Eleven Months Hence

I cannot believe it has been eleven months since I last posted. I have thought about closing my blog down many times. I especially thought about it after I got an email from WordPress in late November saying my domain would renew automatically in 30 days…and then I promptly forgot about it. And so here I am. Disclaimer: this post will be kinda long. 

It’s been a busy year of settling in here in Milwaukee. I do love living here though. I’ve learned that short summers and long winters are totally my jam. God has blessed me w/another amazing church family and so many wonderful new friends. I am so grateful.

I’m also becoming a gardener! I am not growing food, just flowers and shrubs and trees! My indoor green thumb is tenuous but I feel like I’m going to be much more successful outdoors. The gardening came about when I decided to fill in the emptiness under the spruce in the side yard after a couple of heavy snows meant I had to get a lot of branches cut off. A colleague found this adorable playhouse on a curb in her neighborhood. It is so perfect for the spot and I got busy decorating it w/annuals and “designing” and planting perennials around it.

I planted these babies soon after in other parts of the yard. The one on the left is a Weeping Norway Spruce and the other is a Weeping White Spruce.

And then I met Dorothy whose gardens are AMAZING and oh so inspiring!

She gave me a couple of tips which I immediately started on; move the Spring and Summer perennials from the front of the house and replace them with evergreens and conifers that provide year-round beauty and curb appeal… and do it now (Fall) because it’s the best time to plant trees and shrubs. I was so excited to do this because I adore conifers! Here’s my progress, the top 2 pics are before. It doesn’t look like much yet, but I know it will I’m so looking forward to filling in the gardens w/ne perennials in the Spring!

Just a few more updates before I let you go.

Some of you may know I have Alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes sudden hair loss. I developed Alopecia Areata (hair loss in patches on the scalp) in 2017. This year it turned into Alopecia Totalis (hair loss across the entire scalp) and then, to my surprise this Summer, it converted into Alopecia Universalis (hair loss across the entire body).

I know this sounds traumatic and I’m sure it is for a lot of people, but thankfully it has not been terribly devastating for me (I had worn my hair super short for most of my adult life).

I will say this though, after having lost all the hair on my head, then my eyebrows and eyelashes, the one thing that did rock my world was the discovery that I no longer had nose hairs! How funny is that?!

I’ve been wearing a wig pretty regularly for the last 6 mos or so but sometimes I just “rock the baldy”. And thanks to Alex at SkalpX MKE my baldy is now FULL of beautiful hair follicles. And guess what? They are tattoos! I also wake up w/these fantastic brows and this perfect eyeliner (also tattoos), thanks to Rosie Wells at Illume Med Spa in MKE. It’s amazing how tattooed eyeliner gives the illusion of a lashline!

Considering the myriad of things that I could be dealing with and the fact that I know people who are suffering from cancer and cancer treatment or chronic pain and other debilitating illnesses, hair loss doesn’t even register as an affliction in my book. And if being completely hairless for the rest of my life is my lot, well then I will rejoice and be glad in it!

And speaking of the rest of my life, I just celebrated my 52nd birthday on December 16.

This song sums up my life so well.

I know that I am going to Heaven because I have accepted and I know Jesus as Lord and Savior. But let me tell you something, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.“ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭13‬ ‭NASB

I know y’all know what I’m talking about when I say life is hard and the struggle is real. The thought of living eternally in heaven is more than amazing! But I need peace and hope and joy today! In this darkness, in this fire, in this storm, in this struggle, in this circumstance, in this situation, in this life! The only One Who can give me all of these things is God.

I tried to do things my way for so long but I have learned that my life is better and that I like it better when I am following Him. Can I get a witness?

Thank You, God, for another birthday! Thank You for your love, your grace, your mercy, and every single provision. Thank You that Your Goodness will never stop running after me. Lord help me to be a good ambassador for Christ and a humble & gracious steward. Amen.

I am still quilting and I promise y’all will be hearing from me more often.

God bless you!