I've thought about a post like this for a long time. It's not something I wanted to shout out from the rooftops, but feel like I'm ready to share what's been on my mind.
(I thought I would interject that if someone doesn't agree with my thoughts...I'm ok with that. Some people might argue with my logic...I'm ok with that, too. This is my story.)
(I'd also like to point out that I've never felt like I was being unfairly judged or criticized for my tattoos. Friends and family have been more than patient and loving with me!)
Now after all those disclaimers:
Based off my blog and my life as a Christian homeschooling mom, some might find it surprising that I have 3 tattoos on my forearms. I have the word 'faith' tattooed on my inner/upper part of my arm. Three different sized stars (that represent my children) on my wrist and a small red heart on my other wrist. I got all three of them in a short span of each other around 3 and half years ago.
I'm a wife (to a non-tattooed man). A mother. A Christian and daughter of the King! Some might find it (strange) or 'worldly' that I would mark my body in this way. I thought I would share my thoughts on this subject to clear my head of what's floating around in there.
Three (and a half) years ago, when I got my tattoos, I was 27 years old and only a few months out of having my 3rd baby in 4 years. I was having a hard time with my emotions and depression. I had a number of things that I was struggling with at the time and didn't put my trust or faith in the Lord the way I should have. During that time period I jumped into the decision that I was ready for a tattoo. With me being....(well)...me, I never do anything small...I got all three within a few months of each other. I don't want to share about this time in my life because I feel like it was deeply personal.....and I was doing some major changing/growing.....and through this time period my relationship with Christ became stronger than it EVER had been. However, once my life calmed down and things around me started to improve my scars were/are still there (my tattoos). They can't be wiped off. They can't be covered up (I've tried).They will be with me the rest of my life. They serve to remind me what I've been through and that Christ provided for me even when I wasn't 'there' with Him. And guess what? I'm TOTALLY fine with that. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I haven't lived a 'spotless' Christian life. I'm a sinner, and I would be utterly helpless and lost without the love, grace and blood of JESUS CHRIST!
Do I REGRET my tattoos? Not really, kind of? (Is that an answer?)
Would I get them AGAIN if given the chance? No.
Would I campaign for someone to get one? No.
Would I have them removed if given the opportunity? Probably.
Would I go to great lengths to have them removed? No. Not at this point in my life.
Would I have a hernia if my children ever got one? You bet! But, I'd live.
Do I loose sleep over it? No. I don't. It doesn't bother me. It's part of me. It's part of my past. They come with a story that has molded me into the person I am today. Everyone that sees my arm KNOWS I have faith! It's tattooed in black on my arm!!
I guess that's really all I wanted to say. Just try not to jump to conclusions over why someone got a tattoo. Don't assume it's to rebel against society. There may be something personal about them you know nothing about. Who knows (but that person). Take the time to find out if it's something that is troubling you deeply or just ignore them (the tattoos not the person)....you will eventually not even see them anymore once you get to know that person! I promise!
I'd also like to point out...maybe most people don't even think like me (probably a good thing)....but I like to think if someone walked into the worship service I was attending all 'tatted up' they wouldn't feel so ashamed and out of place if they saw someone like me there. Singing praises to our King. Taking the Lord's supper. Handling three children in the pew. Dressed up in a long lady like skirt......with tattoos! It takes all kinds, right?
Have a great night!
God Bless!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
More Frugality (Learning to Live with Less)
After my post yesterday I started brainstorming (between chores, laundry, squabbles between children and swimming the afternoon away with my kids!) more ways we save money and came up with a few things I had actually forgotten!
Here they are:
* We are going to cancel our cell phone service and get pay as you go phones.
* My husband hunts every deer season and we process our own meat. This saves a ton! We usually have enough ground deer meat to last through the winter season! (deer tacos, deer chili, deer soup!)
* We have a pig out at my parents we will have butchered for pork this fall! (It's also 'homegrown' pork which is better for you, too!)
* I buy whole milk and water it down to make it last longer. I've done this for years and just wing it but if you would like an exact recipe it's probably something like: 1gallon of milk w/ 4 cups water.
* If you are able, garden! We would be if we had more space.
* Instead of buying those expensive cleaning products make your own! Vinegar and baking soda can work wonders! They are also a lot less harmful to you.
* Downgrade your internet service. (I need to do this.)
