Lemons from the lemon tree at our RV park :)
Unexpectedly during the Christmas season, we ended up renting a temporary place while the 'big rig' got repairs and registered again. In the meantime I was kept quite busy for the month of December and January working on a commission painting long overdue.
I still need to get a nice full photo of our awesome new cushions that were refinished professionally. I still question why I didn't just have someone else do it originally, we love the recovered cushions.
Seriously though, do not attempt to staple wrap fabric around a seat, just find a way to pay.
However I am very proud of our fake subway vinyl tile I installed. It's been over a year and still cruzin awesome. They have not peeled off and they still look new.
Best decision.
Also after a year I am completely happy with the choice we made to paint the RV white.
This is a very candid photo of an example of us getting ready to drive with our slides closed. I've shoved all the hanging utensils to the right so they don't clank together while driving. (And as you can see we need a new trash can ).
Recently for two months I started some treatments to see if it would help my situation. I was going twice a week. We hope to get some results back and more answers.
It was not easy. Sometimes I felt so low. But I felt God lifting me up in times I didn't want to keep going on with it.
We were able to have our kids in swimming the majority of the time so they were able to have some fun swimming and learning. I attended some local art things going on and those things combined helped us feel some normalcy in our lives.
One particular week was very stressful for me. I was having trouble with my veins cooperating. I don't know how many times I had to be stuck with a needle only for the catheter to fail and not take. My blood was thick and my veins flat. I had been drinking a lot of water, but I think my body decided it had had enough for now. I also deal with sticky blood issues.
Aside from the regular treatments I had needed to get blood drawn for another test. The nurse pricked and pricked and nothing. My vein refused to give blood. She tried to dig the needle around just so she wouldn't have to prick me again, but honestly that hurt worse.
I had been so brave the many weeks previous. You get use to the fact that you have to get pricked and that's just what you have to do, but you don't get use to getting pricked every time they do it.
But this particular day when she couldn't get it to go, I felt emotion swell up from the deepest part and tears streamed out. After a couple tries, I asked for a moment. I just let the tears flow. I wasn't sobbing aloud or anything, but I was tearing up a waterfall. I prayed to God. I said "God please help me! I can't handle this anymore, it's too much! please, please help my blood flow!"
She came back after a time and I braced myself while still pleading in my heart that God would help her get a vein to work. I felt this enormous peace and almost as if someone was next to me comforting me, a feeling came over that said something like "It will be ok, it will work. It's OK!"
And sure enough she was able to get a vein to work on the next prick. It was slow but it went. I praised God.
You know, as hard as some things are in life (and some people experience some major major things), I've never felt God so close to me in my life as I have in these last several years of pain.
There are blessings in the hard things. The biggest blessing I have had is knowing God is there because I've felt him near and I know he hears me. I know who I am and I know where I come from. That is the greatest joy one could possibly experience or know.
