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| The Tree of Life in Burleson |
NOTE: Blogger friends, I try to post the same blog here that I post on
Caringbridge each night, but fail to remember to stop by here too. Our
Caringbridge website is www.caringbridge.org/visit/pateasterling. You
truly are such precious people in my life and some of my dearest
friendships, who I have never met, started here in 2007!
Hello! It is about 8:17 PM and I just woke up from a little nap. Today feels like yesterday really as last night was a repeat of the night before. The pain medication is working well during the day, but during the night it is not and Pat's anxiety is high. Since we changed his medication I follow the doctor's prescribed amounts and time closely and keep a journal. This pain medication accumulates, so as time passes he will get better relief. We adjusted his anxiety medication, so I hope that will make for a good night's sleep. I haven't slept through the night now since Saturday and I am thoroughly exhausted.
Tomorrow is a very bittersweet day and a celebration of answered prayer as we will be closing on the ranch. Due to Pat's health, the title company in Stephenville has offered to bring the papers to us here in Burleson. This weekend we will be moving equipment and our personal belongings from Hico. I am so thankful for Matt who has taken on this responsibility and he has assured me that I have nothing to worry about. Many, many offers have been made from you, our family and friends, to help make this transition smooth. Our real estate agent, Andrew Buffington, has been so easy to work with and has gone out of his way to make sure the sale of the land and equipment gets finalized without a hitch.
The 13 years we have spent at the ranch have been such great times. The kids were 4, 8 and 11 when we started this new adventure. Pat spent a along with a lot of sweat and tears improving the land by building fence, enlarging our herd, and many hours spent on a tractor. We have developed such sweet relationships in Hico and our neighbors have become family. My Aunt Lola and Uncle Bill joined us by relocating to Hico after a few years and have been with us since and adopted us as their children as well.
We were living out a dream we always had of having a place where we could be outdoors, raise cattle, hunt and fish. These were my dreams too and actually an extension from my childhood as all that hard work and chores I had growing up on our farm taught me how to contribute to our ranch as well as appreciate having such a gift as the Double E.
I call this move bittersweet because it is an answer to prayer. Selling all of the ranch was not our plan as we had planned on retiring in Hico. Pat and I over the years had at least four future building sites for our retirement home at the Double E! In 2008, after Pat survived stage one esophageal cancer, the boys and their friends surprised Pat at his homecoming from a ten day hospital stay with two "Trees of Life" where one would be planted in the yard of our current home and the future building site in Hico. That little tree of Life now still stands alone in Hico strong and tall at the place we were going to settle. That little tree was nurtured and hand-watered so that it would survive in the hot, dry summers of Hico. Now as we look back to the past we see that the Lord allowed us to have this dream in order to be a provision for us in the future and that future being now. So, my heart is heavy with sadness but full of gratefulness as He has gone before us. God is so good.
I ask that you continue to pray as we take this journey one day at a time. I said this last night, but it is truly the only way. God is all we have to depend on as He gives us His w/d/g (wisdom, discernment, guidance).
Gratefully,
xoxo
Hello! It is about 8:17 PM and I just woke up from a little nap. Today feels like yesterday really as last night was a repeat of the night before. The pain medication is working well during the day, but during the night it is not and Pat's anxiety is high. Since we changed his medication I follow the doctor's prescribed amounts and time closely and keep a journal. This pain medication accumulates, so as time passes he will get better relief. We adjusted his anxiety medication, so I hope that will make for a good night's sleep. I haven't slept through the night now since Saturday and I am thoroughly exhausted.
Tomorrow is a very bittersweet day and a celebration of answered prayer as we will be closing on the ranch. Due to Pat's health, the title company in Stephenville has offered to bring the papers to us here in Burleson. This weekend we will be moving equipment and our personal belongings from Hico. I am so thankful for Matt who has taken on this responsibility and he has assured me that I have nothing to worry about. Many, many offers have been made from you, our family and friends, to help make this transition smooth. Our real estate agent, Andrew Buffington, has been so easy to work with and has gone out of his way to make sure the sale of the land and equipment gets finalized without a hitch.
The 13 years we have spent at the ranch have been such great times. The kids were 4, 8 and 11 when we started this new adventure. Pat spent a along with a lot of sweat and tears improving the land by building fence, enlarging our herd, and many hours spent on a tractor. We have developed such sweet relationships in Hico and our neighbors have become family. My Aunt Lola and Uncle Bill joined us by relocating to Hico after a few years and have been with us since and adopted us as their children as well.
We were living out a dream we always had of having a place where we could be outdoors, raise cattle, hunt and fish. These were my dreams too and actually an extension from my childhood as all that hard work and chores I had growing up on our farm taught me how to contribute to our ranch as well as appreciate having such a gift as the Double E.
I call this move bittersweet because it is an answer to prayer. Selling all of the ranch was not our plan as we had planned on retiring in Hico. Pat and I over the years had at least four future building sites for our retirement home at the Double E! In 2008, after Pat survived stage one esophageal cancer, the boys and their friends surprised Pat at his homecoming from a ten day hospital stay with two "Trees of Life" where one would be planted in the yard of our current home and the future building site in Hico. That little tree of Life now still stands alone in Hico strong and tall at the place we were going to settle. That little tree was nurtured and hand-watered so that it would survive in the hot, dry summers of Hico. Now as we look back to the past we see that the Lord allowed us to have this dream in order to be a provision for us in the future and that future being now. So, my heart is heavy with sadness but full of gratefulness as He has gone before us. God is so good.
I ask that you continue to pray as we take this journey one day at a time. I said this last night, but it is truly the only way. God is all we have to depend on as He gives us His w/d/g (wisdom, discernment, guidance).
Gratefully,
xoxo
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