A Fork in the Road

To blog or not to blog

I started this blog nearly three years ago on my 53rd birthday. My husband and I were beginning our transition into the empty nest and I had no idea what life held next. The blog was a way of sharing that transition with others, as well as working through it myself.

This month I’ll turn 56. My blog was recently hacked and it made me decide whether I wanted to pay up to get it fixed and continue it, or just turn it off. I haven’t been publishing as much lately because I’d gotten distracted by other things, but this situation made me realize that some of the posts I’d written meant a lot to me and I didn’t want to lose them.

Posts such as My Mother’s Garden. While visiting my parents this time last year, I had the sudden thought to write about my mom and share pictures of her yard, which was pretty much at its peak. Spending that time with her, talking about her plants, favorite tools, and taking pictures was a special mother/daughter and gardener/gardener bonding time. It turned out to be one of my most popular posts, and is incredibly sentimental to me. I inherited my love of gardening from her and in emptynesthood (yes, that’s a word) I’ve indulged that passion more than ever, so I have an appreciation for the time and energy that it involves. I also inherited my interest in writing from her and one of my most recent posts, The Doll Who Saw it All, was something she had written years ago when she was near my age.

Then there were my homeschooling posts where I shared some of my most treasured memories of our homeschooling years, and the wisdom that I’d gleaned from them. Included with that would be my #1 post, Homeschool Graduates in College. I wrote that when my daughter was just beginning her college journey and it was almost prophetic, in that it seemed like it was written about her. She fit the descriptions the professors gave, even though none of them knew her as a student. The first day after getting my blog restored, I got a notification from WordPress that my stats were booming, and it was because Homeschool Graduates in College had taken off again, in part because Dr. Wile reshared it on his website – what an honor! I have many homeschooling posts, and I love them all. You can find them by choosing that category on my website.

I also really enjoy sharing life on our little homestead. We’ve been here for 12 years now and over that time we’ve been crafting our own little piece of heaven on earth. Even as I sit here typing, the back door is ajar so that I can listen to the chirping of birds, the gobbling of Tom (our lone turkey), the honking of geese (who just alerted me to a herd of deer in the yard), and all the other beautiful sounds of country life.

I stumbled onto a post that I wrote for someone else awhile back (Preparing for the Empty Nest) and it reminded me of another purpose of my blog. In this stage of life, I had hoped to follow Titus 2’s teaching and encourage younger women. My blog has provided a way to do that. Also, I know that God is asking other Christian families to homeschool, and it can be a confusing time. You want to obey, but don’t know how, or are afraid. So I’ve written a lot of posts aimed at helping parents in those shoes where I once stood. I was blessed in that I knew that God had called me to homeschool, so I trusted in Him to guide me even though I knew nothing about it. It also gave me conviction, and an unfaltering commitment to it. When I hear parents say things like “we’ll give it a year and see what happens…” it makes me doubt that they’ll continue. The commitment to homeschooling is vital. Consistency is also extremely important to children. Moving them in and out of school won’t be good for them, and homeschooling has a lot of hard days. If you don’t have an unwavering commitment then it’s too easy to give up.

Then there are a few other personal favorites such as Not Too Far From Here; City Girl, Country Woman; and To Train Up a Mom.

So where has life taken me lately? The biggest update is that our daughter, homeschooled all the way through, graduated from college. She did it in three years and graduated with honors. Her next plan is to get a Master’s degree at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. I’m excited for her, but the thought of her being so far away for a year makes me anxious. She really will be on her own! She’s with us for the summer and I’m treasuring every moment.

Almost two years ago, Hurricane Harvey hit our business in Rockport, Texas. It took about a year and a half to get the settlement from the insurance company. We were finally able to make repairs to the buildings in February, and my husband is currently constructing a new building to replace one that was destroyed. It has meant us being apart a lot more than we’re used to, but we’re in the home stretch of that now.

We’ve been wanting to remodel our house, so we started by replacing all of our doors and windows, putting on a new metal roof, and painting the house’s exterior. At the beginning of the year, we took in our attached garage to make a new laundry room and pantry. We managed to get that mostly completed before my husband had to turn his attention to the business. Once that is done, we hope to remodel the rest of our house, and I’d enjoy sharing that with you.

A lot of my time is spent gardening. Not only do I enjoy digging in the dirt, but sharing photos and writing about it, too.

A year and a half ago while trying to reduce harmful chemicals in my personal care products, I stumbled upon LimeLife by Alcone. I was so impressed with the products that I decided to sell them. My small business has brought a new way of making friends and having a lot of fun. I’ve also continued to do some volunteering.

To be honest, I had convinced myself that no one wanted to read my blog anyway, so why bother. But encouragement came from some unexpected sources, and even if only one person reads my writing, then that’s worth it to me.

Sometimes we come to a fork in the road and have to decide which way to go. Sometimes it’s hard, and at others God makes it obvious, or provides the perfect photo. I still have plenty of ideas of things to write about and will try to get back to that more regularly. I appreciate you taking this time with me.

By the way, if you, too, are looking for all natural skincare, or professional-quality makeup, and would be interested in learning about LimeLife by Alcone’s products, you can subscribe to my newsletter, Livin’ the LimeLife, or contact me directly by using the link at the top of my blog.