Moving Forward. Again.

“The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain."   ... Deuteronomy 1:6

*****

Still around!

It's just that yesterday felt like the day after Christmas, you know, the big let down time after too much activity and adrenaline and sugar. And saying good-bye to Naomi while knowing she'd be driving too near all those devastating tornadoes didn't help, either.

And well, afterward, I felt cranky and just wanted to be bad. 

You know, to not write in my blog or do the dishes or empty the trash. And Tom took the day off from work so I couldn't return to my normal, which I'd been anticipating and so I ate cookies all day. Oh, and I wanted to buy another place, one we all drove past on Sunday during an open house. I searched for it yesterday online and it has a pantry and what looks like a kitchen utility closet and oh, a 3-car garage with a workshop that Tom said I could use for a potting shed(!) And there's even a covered patio and extra concrete for an uncovered one and a pretty tree and if we sold our house, we could buy that one, outright (meaning, it is cheap).

But no river flows at the end of the street like ours does, one which instantly soothes and sings to me when I gaze upon it.

Well. You can get away with being that type of bad for a day or two if you don't flip it into a whole lifestyle--and--as long as you don't bog down in condemnation about having floundered there. Never park in Condemnation Campground: it's a lousy place, hard to back-out of due to all the dead wood and you're unable to help others there.

Thankfully, today is better. Though she traveled through much rain, Naomi arrived home safely, Tom's back to work and I have Hobbit Cottage all to myself, well, to share with Daniel and Sammy The Cats, plus, Tom and I are more seriously considering some improvements around here, including enlarging a living room window so we don't have to stand on our tip-toes to view the river.

And it is Springtime! Gorgeous, celebratory-worthy Spring. And right now that, and God, are all I really need. And how good that my head has cleared enough to realize it. Again.

The previously unseen corner of my closet room. I'd planned to replace that ancient hamper which looked disgusting (trust me), but I spray-painted it, instead, and am thrilled with the results. Good ol' money-saving spray paint!

******


Tom, Naomi and I visited a ton of yard sales over 2 days and I happily came away with only 5 books and a refrigerator magnet. I devoured The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy (finishing it in The Tiniest Hobbit Room which I discovered to be a perfect reading room). It blew my mind that a.) I hadn't read this already and b.) that a book so old-fashioned was written in 2005. I'll be ordering the next books in the series today. (If you love Elizabeth Enright and the Exiles sisters, as well, this will thrill you, also.)


*****

Thanks so much for your kind comments after my last post about Naomi. I appreciate them! (And yes, that is Naomi in both photos.)  :)


*****



"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."   ... Philippians 3:14

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.…"   ...   Romans 8:1,2


*****


Here's another couple of free kindle books for you:

Homecoming: The Redemption Series

An Invitation to The Supernatural Life  (and here is her blog, From The Unpaved Road)

*****

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” 
― Steve Maraboli