Susan Lower's Blog, page 8

No Place Like Home

It’s been 55 days since we sold our house and moved to another town.

I’ll be the first to admit that Dorothy from Oz was right. There is no place like home.

We’ve been living with family for the past five weeks. Last week, we moved into my husband’s grandparents old house. It’s a small house, but I can’t express how grateful I am it was here for us when we needed it.

In the meantime, I’ve been searching for a new house. Where? That has been the question. For two years, we’ve been trying to sell our house, I was yearning to move back home. Yearning to live closer to my family. I never imagined that I would miss the one place I wanted to leave so much. In the weeks we’ve been gone, I’ve come to realize it isn’t the street we live on I miss. Yes, I miss my house. Yes, I miss my family and desired to live closer to them. However, the people we have grown close to over the years have become like our family in many ways.

My kids don’t see home the way I do. The home they know and remember is the one we sold and the place we left.

I’m told that moving is on the top of the most stressful events in a person’s life. I can attest to how true this is.

I can’t give my family back the house we sold. The street wasn’t the best place for raising a family. While I love my family, they understand I will always come to visit them, but there is no place like home. No place like the one where your friends are, the people who get you, and you feel you fit in best.

It’s not where you come from. It’s not where you  think you should go.

Home is where your heart tells you to belong.

 

Why I Haven’t Been Blogging

I had this grand idea to send out biweekly blog updates. Then it was weekly and then, well… you’ve heard the crickets I’m sure. . . So, yeah, I sort of fell off the newsletter wagon, too.

And I’ve  been struggling with writing period.

I’m not sure if you all care, but I thought I’d tell you why anyway.

For the past two years, we’ve been trying to sell our house and get off the busy, noisy, unfriendly street we’ve been living on for one year short of a decade.

Between traveling to the farm, writer’s conferences, and keeping up with dirty dishes and laundry, we finally sold our house.

In the middle of summer, right when we had accepted we’d be sending our kids to school at the same school district and spending another year in our house, it sold. Since then I’ve been frantically searching for a new house because you know there were tons of great options for housing for us until our house sold and we could actually put an offer in on one of them. They’re gone now and so is our house.

Yep, so last week we packed up our house, put it in storage and are living with family until we find a new house. It seems the housing market said “Ha Ha” you sold your house and now all the suitable houses are gone.

My husband and I have always said that if it wasn’t for bad luck, we wouldn’t have any at all. However, we do have one thing, God, so the laugh is on karma. God knows what house he has picked out for us and we feel he is leading us toward it and we’ve been in prayerful thanksgiving we will have a place of our own again before the holidays.

With all that being said, my office, my story notes, is all in storage. It’s frustrating living out of a suitcase.

This summer I accepted the position of director for the St. Davids Christian Writers Association Conference. What a blessing it has been to be a part of the board for almost a decade now and to have been able to step into this position. I feel very disorganized and scatterbrained right now as I keep wanting to grab my spreadsheet on our home network that is packed away or grab a file, but in my feeling of disarray, I know this conference belongs to God and it’s just my privilege that he is allowing me to help organize it. I’m so thankful I already have the faculty lined up in advance. (Wiping sweat from forehead.)

Then, comes my next novel. I know you are all asking where the next Planet Mitch book is. It’s done. It’s edited and it’s waiting for a cover. With the summer flying by and starting a new school, Izzy is trying to complete the artwork. I promise we’ll have it finished by Christmas.

I usually always get sick during the month of November during Nanowrimo ( write a book in a month). I have a feeling, God willing, this November I’ll either be knee deep in unpacking boxes or homeless. We’re praying for the first option.

We’re headed to the farm this weekend. I’m not worried about telling you all that, sorry burglars there is no house for you to come party in while we’re away. lol.

So all I’ve got is excuses for you all right now.  Good ones I hope. Everyone had things in their lives that distract them away from time to time. Life changing things. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers kind of things, and I know that if you’re reading this you get it. We’ve all been there.

Not having all the conveniences, learning to adjust to new places and routines, and learning to depend more on God each day has been slowly transforming my family in a good way. It’s bringing us closer together.

I’ll be posting more about living on a prayer on Tuesday at the Inspire A Fire blog that I contribute to once a month, so please check it out.

 

Thoughts From Atop A Tractor

This weekend I sat atop a tractor and looked down over the hill at the farm that has been my sanctuary whenever I’ve needed to come home. It’s always been that place that brings me peace, recharges my spirit, and prioritize the important things in life–like family.

Some people retreat to cabins in the woods, beaches, or luxury vacations. Not this girl. You can’t help following your heart, and mine always takes me back to the farm and to family.

