I'm Back!

It has been a while since I last posted. Those of you who have been faithful to continue following me, thank you! "Every journey begins with a single step".

We have been on quite a journey these past 3 years. My husband found a good job in MN and he moved away from me and our four children in MA to begin work. We put our home on the market in MA and waited. A year later, we finally got an offer and said, "Goodbye" to our home with 2 acres, our friends and neighbors and we packed up the last of our things in two cars, our four kids, our dog and two old cats, and headed West to MN. I will tell you about traveling across half of a country with two cats and four kids next time!

 We will never say "goodbye" to the memories that were created in those 10 years. 

We are now reunited as a family in MN.
We found a foreclosed home in a charming town North of the  "Twin Cities". It needs some work, but I think in time we will make it feel like ours. 
Our four children are adjusting very well to the changes we have been through. I think children have a better way of coping with change than we adults do. 

They have made school and neighbor friends easily. They have each other as well; and I have them. They have become my closest friends through this journey.
I grieve "home". Home had become the East Coast for me. Even though I was born in Southern California and lived most of my life there. There is something magical (I don't think that is the right word) about New England.

I feel like I grew more in New England than I ever did in So. Cal. (I definitely weigh more)!
Of course, I experienced some monumental things in our 10 years in Massachusetts. This may play a role in my love for this area of our country.
We are now in the Mid-West. I wonder what kind of transforming experiences we will have here?
Seeking the blessings in the journey, Rebecca 

Hello again

Hello again my friends. I apologize for not blogging recently. So much has taken my time and attention elsewhere. 

My Beloved flew home for five days a few weeks ago and we spent those five days as best we could. He has been with his company for a year now and got a good review. He really likes what he does and the people he works with. They are salt of the earth people. What a blessing ~ both work and good people. We are thankful. We are also thankful that he got to come and spend part of winter break with us.

That means we spent time together as a family doing what our family loves the most. Going somewhere and doing something together.

The first full day with David, we went to Gloucester ~ to the sea. Cape Ann this winter is different. It's cold but, we had no snow yet and our children explored the rocks and trees right next to the sea. I will post photos of that in my next post. Our second day together we went here north of where we live. 

Because our weather had been so mild, no snow yet then, the woods gifted us with unique mushrooms and fungus. We hiked on fallen leaves and our children poked sticks into the icy edges of the river. We wandered holding hands again. We wandered watching our children play out imaginative games. We wandered as our dog would run off and back to us again. We breathed in the crisp, winter air and held tight to the warm hand in ours. It was timeless and lovely to be together as a family again. Priceless really.

Our friends offered to watch our children one night and David and I were able to have a quiet supper out together. Of course I wore heels! David dressed up too. What did we talk about besides the food? Our kids. We got to spend time with some of our friends at an evening Bible study in their home. They prayed for us and the sale of our home. We felt loved and loved in return.

David had one on one time with our oldest. They went to see the Star Wars movie in 3D. I had one on one time with one of my dearest friends. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, Miss Caragh and I talked until the Japanese restaurant closed. 

We went to our favorite used book store and our favorite second-hand store too. We had family meals together. We prayed together. We played together. We just were ~ together.

David fixed a leak under the kitchen sink. The dog got to sleep on our bed. Pup usually sleeps on the sofa in the living room. Life felt a little normal again. 

Our kids showed him their artwork, Lego creations, played baseball in our yard with Daddy, got piggy-back rides upstairs to bed each night. We caught up on bill paying and phone calls and grocery shopping. Five days fly by quickly. Too quickly. We signed our kids out of school early and drove David to the airport and prayed he have a safe journey back to Minnesota and that we will be together as a family soon. 

I remind myself that each day is one day closer to us being together again. 

The Heaviness of Life

My dear friend Mark...
We've known each other since High School. He is a year younger than me. We were in the same Drama class and had the same friends. When our school performed the musical Snoopy, I was Lucy Van Pelt and he played my little brother Linus. We were close. 
I was the last of five children and always longed for a little brother. He was the oldest of two boys and always longed for a big sister.
We were that for each other.

