You sound good, Shaye. I’m so happy for you to have had this little slice of time away in Italy and coming home to your family and cottage with a blanket of soft, comfy grace wrapped around your heart.
I love this! Possibly one of my favorite writings of yours. It’s true, you’ve got to match capacity of these things with the season of life you’re in. We could be twins with how you describe what your Dr. has helped you see about your body’s constitution and sensitivity and what’s the best way for you to live your life and find the most joy and fulfillment in it. I love how you said, “enough capacity left in me to say thank you, God, for these good gifts”. 🙌🏼 it all got to be too much for my constitution & my sensitivity, and the gratitude felt less than the work. And that wasn’t ok with me.
7+ years ago we made the difficult decision to sell our 2 jersey milk cows (at the same time we harvested our 2 steer- born from them), & scale back the garden, put a pause on our year supply of meat birds & excess of eggs. Our season of life changed with the age of our kids (teenagers need you more, not just in home educating, but also just in general)- I needed more time for our 4 kids, and the rest to be in the kitchen to feed them well and teach them how to do it for themselves when they left home. I’m forever grateful for being willing to lean into what I felt I needed to do, scale back- I have two (almost) 17 yr old boys at home, a 21 yr old married daughter (last week), and a 24 yr old son who will be married in 2 months. Life doesn’t slow down when your kids age😅 the joy does increase as you witness them build a life outside of your home- and I need all the time to be present for that! I’ll happily buy milk and eggs from the friend that I sold my jerseys to! She can do the work in a different stage of life, while I put my time where it needs to be right now. Was it hard? Yes. Worth it? Every single day since, yes. There are blessings in the sacrifices- more than I ever gave up, I’ve been rewarded with blessings.
“To move forward I must dial back.” sometimes life is like that. But it feels almost counterintuitive… at first that is. It sounds like you're giving yourself some grace. Good on you girl.
Planting the veggies amongst the flowers, that's a fantastic idea.
You sound good, Shaye. I’m so happy for you to have had this little slice of time away in Italy and coming home to your family and cottage with a blanket of soft, comfy grace wrapped around your heart.
“blanket of soft, comfy grace wrapped around your heart” well said. One can almost feel that.
I love this! Possibly one of my favorite writings of yours. It’s true, you’ve got to match capacity of these things with the season of life you’re in. We could be twins with how you describe what your Dr. has helped you see about your body’s constitution and sensitivity and what’s the best way for you to live your life and find the most joy and fulfillment in it. I love how you said, “enough capacity left in me to say thank you, God, for these good gifts”. 🙌🏼 it all got to be too much for my constitution & my sensitivity, and the gratitude felt less than the work. And that wasn’t ok with me.
7+ years ago we made the difficult decision to sell our 2 jersey milk cows (at the same time we harvested our 2 steer- born from them), & scale back the garden, put a pause on our year supply of meat birds & excess of eggs. Our season of life changed with the age of our kids (teenagers need you more, not just in home educating, but also just in general)- I needed more time for our 4 kids, and the rest to be in the kitchen to feed them well and teach them how to do it for themselves when they left home. I’m forever grateful for being willing to lean into what I felt I needed to do, scale back- I have two (almost) 17 yr old boys at home, a 21 yr old married daughter (last week), and a 24 yr old son who will be married in 2 months. Life doesn’t slow down when your kids age😅 the joy does increase as you witness them build a life outside of your home- and I need all the time to be present for that! I’ll happily buy milk and eggs from the friend that I sold my jerseys to! She can do the work in a different stage of life, while I put my time where it needs to be right now. Was it hard? Yes. Worth it? Every single day since, yes. There are blessings in the sacrifices- more than I ever gave up, I’ve been rewarded with blessings.
AMEN.
“To move forward I must dial back.” sometimes life is like that. But it feels almost counterintuitive… at first that is. It sounds like you're giving yourself some grace. Good on you girl.
Planting the veggies amongst the flowers, that's a fantastic idea.
Are all my comments just Ditto, Ditto, Ditto? Maybe. But ditto. Cheering you on! 💛