Can You Believe it 33 Years and Counting

     It has been 33 years since I married the love of my life! I  can tell you now that I broke the life expectance record  by three years being married too. I never thought 30 would be a year in my life until I met Thomas! 30 was a great year even after stressing over turning 30 at 29. Here I am passing the 33rd mark of marriage with Tom. And I remember hearing it will never last from oh so many of my family members.

    After raising our kids together and dealing with all the pitfalls and unpleasantries of life, we have finally come to a time in our lives that many never get to either due to breakups or lose of a loved one. I am very grateful to have such a loving mate that supports me in all things. You see, I almost lost Tom in 2019 to a heart attack and if it weren't for the fact I have been so into natural health and wellbeing I may have missed all the signs and lost him. That was a scary few days for me too because it was at the height of covid 19. Thank God I was home and retired by that time or I may have found him in the front yard as he was mowing. 

    We have made some bold moves since then and moving was one of those things. Moving so far from family to a place we knew no one to boot. We scaled down from a 3 bedroom place to 390 square feet of living space on the most beautiful 3 acres yet right on Goose Creak. Granted all our children found it to be a far away but enchanting place but too far for them to just drop in whenever. Now days we have to coordinate the times in which we visit and that in itself is a true task. We really thought since we were so close to the beaches they would find it easy to come visit. Not always the case!

    We have added space to our living area with our 12x32 shedroom master suite and created a living room on our closed in porch with a great view of the creek. We also have added our greenhouse and carport. We are still working on scaling back on things we brought from  the old house to make room for an office /craft /guest space in one of the 2 containers we have purchased. The other is a work space for tools and shop for Tom.

    Together we have planted gardens and trees for the future and are working on a few other projects this year that include closing in the front porch  with windows and building a covered walk way between the shedroom and the house to weather proof the journey back and forth. Oh yes and the deck and dock is needing some attention also. But all in all we have made the change and the jump to a new place a success and we love what we have. I couldn't ask for a better 33 years. Oh yes the grands are coming to spend the weekend with us too!

Happy Anniversary My Love and a Eternity More!

New Beginnings

    

New Beginnings

 

As we have gone through these last few years, we have had many changes unfold. One I quit my para-pro.  position at the school in November of 2019 just before the pandemic really hit. Both my husband and I were some of the first to get sick and we may not have gotten hit hard, but we were both sick for a month and more for me.  My hubby had a heart attack and had 4 stints put in.  I thought for sure things couldn’t get worse. But then my husband lost his dad shortly thereafter. I was struggling to keep up with all the animals and not doing a great job of it because my lungs were shot. We had pigs, chickens, guineas, goats, and ducks that needed to be fed. 

We were preparing to get things together and were going to start back fixing up the house on the hill. But with his dad's death we were blessed to change that in so many ways. We started looking for a new place to move. The house on the hill just was not worth fighting for, with the mold and everything else that was going on. We couldn't do anything right off hand as so many things had to fall into place. Patiently waiting we kept up with all the farm duties. I lost my goats to predators, and we were trying to decide whether to keep the pigs. We had tried to find someone interested in buying them over several months but no takers. We bid on a house that we could have taken the pigs with us, but it fell through, so we were back to the drawing board.

          In June of this year, we finally got the funds up to pay out right on a house and things started to move very fast for us. We gave all the guineas, chickens, and duck to one of my husband’s friends. That just left the pigs. We had a few people who wanted but never came to get them. We found the house we couldn't say no to. It meant downsizing a bunch. We found a cabin on Goose Creek 4 hours away farther south. It was 390 square feet with a huge deck and closed in porch on Goose Creek. When my hubby said he wanted it I thought he was crazy. We would kill each other! We called the realtor and said we would take it and that very next day we drove down and checked it out. Wow it was prefect too. I was sold after that. I didn't want to leave. The town was small enough for me too. Our son came to check it out and he was ready for the move too. He saw fishing and that was all it took.

 We went back to the house on the hill and started packing. We were supposed to close early but the owners had a lien on the house they wanted to come off before the closing, so we had to wait till the first part of August and past our anniversary. We were supposed to close at the end of the month. We took another trip down to come for the inspection. We took our 2 granddaughters with us. They loved it. We took 3 of out 5 dogs with us too. The girls fished off the deck and I took in the sights of our front yard. We talked the owners into renting it to us till closing time. We stayed for a week. The last part of the week, my hubby got a text from someone saying we were being evicted from the old house.  So, we came back a day early to see what was going on. A court date was set now we were in a crunch time situation. We made several trips down to the new house. I drove down with my one granddaughter 3 of the dogs, 2 cats and our birds the first trip. That meant I stayed at the new house while my hubby went back and forth with our brother we adopted. Our son came to help from Savannah and hung out to fish also. We decided to have a shed delivered to add more living space to the house. It arrived before we came down. They couldn’t move it to where we wanted it. Then we had a couple of freight containers ordered for more space.

July can and went and we were still moving. The freight containers came while my hubby was gone. We are using one for a tool shop for my hubby and the other for my arts  and craft, a place to build doll houses. 

Court came too. Nothing happened though because they tried to change owners in between time, and no one paid of the liens on the housed on the hill which was a huge number. The case was thrown out. That gave us some more time to move. We finally found someone who wanted the pigs.  Our other 2 dogs and cats made it down also. Our friend that was taking care of them was so glad for that. The time was getting down to the wire and I was counting down the days to closing. Then it was postponed a few more days. I was getting worried them. My daughter came down to pick up my granddaughter and wanted to know where the rest of the house was. She loved it though because she knew we had to move or die in that other house. The mold had gotten worse and so did other things. My hubby came home for a week, and we celebrated our 31st anniversary together.  I didn’t want him to go back but he had his VW Bug to bring back.

