On Grief & Sorrow, Blessed Hope and Frozen Vegetables

It has been three months since I posted.  I've thought many times about it but first I was too busy with life and caregiving for my mom, then later I couldn't put into words my heartache.  On September 30th, I lost a piece of my heart when my sweet mother was ushered safely into the waiting arms of Jesus her Savior.  I know without a doubt that she's now healthy and whole, in her new body as promised, but oh how hard it is for those of us left behind for now.

I've lived with my mom or she's lived with me for 55 of my 56 years.  I know that time will dull the ache and we'll find a new 'normal' but right now we're suffering and missing her so much.

I'm going to catch up really quick with an overview of what I've been up to in the last three months and then I'm hoping I'll post more often in the future.

 My daughters and I worked at the local Fair in August.  This is my youngest child and me as we were setting up for Fair time.

 I worked on my old Singer 301 sewing machine, making a few primitives during the Fair.   People always enjoy seeing our old machines hard at work.

 You can see my little Christmas window pane quilt in the upper right of the display case.  It got a blue ribbon!

I entered a couple of quilts, some canning and a whole bunch of primitives!

 ...and bread, which won the Grand Champion award in baking and earned me a lovely ribbon and baking prizes!

 After the Fair, we buckled down to some 'farm' stuff....tending the garden and then harvesting.  It was a great year for pears and apples.  We did some canning and made a bit of cider and apple pie filling.

 Some lovely King apples.

 Basil for pesto and some nice pumpkins.  We grew Sweet Meat squash and that's what I actually make my 'pumpkin' pies from.  They have more 'meat' than pumpkins and I like the cooked texture much better.

 These marigolds 'volunteered' in my planter from last year.  What's not to love about a flower that just seeds itself and blooms like sunshine?

 Last Sunday we drove to the coast and enjoyed the sunshine and a little Cranberry Harvest festival (think VERY small town...).  We bought 15 or 20 pounds of fresh cranberries and I got them all cleaned up and in the freezer.  Later, when I get up enough gumption we'll can some cranberry sauce with part of them.

 A good friend still has veggies in his garden (ours went by the wayside while we cared for Mom).  He graciously called and invited us to come and help ourselves to the veggies still growing.  Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and some others came home with us.  I had carrots on hand, so processed it all into.....

....lots of mixed veggies for the freezer!

I'm still working on primitives and now I'm starting on my Christmas items. 

This post is very subdued and I apologize for that.  I don't want to give all the details of our grief but I do want to say that no one should put off getting right with God and accepting Jesus as your savior.  Every one of us will meet Him, we just don't know the day or hour.  I hope you're ready.

And don't forget to hug your Mom.