My Home Sweet Home: Decorated with Family, Faith, and Photoshop

Decorated with Family, Faith, and Photoshop

A New Normal

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Today begins a new normal for our family as my husband starts his new job; I feel like I sent off a child to a new school. He left home at 6 a.m. so Atlanta traffic could not making him late on Day 1.

Bryan not only lost his job of 17 years on April 3, but also the day-to-day interaction of co-workers who’d become friends. He didn’t dwell on it, but I know he felt it. He’d spent more waking hours of the work week with them than us for a long time.

Now we’re hitting the reset button on our Monday-Friday routines. In order to meet his 10:30 bedtime goal on the first night, we sacrificed our nightly binge of Turn: Washington’s Spies in favor of an early shower for him while I steamed wrinkles from his dress shirts.

I will miss our days together but I’m thankful we enjoyed them, unclouded (for the most part) by fears for our future. We think this new position is the best for him out of all the possibilities, and it wasn’t even available when the job search began.

Never doubt the Lord’s perfect timing.

Bryan has a deeper understanding of our days at home, although he mostly saw our summer schedule rather than the school year routine.

Three of the kids are out-of-town with friends and the remaining daughter just left for the day. It’s awfully quiet.

Is there an area of your life where you have to (or need to) hit the reset button and establish a new normal?

A Wild Hope today at (in)courage

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{Y’all know the rest of the story, but I wrote today’s (in)courage post last week before my husband received a job offer. Click on over to read the lessons I learned during our months of unemployment and the sweet comments from the (in)courage community.}

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It’s the wildest kind of hope to begin a follow-up to my April post God Is Good All the Time before my husband actually receives a job offer, but it feels so very close. I tell him he’s almost employed and in our gut we believe it.

But still . . . So I’ll walk you through the past 12 weeks when we’ve held fast to hope and peace in the midst of unexpected unemployment and what I’ve learned — or remembered — along the way.

For years I said — in the nicest possible way — that I wished my husband’s former employer would have an Ebenezer Scrooge experience and realize he has a responsibility for his employees. It never happened, which is why my husband found himself suddenly unemployed after 17 years with the same company.

When he called to say that he, along with years of accumulated personal possessions, was on his way home, my feelings were mixed: shock that he was unemployed, but happiness that our financial future was no longer controlled by someone who didn’t care about us.

From the beginning I felt peace, and when people asked about us I joked, If we’re unemployed two months from now, then I’ll worry. My arbitrary two month deadline came and went with no job offer, but honestly, I wouldn’t sacrifice a day of these past twelve weeks. And as I write this, my husband is still unemployed.

Please join me at (in)courage for the rest of the story!

July’s Desktop Calendar—and a Job Offer!

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July 2017

Our beautiful daylilies have fewer blooms than in years past. The tree above has grown wide and full and just a few peek out from under its shade. I photographed them just in time! Later that day and early the next two of my kids picked most of them to put in bouquets for their rooms.

I’m not much of a gardener and seem to kill most indoor plants, but we’ve got some beauties—gardenias, magnolias, hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, daylilies, azaleas, and ever-spreading spearmint—that return year after year in our yard.

Last year my daughter planted daffodil and tulip bulbs that had been given to us in little plastic containers from the grocery store. What a lovely surprise when they bloomed in early spring!

We planted a little shade garden by our front door the year after we moved into our house; we’ve been here nearly 12 years. Hostas, primroses, some flowers I can’t name, and a Japanese Painted Fern live there.

Years ago I had two big ferns in fancy pots in our dining room but they made such a mess I transplanted them outside, where they thrive in the warm, damp air coming from the exterior vent from our clothes dryer.

My Husband has a Job Offer!

Here’s our big news: after twelve weeks of unemployment, my husband received a job offer Thursday! He starts next Wednesday, after the 4th of July holiday. I think he’ll have great opportunities there and we just couldn’t be any more excited.

Obviously I’m glad he found a job, but I sure will miss him. I’ve gotten used to having him around the house! Thank you for praying and checking in on us. You are appreciated!

Download July’s Desktop Calendar

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Enjoy!

Dripping from the Cross: A Sunday Hymn

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Dripping from the Cross
I haven’t posted a Sunday Hymn in quite some time, but after spending the last few days at our annual singing school in Jasper, AL, they’re on my mind.

My kids love “Dripping from the Cross,” a hymn by L.B. Leister (1885-1968), and our 17-year-old daughter has led it in congregational singing more than once at singing school.

For me, the imagery is blunt, the words raw. I have trouble singing this one without tears.

I got a grammar lesson while typing it. I recently discussed the use of ’til, till, and until with my two youngest daughters and it turns out I was wrong in some of what I told them. Oops. Old dog, new tricks.

Dripping from the Cross

Guilty nail-pierced holy vein,
Jesus bore the loss;
There was blood with holy pain,
Dripping from the cross.

Jesus, Thou hast loved us so,
Tho’ we be so gross;
Saved us by the living flow,
Dripping from the cross.

Sick and faint my soul did seem,
Poisoned by sin’s dross;
But relief came by the stream,
Dripping from the cross.

Tho’tless that for sin I owe,
Counted not my loss;
Grateful now to view the flow,
Dripping from the cross.

Wordly pleasures once my dream,
Tempted by their gloss;
Till I saw the scarlet stream,
Dripping from the cross.

All because He loved us so,
He sustained the crimson flow;
Keep my heart fixed on Thy woe,
Dripping from the cross.

Our Adorable Grandson

One of the highlights of singing school was spending time with our new grandson, who turns 3 months old today. Precious!

The Job Update

I keep telling my husband he’s almost employed; it sure seems so. I will shout it from the rooftops when it happens, but for now just know we are grateful for every prayer, kind comment, and email you’ve sent. It means a lot.