Summing up a Childhood

Hello everyone!

    My daughter sent this to me in an email a few months ago. I just found it again and realized that it sums up her childhood as she remembers it. I don't want to lose this. I read it again today, and it filled me with nostalgia for the hard good old days. More about now at the bottom of the post.

Laura

~~~~~

Emily to mom

I can't sleep and started feeling nostalgic.

Thank you for all the times that you rubbed my back and gave me water when I was sick.

For holding me when I cried over things we couldn't control

For listening to my silly stories and embracing my goofiness

For encouraging me to be creative

For taking me for slushies, cappuccinos, and just us time

For getting me in music lessons when you knew I didn't have much else

For trying so many times to get me into groups

For playing fiddler on the roof and musical numbers while we cleaned

For field trips and park days

For ice cream cones after the water park

For library days and video store nights

For pajama runs

For Apple cider slushies

For hot cocoa, homemade chocolate chip cookies, singing in the rain, and loving gloomy days

For new ornaments every year

For $1 movie matinees

For thrifting and garage saling

For the gift of music in our home

For homemade honey oat bread and white rolls

For all the meals you made with love

For resurrection cookies and communion good Fridays

For Easter baskets, stockings, 4th of July fireworks, and pencil hunts

For Little Debbie snacks

For little adventures

For sunsets at the farm

For holding me through my ear aches and getting me the care I needed

For hiding my Barbie cuz of my irrational fear

For gracie, my favorite dog

For birthday parties

For holidays

For crosslines and food stamps

For scrapbooks

For fundraisers

For Walmart bag kites

For old musicals

For readathons

From movie nights

For date nights with mac and cheese and hot dogs

For Scooby-Doo and cyberchase

For sticking out hard situations because you thought it would help us

For praising me and encouraging me

For including me in your book reviews

For being my friend

For listening even when you weren't sure of the answer

For encouraging me to keep going even when I wanted to give up and college

For letting me live with you for so long

For Betsy despite her cancerous existence LOL (1st car)

For snack runs on paper route nights

For picking apples, berries, pumpkins, and vegetables

For chickens, a very weird goat, and lots and lots of kittens

For the blogs

For visual Latin

For caring what we watched and listen to

For the hours and hours you spent calculating our homeschool hours

For the many nights where you didn't want to cook but you still made sure we were fed

For never leaving us never giving up

For choosing to fight through everything you were taught as child to be the best mom you know how to be

From Maple leaf parades in the cold

For chocolate old fashions on Maple leaf morning

For all of our Christmas traditions

For walk through Bethlehem

For trusting me to go to summer camp

For trusting me to watch Michael and Amy

For forgiving me for breaking half of your dishes

For forgiving me for my many mistakes and many meltdowns

For forgiving me when I speak before I think or speak emotionally

For allowing me to choose my own path and never trying to limit me

For surviving

For forgiving my unkindness in the hardest years of your life

For being there for the hardest years of my life

Thank you for being you, loving me and raising me the best you knew how. Thank you for loving and honoring me for who I am. I love you very much and I love the precious memories we made as I grew up.

~~~~~

MY THOUGHTS:

    All those years on the edge of poverty so that I could homeschool the kids were most definitely worth it all. As I see so many kids from broken families come into the office, I've realized that my kids weren't disadvantaged at all. They had two married for life parents who gave them as much stability as possible. They had the best life could give them—a mom and dad who loved each other in spite of hard circumstances and sometimes hard hearts, who were selfless and selfish and discouraged and hopeful, who trusted that somehow, some way, the LORD would provide. He did. He has, in many ways, restored what the locusts have stolen. 

    We toured the house next door today. It's been fixed up for sale. The listing price is twice what we paid for ours just seven years ago. Prices began skyrocketing after the pandemic. Sometimes we think we should downsize, but God has made this place for us. My car broke down last week. It's not such a big deal since I'm three minutes from work. It's easy for my husband to drop me and pick me up.  

    I am thankful. I am thankful that my high school sweetheart husband and I will finish this life together as long as we live.

    I am thankful that my daughter has thankful memories of her childhood.

    I am thankful for writing this blog. It encouraged and still encourages me to trust in God and love this life He's leading me through.

    Thank you all for being part of that!

God bless you all!

Laura 

Happy in the place God's put me

Two Weeks! And then Four!

 

Hi, everyone. 

    Two weeks; that's all it took. It's Monday morning. I'm sitting on my couch with a blanket and a pillow, hot tea, water, tissues and nursing a cold. I wonder where I got it?

    Oh yes! I remember! I am working in a pediatric clinic. I can tell right now I'm going to have to do something to boost my immune system. 

