Almost six years ago, we were in the throes of looking for a new house. Time was running out and we felt like we’d never find our next dwelling place. Memories of another time, when our world caved in. It was 24 years prior to that. Paul’s business suffered from the recession of 1990, and he was forced to close his doors and declare bankruptcy. We lost everything, except for our faith that God would provide. He indeed did. He found a house through a friend of ours. It was, what I called our restoration house. We lived there for many years, and it helped us to rebuild and start over. God is so good.

So, six years ago, we bought the house in the above picture. It was the last house we looked at before our time was up. Paul literally fell to his knees when he saw it. It is a charming old farmhouse. Nothing like what we planned for. We wanted a house in the country and this one is in the center of town, next to a busy highway. We didn’t want stairs and this one is a two story. We wanted two bathrooms and this one has only one – which is nowhere near the bedroom. Still the house was convenient to everything and for a couple years seemed to be the ideal place for us. We were close to church, close to our daughter and her family, near shopping centers and in an active arts community.

When the pandemic came, we were isolated for a while and muddled through the next two and a half years. When life returned to a semi-normal state, we again ventured out, but saw an extreme change in people. They had grown bitter, angry, hateful at times, introverted and so much more. Being in solitary confinement can do that to a person. As time progresses, life is getting back on track, but our sweet little neighborhood has turned into a noisy one, with all kinds of difficult issues. The highway next to us is under construction and part of our backyard will eventually be removed. A homeless girl was taken in by our neighbor. Since then, there has been suspicious activity at that house and the one across the street from us. Our little farm on the highway has either suffered the effects of the pandemic, or we have become narrow minded and old. We used to love looking out our side window at the wildlife and birds. We still do, but the wildlife doesn’t include birds and critters anymore.

I did get a good medical report yesterday, however, and I am good to go for another six months. God is still good and always will be. He has always been the consistent in our lives.