It all started when... take 2!

I have felt so inspired to write as of late, but am having a hard time putting my thoughts and emotions into words. There just doesn't seem to be enough ways to convey what we have been experiencing lately and the joy and peace that seems to be coming with it. We have been so ingrained to believe that bigger is always better and if you find something great then buy three of them! lol Isn't that pretty much what the world would have you believe? Since moving to this little old house, we have found that bigger isn't always better. I can literally FEEL the difference this place has made in me. Not only have we lost weight (about 20 lbs each! Kids not included), but we have felt a slow down in our outlooks, and a re-purposed view on how we do things.

 If you have been following me for very long, you know that I come from a long line of "makers".I am a firm believer that there is a turning point for us all at some time when the stars align and we actually start listening to the little signs and pathways that God puts before us... one of those "it all started when" moments... Well, I am not sure where this path is going to lead me but I am definitely feeling one of those redirecting "it all started when" moments happening to me right now and I am excited to see where it will go! :) It has been a few years now since I got my spinning wheel in a thrift store and unfortunately I haven't been able to devote as much time to it as I would have liked. You know with the kids, and animals and homeschooling... not to mention the puppet making, gardening and moving... there's not always enough time to go around! But, recently, I've been taking the time for myself (although I will admit it feels selfish) and getting back to the knitting and spinning that I enjoy so much.



A few months ago, we started going to a new church closer to our new house. We have met some of the most amazing people since going there and one of them I am finding has quite a bit in common with me and my crafting obsessions! :0) Well, to make a long story short, she had this loom that she was looking to get rid of and asked if I would like to have it. It took everything in my being not to just jump at the opportunity to get yet another creative tool but I did take my time before saying yes. I began researching it and talked it over with hubby and was still on the fence about it. I am no where near ready to be some master weaver, and I know that this loom will probably sit here for quite awhile before I give it the attention that it surely deserves but how do you turn down a once in a lifetime chance to have a loom like this!?

Considering the lifestyle we are trying to attain and the farming things we are learning and experiencing, I thought it was time for us to read the next book in the Little House series "Farmer Boy". I think it was within a day or so of getting the new/old loom that we started reading it and I was just giddy over the descriptions we were reading about how his Ma would spin the wool and then weave it into fabric to make their clothes. I know I read these books years ago but I am loving the details that it goes into about dying the wool and how soft and warm his clothes were. There was an appreciation for what his mother did for him... something you can't get off a $.99 rack at Walmart. It was such a delight to turn the page and find this drawing...

That will be me someday... :)

Knocking at my door

My arms were full of firewood and I came back to the open door to find these curious feathered friends! :)

Ah the life of free range chickens and turkey! :)

A new way of looking at life...

I didn't mean to let so much time go by... I didn't intend on leaving this space so abruptly...but you see, when you find the secret of life you have to just go with it and not worry about blogging, or facebooking or even take the time to keep up on laundry! When God gives you a place to be and grow and learn you just have to jump in with both feet!

It's been almost 9 months to the day that we got the call that we were moving, and then just a week or so later we were up over our heads in the moving and packing process. Life was such a whirl wind that we didn't have time to really think, rest or even take a deep breath really....it was just putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to trip along the way! It's pretty much been that way ever since! It's been nine months of hard work, hauling dirt, hauling wood chips, hauling rocks (do you see a pattern here?lol). Months of mending chicken coops, building new ones, caring for the animals we moved and the animals we have since adopted and rescued. It's been months of playing catch up with what we had hoped to accomplish in a garden. Planting, and watering and experimenting with new things. Now in the winter months, it means putting plastic covers over garden beds and researching new ways of feeding our outside animals. Months of feeling tired... in a good way... because of the goodness we are accomplishing and because of the constant blessings we are feeling. When we take the time to sit down and compare notes, hubby and I are both just feeling so blessed and renewed in this place that we are dwelling.

How can one not feel blessed to wake up to this view?

We are feeling like there has been a turn in our lives that can only be described as finding the secret of life...

For some time now, we have been inching towards a more sustainable lifestyle... It's no secret that I hate what our food industry has become and want to be no part of it (or at least to the best of our ability!) To feel the way I do about how our food is produced (how the animals are treated and cared for) and the un-needed things that are being done to the plants (GMOs) means making a change. Not a little change but a huge life altering change on a daily basis. It means watching labels and researching our food more closely but it also means that we must start producing more of it on our own. My generation was not brought up to think about where our food comes from, if anything we have been taught that it's out of sight out of mind. And for some that is ok. I truly wish that I could be that way sometimes but once I learn something it's stuck in my head and I can't go back!

