It's an honour!

 

'Every house needs a keeper. Someone has to do that little work to keep things clean and pleasant.

Someone has to do the shopping, plan the meals, do the laundry, make the beds, and keep things nice.

It is such an honor and privilege to be the keeper of the house.'

~From The Legacy Of Home by Mrs. Sharon White

Especially during this rough ride..

 

It has been a rough ride over the last few weeks. Medical matters. Living matters. Family matters.

All the stuff that makes up our life at the moment has graced us with both good and bad events.

Firstly, our new doctor has taken my lymphedema seriously and ordered antibiotics for the bad infection that has overtaken my legs. Ignored by doctors until last week. I have had this infection for 5 years! We are so glad we have at last found a decent doctor..

So three days running, we have had to leave home and see doctors and have blood tests. Not a big deal, most people would think. But with struggles to get enough spoons to shower and get dressed, then to actually get there, it is indeed a big deal...

My kidneys are failing with diabetes.. 56. My infection in the legs is sky high. I have been given Clindamycin. I was also given statins which I tried and the muscle pain escalated 100%. I am not taking them. My fibromyalgia muscle pain is more than enough pain! 

The day after the doctor visits, Chris saw the opthalmologist for a review on his sixth cranial nerve palsy. He is no longer seeing double and has been cleared to drive again. We are praising the LORD that Chris's stroke was not too disabling. We both know it could have been much worse! 

And so, this weekend I have been bed ridden. Breathing is enough with the fibro flare and I have had trouble keeping awake. So I slept. and tried not to dwell on possibly having to move out from here..

I am actually posting this at 2am. My circadian rhythm is all out of whack. But I will be needing to try to sleep again in a minute or I will be no good for tomorrow...

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that God has answered our prayers with Chris's eyes. Just another chapter of our life when we can see that His Hand has always been on us. Especially during this rough ride..

I feel sick at the thought

 

So a couple of days ago, we had a visit from a real estate man with the news that the owner of our rented home is selling.

We have been here for 16 months. Our bodies are still feeling the effects of the move. So receiving the news made me feel physically sick.

Chris has recently had a stroke and is recovering slowly from it and I have grossly swollen legs and right arm from lymphedema.  We need this move like a hole in the head.

It was strange that I had just said to Chris that morning that I feel like this is the nicest home I have lived in and that I have emotionally unpacked my suitcase... then this.

I have been praying that the home is sold to an investor so that we can stay here. But I can't see them refusing a sale if it's not.

Then of course, maybe the LORD has something planned in moving that we don't know about yet. So I have prayed in the sense of  "not my will, but Yours be done!" 

I am currently having the heat of lymphodema, polymyalgia rheumatica, angina and back pain, all marinaded in a fibromyalgia flare that has me wanting to stay in bed a lot.

Also, the worst of this is that we are in limbo... we might stay. or we might go. 

I can hardly type the word go... because truthfully, I feel sick at the thought.

Grateful for slowing down

 

It is funny how ill health has slowed me down. With fibromyalgia, spinal problems, physical limitations including heart failure, it feels at times like I can't even raise my head.

Through necessity, I have had to slow my pace in regards to homemaking and I have had to put perfectionism to bed. It is either put it to bed or be forced to go there myself.

By being forced to slow down, I have been able to appreciate my quiet routines and peaceful home. If I had never been so ill, I would probably have remained stressed with high blood pressure.

I can now say truly, I am grateful for slowing down. 

Stockpiling is not from fear

 

This is another post on the way of caring for your home and family in lean or hard times.

Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Proverbs 31:25

Caring for your household

 

So as you know, I believe in being prepared for food shortages and other distribution problems. 

I have been buying extras of staples when they are on special and my pantry is shaping up really well.

Likewise, I have been refurbishing my first aid supplies and updating our medications. I also have bought home cleaning supplies when on special and extra cat food for Xena and Milo.

I checked up on what foods were rationed here in Australia during WW2 and I have used that as a base guide for buying foods... plus I am adding foods that I know we particularly enjoy.

Also, I have purchased some extra diabetic supplies and monitoring machines to ensure we have the means to keep our diabetes under control.

In case of power outages we have purchased a generator and we still have our camp stoves with gas cylinders for cooking. We have an aluminium kettle and saucepans in case we need to use our camping stuff. I have bought different strength batteries when they were half price too.

This may seem all time consuming and energy intensive, but with no spoons due to ongoing fibromyalgia, I can tell you that it isn't. It just takes some planning and then buying a few extra things on your list each week.

Not wanting to keep our storage foodstuffs in the pantry with our usual edibles, I cleared off some shelves in my linen press and these have made a wonderful storage larder. Likewise my fridge/freezer in the garage is just loaded with storage edibles.

I know that hard times will come. Jesus has warned us in the Word. So it really makes sense to gather and store food in these times of plenty for when the times are lean.

