Far from home...

Far From Home
Poem and art by Johanna Lee Larson
Are your dreams filled with far distant lands?
Maybe its your inner knowing, your inner compass,
​ Foretelling what is to come.
Truth speaking to you in the night, 
your true destiny whispering to come.
One step leads to another, 
just say yes and your journey has begun.
Once you say yes, the river of life
It really gets flowing...
Here in your knowing is magical lands,
and people waiting to greet you.
Now you're on a journey, where self-discovery soars,
where your true calling weaves a golden thread, 
your wings can finally spread,
just take the next right step.
Where will you be guided?
Will you go chasing castles, or Paris,
or a cottage by the sea, 
what will it be?
"Egypt" you say, to see the ancient sites,
I hear Isis calling your name, 
A river of life is calling you,
listen and heed the call...
Do yourself a favor my friend, 
Allow yourself the gift, say yes to your dreams,
Your destiny is calling,
So, begin to write of your adventures..."Far From Home"
Everyone is waiting...your next book is on the tip
of your tongue.

     Hello to all you shining souls, I want to wish all of you a beautiful season filled with love and remembrance of family and loved ones.
  Let us celebrate this full and flowing year. 
We are quickly coming to the end of 2025, and I have so much to be thankful for, this year was filled with many blessings, substantial growth and expansion, joyful celebrations with friends and family, travels and excursions bringing me to meet new friends with the hopes of expanding our friendships and collaborations in the New Year.  

Eight years ago, Ernie my sweet husband and I were living on the East Fork of the Lewis River.  It was a place one could call heaven on earth, as it was situated right next to the East Fork and brought us endless joy watching the wildlife and the peaceful and sometimes violent ways of the river.

For Christmas our last year there, Ernie had this wonderful rock engraved for me. 
It's an interesting story and worth telling. 
We had some wonderful friends the Cornell's and they lived near the Washougal River, their property was full of these huge slabs of rock, and they gifted us with several.   Kevin and Ernie, drug and flipped these big rocks and lifted them into our little truck that strained from the weight.   We drove them home to our Orchards home and placed them in the yard, many a backache my husband and I had from moving them.   

Then many years later, we had an offer to purchase our land, and it was generous enough to accept. We owned almost 2 acres, and it had a couple of barns, and they were full of our treasured tools and goods. 

A year later the sale went through, and after waiting and waiting for this news, they only gave us eight days to move.  Not so much time to move and eliminate 20 years of accumulated household stuff. 

Ernie was working and was out of town, we still didn't have a new place to call our home, which ended up being this beautiful "Rivers Rest" home.  So, we asked our daughter Janelle, who had a home in Hazel Dell, Washington if we could move all our fireplace wood, these rocks and a host of other outdoor tools and such. 
Since Ernie was out of town working it was up to me to get these rocks and wood moved.

I have a wonderful friend Candi Chriss whose husband Scott had some very big men as his sons. 
They offered to help me move these rocks to Hazel Dell. 
Now let me tell you this was no easy task, as we had moved them once before, they were huge, super thick 2-3 inches, and very awkward to grasp and lift. 

So, for hours, and hours and over a few days we moved all these rocks and a barn full of equipment.  Exhausting work, which I am so grateful to the Chriss boys for helping me.  They also helped us move our things into a storage unit until we could find another place to live. 
So, a hearty shoutout to these men!

The sale of the River House was finally final, and we were able to move, we had been staying for a month in the Quality Inn & Suites and had all our household goods in a storage unit and then...yes, once again we had to move the rocks from Hazel Dell to Yacolt Washington.   

Well, wonders and miracles do exist in our friends and family and how they love us. 
These same Chriss men, actually volunteered to move us again, all our stuff from the storage unit and yes...once again all those super heavy rocks and a cord or more of wood and equipment.  

They began to question where we were taking them as they followed us down the freeway, and way out to the boonies to the river house about 25 miles from Hazel Dell. 
Once they arrived, they soon understood why we wanted to live so far out. 
The expanse of the East Fork Lewis River
​ lay below the back deck of the house, and it was truly a place of tranquility and relaxation. 

