Butterfly in the Wind

 In 2012 I began a blog called GIS Butterfly. It began on March 21,2012 with My Roommate.

This last week marked the five year anniversary of the dissolution of a 28 year marriage. It was a difficult week as I dealt with working in an elementary school with all the Covid guidelines and began a new session of University classes. Then I got a flu bug that knocked me off my feet. Instead of spending last Friday having a day of "Selfcare" I spent the day in my apartment not able to eat, rest or find a way out of the torture my body was feeling from head to toe. 

  In 2012 I was in a dark place and the Black Dutchman's Pipe Butterfly that graced me with his last days was a shining light in my darkness. I was attending college classes and working on a certificate for Geographical Information Systems. My hope was that my children would finish their university and college programs and I would go out and save women in dark places around the world.

  In 2015 I moved on to working at elementary schools helping children learn to read and caring for children afterschool whose parents needed a safe and loving place for them. By May my two younger girls had graduated from university and their older sister was a diesel mechanic and bus driver for the school system. My son had finishing up High School and their father decided it was time to move on with life.

   In October my son and I were living in The Nest and beginning to create a new lifestyle. I was getting book to review often by 2016 and Ian graduated from the Fire Academy. I was so proud when he read the Firefighters prayer. In May I wrote about having his 20th birthday and my married daughter coming to The Nest for the first time.

   The past Five years have seen the birth of three grandchildren on GIS-Butterfly, and many changes in the Nest. Especially last March when Molly came to redecorate. But today, I could not work with the software to make a new blog post. So, I decided it was time to change blogs and close that chapter of life. I have dozens of journals for the past 45 odd years, so it is not unfamiliar that I should start with a new cover and a new book.

New Bible on the left

On October 11th I celebrated the one year anniversary of the day I began attending St Luke's Anglican Church of Redding. In July the Bishop was visiting from LA and confirmed me as an Anglican, but due to Covid slowing down the mail system the Bible that the clergy wanted to give me had not come. As it turned out it was a wonderful gift for my anniversary and they had mailed it back and forth to the Bishop to get him to sign the Confirmation page. Last night was the first time I was able to take it to Evening Prayer and use the Book of Common Pray portion. It is a beautiful KJV Bible with the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in the forward. Molly and I love all the different ribbons that are the same as the colors of The Wordless Book. 

The Bible on the right was given to me in Susanville at the end of 2nd grade. I have owned many Bibles and still have most of them. These two will remain treasured.  The older Bible was my 1st and it went with me to camps and my Grandmas' until High School Senior Year when I got a new one.

I am so happy that I can begin a new chapter as I navigate a new blog format. I could not find a place to put my life verses, so I will just leave them here at the end for today.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;

 

they are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul “therefore I will hope in Him.”

 

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Lamentations 3:22-26(ESV)