July at Home

July 2017.

Most of July passed by, day by day...  Here is it, in photos...

Going through memories--de-cluttering homeschool paperwork.

Saying goodbye to a co-worker.

Shooting a charity golf event in a beautiful banquet hall!

Rebuilding the garden fence in my battle with some pesky rabbits.  I won.

Taking a selfie and texting it to Fernando in the parking lot before heading in to work.

One morning harvesting garlic.  Mug of tea included.

Columnar basil, my new favorite herb, in my garden.

Yet another selfie sent to Fernando.

Garden salsa, and guacamole.  Nothing more needed for dinner.

When the parents give you $, and tell you to take out your brother for his birthday.  Proof!

New shoes, on sale with a discount.

That's most of July.  Slow, yet fast, yet slow.  Tomorrow on my day off, I'll get to work in my garden.  Bliss!


Back to life,
Christine

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Hitting the Beach

Time to Fly, Part Four -- May 8.

A super late Sunday night arrival at our hotel resulted in a late morning breakfast in the hotel breakfast lounge.  Fernando wanted to fuel up on coffee for the day, which would consist of mostly relaxing--on the beach!

Less than an hour away, up and over the bridge, and into Cocoa Beach.

We passed the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop, and I snapped a phone pic and sent it to my heart-sister Lori, whose family served as hosts for a week-long trip to this same area a several years back.  Fun memories!!

Since we were still not publishing the fact that Thomas was with us (and was the main "star" of this adventure), I left him out of my photos as you can see below--only two sets of feet.  :)

One glorious day at the beach, and then back to our hotel.  The exciting stuff will start tomorrow...


Back to life,
Christine

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Tennessee

Fernando's employer has an annual get-together in early January; this year he got to drive down.  And I got to go with him!

Friday, January 6 was the gathering at No--, so I hung out by myself for the day while Fernando attended the get-together.  Late afternoon, I met him at his work and I met lots of people whose names I'll never remember (!!), who were super friendly and encouraging to both of us.

From there in Knoxville, we drove to our hotel in Pigeon Forge, just on the outskirts of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Oh, to see those mountains!!  The photos do not do it justice.

The view from our hotel suite.

We used money from mileage plus Fernando's hotel points for this beautiful suite, free of charge!

After a yummy "down-home" meal at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, we retired to our suite where it began to snow yet again.  Though we didn't want to see it having come south in the winter, it was beautiful.

The next morning, we drove into Gatlinburg.  We decided to stop along the way at one of the little parking areas dotting the mountain road to tromp through the snow in order to see the river, and the view.  Just amazing!

In Gatlinburg, which was still intact despite so many recent fires near and around, we went to Calhoun's for some Tennessee barbecue--yum.

We wandered around Gatlinburg...

Paula Deen's store!

There was a distillery (one of two), and it called our names...

What a festive atmosphere--until our server got political (why do people do that?).  But the "fare" was delicious, and they gave Fernando a generous military discount!

Down every side street, we saw the mountains in the distance!

We stopped at a local brewery to get some beer for Matt and Jeff, and this little scene greeted us in the parking lot.

We had a wonderful day, spent together, just enjoying a new place and each other's company.

Sunday morning view from our suite before heading home.

On the way home, we played music, sang, and I took this photo with Rocky Top, Tennessee in the background!  I had to play the song for Fernando; he had never heard it before (poor guy!).

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner, got stuffed yet again, and even ordered dessert.  Fernando took this goofy picture of me attacking dessert...

I hope this great start to a new year continues for us.  I hope this becomes a year for new beginnings together, a new life of looking ahead with hope and joy.

Back to life,
Christine

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December in Photos

Here's the entire month of December up until Christmas...

Thomas and I went to Trader Joe's to stock up for Christmas prep, and we found a chocolate bar.  A really huge chocolate bar.  Two kilos, to be exact.  Of course I bought it.  It was, after all, just one chocolate bar.

For my work Christmas party at the beginning of December, I had promised on multiple occasions to bake my cake.  So I did. Here's the recipe, in case you wanted it.

December 4 -- our first snow!  The first snow is always the most exciting.  (The last snow is the second-most exciting.)

Fernando left for Knoxville, Kentucky on December 5.  He spent two weeks there in training to be a full-fledged field service technician.  No-- is really loving him so far, and I know Fernando will quickly pick up the technology in the high-speed lamination industry.  He has such a big, sexy brain!

I brought home the rest of my cake from our work Christmas party.  Yeah, my co-workers complained.  But my guys were complaining more loudly, and I have to live with them.

December 9 -- Manicotti Day!  Mom and I kept things simple and made a beautiful batch of Christmas dinner manicotti.

December 11 -- at a Christmas party that I attended where my parents and my younger brother were also invited.  I missed Fernando, but we had a blast together with the other guests.  Two piano guys (Duelling Pianos) played music all night, and dancing broke out; I got Dad and Mom to dance together!  It was awesome.

Random photos of me while Fernando was gone.  I like to have the guys take my picture so I can text them to Fernando so he doesn't forget what I look like.  Or that he has a wife.  :)

I throw some goofy ones in for good measure.

December 18 -- Once Fernando was home, we really just wanted to relax together, because we knew he was flying right back out on Monday.  But, friends invited us to a restaurant for dinner and they wouldn't accept a no, so we ended up having a great meal with them.  It was bitter cold that Sunday, too, and I ended up taking a picture of our frozen car, dirt-spattered and icicle-hanging, in the restaurant parking lot.

