Much to be Thankful For

There is so much that I would like to say during this Thanksgiving season, but finding words to express it is quite difficult. I know I will fall far short of expressing what I am feeling. Sadly, I've never been much of a writer, but even less so now. It is a tremendous effort to focus and organize my thoughts these days.Thinking of what to say, how to say it and how to word it in a grammatically correct way becomes a contemptuous chore. Which has been part of the reason for my infrequent posts; it has been easiest to say nothing at all.

For the last eight months my husband has been unemployed. The first time he was laid off, (after fifteen years with a wonderful company and a job he loved), was devastating, but to face the trauma of multiple company layoffs over the last six years has been a nightmare that is incomprehensible to us. After this latest layoff we feared that the career he had worked so hard to establish was completely ruined because his work history looked so unstable. Most companies, if they are even hiring, would just pitch a resume like that.While it took eight very long months and many resumes sent, a new job was started on Monday last week. For this new opportunity we are so very thankful.

Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude and thanksgiving for God's provision for us during this time of extended unemployment. Our two adult children, who both still live at home, have full-time jobs and graciously contributed. Our nineteen year old son delayed college and donated practically his entire paycheck, with no complaints. With their help, my odd jobs and unemployment benefits we have been able to stay caught up on our bills. There was no money for extras and there have been many struggles along the way, but, by God's grace, we have survived the storm...again.Were it not for our precious children things would be very different for us right now. We are very blessed.

It is also with heartfelt gratitude that I thank each of you for your patience with me during this time of sporadic blogging. Losing my mom, dealing with multiple job loss and all the emotions and struggles that encompasses, and my mother-in-law's end stage Alzheimer's...well sometimes just coping with life is all you can manage.

I hope things will settle down now and this extended season of trials will end for our family and hopefully after a time of stability and emotional healing my mental fog will lift and my creativity will flourish.

Speaking of creativity, during the past few months, I have given much thought to this blog and the direction I want to take it. After all that I have been through, with the multiple job loss and this extended season of difficult trials,  I sometimes think about posting on topics regarding that, but my blog has been mostly nature and gardening related and it felt weird to do so. There are more home projects that I have done that I would like to share, but again, I feel funny posting them here.

After one such post, someone suggested to me that I might want to start another blog for things not related to my normal topics so that my readers wouldn't be surprised to see something out of character for Robin's Nesting Place. That was a great idea and I attempted to start another blog but I can barely manage one much less two or three.

I think I've come to the conclusion, that for right now, during this season of my life, I will just post whatever it is that I want to blog about, right here, at Robin's Nesting Place. My desire is to keep the blog as a hobby blog but that definitely encompasses many topics, including photography; crafts; home projects; gardening; cooking: bird watching; thrifting and things related to living on a tight budget and anything else related to home and garden. It really isn't that much different from what I've been doing, just more broad which should lead to more frequent posts that will hopefully still appeal to my readers and maybe even grow my blog a bit more. Guilt/pressure/stress free blogging is all I can creatively manage right now.

I hope that is okay and those of you who have become my blogging friends these last four years will continue to read and follow. I appreciate you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!