* I have a 'needs' list I keep tucked away for times it seems we have some 'extra' funds and I feel like shopping. It keeps me from buying frivolously and impulse buying. Things like the kid's shoes, winter coats, jackets, rain-gear, husband's work pants and homeschool books usually are the biggest things on this list. (This may seem silly to some but this has really helped me curve my spending!)
* Since we deal in cash we have a lot of loose change! All that change gets put into a gallon Ball Jar and taken to the bank once it's full. The money is then taken and used for something on the 'needs' list.
* Eat 1 or 2 meatless meals a week. Pinto beans and bacon set to simmer in a crockpot all day with homemade cornbread? Lip smackin' good! Salad with boiled eggs. Refried bean burritos. Homemade Spanish rice tacos. Vegetable stir fry on rice. Baked potato bar. There are a ton of meatless meals out there.....that satisfy EVEN my homegrown southern husband. ; )
* Use everything up in your kitchen. STOP throwing out food! Have leftover spaghetti noodles? Save them for the kid's lunch the next day. Leftover taco meat? Put it in tomorrows vegetable soup. Leftovers may not be a family favorite but you'll feel good eating it all up and not wasting!
There you have it. All the ways I could think up that we try to save money and live with less. I hope this gives you some inspiration to give it a try....if you are so inclined! Thanks for reading!
Have a great Friday!
Here they are:
* We are going to cancel our cell phone service and get pay as you go phones.
* My husband hunts every deer season and we process our own meat. This saves a ton! We usually have enough ground deer meat to last through the winter season! (deer tacos, deer chili, deer soup!)
* We have a pig out at my parents we will have butchered for pork this fall! (It's also 'homegrown' pork which is better for you, too!)
* I buy whole milk and water it down to make it last longer. I've done this for years and just wing it but if you would like an exact recipe it's probably something like: 1gallon of milk w/ 4 cups water.
* If you are able, garden! We would be if we had more space.
* Instead of buying those expensive cleaning products make your own! Vinegar and baking soda can work wonders! They are also a lot less harmful to you.
* Downgrade your internet service. (I need to do this.)
* I have a 'needs' list I keep tucked away for times it seems we have some 'extra' funds and I feel like shopping. It keeps me from buying frivolously and impulse buying. Things like the kid's shoes, winter coats, jackets, rain-gear, husband's work pants and homeschool books usually are the biggest things on this list. (This may seem silly to some but this has really helped me curve my spending!)
* Since we deal in cash we have a lot of loose change! All that change gets put into a gallon Ball Jar and taken to the bank once it's full. The money is then taken and used for something on the 'needs' list.
* Eat 1 or 2 meatless meals a week. Pinto beans and bacon set to simmer in a crockpot all day with homemade cornbread? Lip smackin' good! Salad with boiled eggs. Refried bean burritos. Homemade Spanish rice tacos. Vegetable stir fry on rice. Baked potato bar. There are a ton of meatless meals out there.....that satisfy EVEN my homegrown southern husband. ; )
* Use everything up in your kitchen. STOP throwing out food! Have leftover spaghetti noodles? Save them for the kid's lunch the next day. Leftover taco meat? Put it in tomorrows vegetable soup. Leftovers may not be a family favorite but you'll feel good eating it all up and not wasting!
There you have it. All the ways I could think up that we try to save money and live with less. I hope this gives you some inspiration to give it a try....if you are so inclined! Thanks for reading!
Have a great Friday!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Frugality (Learning to Live with Less)
I wanted to share some ways that we are trying to be more frugal so we can stash away and save more money. It's not just about saving money but also being good stewards of what God has given us. Being a good steward isn't just about being money wise but also not wasting any of the resources God has given us: gasoline, food, clothing etc. etc..
My Frugal List:
* We don't have cable or satellite. Why pay $60 bucks a month for the junk that's on TV?? We do miss it at times and come football season we may have to reconnect the cable, but for now we do without. (We do pay $7.99 monthly for Netflix where we watch documentaries and family movies.)
* We don't eat out. (Often) This still happens more than I would like but it's a work in progress.
* We have a budget. We stick to the budget. That's the trick folks! Making a budget isn't to hard, sticking to it is.
* All my children's clothing is either from thrift stores or hand me downs.
* We are a one car family and that car is paid for.
* I cook as much as I can from scratch.
* I make my own laundry soap.
* We don't shop for recreation. If you don't want to spend money: stay out of the stores!!
* We utilize our local library for free movies and books!
* I go to the grocery store with a plan and a list!
* I've started using a weekly menu plan to help me with my grocery list.
* I set up my grocery list and menu around that weeks sales.
* Deal in cash.....no credit cards!
