Someone said to me on Saturday that she had missed my blogs recently; and guessed after my last blog that I was,perhaps, struggling with life out here; but that she hoped not because I gave her hope.

I wasn’t necessarily struggling with life out here, I was struggling with my belief that life would show me the way, and that despite all the crap good would come.

If you’ve been reading my blog you know I follow the teachings and philosophy of the Tao; I know that where there’s bad there’s good, and where there’s good there’s bad; that you may have a lot of crap come your way but if you hold onto your faith good will come; and things over the past few months were making that hard, I was struggling to believe.

But over the past few weeks so many people have supported me, helped us, and they gave me hope: my sister sent me a medicated mouthwash and mouth gel, my friend Saveena called to say the assessor was coming out for the roof, and both she and my sister contacted me almost daily to check I was okay. It all helped but I still struggled.

So on Thursday I looked up and asked for help to regain my belief; because I knew that good things would not come if I could not believe. An hour later my IPad pinged and what I needed started to come my way. By Friday my faith was back; and I started to see ALL My blessings: good friends, new friends, our son, our family, our animals, the stunning place where we live, and not least our love for each other.

I had worked hard all week creating pretty Christmas stock to sell at a craft fair on Saturday at a beautiful old French Mill half an hour from us.

But when Saturday came it was minus six degrees and thick ice, with icicles were hanging off our garden table, and when Rich wound down his window there was another window of ice in its place! The roads were treacherous. But we trundled on, with the van skidding everywhere in the sleet, and set up our stall.

Sadly in the end, and understandably given the weather, only about ten people visited the fair. But we still had a wonderful day. We met two lovely, kind people. They too were doing what they could to keep their dream alive, and we laughed all day. They had spent all summer making these wonderful reindeer and you can find them on Facebook as la petit Cretouffiere.

At the end of the day we all gave each other something: cakes, key rings, angels, chocolates,

And my dear, kind friend gave me this stunning lamp, which now takes pride of place on our stairs (walls to be decorated next year!) projecting stars all over the stairwell

Stars are a big thing in my house, a star is for life not just for Christmas! So I decided to keep my newest design for me – twinkle, twinkle! It now takes pride of place in my bedroom, twinkling in the twinkly lights…

It can be replicated if required by anyone…

At the end of the day we all helped each other load up and tidy before the night drew in. We got home to a freezing house (gotta love that stone!) that took three hours to warm up! But we changed into layers of fleecy pyjamas, Snuggly socks (two pairs!) opened the wine and watched the Strictly Come Dancing final; with a roaring fire, four sleepy cats, and two snuggled Welshies.

I know that we are blessed, we have each other, and we fought tooth and nail to keep that; no money in the world can buy what we have. We have no presents (but the dogs have one) and we don’t need them. Our Christmas present will be snuggling in bed with a cup of tea on Christmas morning, and eating our dinner on our laps, not caught up in all the hype! My happiness is complete with our Christmas decorations, that I have collected over the years.

We have now been invited to various shin digs and I am busy. This morning I woke up to this stunning sunrise and I thought to myself ‘all I had to do was believe.’

And I do, my belief is strong, nothing can take that away, it may wane but it will never leave me.

I’m back!

Moisy

You may want to read my other blog

https://makingthisbetter.com