It has been over the last few months that we as a family have been really taking a look at our lifestyle, and focusing on where we want to eventually be. We are finding that hard work is actually fun and that we don't need a lot of what we as a society have been taught to think we do. We are learning what it feels like to accomplish something we didn't think we could do ( like stacking a whole cord of wood- just me and my two littles). It is with this life change that we are going back in time if you will. Listening closer to the stories of family/church members who grew up on farms, and reading everything on the subject that I can get my hands on. It has even come down to changing the way we look at our entertainment options. The two favorites in our household right now are Alaska:The Last Frontier and of all things, The Waltons. Hubby and I have a running joke. When we are out working or trying to figure out a new project we just ask the other WWWD? What Would the Waltons Do? lol When he first said it, it made me laugh but now I find myself having that question in the back of my mind more and more... so I think that's what I'll title my posts that are homestead related. It really is a compliment to that show and not so much of a joke. When you actually watch the show, there are a lot of life lessons that could be learned by watching it, and for us it is just a really good reminded of what life is like in a simpler time and what it could be again if only there could be a massive shift in society and a change in the way we all view success...

Fall is in the air- Giveaway!

I don't know about you, but I am actually looking forward to fall this year... the colors, the cooler temps and the thoughts of Christmas on the horizon...

The people over at Imagine Childhood are showing off their new fall catalog AND hosting a giveaway for $100 in their shop!! Oh the lovelies that could be under our tree this year if we were lucky enough to win!! :)

 

This would definitely be at the TOP of my list!! :)

 

 

This would be SO cool to have!!

 

What would you get?:)

All Things Lovely- Giveaway!

Don't you just love giveaways?

This one is just too cute!! Be sure to go check it out!!



I just LOVE those boot socks so I'll be crossing my fingers to win for sure! :)

What really matters...

We recently returned from a trip to see family... it wasn't really a planned trip and nothing about the preparations beforehand seemed easy, but none the less we went. My husband's family was going to visit his mom for the 4th of July so we figured it was our perfect chance to get to see them (one day drive instead of three is always a nice break! )

The family portion of the trip only lasted 4 days... but it was a whirlwind of visiting, joking, eating GREAT food and most of all making memories. I watched as my girls interacted with their GREAT-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I saw them enjoying simple things as riding their scooters up and down a sidewalk and watched the wonders in their eyes as they sat amongst family and watched the fireworks display...they weren't thinking about tomorrow, or years from now, they were just being kids and enjoying the moment, enjoying these precious times with family that can't possibly be replaced by a day at an amusement park or some other big and flashy outing. They are going to remember the way their great grandparents smile at their stories, and how their Auntie Tish always spoils them.... I am so glad that they have these memories and that we took the time, like so many other trips before, to spend our vacations with family.

I had a revelation today of sorts…it seems silly now to even say it out loud but I feel the need to. As a kid, growing up in a military family and then later growing up to live a lifestyle of regular moving, it was and is just a given that any vacation time was/is going to be spent traveling to visit family in one way or another.  I have always looked at other families with a bit of envy when they got to go on fun vacations to sunny destinations or exciting places or theme parks. I always thought that it would be nice to get to do that someday…and for some those kind of vacations are great…. But today I came to the realization that I am not one of those people. Would I love to stand on a beach in Hawaii with my feet in the sand or walk the streets of historic Boston? Heck yeah, but would I chose to give up even one moment with the people I love to be able to do that? Absolutely not!  Not one memory is worth giving up, not one mile traveled was traveled in vain if it meant one more visit, one more afternoon of sitting on an elderly person’s couch looking at pictures or telling them about our life so far away….

This morning I got the call that my Great Aunt Sis, 91, had passed away…wow that feels so foreign to say out loud. Part of living so far away is that nothing like this feels real, and it never really sinks in like it would if I could be there for the closure of getting to be with family at a time like this. Instead, I sit here on the other side of the continent, looking at pictures and thinking of my much treasured memories and have a good cry… I cry out of pity for myself not for her because I know she is in a better place. But I cry just the same because another treasure of this world has left us…

She is the older sister of my Gram and for the first part of my growing up years she lived right down the street from us. I had to pass her house on my walk to and from school and she lived in a beautiful white house with a collie dog that always seemed so huge to me. I have vivid memories of sitting in her fancy dining room (I don’t know if it was all that fancy but as a kid that’s how I saw it) playing with blocks and I have faint recollection of her asking me numerous times if I was hungry. I think she was babysitting me, but I don’t remember why. It’s funny the bits and pieces that we can recall from memory.



As I grew older, and moved away, we always came back to that town, to my grandparents house and would then spend the next 2 weeks flitting from one family members house to another, trying to fit in all of those people that were so important to us. There was lots of visits over iced tea sitting in parlors (they have those back east you know) or out on a back porch where you could catch a breeze and a break from the heat (as many of those houses didn’t have AC). As a kid, I knew how important it was to get to see everyone but I must admit that sometimes I got bored. Now looking back tho, those visits taught me to value my elders. The hours we spent listening to stories were priceless. I think that so many people have missed out on that life lesson. I hope that we are teaching our girls that, that its so important to treasure those visits with loved ones and to listen to their stories while we can…



It became a tradition, and I’m not even sure how it really got started but on those vacations back east we had what we’d call lunch with the aunts. My mom, Gram, Aunt Joy and Aunt Sis, cousin Sally (and a few other cousins from time to time) would all go out to a special lunch. I remember those times with such love and joy and it makes me so sad to think that we can’t do that anymore. It’s crazy to think that it’s been over a year since we lost my AuntJoy, and now Aunt Sis too.