* We stay home a lot. The more you 'go' the more you spend.
* Along those same lines I try to keep our trips 'into town' to 1 to 2 weekly.
* I once hung out my laundry to dry and this saved a ton on utilities but in the city that is a little harder to do.
* For Christmas and birthdays we try to make handmade gifts.
* We try not to buy our children anything outside of those special holidays. This may seem harsh but we want them to have 'an attitude of gratitude' not entitlement.
We are far from perfect and have come along way in learning how to better manage our money. I still make mistakes. I still get frustrated with myself for overspending. With everything else in life it's a constant work in progress. I hope I've helped motivate you if you want to live a more frugal lifestyle!
Use it Up
Wear it Out
Make it do
Or do without
Have a blessed Thursday!
My Frugal List:
* We don't have cable or satellite. Why pay $60 bucks a month for the junk that's on TV?? We do miss it at times and come football season we may have to reconnect the cable, but for now we do without. (We do pay $7.99 monthly for Netflix where we watch documentaries and family movies.)
* We don't eat out. (Often) This still happens more than I would like but it's a work in progress.
* We have a budget. We stick to the budget. That's the trick folks! Making a budget isn't to hard, sticking to it is.
* All my children's clothing is either from thrift stores or hand me downs.
* We are a one car family and that car is paid for.
* I cook as much as I can from scratch.
* I make my own laundry soap.
* We don't shop for recreation. If you don't want to spend money: stay out of the stores!!
* We utilize our local library for free movies and books!
* I go to the grocery store with a plan and a list!
* I've started using a weekly menu plan to help me with my grocery list.
* I set up my grocery list and menu around that weeks sales.
* Deal in cash.....no credit cards!
* We stay home a lot. The more you 'go' the more you spend.
* Along those same lines I try to keep our trips 'into town' to 1 to 2 weekly.
* I once hung out my laundry to dry and this saved a ton on utilities but in the city that is a little harder to do.
* For Christmas and birthdays we try to make handmade gifts.
* We try not to buy our children anything outside of those special holidays. This may seem harsh but we want them to have 'an attitude of gratitude' not entitlement.
We are far from perfect and have come along way in learning how to better manage our money. I still make mistakes. I still get frustrated with myself for overspending. With everything else in life it's a constant work in progress. I hope I've helped motivate you if you want to live a more frugal lifestyle!
Use it Up
Wear it Out
Make it do
Or do without
Have a blessed Thursday!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
What's been going on...
I know I haven't posted in over...well.....a year, but I'd like to try again. We have had a lot going on this last year and I'm not sure I could have posted if I had found the time to. : ) I wanted to share some of the things going on in our lives, what we've been up to and hopes for the future.
This past year what sticks out the most in my mind is our move to a tiny 14x32 cabin with no water or electricity. You may think us crazy....and in a lot of ways you are probably right, but we found a way to make our dream happen and we took it. We dreamed of land and no neighbors. We wanted a homestead our children could grow up on. We wanted animals, livestock and gardens. Working with our hands to build up our homestead has been our dream for years. Back in October we found a way to make that happen. We didn't have a lot of resources and we avoid debt like the plague so our options are/were few. My parents own 40 acres out in the country and we talked with them and came up with a plan to have a small unfinished cabin brought in to the back of their property and that's where we would be. We gave away and sold about 65% of our possessions and made the move at the first of October. The cabin had no electricity, no water, no insulation, no (covered) flooring and no plumbing. We soon found out that the power company wouldn't run it's services out to us because it would cost them too much money and our monthly bill wouldn't be large enough to cover their expenses. Although that dealt us a pretty big blow we were determined to make it work. We started joking that we were 'off grid.....but not by choice'. Water and plumbing were a completely different issue. We had to save the money to have the water meter set and the water lines run back to our cabin. Digging a well was about the same costs. We also were trying to save for a septic system. We lived with 3 to 4 oil lamps for light. Bottle, jugged and tanked water to wash, clean, and drink. Our toilet facilities? A Lowe's bucket (*ahem*) and a very large hole in the woods. My parent's lived about 150 feet from us so me and the kids would walk every morning to wash our laundry and take showers at their house. Then we would come home and do school. For heating we used a good old fashioned cast iron wood stove. For cooking we used a camp stove and open fire (all outside of course).We had a TON of fire wood available to us (Splitting wood also happens to be one of my husbands favorite things to do...I kid you not!). I also went to the laundry mat, a lot! Laundry seemed to be the biggest issue. Well, that and the lack of a bathroom. We lived this way from October-February. We finally got the money put together to do a bathroom, water and an addition to the cabin. It started feeling cramped the longer we were there.