We grew an expanded in this home
and it was a place of getting to know what we did want and what we didn't want.  
Contrasts of life, driving and spending an hour to hour and a half to and from work from Yacolt to Portland Airport where I worked and Ernie doing the same, eventually helped us decide to move from our heaven on earth.
 
We will be forever grateful for all the sacrifice these men, Kevin Cornell and the Chriss men made for us. 
It was fitting when Ernie had this rock engraved with Rivers Rest.  
When we sold this house for Blue House our floating home on Lake River, that is truly when the rocks got a rest from their travels. 

Sometimes we take chances, and risks
thinking we know what we want,
and all the experiences are helping us figure out what is our best fit.  

While we were living at the river's rest home, we were Prison Ministers once to twice a week,
traveling upwards to two hours after a day's work to bring about the good news,
we were fortunate enough to have a great team
and it made a huge impact to many of the men we met,
who still to this day, reach out to us. 
 We were also doing are thing with our regular full-time jobs,
I was painting a large commission piece
and was running a side hustle of antique and reworked furniture in Battleground
all at the same time. 

 It was fun, but exhausting
and again, learned some lessons of contrast of what I did want to do and didn't want to do. 
This season came to an end once we decided to sell the river house,
and create a smaller footprint and not work so hard. 
  
What I figured out was that I wanted ease and grace,
less travel to and from work, so a new job closer to home,
  less after work activities like my side hustle,
more time for art and trying to figure out how to be a full-time artist.  
I just didn't know how this would come about.  
Trust is the key...you are always, always being guided.

We are now 8 years forward, now living in Oaxaca, Mexico. 
So much had to happen for this to come about,
partly the loss of my beloved mother Ginny whose birthday is on December 26,
 the loss of my son-in-law Gerald Clark, who's birthday is today December 23,
and my brother Chuck Sharps passing shortly after,
and much other life changing events that were catalysts to get us where we are today.  

One thing is for sure...life is precious, and flowing down the river of life,
and sometimes it's lazy and calm and other times its turbulent
and thrashing all you have worked so hard to achieve.  
So, if there is something you always wanted to do
go do it...and thrive in the fun of doing it. 
Be courageous and begin to allow your dreams to come true.
Even if it means selling all your stuff and moving to different country. 

 God has my attention,
I have this journey
and this was the beginning of the next part of my life,
even though at the time I didn't know what my purpose was
or what the journey would entail and the sacrifices that would be endured and made.
It's not all easy, I miss my daughter Janelle and our granddaughter Lennon,
technology helps but it's not the same when you're so far away from home. 
Thankfully we are in the same city as our daughter Christa,
and we get together often and share hot cocoas and celebrate the holidays together.
 Follow the guidance of your angels and your higher wisdom,
the still quiet voice from within,
 allow yourself a gift, follow your dreams,
float on down the river and share your truths and adventures.

So many events and experiences have taken place to shift my perspective since arriving here in Mexico.
I cherish all that life has to offer.
I am profoundly grateful for all people, animals, the earth
and everyone's journeys through this place called life on earth.  
I consider all of you who love and support me as cherished gifts from God.
While in this season of love, of giving and receiving I want you to know how very grateful I am for all of you. 

I hope as your reading this that you will take a look at your life and your life journey.
What is it you want, and what changes can you make to get there?
It may include sacrifice and being away from family and friends,
it may mean you know longer resonate with some people
or even family as they don't understand your journey.  
Love yourself and allow them to be them, 
move in the direction you are called to go.
The road less traveled won't be familiar,
but it will reward you with great joy as you discover who you have always been.
Everything you want to be, you already are.
Merry Christmas.

In case you need a reminder,
you are sovereign, free, powerful, creative, deserving, worthy,
capable of creating a life that you love,
one full of passion and purpose, joy and magic, peace, love and kindness.
I love you endlessly, Johanna

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