Stir up the gifts

I won the above plaque in a GiveAway, from Hope Ink a few months back. I was blessed with what it said & really pictured it applying to my dreams & music career.

Well, my family is facing some major decisions once again and this verse & plaque keep popping in to my mind. There is no way we should even consider making these decisions with out considering what our gifts are. Doing so will help us narrow our path and focus on things God has not only given us but wants us to share with others.

Our gifts can help us in our business ventures, our off-grid lifestyle choices, in being good neighbors ... really in every aspect of our lives. I am excited about the changes that will undoubtedly take place. I have no doubt that in applying this scripture to our decisions, that God will bless us for our obedience and willingness to seek Him in every aspect. I should say here that we're always wanting to follow God's lead ... but it seems to have a deeper meaning this time. Again I will say I am excited to see where these decisions lead us!!!

Bartering "tool"

What would you consider a homesteading skill?? Quilting? Canning? Animal husbandry? Yes, I'd agree that those are definitely homesteading skills ... but in my mind, a homestead skill can be anything that either helps bring an income to the family and/or something that helps further the homestead & family itself ... like learning something that would take the place of monies paid to some one else for those things. A skill doesn't necessarily have to provide a thing though ... I think it can also be providing a service. You can barter with these skills, charge a fee, bless some one else with it for nothing or use it to benefit your own family.
I don't drink wine but I'd like to learn how to make it. I don't think there's anything wrong with a Christian drinking it either ... but I certainly wouldn't force one to. If some one is convicted to not drink it than who am I to try & force them to commit what is a sin in their eyes.
That being said, I think wine would make a good item to barter with. I could see it being used to not only make money but to save money in not having to pay cash for certain things and services. I'm in the process of looking for information, recipes, equipment etc. We'll start though by seeing how good a chance we have of growing our own grapes. If not, we'll need to find a good source to purchase from. I'll leave you with this ...

Getting back to our dreams

As a lot of you know, my husband & I bought land with a cabin on it. We moved to the land & lived there for a little over 4 months before having to move to a rental due to the extreme weather conditions. Our cabin is off grid, besides having a telephone connection. We will keep it that way! Since moving in to the rental, I've not done anything "homestead" like. I feel like I'm not working toward my dreams in one way but in another I feel like I don't have anything to do that *is* homestead-ish. I'm going to change that tomorrow. I have some things that we can do in preparation to move back to the cabin (which will happen in Spring). 

Our goals this coming year are to: 

• grow a lot of our food (be it animal, fruit or vegetable)
• recycle & reuse as much as possible
• start a new family business (that blends with our homestead lifestyle)
• dad quitting his outside job & coming home again to work the family businesses
• we all want to learn new skills (maybe 2 each)
• purchase new canning items
• build main addition to the cabin
• build work room on to cabin
• build pole barn
• live our dreams

I'm sure there's things I'm forgetting to add to the list right now ... but it is after midnight here. I'll post again soon! I plan on posting regularly ... and most importantly, I plan on getting back to our dreams!

Welcome to the new blog. As you can see, there are already some posts. I imported a few posts from an old blog that I felt would show what I plan on doing here. OMA means "Our Maker's Acres" ... as in the name of our property. I plan to fill this blog with homestead type stuff, home schooling things, bits of my personal journey in life ... and plenty of other things. Be patient as I set the background image, blog style eyc.