Recently I’ve made a lot of changes in life. Some very welcome, others not so much. I don’t like change – in fact I thrive on routine. But life forced some changes on me that had me extremely overwhelmed for a while… for a couple of years.
Thankfully, everything has pretty much smoothed out and I’ve learned to adapt to this new life. It’s hectic on some days, but it’s no longer overwhelming, and for that I am very grateful.
About seven years ago my husband’s physical health began to decline (even more than it already was) to the point that he could no longer walk safely and began using a wheelchair to get around. He could *still walk* but was falling a lot.
Fast forward to present day – he is total care, unable to move much at all anymore, nearly totally paralyzed – a result of nerve type damage that has left him unable to walk, to move much, to write, to talk, to feed himself, etc.
Due to all of this, I was unable to do much of my online work that was making us extra money over the years. That made an impact on our finances. I decided, due to everything going on, to take an early retirement so I would at least have some extra steady money coming in. I have to say… it’s actually kind of nice to draw my retirement yet at the same time hard to fathom that I am old enough to draw retirement.
Well, the caregiving is just one thing that’s changed our lives. For about five years we have needed a new home… a new house. Our current home has water leaks, electrical problems, structural issues, etc. In my younger days we would have fixed all of this.
It’s paid for now, and rather than try to fix everything that’s wrong with this house, we are buying a new house. It’s easier to clean out, donate, pack up, and move. And I can assure you that in itself is a LOT of work! But it’s less work and easier than fixing this current house. So we opted to start over again.
We are downsizing to a smaller home, which means a lot of cleaning out and getting rid of stuff we don’t need or want or just plain won’t have room for. But our new home will have more storage space, which I like, and that’s a huge plus for me… among others perks that just make me so thankful.
I am grateful to God for giving me the financial means to buy the new home. That in itself is a huge blessing. If all goes as planned, this blessing will allow me to pay the new home off in about three years, possibly less. It’s seems impossible that we can have a new house paid for in 36 months or less, yet here we are and it’s not only possible, but will happen. Mostly likely instead of 36 months it will be 24 to 30 months.
And so I’ve embarked on three new journeys – three new beginnings – one as caregiver to my dear husband, two is retirement living, and three is a new home and all that goes along with that.
As far as my online business and working at home I’ve dropped a lot of my domains, let go of a lot of my Facebook pages and Facebook groups, bought a new iPhone 17 Pro Max so I could get better photos and videos than my old android phone would do (plus it had a cracked screen). It’s been quite a learning curve but not as difficult as I thought it would be, thankfully.
God has been so good to us and continues to bless us, even in the midst of what had seemed so overwhelming. I know without a doubt that God has made the way straight for us, that He has lad out the path for us, that He goes before us and makes the way for us. Faith, trust, hope, believe.
And so, with these life changes and a new start and a new beginning, we continue to go along and see what life holds. It’s been a journey, to be sure, and one that I would do all over again.