Neighbor Friends

  When I moved into the house I am living in now I thought I would not be living in it for long (maybe two years). I had this dream of moving to land where our family could have animals. As per usual we have no idea what the future holds and I have lived in this house for five years or something close to it. When we moved here there were not any children living on the street. The location was amazing. A short drive into town and a short walk to beauty. The view across the road is breathtaking. The house felt like if I had to live in this specific type of house it was built for me by loving hands. I was so grateful. Chickens clucked from the yard next door, there were horses I could hear in the distance. There was so much good about it all but the children would have loved some friends....

  Then one day we heard that some children might be moving in next door. We hoped it would happen and it did. Today my daughter was showing me a little book one of the girls next door had made for her. The children next door homeschool as well. Their parents hold similar parenting values and the children are creative, kind, and fun. These friends next door make my children's lives very special. They add so much joy. They are younger than some of my children and I sometimes forget how precious it is that my older children love them and play with them daily. This is what friends can do. True friends. 

 In a world where all seems to be imploding, moments of thankfulness, clarity, and peace mean more than they ever did. Today looking at the little book about butterflies made by the five year old girl next door filled me with so much thankfulness. If you believe in God it is important to realize that all the details are known and all the details matter. From the tiny Violets in my front garden planted one day by one of my daughters without my knowing, to the two chickens walking around my yard, to the puppy peeing on my carpet, to the drinking glasses from the thrift store, all these little details, these gifts that remind me daily...the world matters. All of it, everyone, to me, to God, and should matter to us all. Every single soul is precious. 

Our true kindness, our giving hearts, our making butterfly books? It matters! It is impacting. Countries like Ukraine and Canada, people like truckers and prime ministers, they matter. 

I am holding this all in my heart today. 

xo

Sustain

  When a woman is in labor there are certain things that sustain her. It is often a long drawn out, painful process, from the first twinges of something might be happening, to, I think this is happening, to, okay this is happening, to, I don't think I can handle this happening any longer, to, oh my word this is way too much, to, the baby is here! Thank God it's almost over...because after that first baby you realize that it is not over when the baby is born. There is still more to come.

   All through the labor, for me anyway, it is a battle in my mind of how to sustain, how to keep enduring during the pain. Pain is pain. It is awful, and it can sweep you away. Sustaining during labor has been different for me every time. In two of my labors I was blessed to be able to walk outside in the sunshine between contractions. I could hear the birds, traffic, I could focus on things to help me keep on going. Then during other labors it was the nearness of my husband. I physically needed to hold onto him to sustain. During my last labor I needed water between each contraction. The point is...I sustained. Every single labor I made it through without much or any intervention. I tried to breathe a certain way, I tried to manage as calmly as I could. In the end, each time, there was a live miracle crying in my arms. I fully realize this is not everyone's reality but it was mine. 

  I have been thinking about the word sustain lately. There are different meanings but after a quick search some are as follows: 

to give support or relief to, 

to supply with sustenance, nourish, 

keep up, prolong, 

to support the weight of,

to bear up under,

to support as true or legal, 

to buoy up.

  I think that many people in the world are at this point right now. They are trying to sustain hoping that if they can keep going something is going to shift and things are going to hopefully not continue to get worse. The reality is, this might not be the case. There is deep darkness around that. Some have succumbed to that darkness already.

   In the end what can always win is the state of your heart and how you decide to treat those in your world. Will you go along with what the powers that be tell you about people around you depending on choices they make? Or will you see each as a human with their own story to tell, their own life to live, and will you treat everyone with equality and kindness? If you do this you will be embodying beauty and kindness and you will be sustaining not just yourself but those around you. There is so much power in turning off the negative narrative and asking your own heart who you truly are and what you truly believe.

May you sustain through this time in history where emotional and verbal abuse is everywhere, where gaslighting is encouraged, and where spirits are being gleefully crushed under the guise of 'caring for your neighbor.' In the end may you witness a live miracle. May you be filled with joy and may all fear flee from you

May you sustain

Love Tansy