I’ve got blisters!

But that is NOT a complaint 😀 Actually, they’re the beginning of blisters under the middle and ring fingers on both hands. These are my marks of accomplishment; they mean I have been using the talents, skills, and know-how that God has blessed with me on my journey to become more “God-sufficient.” (I know, I’ve been saying self-sufficient in earlier posts, but I see it as God providing my needs – He’s just using my physical body to do it ;-))

I’m sure tomorrow morning, after taking my son to school, when I go to get that 1st (and all subsequent) shovelful of dirt, I might be tempted to complain, but that’s why I’m posting this, here, right now – to remind myself that for once in my life I got blisters and my first reaction was NOT complaint, but “Cool beans!”

Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4 NKJV

My mom has always taught me that the key to this verse is the “Delight yourself in the Lord” part. If we are trusting in Him, following Him, being obedient to Him, He WILL give us what our hearts desire, because what it is that He has in mind as His perfect plan, what we should do, will become OUR chief desire. (I hope that made sense….)

I’m sure lots of my real-life friends are scratching their heads as they’re reading through my blog. “Wait, what?  Beth, GARDENING?!? INTENTIONALLY?!?” I have said to so many people over the years that gardening is the bane of my existence, and I can tell you why. My Mom LOVED to garden (flowers mostly) as long as I can remember, and I can remember feeling like her little personal garden slave!  So once I moved out, I avoided any and everything that had to do with putting anything into dirt, anything growing in dirt, etc. I had a Peace Lily in my house and that was it – it lets you know when it needs to be watered, you water it, and it perks right back up. That was the extent of my level of interest or desire of involvement.

I can also tell you that for many years (unfortunately) my motto was “I’m selfish and lazy, but at least I’m honest about it.” THAT is definitely not a Christian attitude! But that’s who I was 😦 Thank GOD, He is changing me! I’ve always loved the saying “God likes you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way” 🙂 I’m so glad I’ve allowed God to work in my life, so glad I’m letting Him change me! It’s NOT easy, and sometimes, it’s down-right emotionally painful, but it is definitely worth it. Teddy gladly quickly finishes his snack and any homework in record time because he WANTS to come outside and help get the garden going – and with my back, he is a HUGE helper, even if it takes a bit because he’s carrying around a kitten until he absolutely has to use both hands for something 😉

Okay, I didn’t expect this post to turn into this, but here it is. Hope it helps you in some way or you enjoyed it.

God bless!

Coming up with a blog name

So, as I said, I’d been thinking about starting a blog. One of my biggest hangups was coming up with the name – it’s why I didn’t do this about a week ago! I wanted something that encompassed my Christian beliefs, would allow me to show off my crochet/crafty stuff, and also would allow the sharing of my thoughts on homesteading/natural building/living sustainably and self-sufficiently and my steps to get there.

I’d been debating several things, praying for God to give me just the right idea, but my breakthrough came Thursday afternoon 😀 I was thinking about ways to update my Facebook status after packing and cleaning all morning; I had one hour of free time before going to get my son from school and then we would start a long weekend with his other grandparents/relatives 3 hrs away. As I was loading the suitcase in the truck, I was thinking about how I was going to enjoy my “pursuit of craftiness” before getting Teddy from school. And that’s when I had my “Ahah!” moment!

“Pursuit of craftiness” led me to the wonderful statement from our country’s Founding Father’s – “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and the fun I could have with some word play. (BTW, in case you’re a friend of mine on Facebook, you won’t remember a status update to this effect because I decided it would be wiser to use my hour to take a nap! ;-))

Over the weekend, I quickly decided that “Pursuing Life” would be the blog title, but it took me longer to come up with the points/pages/main themes. I knew, obviously, that “The Pursuit of Craftiness” was a given for all my hobby adventures. I was also pretty sure that I was going to use “Liberty” as the place to blog about my dream for natural building, sustainable and self-sufficient living, even though my efforts will start out as small as gardening. But how was I going to work in my Christian beliefs? And any mom-type stuff? I thought and prayed about that over the weekend as we enjoyed a wonderful visit…

And then I remembered the wonderful words spoken by Jesus, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly,” found in the book of John 10:10b (copied/pasted from BibleGateway – LOVE that website!) – I knew right away that “A Life More Abundant” would be the name of the portion of the blog where I discuss my beliefs. But I still hadn’t figured out how to work in the whole Mom bit.  It wasn’t until I was actually in the process of creating this blog that I realized, “Wait a minute – if it weren’t for God blessing me, I wouldn’t BE a mother! ‘A Life More Abundant’ is the PERFECT spot for Mom stuff to go, too!”  Especially since a lot of the stuff God works with on to bring me to be a better person, the Beth HE wants me to be either makes me a better Mom in the end or is about being a better Mom….

