Well, I wouldn’t actually use that as a title, but I have no intention of giving you the actual title before I’ve actually gotten it published! That would be silly of me. And, I’d be more likely to use this picture for my cover instead of the one above…
Now, I’ll distract you with some cookies…
Rollin, rollin, rollin… keep this mower mowin…. mmmhhhhmmmmhhhhhhmmmmmm….
I bet you never knew that Eustace could sing, and quite well, I might add!
Somebody has to mow all this grass, so it might as well be Eustace. He does get to eat all the clippings, so it’s a win win for all of us, don’t cha think?
You didn’t think that I’d forgotten about our missing little ant, did you?
Not a chance! Do try to keep in mind, however, finding an itty bitty little ant in the forest is far from easy. I had all the little ones out searching the woods frequently throughout each day; calling out her name, in the hopes that it might lead her back to the new farm house. I took it upon myself to make another visit to her family, being sure to leave her a message that include directions to our new location. Aside from that, all we could do was wait, and hope.
Even in the darkest of nights, when all seems lost to us, there is always hope!
As I sat the kitchen of our farm house this morning, quietly enjoying my first needed cup of coffee, my thoughts were suddenly disrupted by the distinct smell of cotton candy, floating in through my window. It surprised me so much that I nearly dropped my coffee in my lap! No, I wasn’t surprised that the the air was deliciously fragrant, just because of the candy smell. That would be silly, don’t you think? There are a myriad of glorious smells floating through the forest, at any given moment, and in any given season!
My surprise at the smell of cotton candy goes much deeper than just a yummy breeze, but you may or may not recall the reason, so I’ll explain. For those of you that don’t remember, there was a strong smell of cotton candy in the air, on the very day that miss Lilly first floated into our barn. Now, it probably makes a great deal more sense, as to why I nearly dropped my coffee when I noticed the air… I smelled Lilly!
I don’t know what most people smell when ants are around, but our little girl smells just like cotton candy! I jumped up out of my chair and ran out the back door, as fast as my legs could carry me, scanning the meadow from one side to the other! Seeing nothing with my eyes, I decided to try following my nose.
There, amidst the dandelions in the meadow, sat a strangely familiar looking creature…
Yes, anyone who knew her from the beginning will recognize those beautiful eyes…
Even if I’d been confused about the eyes, when the tiny ant began smiling at me… it removed all doubt from my mind! She may have gone a bit wild ant/bunny on us while out in the wilderness, but it’s still our Lilly! You try braving the wilds all by your onesie’s, and then let’s see what you look like when you finally get home. I know that I’d probably look a mess, to say the least…
It sure has been a journey these last few years, to say the least!
We’ve gone from, losing our home and all we owned during the COVID Shutdown, to living in an RV for three years (the last year had no working toilet or shower, nor any hot water). And here we are now, spending the last four months in a motel room, awaiting a housing voucher. So, ya… it’s been a journey!
Well, guess what?
We’ve been approved!!!
I know this is only the first part of the actual process, but it’s a start!
Now, we must attend a special orientation class, before we can actually be presented with the needed voucher. The class is on the 18th and our last approved night in this motel is the 17th, so it’ll be a little dicey between the time of getting said voucher and getting into an appropriate housing situation. But hey, God’s the one driving this bus, right?!
My job is to simply wait until the bus stops, gather myself together when the door opens, and step out in faith! Why do some folks think that the hard part is walking through the door, or stepping out in faith when you can’t see what’s there? Personally, I’ve learned that the hardest part is the waiting…
Tick tock, tick tock…
The silence of waiting can be deafening, at times.
The thing that I’m learning is, mountains take time to move over, under, around, or through… depending on what God wants you to see, learn, and/or do along the journey.
Anyways, if you are curious how we got here from the top of this post, I’ve brought you thus far, so that I might say thank you! Thank you for loving me, for praying for me, and for sticking with me through the thick of things, if you will. You’ve made this whole excruciating difficult process, a great deal easier! Your comments, laughter, and visits to the lobby have been so vitally instrumental in the encouragement department, if that makes any sense.
It’s funny, the prompt this morning was asking what I’d do with good news? Well, I already did my praying and praising God for his faithful provision. Now’s the part where I share said good news, celebrate, and have a grateful heart!
The first place I wanted to bring my joyful news was here, in this very lobby! I thought to share it with all of you… my family!
The first thing we should be doing when we get some great, amazingly fantastic news, and even down to the smallest of blessings, is to bend a knee to the God who made it possible!
Why is that such a hard thing for us to do, I wonder?
Why can’t God get the first, and most important thank you, before we go patting ourselves on the back for a thing we think we deserve the credit for? It’s rather simple, really! Just stop and thank Him! Then, go do the next thing we do with good news… tell somebody about it, celebrate, and have a glad heart!
At least, that’s what I like to do.
Here, have a cookie…
they might not be great or amazingly fantastic, but they’ll do in a pinch!
May God follow you, bless you, comfort and guide you in all that you do… Hugs
May your weekend be a peaceful one, my friends. Enjoy your family, your friends and some down time. God Bless!
My nana always had candy, bowls of it, in fact! She always made sure they were freshly filled for our little visiting fingers, whenever we stayed at her home.
They weren’t always the some, though, because she liked variety… and she knew that we would too. Some days she’d have a mix of peppermint, butterscotch, and cinnamon flavored hard candies. My personal favorite were the butterscotch!
