Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

Meal Planning Monday

Monday – Breakfast for dinner {sausage and hash brown balls, eggs and homemade bread for toast}

Tuesday – Ham and bean soup with homemade bread

Wednesday – Sloppy Joe Bubble Up

Thursday – French Dip Beef Sammy, homemade rolls, corn and onion rings at the request of my youngest little. This is her absolute fav meal.

Friday – Hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and macaroni salad

Saturday – Out to dinner

Sunday – Easter dinner at my Mama’s house…ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and cole slaw

What is Homesteading?

I’ve often wondered what we’d be considered…a farm, a homestead or neither?  I dove in to some research to get my answer.

What is Homesteading?

Wikipedia defines homesteading as:

a lifestyle of simple, agrarian self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may or may not also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale.”

But what REALLY is homesteading? What does it look like?


Again, the answer really depends on who you ask. To me, homesteading is becoming self-sufficient and it can be done wherever you live.  And you don’t have to have acres on acres of land to do it.
Why and How Did We Begin Homesteading?
I grew up in a little country town with parents who were either raised on or around farms.  All my life, I’ve heard stories of farming and living off the land.  Even though they were explained further as hard work, the stories always made my mind drift away.  Throughout that, and honestly feeling it was just born into me, I’ve always had a strong desire in my heart to live off the land.  
In the Spring, you could always hear the familiar puttputt of our 1939 John Deere H making it way out of the garage.  Y’all have no idea how many hours I spent standing on that plow.  We would plow, mark, plant, water and weed our garden all summer.  And in the fall, my Mom would spend hours in the kitchen canning.  That was just our normal.  Once I got married and moved into my own house {right next door}, it was only natural to do the same.  
A few years ago, after a medical issue, I was able to fully retire and become what I’ve always dreamed of…a stay-at-home Mama. 

And so we began our homesteading lives.
One of the first thing we did was buy chickens. They say chickens are “the gateway” livestock. Well, that statement is the absolute TRUTH. Chickens turned into more chickens this year. With a new, bigger coop on the way. And now serious talks about goats and perhaps pigs {sorry Mom}.

I make 99% of our food from scratch. I can, freeze, dehydrate and preserve. The beginning years of just spaghetti sauce have now turned into canning everything I can get my hands on!  Including being obsessed with making my own stocks {chicken, beef and ham}.  This year I’m going to give making my own “cream soups” a whirl.

It’s a homesteading life. And one I sure do love.

What else is Homesteading?
The beauty of homesteading is it can be whatever you want it to be.  It can be on as much or as little land as you have.  It can be canning the vegetables that you buy at the farmers market or preserving the peaches you buy from the Amish man down the road.  It can be having chickens in your tiny backyard in the middle of the city.  
It’s simple living that is hard work.  It takes time and energy to homestead, however, it’s about consuming less and producing more. It’s about cherishing real things such as animals, fresh eggs, fresh milk, vegetables growing on a plant and through it all seeing His mighty creation and knowing that He’s real.

A Legacy of Love {In Pictures}

Today is the wedding anniversary of two pretty amazing people in my life. A couple I’ve been absolutely blessed to call Mom and Dad. Fifty one years is a long time y’all, especially in this day and age. To honor their super special day, I’m re-posting a blog I did last year about their legacy of love.

Last week, as I was cleaning my new office space in my home, I came across a box. As I opened the lid and peeked inside, I saw it was filled with old pictures. Instantly my heart soared.

As I’ve said before, I am enamored with old photos. So much so that it sparked this insatiable craving to take pictures of people. To me, pictures are priceless treasures. I found a box full of moments, perfectly captured, allowing me to travel back in time.

I settled down on the floor, sitting indian style and pulling the box over in front of me. As I started rifling through the photos, I realized what I was actually looking at. A smile graced my lips. I was looking at love letters, in pictures, my parents had sent back and forth while they were dating. My dad was in the military and stationed across the country. So their only way of communication was through letters and pictures.

At first, I felt like I had barged into a secret diary. But I just couldn’t stop looking, reading and smiling. This is where the legacy of love began. The legacy that was passed to me and now on to my children.

And now the tears begin.

These pictures, so innocent and hopeful, with no idea of the future. Thinking about all of the highs, lows, and wonderful things they’ve experienced together over the years brought me to tears. They had no sense of the struggles they would eventually face. They had no idea they would someday have to hold each other through cancer, the death of loved ones and lost jobs. That one day they would travel to another state and adopt the sweetest baby girl ever. They had one thing…love.

Through that love, and devotion to each other, they sat such an amazing example of marriage and parenting for me. Every day, they wrote more of their legacy together. A legacy that will be remembered in lives long past their days on this earth. When we say words like legacy or inheritance, money or heirlooms usually come to mind. But the legacy I’m speaking of is different. It’s a legacy of priceless and intangible things. They’ve built a legacy of loving God, loving others before yourself and having a selfless heart.

I was given directly by God a family with two parents who are still married. I was given a family where both sets of grandparents were married until their dying day. A family that bonds closer together during tough times rather than throwing in the towel. At times, I wonder how I got so lucky…to be hand-picked by God and placed into this amazing family. Like a whisper in the wind I’m reminded that luck had nothing to do with it. This is part of my story, the one He wrote long before I was born.

They are incredible parents, living out a legacy of love passed down from both of their parents! They have never tried to be perfect, but they have tried to love me and others well and show us the best example of Christ that they could. They know how to fight when the enemy brings the battle close to home and they know how to praise when another battle is won. They are my legacy of love.