Just a Tuesday having Tea

Just a Tuesday having Tea. Oct. 1, 2024.

The afternoon light is cooler now and the autumn breeze causes the shadows of the trees to dance on the walls of the living room. The day is warm, but there is an underlying chill as the sun grows more remote. It is just a Tuesday as I sit down a cup of tea and freshly baked scone accompanied by a dish of ruby red strawberry jam. The tea is a special one from Gilded Coach. I found out about them when they featured my website one day on Instagram. After taking a look at their website I decided to order a few of their enchanting looking teas. And now I am sipping away “Once upon a time” with its Autumn flavors. Their tea even sparkles because of the edible shimmer in it. I highly recommend it for all the romantics at heart. My favorite is the rosy “Enchanted Slumber”.

My tea and scone sit on the drum table in our living room next to my King James Bible along with a New Testament study book as well as a commentary and journal. It is an afternoon tradition that started last year after getting off track for a while. I like to start off by listening to the chapter I am studying before opening the study book and commentary, but before I can begin my mind floats back to yesterday and I remember the evidence of God’s care in my life.

Yesterday I dug a trench. Not a big deal although it is a pretty huge task depending on the size of the trench and this one was for a retaining wall. Needless to say, my arms are feeling it today! However, my husband had the much harder job as he was hoisting the 67-lb paver blocks while I simply dug. We worked together until the late evening hours by floodlight before finally calling it a night. We fell into bed around 10 pm and slept quite soundly that night. Yes, it was hard work, and yes, my arms hurt, but I wasn’t yet asleep before realizing something rather important- the fact that I had done it! But I must back up further and explain this comment.

In August it was three years since we moved into our beloved Hidden Bluff. At the time my husband and I were running three businesses between the two of us, our 11-year-old nephew had just arrived come to live with us for a while, we were moving, and sadly my father-in-law was dying of cancer. It was a furiously busy season like no other I’ve known. But by God’s grace we got through that period and things gradually tapered back. We settled in our home. Our nephew went back home. My father-in-law passed on. Work was scaled back to more of our normal busy. However, the exhaustion was still there for me and continued to keep going. It got worse. SomeTyme Place website was continuing to grow, but my content creation was hurting from lack of energy.

The struggle to keep up with our energetic life was real and I was falling behind quite a bit. I found myself having to stop a lot in the middle of strenuous things and take deep breaths. I could work for a few more minutes and then had to stop and take some more deep breaths. Honestly, my thoughts were that this was the new normal for me in the 50+ years and resigned myself to it. Rather a blow to my proudly busy self but realized that life changes and I needed to lean into that. I was feeling very overwhelmed with life. A good friend asked me if I had been tested for anemia, an idea I instantly dismissed. No, I couldn’t possibly be anemic I said. 

My friend was on to something. And thankfully, God stepped in right after this and for entirely different reasons I ended up at an exam that I had never planned on. In fact, I was feeling rather surly about it thinking the required exam was unnecessary and some sort of office/insurance mistake. None of that mattered after my bloodwork came back later that day with abnormalities. The practitioner messaged me and said I was pretty anemic and wanted me to go to the hospital for an iron infusion. My iron level was shockingly low, and things were now making more sense. Apparently, this is common with women at this age.

So, at the beginning of August I found myself at the hospital getting the infusion. I watched for an hour as a bagful of rust brown liquid made its way into my bloodstream. And then it was done. It would take a few weeks to work they said. So, I waited. There were small changes at first. I didn’t need to stop for deep breaths while working in the yard. Eventually, I was able to run my daily 4 miles and not have to stop several times. Slowly my energy came back. But yesterday was the big test. It wasn’t until I was done that the enormity of the project hit me. I shouldn’t have been able to do that. A half hour should have done me in for the day and here I was digging for hours like it was nothing. 

While trench digging is not something I want to do again it marked a victory. But more importantly, God was looking out for me. That exam wasn’t even supposed to have happened but did thanks to God’s grace it did. I was needlessly struggling and so thankful for a merciful Savior who shows His love and care over and over again in my life even when I don’t deserve it.

Have a beautiful day my friends!

#Just a Tuesday having Tea