TIME FLIES......

    And now it is Friday evening the 13th. I've officially been at the pediatric office four weeks. I've not blogged, read a book, sewn, or worked on my rag rug. I've barely knit, barely listened to my audiobook, or even cooked. 

    What I have done is worked, studied, listened to my Bible, gone to church on Sundays, fallen asleep during the evening, and made some new friends.  I've done minimal housework, laundry, dishes, and my husband has helped with cooking. Yes, we've eaten out a few times, too.

AND......

    Y'all have been so encouraging. I appreciate the supportive notes, letters, and prayers. That means so much to me. So many of you have been with me through homeschooling, my part-time jobs after the kids were grown, breast cancer, and all my frugal living writing. 

    In fact, through the years, writing to y'all has kept me focused on the LORD and the story that he is writing in my life. 

    Thank you all so much!

    Now, it's another era. I'm in the getting ready for retirement era. Strange to say since I've not worked full-time in 35 years. ~smile~ But— I want to help my husband pay off our debts and to save for retirement so that when we do retire, and I'm sure we will like it or not, we'll be in a bit better shape financially. 

    I have one definite plan for retirement. I'm going to adopt a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel girl. The last two dogs we've had weren't very affectionate. I'm going to have one more dog in my life. I want to be sure she's a little love bucket. ~smile~ Everything I've learned of this breed leads me to believe that, if I'm willing to pay the price, I can buy love. ~grin~

    So, I am going to begin a savings account just for my little one. I'll put money in it each paycheck. I've told my husband that it's a priority for me. He is supportive.

    It's nice to have that joy to look forward to. I will wait until I am home again first. I don't want her to be a latch-key puppy. Gasp!

    Have any of you ever owned a King Charles Spaniel? I'd love to read of your experiences either in the comments or by email in the sidebar. 

OKAY........

    What to expect here......

    Honestly, I don't know yet. But, I'm not going to quit writing. I ask you to give me grace as I get my feet under me. 

    I may only write once a week for awhile. As soon as I get to a point that I'm not consumed by learning this job (I've actually dreamt about it.), I'll refine my focus and let y'all know the direction I'm heading with this blog. 

    In the meantime, I invite you to enjoy some of my old posts.

Sending virtual hugs to you all!

