A blessed New Year to family, friends, neighbors, customers, and guests from “just over the hilltop” in Norwood. Some of you have asked why I call this journal/blog “Just Over the Hilltop.”
There are three reasons actually and you can pick the one you like to help remember the name better. One is from a beloved hymn “Mansion just over the Hilltop” because it reminds me of my eternal home after crossing this world into heaven. The second is because people jokingly say that anyone over 30 is “over the hill” and that I am. The third is that our beautiful home sits on a ridge that overlooks the western sky with the sun setting on a little hilltop. I love all three reasons and am blessed to be the age I am, live where I do, and treasure old hymns that speak peace and joy for eternity. Who could ask for anything more from “just over the hilltop?”
Who could ask for anything more from “just over the hilltop?
Once again I am tardy in writing with the end of the year being stuffed with wonderful activities, parties, family, and sickness. We attended two Christmas Eve services and I played piano at both. One was the midnight service at the Methodist Church here in Norwood and the other at our church earlier in the evening. How I love walking out into the dark, clear, crisp night of the date we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. That particular night seems so silent and so still with the awe of a mystery we find hard to understand. It is truly a wonder to behold. I’m thankful that one small church in the village still keeps their doors and hearts open to the glorious celebration that “A Savior has been born.”
The bookstore and bed and breakfast are also on a little sabbatical while I take my January rest. Oh, how I love January. It is to me like a Sunday is to the week. A time to stop, come apart for a while, refill with energy and ideas for the coming year, and then press on into 2019. And it is a time to possibly get some long overdue projects started or completed. And I will start on them as soon as I recover from this unscheduled sickness. My body must have known I needed to stop a while. Oh, well. I’ll go with the flow of my body and whatever God has planned.
Family Christmas
Twenty-four out of a possible thirty-four family members were able to come for a weekend of Christmas. We had a big Italian themed dinner at Eric’s and Andrea’s with Chad playing Santa Claus, Papa and I telling a story with Lester the puppet, everyone playing Yankee Swap, the cousins having a sleepover, and then I stayed up late into the night visiting with Eliot and Karen after coming back to the house. Byron, our oldest grandson, was home from his first semester at college out in sunny California and there is never enough time to catch up on everyone’s life. Just having them around is joy enough. Our daughter Kate and husband Chad have a foreign exchange student for the year from Thailand. He joined us and took the family photo shown in the blog. Those are Ohm’s eyes you see! Thank you Ohm for sharing our special weekend.
Just having them around is joy enough
We’ve had an electrical issue in the barn and have been trying to trace it for a couple of weeks. It seems to be in the wiring under the parking lot and so Dick is trying to figure out a way to get a new wire out, up, and over to the barn. Hopefully, what he is planning will work and he’ll get power back to his library and air circulating for his books again.
Goals and Proposals
Does anyone make resolutions? I don’t because I feel that I’m setting myself up to fail. Not a good feeling. So, instead I like to set some realistic goals and as I move forward they may need refining, expanding, and changing, but the end goal is still the same. Just getting there may take different turns. That is not failing. To me failing would be not even trying. My father used to tell me that saying “you can’t, is really saying you won’t try.” Now sometimes after trying you find you really can’t or don’t want to do a particular thing, but to not even try is a total cop-out. And so some of my goals for this year are to continue building the bookstore business, learn how to better display books and gift items, to continue writing, to learn more of Christ and to walk in that knowledge, to love my Dick even more and more, and to keep my desk cleaned and ready for work. Did I tell you that once again Dick proposed to me? He surprises me each year when he remembers the date and creatively ask me “Will you marry me?” Well, this year makes the thirty-sixth time and for thirty-six years I answer “Yes, I will marry you.” How blessed I am to be loved by this amazing man.
As you set your goals or make your resolutions may you accomplish them in this wonderful New Year that has begun. Love and blessings, Sharon