Yep. It has been way, too, long since I posted anything on my blog. Here come the excuses…

As a teacher, I deal with excuses on a daily basis. Many students use it as a way to leverage their mistakes in their favor. As for me, they are legit excuses.

This past year (2022) we went through many changes as a family. My husband left the world of being a flight nurse to become an ICU nurse. It was a challenging move but he has already received accolades from patients and staff for his performance and kindness. I couldn’t be more proud of him. I am also thankful that he is keeping his feet on the ground and has a fairly regular schedule now. No more 24-hour shifts.

Sons #1 and #2 have left the nest. We moved Son #1 across our state in June to work towards getting his pilot diploma, licenses, and endorsements. He is loving life and living his dream of being able to look down on God’s creation. Plans will change, but as of this writing, he wants to be a medical transport pilot. Son #2 is climbing up the ladder at Discount Tire impressing his bosses and co-workers with his work ethic and moved out in July to live with co-workers.

This threw Son #3 for a loop. Living with his brothers his entire life, all the social interaction that goes with it, and now being a single bachelor in our basement as he finishes up high school became difficult to process. He thought he needed a companion, so he brought home a cat through the Humane Society. Casper is a playful, male cat and our diva cat, Smokey, doesn’t have any warm fuzzies for him.

Then things became busy. A friend of Son #3 was staying with us from September to January and we also had a displaced family staying in our shop in a camper from October to January. God was telling me to help out those that are struggling so we opened our home.

Our home was like a loud, bustling train station. People coming in and out, teenagers hungry at all hours of the day, everyone’s schedules being set and then changing at the last minute, while my husband and I trying to keep calm and hospitable to everyone.

Christmas arrived. Our gift to each other was a 65″ TV since we are getting older and I didn’t want to wear glasses to watch our favorite shows. It also was the first Christmas we had to work with the schedules of the two sons that left the nest. The weather wasn’t cooperating and we had our first Christmas as an incomplete family. I remedied this by buying a webcam for my husband to attach to our TV so we could still have Christmas as a family, even though we were separated by many miles.

It is now the beginning of 2023. The house is emptying again and we are down to just the three of us. I am loving this because we can have one-on-one time with our youngest before he leaves the nest. It won’t be long before my husband and I just look at each other with blank expressions and say, “Now what do we do?”

Son #3 also graduated from High School a semester early. We couldn’t be more proud of him and his tenacity to get finished early. He totally surprised both of us! His plans are to work full-time somewhere until the Fall semester at a local Tech school.

Which leads me to write again. I had severe writer’s block and couldn’t come up with anything more to talk or teach about. Taking an extended break is a good thing if you are working on a project for some time. It gives you time to reset, and focus, and you have new ideas to work with.

Signs You Need a Break

It is time for me to get back in the saddle again. We are now in March of 2023 and things have settled down. All of the extra people in our home were able to find their place by the end of January and we took it easy during the month of February to just simply breathe and enjoy our time together….just us.

The break was needed. Looking back, I found that there were some symptoms showing up that led to the absence of my blog.

Whenever you are working on a project, working at your job, or doing anything for a long period of time, it’s time to take a break to get back your perspective and joy of what you are doing. Some of these symptoms may be:

• No passion for what you are working on. You are just “going through the motions.”
• Your work doesn’t get you excited. If it feels like a job, then take a break.
• Writer’s block. Especially if you are writing a book, blog, or website for a long period of time.
• Other things get in the way. You don’t have your work as a priority.

As I get back in the saddle, my hope is to stay consistent as I was before at the start of my blog. I was excited, had a lot to share, and truly enjoyed writing. I am getting those feelings back and I am finding more time now that our nest is getting smaller. Please pray for me that God will give me the words to say that can help someone out there in the void who may be going through the same things I have gone through.