Friday, March 6, 2020

Long Overdue Update

I was going back through all of my old blog posts so I could copy and paste them into a word document so I can eventually get them all printed out (to have a physical copy of my "journal".)
I noticed that my writing fell off drastically when I went back to school (who wants to have to be on the computer more than necessary, or have to write even more when you're already bogged down with assignments?!) Skimming through some of my old posts, though, I can see the value of taking the time to record things. There are so many posts that reminded me of what I was doing during certain years, of good times with family and friends, and of spiritual impressions that someday I'd like my grandchildren to hear. It doesn't even matter that there's likely only 2-3 people who actually read my posts, because there's value in the act of writing and recording of my life.

So here's some of what's been happening since last April:

My mom came for a visit in May. We spent some time in Amish country, which is always awesome. We went to a place called The Farm, where we drove through the park and were able to feed a variety of animals from my car. (If you ever do this, don't stop for the water buffalo!!) We also did the train ride at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It's always fun to have my mom around.
Riding the train ride at Cuyahoga Valley Nat'l Park

No disrespect meant...we genuinely enjoy and appreciate the simply beauty of Amish clothing, so we had to see how we'd look when we found some in a thrift store in Amish country. 

I think I look kinda cute in an Amish bonnet!
In late May we got to fly down to visit David's sons and their families again. I really wish we all lived closer! We've got four more grandchildren down there, and it's hard not being able to see them all the time. We're hopeful that they'll come up our way for a visit this year.

Last August we rescued two horses from a kill pen (a place that buys horses from auction to send to slaughter.) David's horse is "Max," an 18 year old, 16 hand Standardbred who had been used to pull Amish buggies. Mine is "Snoopy," a  16 year old, 15 hand Morgan cross who was also used as a buggy horse. Poor Max was terribly underweight when we got him, but he has since put some pounds back on and is happy as long as he has plenty to eat. Neither horse had been used for riding, as far as we can tell, but they've both been good sports about it. Snoopy is really smart, curious, and catches on quickly. I can't take him near the road yet because he gets excited, thinking he's going to get to trot off at a fast pace (I think he misses his old job.) Max is laid back and sometimes just on "autopilot" but seems to enjoy being put to work.
Max, when he first arrived
Snoopy

David riding Max

Snoopy and Max
Having horses has been a LOT of hard work, especially since our property really wasn't (isn't) set up for it. We've found lots of ways to make things work, but we've occasionally second-guessed our decision and wondered if we're crazy doing this at our ages. Our hope is to eventually get these guys to the point that we can trailer them to nearby trails for rides. There's been too much mud to ride on our property all winter, but I'm looking forward to drier ground so I can get back in the saddle!

David got laid off at the beginning of November 2019. It was a bit of a shock this time, but having been through this scenario many times, I knew we'd be all right. At the very beginning of his job search, David talked to a recruiter about a position in Pittsburgh for Hepaco. This is ironic, because Hepaco bought one of the companies David and I worked for previously. The recruiter was very confident that David was a good fit, and that he would get the job. We both felt good about it, and neither had the feeling that we needed to start packing and getting ready to move (which has usually happened with job changes.) So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. It literally took 3 months from the time of first contact to receiving a job offer! During this time David kept applying to other companies and had moderate interest, but it wasn't until he accepted the offer from Hepaco that he suddenly started getting calls back from multiple companies who were very interested in him!

David started his new job at the beginning of February, and so far it's going pretty well. He had to travel quite a bit for the first couple of weeks (training, meetings, etc.) but was still able to be home every weekend (which is good, because I've needed help with farm chores that I couldn't do by myself!)

We didn't do much during the months he was laid off. We both joke about how you either have the money but not the time to do things, or have lots of time and no money to do things! That was definitely the case for us. We had plenty of projects we would have loved to have done, but with not knowing how long the bout of unemployment would last, we couldn't justify using savings for them. This also impacted our spending for Christmas, but that was a blessing. It was nice to have the focus on the real joy of Christmas, instead of worrying about what to buy.

We also skipped another semester of school because of the unemployment, but neither of us really regrets that. It was nice to have a break and to be able to fully enjoy time with family without assignments and deadlines hanging over our heads.

One of the highlights of my weeks is when I get to go spend time with Aimee and Alley. It's such a joy to watch Alley's personality continue to develop and shine. She's a pretty unique child, with a fun sense of humor and the sweetest kisses. I feel very lucky and blessed to get to see her a couple of times every week.




And now it's March already and I'm trying to figure out where the time went. I'll be signing up for classes again next week, and I think I'm equally excited and dreading it! Excited to be learning more, but dreading the amount of time it takes. I'm also doing the "Start or Grow Your Own Business" self-reliance class through the church right now, just because I wanted to see what it was like. So far I'm getting the sense that I'm nowhere near ready to start a business, and not sure I'll ever want to! I'm tired of being in charge of things!

We'll see how well I keep this updated. I know it won't be at the level it was when I first started blogging, but hopefully it will be better than 2018 and 2019!

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