Courageous

What words come to your mind when you hear this word? Maybe

• Strong
• Never backs down
• Never fearing
• Jesus

What got me thinking about this word? The movie Courageous. What a powerful, thought provoking and inspiring movie. I highly recommended to anyone wo hasn't seen this before to go and rent it or borrow from friends or family. Especially if ou have children. The movie is based more for men( fathers/mentors), but as a wife . mother it impacted me as well.
Another thing that the movie really got me thinking about was how I take for granted the time I have with my children. Yes somedays I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open and others I would love to be on a deserted island with food, books and dvd player. (All by myself) And then there are the days I just need that padded room. hahah But I should really take every moment even during those time when Kyle comes running up to me and says, "Mommy come play trains with me ", (Even if this is the fiftieth time playing it that day) :) I should run in the room and play it with him because no one knows how much time you have with your children or with anyone else and I want to be able to say. I was the best mother I could have been and have no thoughts in my head of," I should have done blank more with them".
   I just wanted to encourage you to see the movie and I hope it makes an impact on your lives like it did ours :)

    On other news, It has been a very stressful week for us. Tom was working alot of hours at work this week ( such a blessing and love him so much for doing it for our family!). Then on top of all that our Clothing washer died. UGH! Again! UGH! So we had to go and look at washers , which we really didn't feel like doing. There are so many new models out there! The simple living family we are only wanted a regular washer without all the fancy do dats on it. That is like finding a needle in a haystack! hahah But finally after traveling the whole way to harrisburg we found it!!! And it was on clearance!!! And here she be....

So excited!

     Other news, tomorrow is suppose to be in the mid 50's yay!! Come on Spring!! So the boys and I will be outside. I am going to clean up the outside a little and then doing a diagram of the this years garden at our house and maybe do one of the big garden. I know it is only the end of January and spring is a good bit away , but maybe this year spring will come early! :) A girl can dream! haha

So how was your weekend? What did you do? Have you gotten cabin fever already like me?! :) I would also love to know from those who have seen the movie Courageous, what did you think of the movie? How has it impacted you?  Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

~ Katie








                
                    

Motivation

Today I was counting change from our "Farm jar". This is a jar we put our spare change or change we find. It is where the money for are farm is being saved. :) It is nice to see the coins from somebody's jeans pockets while doing wash ( the hubby's) and put it straight into the jar.

Doing this with the jar is so much fun for me! Watching the coins slowly build up in the jar, it makes me think of how to us getting a farm is going slow ( at least to me it does!), but we will soon be blessed to have one!

Kyle gets a quarter or other small change when he helps me out around the house or outside. He had 3 jars to put the money into. One is for Spending, one is for Savings, and the last is for Giving.  He has told us the Spending jar money is for a Thomas train he wants and a donut ( hahah kid cracks me up, but hey it's his money) . The money in the savings jar, he has said that is for his chickens and  the sheep he wants to buy when we get our farm or as he would put it, " When we get to build our barn!" haha.

I love when he asks me if we can sit and talk about what our farm is will be like and the animals we will have on it. If this isn't enough motivation for us , I don't know what is! And to see just the spark in his eye when we talk about it. God has blessed us with such beautiful children and with excited hearts about everything. It motivates me to be more excited about things, even the little stuff! :) My children and husband are such a motivation to me, to do things to make our lives better and more fun!

Now more then ever we want to give this kind of farm life to our boys , who are already passionate about our life on a farm/homestead!
God has a plan and we are on the journey where He wants us! We are all excited to see where it leads us all! 

How are you motivated to have a simple life, homestead, etc.?
I would love to here what motivates you and what you are motivated to do.

Have a Wonderful Day!

~ Katie

update on basement! :)

Saturday we had a bunch of my husband's friends come over and work on the basement. They did an amazing job! They got the wiring done some of the lights up and framed and insulated two walls! YAY! It is starting to look like a finished basement! Here are some pictures:

oh boy!

Tomorrow is a big day around here! My husband has off and has asked some of his friends to come over to work on the basement! Yay! We are hoping that they will get alot done and we can start hanging drywall soon! Yay! I will post pictures after they are done to keep you updated!

I went to Sharp Shopper with my dad and my boys. What a fun time! :) If you aren't from this area, Sharp Shopper is a discounted grocery store. I could spend all of our bank account stocking up on things( don't think the Hubby would approve! LOL)


Tyler our youngest has his 18month old appt. today at the pediatricians. Where has the time gone!? Our oldest starts kindergarten next year! Can't believe it! It does go to fast!

Today I am working on ways to bring in extra income to help the family out and to use to save for the boys college funds. 

What ideas do you have for bringing in some extra cash? What do you do? I would love to know! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend if I don't blog before then! :)

God Bless!


~Katie

Organzing

I am wanting to get more organized as one of my goals. So I am thinking of things to do to become that. I found some cute ideas and thought I would share. :)

Love this idea for the kitchen. Can't wait to go yard saling and hopefully find jars like this for cheap! :)

http://www.menus4moms.com/notesfromthekitchen/organization-ideas/pretty-storage-jars-with-chalkboard-paint/

For our stand up freezer downstairs! Love what Homestead Revival posted here http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2010/07/upright-freezer-organization.html

Does anyone have any other ideas for organization in the any room!? I would love to hear about them or see them! :)


Have a Wonderful day!

~Katie

2012

Wow really! Is it already here! Craziness! I guess with kids the years go by faster like they say. Well I am pretty happy with last year. We became DEBT FREE!!! yay!!  I skimped out on alot of my goals so this year I am determined to do my whole list! I have a personal/family and a homesteading/simple life list.

I will give you my homesteading/ simple life list. 

Here we go.....

-Keep making laundry soap! ( i didn't do this one alot last year)
-start a new compost pile/ bin.
- get 2 or 3 blueberry bushes
-can and freeze as much as I can from the garden and trips to roots's . Didn't get much canned or frozen.
-Watch less tv. ( whole family, but also want to lower our electric bill)
-blog daily or at least once a week.
-buy 1/4 or 1/2 beef cow
-learn to make a rag rug/braided rugs
-start sewing and making things ( I have a sewing machine just screaming my name)
-Try raw cows milk and make things from it such as butter, etc.
- find more energy efficient ways to do things

I am sure will add more. I am keeping it simple since I have another list of goals.


Personal goals/ family

- Stay better organized and find an organizational system that works best for us.
- Finish at least 4 books this year
-devotionals daily ( struggled with this last year since I have early rising children around 6am and I am exhausted by 8pm but no excuses it will get done!)
- finish the basement , maybe even the kitchen ( we are working on finishing our basement into more living space)
-Remember when shopping is it a need or a want
- Go on a date night at least once every 3 months.
-Keep using coupons( love that word) haha
-Start saving for Kyle's schooling and for Tyler's
- Save 3-6 months living expenses
- be as frugal as possible.

So there you have it . My list of goals this year. I would love to hear any of your goals! :) Hope you all had a wonderful christmas and a great start to the new year!

~ Katie