Here I am, back in the US!
And I am sitting at a newly acquired, sweet old desk, in a corner nook of a pretty large bedroom, which faces out over a quaint little yard, in which we have just hung a retractable line. Larrie has pulled up the weeds and that has drawn the birds back, which makes my heart smile.
I wrote a blog on my other site yesterday, http://theincorruptibleseed.com/ and so, I thought I would post one here today. :)
Life Just Keeps Moving Forward.
Sooo much has happened since I last posted. It wasn't easy to leave, but it felt like the right thing to do and the right time to do it! I finally pulled myself away from my beautiful family in Oz, to set up a new home with my US born husband, Larrie. Although, it was after a short delay because I had something of a serious issue with a very nasty polyp in my left nostril!
There's a lot more detail to it, but after a five day delay, a doctor's reassurance and determining to trust God to look after me whilst away from our benevolent medical system, I was America bound. Upon stepping on US soil, I blew the rather long and two sided offending polyp right out my nose! Answered prayer.
Yep, God is faithful!
We set about looking for an apartment straight away-which had always seemed like one of those, 'never gonna happen' things. We encountered a number of challenges as we were stayed in a comfortable (and costly over time) one bedroom hotel space right by Alameda's waterfront.
I acquired a couple of regular slots to play for seniors locally as a solo performer and began working at Lifesavers, where we trained to be CPR and First Aid Instructors, firstly in the office, but also to complete my own training. Larrie has already done his and is out conducting classes alone and in teams. I have run a few classes in the office but am yet to be a paid participator in classes out of the office.
Another wonderful gift of God was finding that my employers are also lovers of Jesus! Another answered prayer for more Christian community in my every day! On top of that, another friend, whom almost died, was brought back to recovery and to the Lord, through it. This was also a direct answer to prayer. This musical connection and his wife are also a frequent part of our lives and God has added them to my ' God family' here. This was a miracle of healing physically and awondrous transformation spiritually!!
I just wanted to give God some well deserved glory for these answers to prayer AND MORE that aren't listed. I returned to the US with my cup overflowing in His goodness!
Challenges come
Of course, every endeavour comes with challenges and we were faced with some. We had a slump where it started to look like things were being stacked against us for getting a place. This brought some heaviness and strain, but I just had solo praise parties, coz I KNOW God hears and answers prayers-yes, in His way and timing...but I know He does.
After a couple of weeks, we did find our very first one bedroom home. Of course, we had NOTHING lol, but furniture and household goods have been coming to us, through lovely people and members of the family of God. Now, after being here for a month today...we are fully furnished and functional and everything is about just adding the personal things that make our place our home.
We don't have a TV, but we can watch things on our laptop. If we want one, I know it will come.
Family
I stay connected with my babes, updating them with photos and longing for their news. Things got heavy when my lovely last great aunt, Faye passed away, and then my mother's friend, on the same day as well. Then , another precious person went into hospital, and I started feeling so troubled about being away. Especially, when I get a midnight call from my brother worried about our mum. (She was shaken from recent deaths, but she is ok.)
This has all been very hard to deal with due to the distance. But I am certain I pray more fervently than ever I would if I were physically present.
Here are a few snippets of My Noble Life from the past month
Part of my morning push bike commute when I work in a home based office at the other end of Shoreline ( see below) It's a great ride!
That's our bathroom and new shower curtain and towels. We prefer to buy pre-loved and recycled, but we needed a shower curtain fast lol
An earlier picture of our little dining room.
Things have developed and we have received all of what we need , furniture wise-and curtains- from friends...except we bought an old desk from Urban Ore in Berkeley.
Also from my ride. We scored a bunch of lemons, so I tried my hand at baking something lemony! It was SOOOOO yum. It was supposed to be a slice called lemon butter bars, but i baked it in round trays ... so looked more like a lemon cream pie!
Well, this one did. The other one was left creamless...and I don't which I preferred. I LOVED the base...so tasty and biscuity!
I felt like I had to wait the longest for the thing I wanted most...a workspace. This is just the beginning , but I love all the timber and now, I have a very groovy microphone stand sty;e floor lamp and an added little draw/slot thing that sits atop my desk.
Not sure what that's called.
As soon as I had it, I wrote, drew, painted lol
My first painting/drawing since I arrived back in the US. It has inspired a Collection of Series and ideas and I am on the next one now. I am making the template available for a Colour Your Word Colour in Series.
So! That's it for now. Time to create!
And what is it really all about?Knowing God's faithfulness!