On this last day of November

I want to give thanks to my blog friends for all their support and prayers over the past year.  Your words of encouragement have meant so much.  God has used you in my life for good.  Thank you!

A Walk in the Park

Today I enjoyed spending time with my youngest son, Brandon.  We went to a park in Irvine that has a lake.

We walked down long winding walking paths.

Till we were down by the lake.

It was a beautiful autumn day.  The air was nippy with a light wind.  Rain clouds passed by overhead.

We sat on a bench and talked, enjoying our time together and the lake.

Ducks floated by on the water.

After our time enjoying the park we walked over to a small French cafe for some hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant.

On the way home I stopped to take a picture of some autumn trees near our home and collect some colorful fallen leaves.

Hiking with my Son

Today I spent some time alone with my oldest son.  The teen years are challenging and a good way to get through is to spend time together.  I decided to take him hiking.

It was good to get out in nature and enjoy the scenery.  We had some issues to work out and thankfully the Lord blessed our time.

Being a mom is a tough job, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a parent to my sons.  After our hike and a soul searching discussion, we enjoyed a grand lunch at Nordstrom Cafe.  The cafe is never very crowded, has delicious food and wonderful view of the hills.  We had a lovely time together and came back home refreshed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the Finley archives

Thanksgiving Day 2003

Wishing everyone a blessed day!

Moving On

I am sitting at my computer in my Little Blue Cottage knowing that I only have two more months to live here.  Yes, our counter offer was accepted and signed Tuesday morning.  In the afternoon, Mark had the pleasure of meeting the sweet family that is buying our house.  They are a young couple with a little boy.  The husband is a veteran.  Mark said that they are very happy with the house and that they stayed visiting for quite some time.  While they were visiting I was having lunch with a girlfriend.  She and I met when I moved into the Little Blue Cottage 18 years ago.  She was my neighbor across the street.  We used to watch each others homes and pets while we were away on trips.  I sometimes babysat her girls and her girls babysat my boys.  As I remember all my many years of blessing here at the cottage, I pray that the new little family will be blessed as we have been.

My PT appointment went very well.  She hit all the major spots today.  We are getting closer to what may be going on in there.  She has discovered that I have some scar tissue around my diaphragm on the right that is causing the pulling or pressure I feel on that side of my ribcage.  She did some deep tissue massage there and it hurt like mad.  Then she did some lifting of the tissue and I realized that I could breath more freely.  I do not like to think about the mess inside my body, I just try to focus on the Lord.  My PT is not sure about the left side yet, but is confident that there are some things adhesed together.  She is going to try and break this tissue up so as to free up organs to function better.

In the evening I joined my men at a scouting event.  They were all so happy I came.  We went bowling!  It was a great way to end our day.

More Wow!

Tonight as I sit and type this post, I can hear my wind chime ringing.  The Santa Ana Winds are kicking up again.  It certainly has been very dry here in Southern California.

Well, we had two buyers look at our house today, one in the morning and one in the evening.  In the afternoon our agent came by and informed us that we had another offer.  This one was also over our asking price.  I am overwhelmed by the Lord's kindness to us!  Today Mark and I countered one of the offers.  I am nervous.  Once we settle the offer, there will be a home inspection to get through and the appraisal. It is nerve racking because each little piece feels like a domino and if any piece wavers, it could fall and knock all the other dominos down with it.  The Lord knows and all is in HIS control.

I have been in pain since last week.  The past few days I have been in a lot of discomfort.  Tomorrow I am seeing my PT so I will let her know.  Also, I got a call from my GP.  She let me know that my bone scan results came back.  I still have osteopenia.  Having a complete hysterectomy at age 37 and not taking estrogen replacement does that.  The good news is that osteopenia does not always lead to osteoporosis.

Wow!

Yes, that is about all we could say to the offers we received.  Both buyers like the house so much that they are offering $10,000 to $20,000 above our asking price!  Both Mark and I never expected anything like this.  And our house has only been listed 3 days!  We are taking time to think the offers over.  There is still a lot that has to be gone through yet, the biggest one is the appraisal of the house. Thank you everyone for your prayers!

The other thing that has my head spinning is with these two offers, we are looking at moving sooner than I expected.  We could possibly be looking at the month of January 2010.  The Lord knows and has it all under HIS control of course.  I leave it all to Him.