December 19 -- At an ungodly hour, I drove Fernando to O'Hare for his next trip.  On the way home, I saw, in person and for the first time, a sun dog!  I took an exit before my usual exit (and one that saves time--Fernando's trick!), since it goes by/through a forest preserve.  I pulled over in a parking lot, positioned the tree in the sun's line of sight, and got this beautiful image of my very first sun dog.  They generally occur shortly after sunrise and at super cold temperatures--it was about 11 below when I took this, I think--and they are much more magnificent in real life than in a photo.

December 21 -- New hair style day!  I got my hair cut, colored, and styled by the daughter of our beauty specialist.  I had it done in the morning, then drove up the street to work in the afternoon.  Andrea (our beauty specialist) took these pictures of me.

A lady gushed over my hair, so I gave her Ali's number and she made an appointment on the spot!

December 22 -- Fernando came home from his most recent trip, and Thomas and I drove to pick him up.  Thomas forgot to fill the gas tank, and we ended up circling around and around and around...  So once we picked up Fernando, we drove to the O'Hare Oasis on I-294 and filled up the tank.  It's so good to have Fernando home for just a little bit at Christmastime!

December 23 -- Fernando was coming to pick me up from work when Arabelle (my BMW) had a radiator burst and overheated.  The night ended up being a time of me shopping in my store while Danny and Thomas drove to meet Fernando, then Danny driving to my work to pick me up and bring me back to the parking lot of Our Lady of the Woods where Fernando pulled in.  Then, it was a tow truck pick-up and driving home, and trying to figure out how to get our BMW repaired.

Finally, the day before Christmas came and I found myself baking bread!  I had made a double batch of cinnamon rolls, which also means making two loaves of bread (my recipe makes enough dough for the equivalent of four loaves of bread).  Mmmm, warm bread with butter, all melty and delicious!

That's my December!  It has flown by in a flash, I can't believe it's Christmas, and the coming of a new year!!


Back to life,
Christine

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The Next Thing

End of October, 2016.

I'm posting this photo of me, smiling.  It's a numbing thing to do, but I do it anyway.  Fake it 'til you make it, they say.  It's really true.  I put on my makeup, I get dressed, I even ask Thomas to take my picture, smiling.

I look around me and see--my home (probably bigger than 97% of the homes owned by people around the world).  My health (probably in the top 5% of healthy people in the world for my age).  Yes, and my age--doing great for my age.  My family--five amazing guys still running to and fro in my life, still intertwined, making me crazy but making me laugh, too.

I'm blessed.  I have to look around and see.  And I'll tell you something.  This doesn't automatically give me the warm fuzzies.  Does it change my perspective?  Definitely.  I have so much, so I can't complain, and I shouldn't despair.  Do I feel better inside?  No.  I just let God know I'm thankful for what I have, and move on to the next thing.  Which on this particular day, is work.  So that's what I do.


Back to life,
Christine

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New Every Morning -- Broken Path

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB

I typed the Scripture above because I've included them in every Our Journey post.  I'm having a hard time believing them, but there they are.  The words sit there on my screen.  He is faithful.  Another verse comes to mind, and I cling to it...

If we are faithless, He remains faithful,

for He cannot deny Himself.

2 Timothy 2:13 NASB

We were beginning to see the lighted path before us, we were walking, working hard, making plans to get out of the hole in which we find ourselves after three years' struggle, and now this.

The Broken Path

Tuesday night, after my walk in the woods, after the peace and the determination and #threewords and the hope of recovery, Fernando called.

"Are you sitting down?"

He would not be finishing this job.  He would fly home Wednesday morning from Dallas.  This leg of our journey was over.

Details aren't appropriate here, but I spent a restless night, Fernando a sleepless one.  He caught a flight to Midway; I struggled out of bed, drove to the airport, sat numbly at the waiting lot, got his text, picked him up, and drove him home.  Half an hour later I left for work.

What path is this?  Where are we headed now?  I'm at a loss.  I don't know.

What we thought was the road, is no longer.  There isn't just a tree trunk across it, blocking the way.  It's a dead end.  A cliff.  It now leads nowhere.  And I don't know where to go, turn around, turn aside, wait.  It is all darkness and uncertainty, and it takes all my strength to stand there, to keep my eyes open and breathe.

Back at my favorite spot, the yellows have appeared, not quite at full brilliance but they're there.  I've captured it with my camera at least, to look at later, to close my eyes and remember.  This is what He wanted me to see--His faithfulness, leading us through.  I can't see it yet.  Some day I'll look back and I'll be able to see it.  But not yet, not now, not with these eyes.

My faith is small, insignificant.  But He is faithful; it's there in black and white in those words, His words, His Word.  He is faithful because that's who He is.  I have no idea what He's doing, where He's leading us.  The whys hang there, big black words in my head floating around.

Even so, I cry out to Him, I trust You.  I don't know what You're doing, why You're doing it.  I hurt, Lord.  I trust You, though.  You're my Father and You're completely trustworthy.  You'll lead us to that green meadow, where I can rest and be at peace.  But right now I just hurt.

My shaken faith; faith which is the evidence of things not seen, and I'm blind right now.  I can't see.  I know I'm His, but faith?  Yet I will trust Him.  It's all I have.

Broken road, broken heart, and trying to breathe...

Christine

Read previous segments here:

The Beginning
The Injury
The Furnace
The Waiting
Employment
The House
The Phone Call
The Truck
The Car
The Business
Nightfall
The Gift
Eight Days

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