 In the meantime, we had a few hurricanes. We found out the property was sold up there. (Wow she, daughter of the original owner was going to get her money somehow.) She was quit claimed the property, yet never paid the liens on it.  The man that was buying said take your time. But even he decided to not buy the place. The “new owner” started to come up and take things she didn’t own. Our tractor, the dog pens, tire, and rims that belongs on the trailer, a car and anything that was metal to sell. She is a drug user and I guess things were getting rough money wise. Someone even took the tile we were going to use for the bathroom. She even pulled up the electrical wire in the yard.

I had plants to have someone get for me.  my daughter got what she could. I told everyone to forget anything else we might have wanted and get out of there. What was left we can do without.

          We had been sleeping on a sofa bed for a while and it was time for my back to have real sleep again, so we moved out many of the boxes from the shed and put up the bed. Oh yeah!  A great night sleep again.  Since then, we have added steps to the shed and added a closet.

 Things are getting better. My daughter came down once more and so did my other son and family. She brought several of my plants too. Everyone loves the place. My hubby brought the rest of the plants his last trip up. I have planted many of my plants to their permanent homes.

I even painted some new signs for the house. Finding room for everything is a chore but things are coming together. Everything is paid for in full and we are happy that we have no more mold or leaky roofs.  We have wonderful neighbors too. We got replacement deck board given to us by one and another is giving us his too. That neighbor will help get the freight containers moved for the new garage and house space. We need to cut down a few more trees and put in some concrete but that will be another day. For now, we will take a day at a time to get the place together. Soon I will get my green house up and plants started. The farm may be gone as far as animals, but I want to have a greenhouse business But that will be another day too.

 

 

58 Sounds like a Great Year

This is my new office desk and set up

     Well, here we are yet one more year has flown by. I can’t say if it has been good nor bad because both have balanced out each other. So much has changed yet so much stayed the same. We have not got much done on the house as we have been dealing with far more important things; family. It gives me great pleasure to know that we have all grown closer in these last days. We have one moving home with her family and that takes priority over other things. Sad though it may be for her and her family it will turn out to be a great blessing not only for her but for us. One has found love and one has found many yards to be mowed. One has her hands full raising her three.

     Not much time left in my vacation away from school. Not looking forward to going back as I truly need to get more done here. Time will tell. Once all the dust settles and things slow down a bit I have plans for my future. In the meantime I have been studying the Bible with someone very excited to learn more and that brings me more joy than anyone can ever imagine. I try to keep up on my preaching and teaching as best as I can to serve the Most High and Mighty God ever; Jehovah. He has watched over all of us here on the hill and I am truly thankful.

     My granddaughters and I have managed to enjoy each other’s company also. We have played games together and swimming most days when it don’t rain and even after the rain, (which we have had more than we thought we would). We have cooked together and baked all kinds of great goodies, some of which I should not even eat, but loved it all the more. Our farm is growing in ways I never thought to be possible. My garden is growing and the blueberries are finally ripening up.  We made a blueberry cheese cake, yum it was delish! We are expecting baby piglets in August and many at that, we even managed to have a few new baby chicks to add to the list and a few more cats.

My girls having fun in the sun.

     So many things have changed, many for the best. We have truly been blessed here on our little hill out in the country. I thank Jehovah for all I have and for keeping a watch over all my kids near and far. Having us all together would be nice but most are too far and money sure don’t grow on trees. I just want them all to be happy and know I love them all over the moon and back. May the next year bring great joy for us all. 58 sounds like a good year to come. We will see!

Moving Forward and Waiting

     We have our power back on and no more wind or rain for the time being. But the tree is still on  top of the power wire and not a word when EMC will be here to turn off the power. The wire is going to have to be cut at the transformer so we can cut the tree and get it off the wire before we can put the pole back together. We can't even go out and clean up where the kids clothes went out the window with the book case and draws. We can't really cover up the hole before the pole is fixed in fear that someone can get electric shock from the whole mess. So for now the hole is bringing in lots of flies and a breeze. I decided after the little bit of stuff that is in there comes out,  I will put up a dead end sign in the door.  My living room is full of everything from books to toys, stuffed animals and more. That includes both of my g daughters. They know that that will be their room in the future and they have taken it over just a bit earlier than we thought. They have a makeshift bed from my huge coffee table.
     Me on the other hand have gone back to work and things there can be a bit of normal for me after working non stop for the last few days to recover the leftovers and sort through things that will be going to donation that we no longer need. I am mentally exhausted and virtually just don't care. I have a huge amount of work to do this weekend too. If I stop now I may not make it. Pretty much numb, I guess and it will hit me when things stop and they could tell me we can no longer live in the house. That may be my biggest  fear. We cannot move, rent a place that we would pay more for, when this property has a large chunk paid for. My life is here. My farm is what keeps me sane. We have no money or insurance to move forward.  Some one said to me today if it was me I would have really lost it. Well that would be it, if I lost it. I have to for another time in my life be on the positive end of the deal and pray that this will all work out. Have faith that some how we will get through this just as we have in the past when our house went on the auction block or when the neighborhood literally ran us out of our first house when we moved to Georgia or when I almost died because of my house in Ohio just about killed me due to mold. I know my Father will not let me down this time either. He has always answered me when I called on him and He has always given my family exactly what we needed at that time. So yes, I know we will be fine no matter what. Quitting for me is no option not since I have made it this far in life. We are just on the opposite side of what good is to come. Things are moving along we just have to be patient.