When I sit atop the tractor and look out at the rest of the world, it’s a whole different view then one might think. There are fields swelling with new growth. The oats is almost ready to harvest, second crop hay is thirsting for more rain, and green corn stalks sway and rustle there budding ears in the wind.

There are no obscenities. From this view, things are raw and pure. Natural in respect. Fear has an entirely different meaning from here. Not as it would if I were sitting on my front porch in the city or trying to maneuver through uncertain sections of town.

Life is simpler from the farm. Harder without the conveniences many of us take advantage of and forget to respect. It’s what helps make us stronger. We’ve grown lazy and spoiled like the fat cat on the window seal. The motivation to to provide for others, gain respect, and show love have withered and been replaced with self serving greed.

We’ve lived on this same street in town for almost nine years. I can’t tell you anything about my neighbors. There are people right smack up beside me on both sides of my house and on the other side of the street who could care less I exist.

Here on the farm, the closest neighbor is a half mile in any direction, but I know their names. They wave and I wave back.

There is nothing out of the ordinary about a girl driving a tractor, or sitting atop it deep in thought. Everyone has their thinking spot. Everyone has their place they go to find clarity. And I can’t think of a better place than atop a tractor looking out across the farm that brings one more clarity than right here.

Jobs and other factors in life can take us so far from each other. When there are so many things going wrong in the world or in your life, it’s always nice to find comfort in the people who love you and the home you know you can always return to.

Where do you go when you feel the need to escape and recharge your spirit?

On Raising Boys To Become Men

 

There is something to be said about being raised on a dairy farm. It’s not the cheap shots you get as a kid or the poor jokes you learn to take in good humor. It’s the cultivating of standards and planting a way of living that focuses on learning to survive in a world that is increasingly lowering expectations of moral.

Not all of us are blessed with growing up on a farm, but neither are we intended to. If we were not all given different upbringings we couldn’t bring different gifts and perspectives to the world. But I also believe there is a time and place to share and there are times when we are meant to keep things to ourselves.

I don’t know where I would be in this world without the guidance of my father. One of the biggest things we learn in life aren’t always spoken. I always ask my children, “If a friend dares you to do jump off a bridge and you know it will kill you, would you?” It’s an old cliche of are we supposed to do what others are doing just because they are doing it, even if you know it is wrong?

Last week Ann Voskamp wrote an eye opening post about 20 things we’d better tell our sons right now about being a real man. It comes after the “20 minutes of Action” phrase in the Stanford rape case.

I don’t usually post things about politics or news– especially news that is negative impact on our world. However, after reading the victim’s statement I wasn’t thinking of my girls as much as I was thinking of my son.

It made me overflow with gratitude for the people in my son’s life. Especially my son’s father and his grandfather (my own father). Yet, I often feel a pang when I think of my nephews who have followed in their grandfather’s footsteps on the farm and see the responsible and family committed men they have become. I see my younger nephew, following his father and his grandfather footsteps now and know he, too, will someday grow up with the understanding of working hard to provide, putting family first, living within the rules and boundaries God has set forth for us. 

I look at my son, still growing and learning and seeking who he is going to be and as a mother I wonder what kind of man he will become.

Because let’s face it. We aren’t raising boys to become men like we used to. Not in this world. Not like they were a hundred years ago, or fifty, or even 10 years ago. There are so many of our sons jumping off of society bridges and getting drowned from the ways in which we know are right and true.

My son spends many summers visiting his grandfather, hanging with his cousins, and learning that some of us live by more stricter values than others. Here in our home he has his father to teach him about honor, respect, and responsibility.

And while many of our school districts try to incorporate things like respect and responsibility into our children’s everyday learning, it is not solely up to our public school system to teach our kids values–it’s ours. And as parents we should be joining with schools and our community to raise and instill inside our future generations the types of values, ethics, and morals we want them to pass on to their sons.

There are no excuses. Boys don’t have to have a father in their lives to become men. Women have been bringing up boys since the beginning of time. They need role models and the footsteps of a few good men in their lives to follow.

Wouldn’t you agree?

 

 

New Forgotten Reins Cover

This month, the cover of Forgotten Reins got an update.

When the book first came out, I wasn’t sure of the cover and I thank everyone who voted and helped choose the old one. As I was working on the sample cover ideas for the third book in the series: Silver Stirrup I realized the cover really wasn’t sending out the right vibe for Sarah’s story in Forgotten Reins, and this one spoke out the loudest and clearest.

What do you all think? Like the new cover?

 

 

The 2016 School Year is Over!

This school year has flown by! I can’t believe it. Many kids have already gotten out of school. Some have a few more days left, or like my kiddo’s today is the last day of the school year.

