How I broke my leg

Okay. Here's the story on how I fell.... I was weeding in the garden and I had collected a bunch of grass that I wanted to give to Esther. I had a big pile of grass in one hand and a big stick in the other so I could get over the electric fence. (If you push down on the electric fence with something not made of metal, you can step over it without getting shocked.) I landed wrong on my left foot and felt like I had twisted my ankle when I stepped over the fence. Then I panicked because my other leg was still on the other side of the fence. I don't really remember what happened after that except that I could hear bones cracking, and I am pretty sure I got a pretty good shock. I just laid there for what felt like an eternity feeling kind of dazed and in an extreme amount of pain. I think I might have been in shock. All I really remember was just calling out to Jesus and praying in the spirit.

Meanwhile, Esther is just looking at me. I genuinely think she was concerned. I managed to crawl over to her shelter and stand up. Then I started to cry for help. Esther and Annabelle chimed in and mooed, but no one inside could hear us. They all thought I was working in the garden. Then I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling towards the gate. This seemed to freak out Esther who started backing up and then ran to the other side of the pen. Then she started slowly walking towards me. I started praying again that God would help me get out of that pen before she decided to run towards me. I managed to crawl out of the pen and get almost to the house when John finally saw me and came outside to help.

Well, now you know the embarrassing story of how I broke my leg. Actually, I broke the very back part of my ankle and the top of my tibia. I am now in a cast from my toes to ¾ of my lower leg. The last few days have been a difficult adjustment for my family. I am used to being busy from the time I get up until after dinner. It has been really hard for me to sit back and let other people do things for me. That has never been something I am comfortable with. I am a very independent person and a control freak. I do not like to sit around and do nothing all day. Now I can't even get myself a glass of water.

Up until now the kids have had chores that they were responsible for, but not nearly as many as they should have. Most of the time if I tell the kids to do something and they don't do it, I just end up doing it myself. Now I guess God is just teaching us all a big fat lesson. I am learning to ask for help and make my kids do more. They are (hopefully) learning that they need to help more, and that they have had it made up until now. How is John holding up, you ask?? He has been a trooper. He has taken over the job of cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, pasteurizing the milk, doing the shopping and taking care of the garden. The boys are doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping, and taking care of the cows and the dogs. And yes, until a few days ago, I did most of those tasks myself. The boys helped with the animals and John helped when he could, but he is not here all the time. I am very grateful that he has been able to be home with us this past week. I couldn't have done it without his help. I am still praying that he finds a job soon though. I am sure he would rather be working than playing the role of Mr. Mom.

Why am I writing this? Well, it started out as an easy way to tell everyone at one time who asked me, “How did you break your leg?” But as I was writing, I started to think that maybe someone reading this would recognize themselves in this story. Especially if you are a mom, ask yourself this question...”What would my family do if I broke my leg and I couldn't even get myself a glass of water?” Obviously, this situation could be a lot worse. I am exceedingly grateful that it is just a broken leg. As a fb friend recently said, “I am trying to make lemonade with all these lemons life is throwing at me.” On that note, I am going to get off this computer and go organize the troops to get this house clean and the laundry done. If you are a parent, give your kids an extra chore or two. It won't kill them. It will make them less dependent on you. And if you have two working legs, turn up the music and do a little dance for me!

Listening to the still small voice

I have been thinking about writing a book or blog for a very long time now. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I always put it off because I was looking for the “perfect time.” Taking the advice from someone that I admire very much – Flylady, many of you know who she is, always says, “Jump in right where you are.” So, I guess I am jumping in. I have been inspired to write a book for the last several years. If I have to say exactly when, it would have to be around the time we started having issues with our old house (that was showing signs of a sinkhole). It was around that time that I realized God was getting ready to change our family's life in a very big way. I had no idea what it was all about, but I could just feel in my spirit that change was in the air.

Anyway, fast forward to the present. I will definitely write more about those other times later, but again, I need to just “jump in right where I am.” I have been feeling a stirring inside my spirit for a while now that more change is in the air. I don't know exactly what is coming, but I am trying to listen to that still small voice to hear what God is telling me or directing me to do. I started reading a book by Max Lucado called, Cure for the Common Life. I am only into the first few chapters, but I think this book may help me find what I am looking for. In the book he helps people to find the God given traits and talents that make them unique, and then use that information to make their lives more satisfying. He invites you in his book to “Reflect on your life. What have you always done well and loved to do? See your desires as gifts to heed rather than longings to suppress, and you will feel the same joy.”

So, I pondered that question. I reflected back on periods of my life when I have specific memories of things that brought me joy, or things that I am good at doing. Many thoughts came to my mind. I thought of various memories of my childhood. I remember as a young girl playing house, cooking, playing school (where I was always the teacher), writing and drawing, having adventures in the woods, and playing store. Playing store was actually the very first thing that came to my mind. My best friend and I used to gather various items from the yard and organize them into piles and line them up on a brick wall we had next to my driveway. For example, we used pine straw for spaghetti and these round pointy seed things that came off the big oak tree in my yard as meatballs. We would then pretend to buy and sell them. Then we would take them and pretend to cook dinner with them. Is it then any wonder that as a forty-something year old woman that I would desire to be a homemaker and homeschool teacher. Is it any wonder that I still love the outdoors, love to garden, and want to own my own produce stand/gift shop someday? Hmmmm....

Since moving to a small town in south Ga where we bought a fixer upper house on a couple of acres, I have experienced a peacefulness and joy in my heart that I cannot explain. People say to me all the time that they have never seen me so happy, and they are right. I guess that is another reason that I have decided to start a blog. I kind of wanted to reflect back on the past few years to see what it was the caused such a change in me. I can say, going back to the book that I am reading, that I have always had a deep rooted desire in my heart to live in the country and live on a farm. That may not even be a dream that I ever shared with anyone other than my husband. Perhaps that is why it came as a shock to many of our friends and family that we made such a radical change in our lifestyle.

So what can you expect to read about in my blog that may someday work it's way into a book? You will probably hear about silly stories of my 2 children, my cows and dogs, stories about fixing up our house and living in a house that is only about 1/3 completed, cooking and recipes, gardening and learning about farming from the perspective of a “city girl.” Yes, that was probably a run-on sentence. Sometimes my head becomes full of them when I try to write my thoughts down on paper. Last, but not least, you will hear about my conversations with God. I often like to write down my prayers, and subsequently, God's answers to my prayers. Why would I want to write something so personal for everyone to read? Because God told me I should. I don't know why. But one thing I have learned, is that when God tells you to do something, you should do it. So, God...I am putting myself out there...becoming very vulnerable...trying to listen to and obey Your still small voice.