Focusing

After reading the post, “I quit writing”, I read another one she wrote, “The Next Post”.  http://www.peaceforthejourney.com/on-quitting-writing/

So much of what Elaine wrote resonated. I guess we are close in age with lots of wisdom and experience to share. I can share a little of this and that but right now am not fully focused. Could it be there is a lots to draw my attention away from this that I love? Sick husband who is in surgery at this very moment while I write, busy young teens, a small dog and a dog that sheds A LOT!

I didn’t quit. It seems to have quit me. I am not sure I know why since I am convinced I should be writing. That it is a gifting from God to give me some pleasures I share with others.

Yet, just writing now in this hospital waiting room helps.

As I said, Jim is in surgery right now. Love Bug is on her first short-term mission trip. The words flow as I am prompted by these posts about what to write about and why I quit writing.  I just  haven’t seemed to be able to write. Who cared?  I did. I love to have others read but the reason I started this was for me in response to a long simmering desire and passion to write. Now is the time!  All the way back to junior high with stories scribbled on notebook pages and a speech given in high school English with the topic of my future career “Writing for a Living” and the sixth grade essay stated I would be an interior designer.  Nothing changed with that!   Fortunately, those two things can be more than a career. They can be a life long enjoyment!  So, those desires Still there! Still dabbling.

Now here I am writing. As to the design part…it has matured from  beauty to beauty to including form, function and family.

I have a beautiful home  these days that is always in process. You would be too at 200 plus years old.

I love to create a home that is comfortable, beautiful and functional. Welcoming to all guests is an absolute must! God has always blessed us with beautiful places to live, even in that tiny 1100 square foot set of quarters on Fort Bragg, NC.

We were only four in those days.  The next place was to be Naval Postgraduate School in beautiful Monterey, CA where we woke each morning to the distant barking of the harbor seals.

The kids and I would sit in the back yard on spring time mornings that drifted into summer and watch the soldiers do their morning PT, physical training. Echos of jody calls filled the air with their strength of mind and purpose as units ran miles each day. There was a large shade tree on the side. We were an end unit at the end of the housing area so our space outside was huge. We only lived there 6 weeks but we were so thankful. Our rented home’s lease was over and not extended for that short time but since our orders had not been cut yet, we were authorized to move into the available quarters offered when our name came up next. Yes!

http://www.goarmy.com/soldier-life/fitness-and-nutrition.html

A blessing from God. What would we have done other wise? It was when Jim’s dad was ill and dying. He went home almost every weekend to check and monitor his care. He had been abused the previous year by a caretaker who had the gall to want to sue Jim for more wages after he  fired him!  “Fine but know I will have you charged for abuse and take it as far as I can.” He was never heard from again and the firm he worked for did not back him at all. Good riddance they must have thought.

Where would we have gone with a giant moving truck full of household goods? Plus without orders we would have been responsible to move everything on our own. Yes, God is good and He richly blessed us that day I got the call of you have quarters! The housing woman was amazed as I shared our story and gave God the credit and the glory!

So we moved. I hung curtains, unpacked boxes and sat on our back step stoop in the mornings with my kids praising God.

Guess I am not done with writing yet.

“For I know the plans that I have for you, ” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11

Blessing to all of you,

especially those who move,

Linda