As a parent I’m thinking “No! I’m not ready yet!!”

Lol.

Beware kids are everywhere.

Now the fun really begins.

Welcome summer.

Chaos is My Middle Name

In a couple of days the chaos will break lose. I call it summer.

Life can get so busy at times, and just when you think it can’t get any busier … along comes summer.

You hear people talk about the “winter blues” and bad times of year when they are reminded of the sadder things in life. Personal things. Devastating things. Things that are all a part of life. And yet, we dwell on them.

I am as big of an offender of this as any of us.

Summer is that time of year that brings forth those longings and saddens that many associate with their “winter blues.” I often wonder if that is why this season becomes the most chaotic of times for us.

Oh sure, we have all normal daily busy scheduling issues like everyone else. You know, the swim lessons, scouting meetings, family camping, and work schedules that come along with balancing having the kids home for the summer.

Life gets trickery when you’re split between where you want to be and where you are. Life has a way of throwing unexpected turns of events in our lives.

God knows.

Trust me He knows!

There are days when I look at my calendar for the upcoming weeks and think I can’t possibly squeeze another thing in there. But I do. We all do. Especially when those things are family.

I have a pile of craft and sewing projects by my sewing machine. I have friends requesting my assistance. I love it when they want to share ideas and we brain storm, but I often regret the lack of time or hurried feeling I get trying to push the things I love most into time slots as if life where that black and white all of a sudden.

Life isn’t clean lines and perfect timing.

Life is messy and unpredictable.

And if you can’t toss away that calendar of scheduled events, then you have to leave gaps for filling in later.

photo credit: Flicker CC via Justin See

It’s hard to resist the urge to fill in those gaps right away. You look at them as “free time.” Yet, they are not like playing monopoly and landing on a FREE SPACE. However, there is usually always a card that comes with them telling you to go back three spaces, pay someone, or take yourself halfway around the board again.

Chaos erupts when we try to fill in all the free spaces. If you’re like me, and you can’t leave them blank until you need them, then simply write inside them TBA (To Be Announced) because sometimes in the chaotic times of our lives we just need to find time to breathe.

So if your middle name is chaos this summer, too, take refuge in the free spaces of your schedule and resist the urge to fill in all the time gaps today

Tacking This Saddle With Hope

I’m home sick again.

Dad bought an old saddle at an auction and gave it to me to restore. He told the kids about when I lived at home and we used to fix and redo old saddles.

Bug is so excited. Of course she wants to help clean it up and keep it.

I know Dad was hoping we could have done that this weekend, but realized we didn’t have all the supplies in the old tack cupboard, so I brought the saddle back with me to work on. I’ll be seeing Dad in a few weeks, and we can finish it together.

Dad’s doing well, but I miss those things we did together: fixing saddles, going to farm auctions, caring for the farm animals. Dad is always rescuing an animal or two from the auction.

Remember Buttons the goat? There are now over a dozen goats on the farm. Bug couldn’t wait to go and visit them over this past weekend. She even gained a new follower who we have affectionately named ‘Lumpy.” And yes, Lumpy is another one of Dad’s auction finds.

It’s one of the many things I love about my dad, he’s always saving and restoring things. Which is where I guess I get the part of me that never wants to give up hope and always has to try. But I’d rather try to fix something, or help someone, or even rescue and bring an animal back to health, then watch it tossed away or left for dead.

I guess it really is true. You can take a girl from the farm, but you can’t take the farm from the girl. I’m adding this line to my site as my personal motto.

It’s no wonder I’m home sick.

But I’m holding onto hope that somehow, someway, I’ll find balance to get this farm girl out of the city and closer to home. In the meantime, I’ve decided to there is no harm in changing a few things where I am at in attempt to bringing a small piece of the farm to me.

Starting with this saddle restoration.

Captain America vs X-Men

There are several really great movies out right now.

It’s so hard to choose. While I’d love to see them both, this weekend, alas, I must choose one.

I was all set to see Captain America, but then X-Men came out yesterday.

Which one would you go see? (If you have seen either, please no spoilers.)

featured photo credit: Razerkillgamer

Sweet 16 Wedding Anniversary

18 Years ago I met a guy, who took me for picnics at the fish hatchery near his home and got down on one knee near a slide in a park and asked me to be his wife.

I’ll never know who was more nervous when he asked my father for permission, but atlas on a rainy May afternoon we exchanged vows and became husband and wife.

 and here we are now……..

Life hasn’t been a cake walk getting here, but 16 years of marriage is pretty sweet if you ask me.

Happy 16th Wedding Anniversary Chad Lower.

Perhaps in a year or two, we’ll finally get to leave the house and take that second honeymoon we’ve been planning for all these past years.