One.More.Year.

Wow. March must be one powerful month.

Yesterday morning I felt all this hopefulness for yes! March, the month of Spring, had arrived. Oh, glorious, sunny day.

But then inside all that celebration I heard, "One more year. Stay here one more year."

Or thought I heard it, anyway. I'm so certain about most of my beliefs, but this when-shall-we-move-away? one! Man, my gypsy blood can mimic God's voice on that.

Alas.

But you know? When I surrendered to that WaitOneMoreYear thought, such peace swooped down. I began to yearn, though patiently, for Spring on our farm as a mother physically yearns to hold her baby. What new life our place brings to our tired winter blood! The orchard and woods leafing out, the sun on my back in the garden, our dirt driveway, coffee mornings on the barn patio, digging in my flower beds, my wicker chair and fairy pool in the Bunny Pasture and now a strawberry bed there, too, sunny mornings on the front porch in my robe--

I can do this, I mused. After these next few weeks of cool weather, I'll be fine, so my only worry is how I'll handle next January and February. Yet if I can tweak some things--my attitude for one--well, those months will be ok. Especially, if truly, this is God's idea.

(Though I did tell Tom, "The worst that could happen would be I'd complain all during those two winter months, but you can handle that, right?" He smiled and said, "Hmm. I'm not so sure." heh)

But! Just. One. More. Year. Just one more long Buffalo winter. That's all --please, Lord. :)

When Tom and I talked it over, well, he, too, felt peaceful about the staying. "We'd have more time to get the house ready to sell," he said. "We wouldn't feel rushed." Then I told him, "I know. That thought greatly appealed to my inner laziness, also." We smiled and I also brought up how having Naomi with us at this time feels like a peaceful stabilizer or something. Like a time in our lives we shouldn't mess with by moving away--not just yet. He totally agreed.

Then later that night, amazingly, Naomi came downstairs to talk with us and she, with no previous knowledge of our new thoughts, said she's thinking she may stay here in Buffalo awhile longer. And move out of state next year.

Wow. March really must be powerful!

But of course, not as powerful as the God who knows best and who moves us around with His fingers--at least, being finger-moved is our desire. I'd be so afraid to move out of here even to the most perfect, winter-free place without Him, without His release from this place. May that never, ever happen.




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Yesterday was another great shopping trip at the supermarket. With sales and coupons I saved $61. So instead of spending $143 I spent just $82, with quite a few free groceries included due to coupons, mostly from the internet. Go here for my post where I listed my favorite coupon sites. And more organic/healthy sites are linked here. (Connecting with those coupon blogs plus various food companies at Facebook saves me tons of money. I highly recommend doing that.) I'm trying to keep us down to $50 a week for groceries--that includes everything, like laundry detergent, lightbulbs, etc.

We arrived home, put the groceries away, then had a very filling 74 cent meal. That felt good, too. :)


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Did you like the PBS show, Frontier House? Well, you may like a series Tom and I are currently watching through Netflix. It's called Out of the Wild: The Alaskan Experiment. Nine 'regular people' were dropped off in the wilds of Alaska to find their way from shelter to shelter and eventually back to civilization. There is no million dollar prize, either--they did it just to see if they could push themselves that far, if they could survive it. Really interesting stuff--Tom and I are nearly finished watching the series and have enjoyed it very much. Although--let me add--the killing of small animals and birds for food is rough for people like us who love animals (oh, the times I've thrown a blanket over my head). Be forewarned.

P.S. Tom and I just now finished watching Out Of The Wild and oh! We both loved the ending. Perfect.