15 Feb Welcome to Elizabeth’s Humble House!
Hello!
Welcome to Elizabeth’s Humble House! I am excited that you are here and hope you enjoy your visit. I have been wanting a new website for years now, and finally it is up. It is still a work in process, and there will be some tweaking here and there, but basically, this is now my new home for all things related to my journey. Be it blogs (yes, I have two!), my photography portfolio (coming soon!), my publications/press, my professional services, and yes, even a little bit of shopping! But basically I am hoping you find encouragement and inspiration for whatever season in life you are exploring at the moment.
Elizabeth Maxson
So why the name, “Elizabeth’s Humble House”? Well, I will tell you. It took me a great amount of time to find a name that currently represents this season in my life. With the help a very good friend and some brainstorming, she came up with the title and I instantly knew it was the right one. These past 28 months have truly been humbling. I didn’t choose this, but looking back, it was all good. Just briefly for those who are new to my blog, I struggled greatly after what was supposed to be a very simple knee surgery (Nov 2012) that went, way, way wrong. I was not prepared for it at all. Another three trips to the ER, another long stay in the hospital, and no mobility for almost six months. I didn’t blog about how much pain I was truly in, the very, very long recovery process (over two years!) and I even went through a depression with all the chronic pain. It was a very hard and lonely time for me. I no longer felt like the same person and just wanted things to be “as they once were.”
But they weren’t.
However, during this time, I was forced to slow down, watch every step, and lean on others (literally and figuratively). It was my beloved barber husband (that is what I call him, as well as “my mountain man”), that took care of me. And I mean, all of me.
It was not fun.
I was not fun to be with.
It was hard – very hard.
But my beloved made me laugh a lot – at myself. For example, one thing I never liked, for some reason, is when I would hear a husband call out to his wife, “Momma…are you ready?” Or “Let’s go momma!” I just never liked that, and my barber husband knew that – something I made clear to him whenever I would hear it being said. So, one day, while in public, months after my surgery, when I could finally get around, but had a hard time getting up from a chair, (and still do on some days) my beloved dramatically runs around the table to me and dramatically takes hold of my arm for support, and loudly announces in an exaggerated voice, “Come on momma! I got you! There you go…that’s gooood momma…!” I laughed so hard, I had to sit down again. I could have killed him, but I was laughing too hard.
And that was that.
I laughed and laughed because I did look (and feel like) a 102 year old grandma and so I stopped taking myself so seriously.
Then came time for my second surgery (to fix my first messed up surgery) which meant replacing my knee completely – metal rods inserted in to my bones and all… we were better prepared this time. It had been well over a year that since I walked without a limp and I was ready to get on with life. It was a year ago Feb 13 that I had my second surgery and am almost fully recovered and basically have learned to accept my “new normal.” I wrote about my new normal on my old blog, The Adventures of Elizabeth, here.
I am not patient, nor a very good patient. Something I struggled with my entire life. You know how you ask God to “fix” things in you? Like, please God, help me become more loving towards so and so? Or, please God, help me to be more giving/loving/compassionate/slow to anger/…..just fill in the blank….I have lots of requests that could fill lots of blanks. Well, for years, my prayer was to ask for patience. I am such a fast thinker/talker/doer and didn’t have patience for those who couldn’t keep up. Oh, I would have moments of patience here and there and even surprised some with how patient I can be with certain projects or goals. But it was the everyday patience that I could never grasp.
Be careful what you pray for.
What are colicky babies for? Or that very slow driver in front of you when late to work? Or the check out lady who is waiting for more change when you are in a rush? Or how about that vacation day coming up that never gets here? Yup, it’s God helping us to learn patience. He just doesn’t wave a magic wand and BAM, I am now patient. Nope. For me, I guess, it took a lot slowing down. No longer running to the mailbox – used a cane for months and months. No running up and down the stairs. No, must hang tight on the rail and one foot at a time. No quick shower and out the door. No, had to be helped into a bath, and helped out and sit on the toilet seat to dry off – no standing to do that. Dropped my earring? No more getting it out from under the bed. Had to go find another pair. Putting on pants used to require sitting down, no “jumping in them” and going. Nope. One leg at a time, slowly, and struggle to stand up to zip. Every day, everything, every time, was a test of patience. And oh, I fought it big time. I cried a lot out of frustration. I was angry. Very angry. But no matter how much I huffed and puffed, God’s house didn’t even come close to crashing down. No – He loved me enough to hang in there with me. And now? I am just about “normal” again and I make do with what is a little different now. Now, I am active and healthy and yes, patient.