There is no fear, just a quiet confidence that you can laugh at the times to come because you and your household are well cared for.

Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Proverbs 31:25

Putting insomnia to good use!

Fibromyalgia, angina, spinal problems, muscle pain and neuropathy often vie for first place in keeping me awake at night.

It often starts with a trip to the bathroom and ends with insomnia raising its ugly head. You know the noises of bird calls in the night, a train tooting in the distance or the barking of a dog, you hear them all and they are the loneliest sounds...

I have found a way of replacing that lonely feeling with making my mind bring to remembrance prayer requests and anxieties of the past and coming new day. 

Laying in bed, I meditate on the LORD and force my body to lay in a restful position as I often eventually fall asleep mid prayer.

Where once I would stress out because I thought it rude to zone out on God, but I now have come to see that He blesses us with sleep and is therefore pleased when I succumb to my tiredness.

What can be a lonely time can be redeemed by praying blanket prayers. It's comforting to know that we can put insomnia to good use! 

Better than running from bombs!

 

Well, my fibromyalgia flare has abated, and I have been doing a lot of knitting as watching TV bores me to tears.  

I have been a bit depressed lately and I think it's because I have been watching too much news on world events. So I decided to turn it off and bring my attention to something positive.

I often listen to the Bible on YouTube read by David Suchet. It tends to put my mind at rest and gives me pleasure.

Most mornings I do breakfast and medications and go on the computer to check emails, answer any comments in my blogs and check out groceries specials and organise our medications and get the scripts that are due, refilled.  Then I tidy my home.

I have a lot of joy in watching the birds that come into our back garden and one of my morning chores is to feed them after I have fed Xena our little white cat... and now Milo, separately of course lol

As I am often low on spoons, I need to pace myself in the afternoon and often take a nana nap in order to be able to cook dinner.

We don't leave the house much at all, and to be honest I prefer it that way. But with my motorised scooter coming soon, I may find I quite like shopping again....

Life is pretty simple- almost boring, but with all that's happening in parts of the world, I am glad for the boring life. I don't think I would cope very well running for my life away from bombs!

Acceptance brings peace and patience

 

Over the past 30 years that I have been chronically ill, I find my tolerance for drama and fighting is almost zero.

It's not that I don't like people, it's just that the more you are surrounded by them, the more involved you become in their problems and their dramas unfolding. These days, I prefer solitude and sharing my life with Chris and our cats.. as for people's dramas etc, I pray for them.

These days, I am so grateful for our home which is a haven to Chris and I.  On the days that I don't have to leave my home, you will find me enjoying the peace of homelife. Our cats, Milo and Xena give us  not only joy, but peace. I love their purring near me. It's particularly soothing.

Throughout the day you will find worship music playing low accompanied by the noise of the kettle as it boils the water for a cup of tea. It's going almost constantly.

Because of lympedema and peripheral neuropathy in my feet, coupled with severe fibromyalgia, Chris will often massage the fluid from my legs and rub my feet which feel like they are burning. He has done this for years and it is so soothing that I will usually be asleep within minutes.

Chronic fatigue coupled with aging has given me extreme sleepiness and I seem to be unable to function properly without a daily nana nap.  I no longer whip myself with false guilt, but have accepted that this is out of my control. It is what it is.

Part of living a peaceful life when chronically ill is to accept that some things will have to go to the wayside, but I try and do as much as spoons allow.

Along with quiet enjoyment of your home, and acceptance comes peace and patience with oneself.. 

I love being a sacrificial home keeper!

 

I am nearly 73 and I find that there is true contentment in staying home.

Keeping the home clean and attractive is time and energy well spent and I find that it gives me a great sense of peace.

Housework is spiritual and for me keeping my home in order is good for my sense of accomplishment and peace. A messy or dirty home depresses me no end.

I have been blessed to be able to stay home for twenty years as my many illnesses saw me needing rest. But for me it has been no hardship.

After my first marriage ended, I felt lost. I missed being a wife who could stay at home but life dictated that I provide for myself and so I went to work until I met and married Chris 29 years ago.

He was happy to look after me and as illness came to stay he encouraged me to stay home. He also was happy to come home to a nice meal after the work day ended.

I believe that chosing to be a stay at home wife is God ordained and is still a goal that can be achieved with careful planning and management.

This is one definition of what a housewife is:

Housewife:

A married woman who stays home.

This is a lifelong vocation.
It is an old-fashioned term,
and something to be proud of.

Not a "domestic engineer."
Not a "home manager."

An old fashioned housewife,
who keeps the home,
and abides there.

 

I don't know how I managed to work with all my illnesses and I daily praise God for making it possible for me to stay home.

May He do so for you too if that is what you seek... as for me, I love being a Sacrificial home keeper!