Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Romans 5:1 NIV     Happy Lent!

Hello again.  I have good news.  On Friday the sale of my business finalized.  I am no longer the owner of the Wisconsin School of Massage Therapy.  I have been thinking about this for a long time.  Bill and I talked about it and he encouraged me to do this.  That's why I've taken this big step even though it is only 8 months since he left for heaven.  Usually widows are advised not to make major decisions in the first year but this feels right.  Bill wanted me to have some time to recover and maybe learn how to slow down and enjoy life more.   And I also prayed about this as I tried to discern if this is what God wants me to do.  I have great peace about it so I know it is right where I should be now.

I am still in the grieving process which I find takes up a lot of energy.  I'm  still pretty tired out.  First there was the year and a half of care-giving for Bill and then the huge burden of grieving.  And throughout all of it I kept running the school which sometimes felt like the straw that was breaking the camel's back.  So now I will begin to have a little more breathing room.   I am an employee of the school for now, and I will be consulting with the new owners to help them move into their new roles.  The buyers are Manda and Jay Johnson.  Manda is friend, a graduate of the school and she has worked for us for several years now so she is perfect to take over as Director.  I feel that this business I built from the ground up over the last 22 years has passed to excellent hands which will continue to care for it and grow it.   And I am confident that the business will be good for Jay and Manda and the staff too.   It is very satisfying to pass this torch.

As a side note the winter here has seemed to pass (at least for now).  After that horrible snowy week in January we only had one more snowfall that required the snowblower.  Because I wasn't sick, it was no big deal to do the job.  Thank you to all of you who felt sorry for me in January.  I felt sorry for myself!  But I'm so thankful that I got well again and the rest of the winter has been mild.   

I continue to do adoption counseling and dog walking for the Washington County Humane Society.  I'm also a website coordinator and board member for the Hartford Conservation & Gun Club where I am on a trap shooting league.  And I have begun to get back to the swimming pool where I am pursuing my first 100 miles (I'm almost to 81 miles).  So I'm not without things to do!  Thank you all for your care for me and my dad too.  We appreciate all of you.