I couldn't sleep last night, one of those nights that you get a revelation that just leaves you sitting in the living room alone...with your thoughts. My life as I know it is coming to an end. That is just wild. Not that I haven't done different before... the move here to NC was different but this is just another one of those goodbyes that you don't know what the hello is going to look like.
The response to my first post from my friends who knew me when were quite receptive... one of you wanted pictures. They are coming... hold your horses or should I say herd your chickens? I know this isn't anything that anyone - including myself - would come up with. Isn't that how you know it's God? When it's not something that you would come up with on your own? The fact that I am even talking about raising chickens cracks me up.
When I began this homeschool thing, I started meeting these really weird people. They rolled their own oats, made their own bread, ate things that said organic on them. I remember telling my friend that I refused to give any of that unnatural stuff to my children, they would probably be allergic to anything that didn't have preservatives or at least red dye #5. I remember an entire conversation about shaving ivory soap to make their own soap powder. I thought they had three heads. This city girl was not conforming to any of that mess...thank you very much. Oreos and Little Debbies are staples in my house, like toilet paper and milk. Hot chocolate comes in a silver packet, bread comes in a plastic sleeve and call me crazy but I LOVE Coke (Coca Cola for those of you not from Florida).
Herbal teas... HA, tea was served over ice with sugar. Herbal shmerbal... (as I sit here drinking my nightly cup). Next thing I know one of these women has me at the health food store and I am taking cough medicine that has horehound in it (I have no idea what it is, what I know is that it works). What happened to the good old days of ibuprophen... no, belladonna she says and you know what, I now carry it in my purse instead of ibuprophen. They have been slowly doing this to me over the last few years. Like a turtle in a stew... they were heating it up until it was cooked. I used to think country was just trucks and belt buckles, but it's so much more than that. They have diluted the city girl and filled her with these grandious ideas of actually enjoying this stuff.
For example, I now carry a pocketknife. Granted it is pink, but I don't leave home without it. I drive a 4x4, now I know it's an SUV, but it's the largest one ever made and it takes fuel (diesel for you non-countrified types) not gasoline. I own a handgun... now I know I could have done that in the city... but let me tell you... I grew up deathly afraid of guns in the city... now shooting with my girlfriends is something that I enjoy. I have learned to make finger foods... like little pimento cheese sandwiches (I make 'em but I still won't eat 'em). I have learned how to make grits that didn't come out of a packet and how to season greens fresh out of the garden.
So, here is what I have concluded. Life in the fast lane almost made me lose my mind. I love the slower pace of my life now. I made homemade bread today and it wasn't the frozen loaves or the parker rolls that my mother and grandmother played off as homemade. I put the yeast in the dough myself... and I survived. My hair didn't braid on it's own and I didn't appear in a floral dress. I had an entire day in the kitchen today... baking, making candy, cookies. I feel pretty Proverbs Womany today. I would much rather bake my own bread than to load up in my truck and drive to the grocery store to buy one. This new me... I think I like her.
Phillipians 4:11-12 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Lord, I am willing to be willing. Thank you for your provision and your love through Christ. Lord, continue to show me the hard places that I withhold from you. Continue to transform me, day by day... glory to glory. I love you Father, Savior & Comforter.
You continue to amaze me with your outlook and accomplishments. You go girl!
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