On special occasions, there would be bowls all over her home, in sets of three; one bowl with nuts, one with candies, and one with mixed chocolates. I always cleaned out the little candies, specifically the yellow butter mints. You know, for some funny reason, when I ran across them in a store and bought them, the flavor wasn’t the same… how sad, right?!
Honestly, I think it’s the memory of my nana’s house that I fondly recall, more than the candy. Perhaps it’s better to keep the flavor fantasy, just that… a fantasy, a sweet dream of more innocent times.
I still really do love butter mints, and yellow is still my favorite color, and I doubt that will ever change…
Don’t forget to take a cookie…
You don’t see me anywhere, but don’t let your eyes fool you. I’m simply sitting inside the house, drinking my morning coffee. I’ve just been sitting here, listening to the sound of birds singing outside my window. It’s quite peaceful in this place, and I’m finding myself lingering a bit longer each morning, just to listen to the countryside wake itself up!
(In the real world, we await an approval and invitation to accept our housing voucher. They’ve gathered everything they need, paperwork wise, so this is the part where the paper has to walk itself from one place to another, for a whole lot of signatures. Once that’s been completed, we’ll be given an invitation to attend an orientation class, at which time, we’ll receive that physical “Golden Ticket”. Until that occurs… we must wait.)
You won’t believe who showed up yesterday, bounding right in through the front door? Our Auzzee!!!
I’m not sure where he’s been hiding, nor, how he managed to track us down, here at the farm? I don’t think it even matters, really. I’m just so grateful to see the furry little guy, which is sort of strange, don’t you think? He used to have more feathers, as well as different fur… you know, the fur and claws of a cat, remember? Correct me if I’m wrong but, doesn’t he look like sort of like a wooly bear?
See what I mean?! It’s no bother to me, really, as I’m just so relieved to see his adorableness bound into my kitchen this morning!
It won’t be much longer now, and everyone should be back together again, and the barn is coming together wonderfully, as you can see…
Miss Tilly has volunteered herself to be our handyman’s little helper, isn’t she so adorable in her mini-hardhat?
Even Bailey is enjoying all the new hay that we threw across the barn floor…
And, of course, young Squagon is thoroughly enjoying himself, swinging confidently from the rafters,
Yes, Squagon is looking a good deal more like a bat or dragon than the furry baby we first met, but that’s an update for another day. Don’t worry over it, as the little guy is doing quite well, and no worse for ware, after his time alone in the forest. I just think there is more to him than we’d first thought, that’s all.
Anyways, as far as the progression of all the repairs and restoration of the farm, things are going well. With the house pretty much finished, I’ve been looking over the barn and taking meticulous notes, in order to assist our handyman in some of the larger tasks. That’s a bit much to ask of our Tilly, so I stepped in to help.
I think I’ll hang out with him today while he does all the things on my “Honey Do” list. I made sure to put that requirement into the fine print of his contract… I made sure to smile a lot when he was looking over the paperwork, so he just grinned and said, “Mmmhmmm.”
Oh, by the way, my little shadow was successful in locating our misplaced dragon…
Well, he found her, point in fact! Anyways, they’re on their way home now, as we speak! I realize that it may seem rather preposterous that I can know of such a thing, when I’m here with you and they aren’t even back yet, to tell the tale.
Well, to coin a phrase from Guardians of the Galaxy II, “I’m Mary Poppins, Yawl!” Ok, so maybe not totally like that, but suffice it to say, I did it my way… wait, isn’t that Frank Sinatra? Sheesh! Are all the good lines taken, or what? I can’t use It’s my website and I’ll do what I want to, because there’s an old party song that sounds too much like it.
I know, I know… I might not be Mary Poppins, but my site DOES make magic cookies! Yup, yup, yup… I think that will do just fine, wouldn’t you agree?
With that settled, just trust me when I tell you that they’re on their way… I can feel it in my bones!
I told you that I would not rest until I found our lost camel, Eustace! Well, I’m not the kind of girl that goes back on her word, so here I am once again, deep in the heart of the desert.
As you know, the camel that I hired for this trip, up and disappeared on me, some days ago. Since then, it’s felt like I’ve been going in circles without a single clue… the winds have erased any sign of footprints, blowing sand across my own tracks, even! If anyone came in search of either the camel or myself, they would probably become lost themselves, so it’s best that I do this task alone. I’ve spent most of my life in the deadlands, so I can safely navigate the dunes, as well as locate all the good watering holes, like this one.
This morning, while I was resting and re-hydrating, I began to hear a faint jingle sound, coming from the bell I’d hung around that camel’s neck just before we headed into the dunes… we both put one on, just in case we got stuck in a sandstorm, and lost sight of one another.
Anyway, as I sat drinking my water, I heard it, distantly, but it was definitely the camel’s bell!
The runaway camel just appeared from out between several dunes, not far off from where I’d been sitting. There he was, just plodding along in my direction… and you’re never going to guess who stepped out from behind the dunes, only moments later. ..
Yes! I know it’s hard to imagine, but somehow the camels found one another out in the desert. After only a few moments of discussion, the runaway camel confessed that he’d left me behind, days earlier. Eustace made the young camel lead him back the way he’d come, retracing their path until they spotted me…
I always say, if you want something bad enough… never stop, never back down!
Eustace is coming home!
However, before we head back to the barn, we’ll need to take the younger, more inexperienced camel, back to his village… who knows how long he’d wander around before anybody found him?
Have a fantastic day, my friends! We’ll see you back at the barn…
Journey With Me! 