I am back and blogging again, but in a new location! Please visit me HERE!
Over the last week, we lost our computer due to a virus. After several days, we were able to wipe it out and a computer guy at hubby’s work got it back up and running for us. Although it is wonderful to have it back, I realized over those several days how nice it was to NOT have the internet! It freed up so much time to do other things that I had been putting off! I planted a strawberry patch, learned to make bread, sewed my daughter a dress, refinished an old chalkboard that we got for free from a church that was closing down, went yardsaling, did 8 loads of laundry (!!!), played hard with my kids, planned out a space in our yard for chickens and researched buying and taking care of them, took 2 field trips (FUN!), read a couple books, and cleaned my house practically top to bottom! Not to mention the extra time spent with my hubby after the kids went to bed and the hours I spent studying God’s Word and praying. A huge change came over me during this time and I realized how I have neglected other things.
It’s because of this that I have decided to cancel my internet account, and subsequently close down my HSB blog. This is a sad decision for me, but I realized it’s the best decision for myself, my family and my home. I will still be checking email and doing a little browsing at the library, but it will only be once a week due to the distance from my home. I hope to keep in touch with as many of you as I can, I have made some wonderful friendships here over the past year. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and for allowing me to share my life with you!
Please email me if you would like to stay in touch with me: rsbrbsbush@hotmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you…I can assure you I will still be a frequent visitor to your blogs on HSB!
Sincerely,
Brandi
P.S. If any of you have been following my recent entries and would like an update, here is the latest: We have decided to stay in this home for a little while longer until we feel God’s hand clearly guiding us in another direction. DH has some job prospects that he is pursuing. This, of course, makes me very happy! :0)
Spring is definitely my favorite time of the year. I wait, usually impatiently, every year for the first morning that I wake up to the sound of birds singing. That morning came this past week and it was the sweetest moment! I also look forward to our owls returning each spring and the buds flowering on the trees. My lilies that my neighbors planted last year are so tall already and they are spreading out and filling my flower beds. How refreshing after a long winter!
This spring brings some sadness, though. The thought of this possibly being the last spring that I spend in this home is so heartbreaking to me. This will truly be a year of new beginnings for me and my family. It’s bittersweet.
I’m emotional this morning…We spent last evening with a lot of the families in town cleaning a local park and then roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire. It’s the sort of thing that I love so much about this small town and probably what I’ll miss the most. To start over in a new place…again…after falling in love with this home and this town…sometimes it’s too much and I have to place my full trust in God. I can’t even begin to know the blessings he has for us in another place and I know He’ll lead us where we can serve His purposes best.
Please continue to pray for my family and especially my husband as he searches for a job and as he makes some tough decisions. He is feeling the pressure of having to do what is best for his family and he struggles with not knowing where God is leading us. Please pray that we will have the faith and the patience that we need to wait for God’s will.
Please excuse my absence here of late. As hard as I try to get back to my blog, I’ve found it difficult to find even a moment in my day to do so. And, much to my dismay, I have not been able to keep up with any of my HSB friends’ blogs either.
Things have been a little chaotic, a little crazy, a little confusing. Big changes are happening in my life and I don’t think I’ve been handing it all over to the One who already knows His plans for me and my family. I don’t function well when I feel "in-between" and don’t have a clear plan for the future.
Recently, we finished our basement and were finally able to "stretch out" a little. We added a den/playroom, an office/sewing room, and an exercise room, not to mention clearing out our laundry room of "stuff" so I can finally get to the dryer without having to step over all of my husbands tools. We moved my son to the attic room, previously the office/junk room and my little girl has his old room that they used to share. Plus, the new den allowed us to clear out the upstairs living room so we now have a great formal living/dining area for guests. It’s been so wonderful and I can’t imagine a more perfect home! Everything has a place, there’s actually room for every activity that we do, and I just love it here more than anywhere else I’ve ever been (and that’s saying a lot considering we have moved 7 times in the last 9 years!).
That being said, as soon as we settled in, my dear husband decided he wanted to get out of the military and move back to FL. Now, let me tell you…I’m not real good at the "submission" thing, although I am working on it. I do believe that he will do what is right for our family and that God will lead him. But for the last few weeks, I have been so conflicted! I love it here so much, it has become "home" for me and the kids and I just can’t imagine walking out of this house for the last time and driving out of our little town for the last time and knowing that we’re not coming back. It breaks my heart and the thought just makes me cry.
To make things worse, he keeps changing his mind. One day he wants to go to FL, the next day it’s VA, the next day it’s WV, the next day it’s FL again, then he wants to stay here, then he wants PA, then it’s back to FL, then it’s maybe CO?, then it’s here again…I’m telling you, each day when I call him at work, I wonder which direction he’s headed in today. I can’t tell you how difficult this is. To place your life and your future into the hands of someone else, and then not have the slightest idea what he’s thinking from moment to moment! It’s really heart-wrenching and I have had to pray each morning for the Lord to take the burden.
I admit, I’m strong-willed and I tend to take over. It’s definitely one of my biggest flaws, especially when it comes to my marriage. So it’s difficult for me to trust, in my husband and in God. I’m making a huge effort to hand it over, to not allow anxiousness to take over, to place this all in the Lord’s hands and not allow it to take over. I know that God is already at work in this situation, he already has a job for my husband, a home for us (even if it’s not this one), and our entire future is already planned.
Homeschooling has suffered, although "un-schooling" has been amazing and I must say, my son has really taken things into his own hands and has really thrived doing his own thing everyday. It’s amazing how children love to learn, even without the structure of a curriculum or schedule.
I have seen God’s hand on this. Please say a little prayer for my family if you remember, especially for my husband as he deals with making these major decisions. He only wants to do what’s best for us.
Thank you all for still checking in on my blog, even though I haven’t been very faithful in keeping it up! I will try to keep you all updated and I hope to find the time to check in on some of you over the next couple of days!
Hi! I just thought I would drop in real quick and let anyone who still stops by here know that I am still alove and well! I know it’s been awhile, we’ve just been so busy around here! We’re just about done finishing our basement – carpet comes tomorrow and we should be moving furniture this weekend! Plus, my hubby went on a 3 week TDY so I was "single-momming" it for awhile. That’s gotta be the hardest job in the world! :0)
Here are the long ago promised pictures of our vacation to Florida in January. Please excuse the mess, they were taken as we were packing and cleaning on the last day…talk about waiting until the last minute! :0)
Living Room with Fireplace
Sunroom facing the ocean
The house, complete with hot tub – we spent many hours on the back porch!
Dining Room – very tropical
Beautiful kitchen – I even had a dishwasher for a week! :0)
There were 4 bedrooms, this was ours – it looked out over the ocean, so we woke up to the sound of waves every morning!
Our PRIVATE pool – just for us!
Our backyard for the week – heavenly!
Beautiful scenery in our yard
That’s the sliver of moon in the middle above the tree – the photo just doesn’t do justice to the way it really looked that night! Gorgeous!
We had such a wonderful, much needed trip! In the mornings, there was a pod of dolphins that would "fish" right behind our house and we saw a manatee at the marina where my dad works. We got to see my family, my in-laws, my great uncle and his wife and many other people we hadn’t seen in ages. It was really an incredible vacation.
Then reality hit and we had to come back home! :0) Oh well, all good things must come to an end sometime, I suppose!
I hope this finds you all doing well! It’s about time to wrap up another school year. I’ll have to stop by your blogs to see how everyone has been doing! And I hope to not be a stranger around here anymore!
XOXOXO
BRANDI
smlltwnmmmy