Mosaic Monday and a Family Update

I spent some time yesterday playing with my camera. It seems that no matter how many pictures I take there is still more to learn about my camera and even what is appealing to the eye. So I read and practice trying to gain knowledge and skill.

The pie pumpkins above were accidentally grown in my compost pile from last year's pumpkins.


I found the sweet little nest on the ground in our neighborhood common area and I have been collecting acorns while on my walks.


I got this old weather worn desk drawer at a garage sale for a dollar; I loved the look of the aged wood. Do you see what is attached to the nest? It is the sack of a bagworm. I wonder what kind of bird made this soft little nest.



When I last blogged I mentioned that things were not going very well for my family. My husband had just been laid off for the fourth time in five years. The first three times was while he was working in the RV industry. He'd had a very successful career with one company for 15 years when the poor economy caused that company to file bankruptcy. He got jobs quickly but each one of the companies fell victim to the poor economy and had layoffs.

The last job he had was with a well-known company in medical sales. We thought that he finally might be safe from economic woes and have some job stability in a different field, but that wasn't the case.

It has been so difficult and heart breaking to see my sweet husband going through this again. There were so many people with this company who were hired during the same time frame as my husband, many of them were coming from layoff situations too. My husband has talked to quite a few of them and he feels so bad for them. It is almost as if companies hire people, use them for a while and then toss them aside with no care or thought for the people and how these job losses affect them and their families. The way this particular company handled this was absolutely horrible, thoughtless and corrupt. It was shocking!

I actually feel more sorry for those who remain than the ones that got laid off. They got their already low pay cut in half, their car allowance has ended and they are doing the additional work of those who were let go. They are also bound to a non-compete contract and can't look for jobs in their field. They are being used and abused.

For the last few weeks my time has been spent encouraging my husband and quite frankly it has been spent in earnest, fervent prayer. The only time I felt true peace was in my quiet time place reading and journaling through the Psalms and praying. I don't know what I would do were it not for the LORD to help me through these difficult days/months/years.

Thankfully God heard our prayers and my husband will start on his new job on Tuesday. How this job came about and the story behind it is amazing and we know it was God who provided.

The news gets even better! Our daughter recently finished college and was job searching too. She just got a great job and will start November 1. Her graduation ceremony is next Saturday and we just found out that she is Salutatorian for her class. That news made this homeschool mom very proud! It seems that when we homeschool we have more to prove and the success of our children is personal and very sweet!

After so many bad things have happened, we are very thankful for these wonderful blessings.



Now that we have that little business out of the way, I'll show you the next group of pictures.

I don't know why, but I love old things. I always have. I am happy that now with upcycling and recycling trends and the poor economy that old stuff is in style and very popular. I never follow decorating trends but this is one that suits me.



My home is filled with family treasures from my husband's parents and grandparents. I have also found things at garage sales and Goodwill.

The bowl with the eggs was passed down from my husband's grandparents. It is a set of three.

Here are some collages I created using different color techniques. The one above just has the colors desaturated to give it a bit of a vintage feel. One of these days I want to try my hand at some of the textures that are available. Like I said at the beginning of this post, there is always more to learn.


Here is the black and white version...



and lastly, the sepia tone.

Thank you all for reading this blog and for your sweet comments. I appreciate you all and thank you for your prayers and your encouragement during this time of trials. We are hoping that things will be calm for season, we have certainly had enough storms to last for a good long while!

I'll be linking this post to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House