishwasher

- our old refrigerator died and we got a replacement French-door one off Craigslist

- our two daughters took a trip to South Korea

- I started editing my home staging book

- we had a wedding for some dear friends on our porch

- mother-in-love visit
- mother visit

- our older daughter drove my CR-V in a ditch (she's okay, the car wasn't)

- we found a Lexus that we loved and added cash to the insurance money (from the CR-V) and bought it

- we hunted for and found our daughters their own car-- a cute little Acura coupe

- hubby started taking some classes at technical college

- started having Wednesday night small group meetings in our home

- small restoration projects throughout the house

- learning to love and trust God to protect and guide my marriage

- had a wedding reception for our "adopted" daughter on our porch and lawn

-  my e-book is finished and published

- more settling in and finding a routine and a spot for everything

I don't know why some of the events above happened to me,

and I wish some of them had never happened.

I suppose it's all a part of the story of my life, though it was heart-breakingly sad on a few of the pages.

However, some pages are filled with beautiful, eternally significant events!

I think I thought I needed to write about every little thing that happened above in detail,

which actually caused me panic and the desire to write about nothing much at all.

So now that I see it typed out, I can move forward.

Now that I see it typed out, I realize that some of the things that happened to me last year

were used so I could learn forgiveness and hope and where my strength comes from.

I've learned that in this life, there is no such thing as a normal life.

Now that some changes are behind us, I can talk about what's happening now.

I, for one, cannot wait to get back to doing what I really love: writing, encouraging, sharing.

P.S. I'm sorry for saying "I" so much.