Well, most of the time.
I slowed way down, again, not my choice, but in the end, a very good season for me to be in and am truly enjoying this season of life. I wanted a website that reflects all that I learned, discovered, and share new hobbies that I truly enjoy as I grow and evolve. Don’t get me wrong, I am now very capable, still very passionate, enjoy my professional work immensely, and love my life. But now I do it at my pace, not the world’s.
I think I chose this above pic as my opening image for my new site because it represents how I live, see the world, and come to accept. There is a true beauty in this old French chair – truly. The torn up seat is actually a reason why I fell in love with it. It isn’t gilded, nor made of fine wood. Even the material is common – not made of silk or velvet. But the details of the chair, the interwoven wicker, the gentle curve of the back, and its unpretentious presence makes it approachable. And yet, it has a rugged, but romantic feel that is real. Hence my website’s opening philosophy on how I live my life:
Rugged
Romantic
Real
And upon closer inspection, one can see that the worn out stuffing, is actually intriguing in its own way – that is if one takes time to really closely examine it. I choose to see the tapestry as a piece of unique art that came to be from a life well-lived.
And that is what Elizabeth’s Humble House is about – or I am hoping it will be. Sharing with you my new interests, revisiting old passions, and hopefully encouraging those who wish to live a more simple lifestyle. In future posts, I will share with you what a “simple” lifestyle is (for me), self-sufficient living, creating a home that really , embracing a lifestyle that encourages health, clean food, cooking, crafting, and really, just enjoying a way of life that allows us to reflect more on life than react to it.
Please explore my site and click on the links. I created a second blog that I hope will become a source of support for those who seek Christ, want to understand Him, and is trying to figure out how to live in modern culture with faith. I don’t have the answers, but I have a journey to share and hope to learn a lot myself along the way.
My old blog, The Adventures of Elizabeth, will no longer be updated. I had it for almost eight years and made a lot of great friends on it. I will keep it published with my new link to this site. You may also visit it anytime you wish to read and view eight years of posts and pics. Just click on the right side bar under my Topics section. I am VERY NEW at using WordPress, so please be patient and let me know if you are having issues with any links and so on. I am learning how to run this site as I type!
Finally, I will close with my new “About Us” page to give you a clearer idea of my vision of Elizabeth’s Humble House website:
Hello,
I am so happy that you stopped by for a visit. I hope you find this a place of refuge for your senses and spirits, as well as a place of inspiration and encouragement to rediscover satisfaction in a simpler lifestyle. Simpler doesn’t mean easy, only less complicated. For me, a simpler lifestyle nourishes my spirit while providing satisfaction in self-sufficiency.
My barber husband and I live in the Midwest, and we are basically your average American couple working to make a living, while carving out a life that is lived more simply. We just didn’t wake one day and decided our life was too hectic. Nope. Our quest for simplicity took time and discovery. We find ourselves seeking a basic lifestyle from which we rely more upon God and ourselves, rather than on the marketed, manufactured, chemical-ladened culture of today. We are discovering the joy in creating rather than on convenience. We find pleasure in pursuing than in purchasing. We find satisfaction in our own (albeit limited) abilities rather than instant gratification.
Since our search for the simpler life, we find real contentment in the “finer things in life.” For us, those finer things are: Homemade berry butter on fresh hot biscuits; a cool breeze through an open window; a warm fire burning wood we cut ourselves, homemade lemon balm scrub while soaking in a hot bath; soft, antique linens on which to sleep after a day of harvesting apples; and blowing out a homemade candle before snuggling with our sweetheart.
What we do for a living isn’t who we are as people, but rather only a means towards a meaningful lifestyle. We are Christians who stumble along, failing often, but never without hope or guidance from our Lord and Savior, Jesus. I invite you to join us on our humble adventures.