ஐღ Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage ღஐ 

...happy to be serving the LORD in a new way, but missing home and normal, too.

~~~~~

A FEW POSTS TO GET YOU STARTED:

Six Benefits of Blogging

Gifts for $5 or Less 

Cherry Pits, Erma Bombeck, and Jehovah God

Thoughts on Sixty 

One Secret Reason It's so Hard to Declutter

Photo credits:

Cavalier ~ Photo by T.R Photography 📸 on Unsplash

Hour Glass ~ Photo by Nathan Dumlao

Spaghetti... Yes, That's It.

 

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

Spaghetti...

Yes...

That's it...

That's exactly what my brain has felt like for the last week!

There's so much to learn.

I'm glad the trainers are patient.

Learning to use the computer programs is more than a bit challenging. 

I hope to be back to writing soon. 

Condensing a 16 hour day into about 5 hours isn't easy. That's what it feels like to go from being a homemaker, writer, knitter, sewist, and all the other things woman to a working woman who doesn't want to give up any of those things!

And I want to be with my husband, too!

I'm not sure yet what is going to give, but something will have to be lower priority. 

I keep reminding myself that I'm doing this for a season to help us to be in a better place for retirement. I'm going to work on paying off debt and saving money. 

I believe that God called me into this ministry.

It's a Catholic healthcare system. They refer to it as a ministry; and, talk of Jesus is heard often. 

So, I'm going to keep on keeping on. This week will be easier than last week; because, I have last week's learning to build on.

"Keep telling yourself that, love."

~ Captain Jack Sparrow

LOL

It will all be good.

Thanks so much for your encouragement and prayers!

Laura

I LOVE YOU MONTH... LEARNING

I love learning!

    I love learning new things. Over the years, I've learned to quilt, bake bread, can, sew, crochet, knit, cross-stitch, embroider, and many other things. 

    Currently, I'm learning Spanish with Duolingo, Western Heritage from the Book of Genesis to John Locke with a free online course from Hillsdale College, rug twining using YouTube videos, and I'm using The Bible Recap on the Bible.com app, too.

    Monday, the 16th, I'm adding something new. I've resigned from the school district. I enjoyed four years of substitute teaching; but, God's moving me into a new phase and a new position. I've accepted a position in a pediatrics office just three minutes from my home. It will be a learning experience in a couple of ways. 

    First, I've got to learn the computer system and the job. At 60, that will be a challenge. ~smile~ I'm a reader and a learner, so I'll be able to do it. Second, it's been 35 years since I've worked full-time outside the home. That, too, will be a challenge. ~God's plan—not mine!~ His plans are always good, though, aren't they? I'll tell y'all about it sometime. 

    A third challenge will be that I've been having bad headaches three or four days a week for a long time. The doctors haven't been able to help yet. 

    

    Will you please pray for me?

• That I'll comprehend and grasp all the details of the position
• That I'll have the energy and ability to fulfill my duties at work and home
• That headaches will not interfere with my ability to focus and be pleasant

    Please be patient with me as I learn to balance all the areas of my life including this blog. I do not want to let any part of my creativity go. I'm not sure how I'll do it all, but I choose the abundant life. That means husband, family, friends, work, creative outlets like writing and learning, hospitality, and most importantly, growing closer and closer to God. 

    

    This is a new assignment. This is a new era of my life. This is the way that I shall serve Jesus until he moves me into a new era. 

    Don't give up on me if I don't write as much for awhile. Y'all are an important part of my life; and, many of you have been for a long while. 

    Have a wonderful week! 

Laura

Happily serving God in a new way

My new badge photo

*Image by ChatGPT

Wordless Wednesday

 

I LOVE YOU MONTH... Get to Know Me

    One of my favorite bloggers is Billie Jo from Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea. Billie Jo encourages me so much. I love the way she celebrates everything. Yes. Everything. She has great style, but it is her enthusiasm, love of home, family, her doggies, and candles that makes me feel appreciation for her and for my home and family. She's so positive, and Jesus just seeps through her in her zest for life. 

    She just posted a "Things I Like and Things I Don't" list. She asked us to share, too. So, here's my list in abbreviated form as I think of them this morning.

A Few Things I like:

~ Old-fashioned phone calls from friends and family

~ Learning! I'm taking a free online course from Hillsdale College: Western Heritage from the Book of Genesis to John Locke. It's been challenging, but good.

~ Homemade from scratch cocoa 

~ A good balance of time with people and by myself

~ Giving gifts

~ A new type of relaxing music that I've found on YouTube. It has storybook style animals and ambient music. Here's one I listened to yesterday. I find it very nice to play in the background as I'm doing other things.

~ Black and white movies

~ Cozy fall and winter times

~ Knitting— especially socks

~ Candles, candles and more candles

~ Making things from what I have on hand

~ Sewing

~ Cozy mystery books

~ Learning new skills ~ I'm learning to twine weave a rug.

Things I don't like:

Mustard on or in anything but a Schlotzky sandwich

Tight clothes or excess skin showing on anyone

Raspberries and blackberries

Dirty words

Acrylic clothes or yarn

Horror movies

True crime books or movies

So, that's just a few of my likes and dislikes. I'd love you to share some of yours with me as well.

Be blessed,

Laura

I Love sharing my life with you 

and...

JESUS

MOMMA

LOWELL 

MY KIDS 

MY GRANDSON

I LOVE YOU MONTH... My Grandson

 

A Storybook Christmas*

    Oh me oh my! 

So many friends told me, "Just wait 'til you have grandkids. 

They're the best." 

Well, my friends were right!

    My grandson is the source of so much joy! Gibby is the name I use for my grandson on my blog. Gibby is short for grandbaby. I want to keep his little face and name private as do Mommy and Daddy.

    He's 2 1/2 now. He's so much fun to be with. We play cars most of all. Boppop (his name for grandpa) has his old Hot Wheels. We play with them on the coffee table for long stretches. He likes to feed the birds, blow bubbles, and play outside. We also have blocks, spools, Don't Spill the Beans, and dominoes. We don't play the games the right way, but who cares? I got out the dominoes a few weeks ago. He handed one to me, and picked one up himself. He put it to his ear and talked into it like a phone. Oh the times we live in! By the time we finished playing, he was calling me and saying, "Hi Gammy!" I finally had a name! There's nothing sweeter!

    He's going to come for a sleep over Saturday evening so Mommy and Daddy can go to a movie and dinner. Boppop and Gammy are going to have lots of fun, but we'll sleep well!

    Thank you, Jesus, that you allowed me to live long enough to enjoy my grandson. Life is an incredible gift that I don't take for granted. Thank you for healing me from cancer, Jesus, my LORD and savior!

I LOVE MY GRANDSON! 

and...

JESUS

MOMMA

LOWELL 

MY KIDS 

MY GRANDSON

   

*AI generated from a photo