It’s hard to even imagine going back there and not seeing her. I try to look at it through the simplicity that my girls are experiencing it thru… we have been praying for Aunt Sis now for a long time, and we knew this day was coming as hospice had been brought in a few weeks ago but it doesn’t make it any easier. This morning when I told my youngest the news, she had the sweetest little smile on her face when she told me that she was “glad Aunt Sis is done with her miseries now but I’m gonna miss her”



I am so going to miss her but feel so lucky to have known and loved her….

When God is your realtor...

Since the 5th of April our lives have been a total blur...sometimes I still have a hard time computing everything that has gone on and even more so fully realizing how very blessed we have been...how did we ever get to this place where we are and what are we supposed to be doing now? But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself....

It all started like any other fairly normal day. Hubby just happened to be off that day and we ended up having to take our husky in to the vets for a limp in her leg that had just started in the middle of the night. We got the blow that she was going to need knee surgery ($$$) and had come home to call and tell my mom about it. We were still talking to her on the house phone when I got a call on my cell phone from the property manager of our house. I excused myself from my mom for a minute and took the call that would end up changing life as we knew it.... He said it so fast and so matter of fact that I didn't even comprehend what he was saying... the owners of our house were coming back to the states and were moving back into their house by June 1st!! WHAT?! THEIR house? WHAT house?! THIS house?! After a split second, the news set in and I instantly started to cry... that poor man on the other end of the phone! lol He said that he was trying to give us as much notice as he could, which was nice considering we thought we had another 2-3 years in this house!  I quickly hung up with him and got back on the phone with my hubby and mom but I'm afraid I gave them both quite the scare as I know I was having trouble taking a deep breath and pretty much just fell to the floor in a pile of tears while I tried to explain to them what was going on! lol Looking back, I feel pretty silly for reacting that way but at the time I felt like the sky was falling and there was no solid ground around us...

After the shock of it set in, and the tears started to dry up (and I'm talking about a matter of maybe 20 minutes) we were out the door and in town looking at rentals. This all happened about 2 pm and by 5 we'd looked at about 3 houses! We literally hit the ground running!! :)

I can remember feeling the panic, the fear of what was going to happen to us, to our girls, to our animals (2 dogs, 3 cats, 20+ chickens and 40 more in the incubator!!) and just thinking that there was no way we were going to find a place that would allow our crazy family to live the country life that we were so blessed to have. I just knew we were going to have to settle and would end up losing what we've been working so hard to build up.



We had just put in 4 raised beds (two of which were planted) and had a DUMP TRUCK load of wood chips delivered to the house TWO days before!!! lol
I had images of us having to live in our travel trailer again on some empty plot of land... or worse.... live in town! :)  That night, we were just numb. I know we watched a movie but I can't for the life of me remember what it was... I just sat all night looking at house listings and combing Craigslist for a rental that we could live with. I found I think three that we were going to call on in the morning, one of which seemed WAY too good to be true for the price but only time would tell.




My husband woke up before me, and was ready to get started again on the great house hunt 2013 so he looked up the address for the to good to be true house and decided to do a drive by before we bothered to even call. He was back to the house shortly after 8am and I was only able to hold him off till 8:45 before he called about it. The man on the other end of the phone said we could come by at 10 and I don't think I've even taken so fast of a shower and we were ready to go!!

You may be wondering about my title for this entry... But when God is your realtor there is no question about where you are supposed to be!! 20 hours from the time we got the call till the time we saw our new home... that could only be God! God is SO GOOD!!

This house was made for us... it was started in 1921, and later added on to in 1979. The setting is this amazing view, and more trees than a person could ever count.

 

 He thought of every possibly thing to make this location perfect for us...

right down to the blue berry bush in the garden, the grape vines out back and the fenced in garden with raised beds in place...

the entire property is surround by blackberries and the view... the view will take your breath away...

 

So many people just shake their heads when we tell them this story and they ask how we could find such a treasure at all, let alone in less than a day? I've had friends that reacted with unkind words about the owners of our previous house, and I have to just tell them, that it was God... no matter how much I thought I loved our old house, I could have never imagined how wonderful this one could be or what a total blessing this change could be....

 

 

Before we left to see our would be new house, on that fateful morning... my husband and I stood holding hands in what was soon to be our old kitchen and prayed... we prayed that if this house was the right house for us in God's plan that we would see that and not just jump on it thinking that it was in OUR plan... there was not a moment of that day that God didn't have a hand in  and I am so completely grateful and humbled by his love for us...

 

Matthew 6:31-33
So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (NLT)