So, that’s how I named my blog 🙂 I’m at a point in my life where “Pursuing Life” is what I need to be doing, and since I decided it needed documenting, y’all get to read about it! Hope you enjoy – God bless 🙂

Taking the plunge!

Hi! This is my very first experience blogging, so here goes. I’ve been thinking about blogging for a couple of weeks, and now I’m diving in! This is my first post about me Pursuing Life. *Deep breath*

*The Pursuit of Life More Abundant

Most importantly, I’m a Christian – a child of God, a sinner saved by grace, by no means perfect, and DEFINITELY a work in progress.  God is still working with me, convicting me, bringing me to my knees in tears at times, but He also gives me plenty of reasons to rejoice when I stop to count my blessings, like today when I get to see a 5 week old niece and a 2-day old nephew for the first time!

Next, I’m a mom – to a wonderful 9-year-old son, whom I love very much and who drives me absolutely CRAZY! But I think that’s why our kids exist 🙂 But Teddy is my precious, precocious gift from God, and he is treasured. He is an amazingly smart 4th grader, and we’re just starting 4-H – he’s talked me into Shooting Sports, which means BB for his age. The other extracurricular activity he participates in is piano. We plan to do the Rec Dept Baseball in the spring.

In order to enable me to better take care of Teddy (read: get a decent job with benefits), I’m going back to school in January. I’ve got my Associates degree, but after 12 years out of school, it’s going to be mighty weird being a 33-year old sophomore! (Thanks, Mama and Daddy for insisting on the A.S.; at least I don’t have to repeat any core classes!) I’m looking forward to it, though, even though the school I feel God is leading me to is 1-1/2 hr drive one-way, and none of the classes are offered online. If God is bringing me to it, He’ll provide the resources, too. Having faith isn’t always easy, but taking the leap when I feel God’s urging has never failed me yet!

*The Pursuit of Liberty

Over the past few months, a dream of mine has been to become more self-sufficient and live more sustainably – grow my own food, waste less, take better care of this beautiful Earth God has given us to be stewards of, make better use of the resources He’s provided. I’d also like to pursue natural building; I’d LOVE to build myself and my son a passive-solar bale-cob house – make use of active solar too, of course! And rain-water catchment, and have chickens, and goats, and maybe bees. Still thinking on the bees, though; I live far enough south I can grow my own sugar cane, and grind it using the donkey who will double as guard “dog” for the goats.

Building the house will most like a few years; at least 2 to get it started – finish up college first. But I plan on starting now with the being more self-sufficient part. I’m going to start growing some of my own food! As I had back surgery only 13 weeks ago tomorrow (and stopped smoking – woohoo!), bending is NOT on the to-do list. So I’ve acquired some pallets and have built a raised-bed garden. (There will be a post about this in the very near future, complete with pictures.) I do still have to fill it with dirt, and then I’m going to plant broccoli, spinach, and garlic. I’m also working on a composting tumbler – again, minimize bending and back-strain.

*The Pursuit of Craftiness

My favorite hobby is crochet; expect to read a lot about that here. My absolute most favorite thing to crochet are baby clothes/toys. I utterly dislike making blankets; if I’ve ever made you a blanket as a gift, you know you a truly special person!  I’ve just rediscovered, and my son has discovered, the joy of Perler beads/fun fusion. I like that almost as much as crochet, and anybody that knows me knows that’s an awful lot! There will also be the occasional blurb about me sewing something, usually by hand; not sure why, but I LOVE to sew by hand, instead of by machine.  Just like I finally worked up the nerve to start a blog, I’m trying to work up the nerve to start an etsy.com store.

*Pursing Life

So, in a nutshell, that’s me and what my blog is gonna be about 😀 Life is crazy, life is unpredictable, and we never know what it’s going to throw at us next. And I’ve learned the better/stronger my relationship with God is, the better I’m able to handle life’s curve-balls. So hang on with me for the ride as I blog about pursuing not just life, but the life more abundant that Jesus came to give us all, liberty in the form of not being as dependent on this undependable economy, and my own personal brand of craftiness!

God bless – Beth