The Five-Hundredth Day of Winter

Hey y'all!!! Did you miss me?

If you follow me on social media, you will know that I have been busy redoing every room in my house!!! Furniture has been remade, moved, donated, replaced, refurbished, and so on. Walls, floors and cabinets have been repainted, and there is still one whole entryway plus hallway that I have not yet painted....because I was tired of painting!

I also swapped my guest room & Studio around, which has meant the hugest de-stash I've ever done! It really wasn't that hard once I got started.

The other issue around here has been the never ending winter. I swear we are on day 500 of winter in the Midwest. Go visit FB and you will see meme's popping up all over from the Midwest for this very reason. It is supposed to be 'April showers bring May flowers'. Do you see the words April snow anywhere?

Today severe thunderstorms, which will give way to measurable snow fall. Our farmers are not happy, as they can not plant yet. We are not happy because we can not do anything outdoors either.

500 days of winter has had me thinking though. A few months back I was talking to a friend about the notion of seasons, and how we are so quick to talk about the season of life we're in. You know, marriage, parenting, parenting teens, trying to remember life without kids. Sorry, got off track for a minute as my 'kid' is now an adult, who is currently sharing her thoughts about how hard being an adult is...while she lives with me and does not do the grocery shopping. Sigh...

Anywho, my belief was that we possibly take the seasons thing too far. It's as if we give ourselves permission to stay in any given season until by some miraculous thunder clap (the heavens literally just clapped here), we will 'grow out of it'. Her belief is that seasons of life are completely biblical and until God does provide the thunder, you just stay there.

500 days into winter I see her point so much more clearly. However, I am SO over winter. This next round of freezing could literally take out ALL my fruit trees, my flowers, and just about destroy our chances at growing much. This is one of those times where I would personally like to plow (see what I did there in light of the snow coming?) through and just move into another season of life.

Currently my family is experiencing a season of questions. Actually, I am really the only one, unless you count the mini-me living here. God opened so many doors. He has done so many awesome things! He is still doing so many awesome things...so which way do I start walking? 500 days of choices, 500 days of steps, 500 days of thinking, praying, questioning, thanking, choosing, and so much more.

If I had joined the whole count your steps movement, I would be jumping up and down over how many I have taken. I would not be as enthusiastic to realize that for every step, there were six more super options just up ahead.

My 'OLW' was BLOOM...which you can NOT do in the winter. Spring will eventually arrive and so will some answers. In the meantime, I will keep taking steps, thanking God that I can, and being enthusiastic to see what lies ahead!!!