Mark became a hero. He is a firefighter, an engineer and paramedic. He saves lives every day. Mark married Stephanie, the love of his life. They have two sons Sean and Dillon. 

Stephanie is golden. She loves people, her animals and the outdoors. She is the type of person who others are drawn to. Strong, intelligent, joyful and determined. 
When Mark met Stephanie years ago, he was so smitten. He called to tell me about this beautiful girl he had just met. 
A few years later I was at their wedding. They glowed. One could tell that this would be a marriage that would last. They were tender and kind with each other. Respectful.
Life was good. Then. 
Stephanie was diagnosed with anal cancer. 

A few days ago this is what Mark wrote:

Thanks to all. The boys and I know and appreciate all of the Support, Blessings and Love. Stephanie  has had a very challenging(to say the least) Adventure Race. She is nearing the end of this journey calmly but with periods of fight. I don't know where the finish line is for her but its near. Please continue thinking and praying for her and use her strength as an example for you in your every endeavor. Kiss hug and Love your children always. I will try to continue updating as I can. Summas Exicutio Subter Quivas Status.

We prayed. 

We prayed more. Then yesterday we got the news...

Stephanie lost her battle with Anal Cancer today at Noon. The Boys and I want to thank everyone for the incredible support and love we have received.

Please remember Mark and their young sons Sean and Dillon in your prayers.

Apples and more apples

A few weeks ago, dear friends of ours invited me and our kids to their home to make apple butter, apple crisps, or anything to do with apples. 

Their home was filled with the delicious aroma of apples and one baking pumpkin. Derrick is an ace at cooking and whipped up a meat, bread and pumpkin stuffing and baked it in the pumpkin.

While the children played with their three children, the ladies peeled and sliced and stirred and cooked apples. 

It was a special afternoon and a good way to use up the almost peck of apples our children had brought home from a recent field trip to a local farm.

The pumpkin meal was unique and delicious.  We came home with apple butter, apple crisps and apple sauce to enjoy.

Derrick and Irene have become dear friends of ours. They are intelligent, live as green as they can and always reach out to others in need. 

We are enjoying the last of autumn here in New England. The snow has melted and the last of the leaves are falling. Soon winter will come.

First Snow

Just last week we were enjoying our autumn weather and the peak of foliage here in New England. It was getting cooler and we enjoyed evenings and mornings in front of our fireplace.

Then, a dusting of snow greeted us a few nights ago. Our children loved being in the dark of the night watching the snow lightly fall on their faces. That light snow melted by the next midday.

This past Saturday afternoon it began snowing and snowed all night and by yesterday morning it had stopped. The weight of the wet snow broke many tree limbs and caused power outages throughout our state. We were fortunate to have power but, three large tree limbs were broken from two of our trees and one of our pine trees bent down to the ground. Thankfully, I still have my pink rain boots and so I doubled my socks, left on my fleece pajama bottoms and pulled on flared jeans over those and went out to start moving the branches to our back bog. Then I began to shovel the wet snow from our driveway. I was listening to our neighbors snow blow their driveways and was hoping one would be a good neighbor and help me out (I am without a husband or snow blower and no winter gear right now) but, none did.

I was about a quarter of the way through and family friends of ours from church showed up with snow shovels and mittens for the kids. Grant and Max had been wearing socks over their hands and they were so happy to now have warm, dry mittens to wear. The four of us shoveled our driveway in no time and the boys carried the heaviest limb out to the back pile of wood.
The Thompson's are wonderful, quirky people. They have hearts of gold and were our true neighbors yesterday. We thank God for them.
It's nice to know that I have help when I need it and help even when I didn't ask for it.
I was willing to clear the snow and clean up the yard on my own but, it was sure nice to have help!