How many retirees have said, “I don’t know how I had time to work!”

Well, it is true.  I have been much more busy than expected since retirement two years ago.  I really don’t know how I had time to work a full time job and also keep up with cooking, housework, and volunteering at church and community.

My scheduled now includes the above as well as golf, gardening, canning, freezing, volunteering at church food cottage and writing a book with my husband about God’s strength in our weakness.  Neither golf nor gardening were in my schedule back then and my house was cleaner when I was gainfully employed.  The common thought is “Well, I can do that tomorrow or the next day!”

Playing golf was always my dream but because of work I never had time to learn much less play.  Now my husband and I try to play golf at least once a week.  My golf pro son gives me a lesson when we visit his family in MI or he visits us.  Improvement is twenty-two strokes getting to the first hole to about seven.  My first comment was that I got more exercise than others since I had more swings with the club. Recently I accomplished my first birdie (one under par)!

Back to Eden gardening became a passion after visiting Evergreen friends in Indiana in November 2012.  My husband built a fortress seven feet high around our garden.  Neighbors thought he was building a house when the first posts went in the ground.  God blessed our efforts and we had an abundant harvest – much more than expected – I canned and froze vegetables all summer long.

I promised my husband that I would not volunteer for anything the first year of retirement.  He knows how I like to get involved.  My freedom to sleep in the first few months was great.  Time to read my Bible much more than my regular thirty minutes was wonderful.  A regular exercise program helped me keep active and fit.  Then my husband got us involved working at our church’s food cottage.  A couple of volunteers were out for the winter and he was asked if we could fill in for them November through April.  Not a problem!  Now two years later I am still volunteering in the office of the Food Cottage.  But what a blessing this work has been and some really wonderful people to work with.

My husband and I have been composing stories about our lives and ministry to leave for our children and grandchildren and retirement was supposed to be the time to “write it.”  Joining a writing club was my attempt to jump start the process.   However, this seemed to add another meeting and travel time was stealing from my time at the computer.

Finally I resigned from two of my volunteer activities and am focusing more on my writing.  Joining COMPEL with Proverbs 31 Ministries  has already helped me “write it.”  Blogging is my attempt to get my creative writing juices flowing so that the “book” will be not only historical for my descendants but also showing how HIS story influenced our lives and blessed us much more that we could think or imagine!

Blessings,

Pat