When I started this blog, I did it for my sister - Libby - in Missouri who can't be "home" as often as she'd like. I had enjoyed visiting lots of other blogs, and frankly had been using it as an escape for several months. Once I started my own blog, I began to be overwhelmed by the guilt because I didn't post regularly. I mean, wasn't I letting my followers down? Okay, folks here's the truth of it all: I'm not that interesting and my life has not exactly been rosy for about two years now. I enjoy many blessings, and have been enduring some serious challenges. Some things that most people never have to face directly, along with lots of the other "stuff" that everyone deals with a little at a time, or like us, all at once. Life, right? Anyway, I guess I have felt the need to explain my sporadic posting for a while now. I can't really go into any great detail because it's not just about me. I have thought about closing my blog, but I guess I don't really want to. When I do have the opportunity to post something positive, it's really helpful to share it with people who might enjoy it. I know people stop by my blog and check in because I can tell from the stats when I think to check them. I don't mind if people don't leave a comment. I don't always have time to leave comments when I visit blogs, either. Like I said, I sometimes use blog visiting as a momentary escape, and I'm thinking maybe other people do, too. So with that said, here's some of what has been keeping me busy lately:
My husband's grandfather passed away last week, and his funeral was Saturday. A couple of weeks ago he was out doing some haying and there was an accident. He had shut off the tractor and was back by the hay bine clearing some grass when the rig rolled back on him. He suffered some broken ribs, lacerations, and a bruised hip. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital equipped to deal with his level of trauma. He was doing well, but developed some blood clots and one broke loose and went to his heart. He died fairly quickly at that point. He was 91 and died doing what he loved. I wish everyone could be so lucky. Grandpa used to be a big horse puller some years ago, and the family chose to send him off with one last ride to his resting place.
My husband is a builder and his current project is to build the house pictured above. He has had his hands full with this project as it is a fairly large house, and has some out of the ordinary specifications, and he's had some worries about having enough help. We have been blessed because the help he has had has been terrific! My brother, my nephew, and a couple of local guys have been part of the process. They all have great work ethic and really care about doing a good job. Sometimes you take that for granted, but recently their was a visitor from the city on site. He'd been there a little while when he said to my husband, "How do you get your help to actually work?" My husband's reply was simply, "That's what we do here." Though he didn't need the reminder about the blessing of these solid helpers, it definitely brought it into sharper focus.
If you look closely at the house picture you can just see the above wind chimes on the right hand side of the porch. My husband created these and hung them one day and they are actually quite tuneful! I add them to this post because when I saw them they reminded me of a saying I have on a rock-turned-doorstopper in my sewing room. "If life gives you scraps, make a quilt." I knew that my husband was putting that particular idea into a different form when he made the ninja wind chimes. Sometimes you have to really listen for the music behind the noise in life.