Something happened though. For a lot of reasons including: my growing weariness of the lack of running water, summer coming and in AR having to have an air conditioner (no electricity remember?), realizing how expensive 'off grid' appliances are and for a couple other personal reason we decided to start looking for a rent house back in the city.
God has blessed us with a cute little house in a little subdivision back in town. We feel completely spoiled and relatively lazy not having to work so hard just to survive as we did in that tiny cabin. We will never forget the lessons we learned and the family time we spent together in our tiny cabin without any outside distractions. (Did I mention no Internet or TV?) We have many sweet memories of spending so much time with my dear parents. Mudding in our car to get back to our cabin (in the many AR snows we had this past season). The tree house my children and husband put together. My parent's nosy horses looking in our windows before we built a fence. My kids playing outside from sun up to sun down. Falling asleep together in our big bed at 7:00 because we were so tired after working so much that day. Working so hard around the cabin to get it ready for gardens......all this hard work done as a family unit was really enjoyable.
I'm glad to be back in a home with all today's technology and I have learned: It is a lot easier to dream of a pioneer lifestyle in the safe confines of an air conditioned home with running water than it is to live it! Our dreams haven't changed but our actions to get there have. We are currently looking for land way out in the country to put a mobile home on. We have our eye on a couple of places......but everything has to line up right. We are still trying to avoid a lot of debt......so saving the money to get to the dream seems like a long process for us, but Lord willing we will get there!
We are still homeschooling and plan to start again in August. This will be our 3rd year in and I'm loving it! I can't imagine doing anything different. We will have a 3rd grader, kindergartener and preschooler. My hands are full and my hours busy but I love every single minute of it!
Have a blessed Wednesday!
This past year what sticks out the most in my mind is our move to a tiny 14x32 cabin with no water or electricity. You may think us crazy....and in a lot of ways you are probably right, but we found a way to make our dream happen and we took it. We dreamed of land and no neighbors. We wanted a homestead our children could grow up on. We wanted animals, livestock and gardens. Working with our hands to build up our homestead has been our dream for years. Back in October we found a way to make that happen. We didn't have a lot of resources and we avoid debt like the plague so our options are/were few. My parents own 40 acres out in the country and we talked with them and came up with a plan to have a small unfinished cabin brought in to the back of their property and that's where we would be. We gave away and sold about 65% of our possessions and made the move at the first of October. The cabin had no electricity, no water, no insulation, no (covered) flooring and no plumbing. We soon found out that the power company wouldn't run it's services out to us because it would cost them too much money and our monthly bill wouldn't be large enough to cover their expenses. Although that dealt us a pretty big blow we were determined to make it work. We started joking that we were 'off grid.....but not by choice'. Water and plumbing were a completely different issue. We had to save the money to have the water meter set and the water lines run back to our cabin. Digging a well was about the same costs. We also were trying to save for a septic system. We lived with 3 to 4 oil lamps for light. Bottle, jugged and tanked water to wash, clean, and drink. Our toilet facilities? A Lowe's bucket (*ahem*) and a very large hole in the woods. My parent's lived about 150 feet from us so me and the kids would walk every morning to wash our laundry and take showers at their house. Then we would come home and do school. For heating we used a good old fashioned cast iron wood stove. For cooking we used a camp stove and open fire (all outside of course).We had a TON of fire wood available to us (Splitting wood also happens to be one of my husbands favorite things to do...I kid you not!). I also went to the laundry mat, a lot! Laundry seemed to be the biggest issue. Well, that and the lack of a bathroom. We lived this way from October-February. We finally got the money put together to do a bathroom, water and an addition to the cabin. It started feeling cramped the longer we were there.
Something happened though. For a lot of reasons including: my growing weariness of the lack of running water, summer coming and in AR having to have an air conditioner (no electricity remember?), realizing how expensive 'off grid' appliances are and for a couple other personal reason we decided to start looking for a rent house back in the city.
God has blessed us with a cute little house in a little subdivision back in town. We feel completely spoiled and relatively lazy not having to work so hard just to survive as we did in that tiny cabin. We will never forget the lessons we learned and the family time we spent together in our tiny cabin without any outside distractions. (Did I mention no Internet or TV?) We have many sweet memories of spending so much time with my dear parents. Mudding in our car to get back to our cabin (in the many AR snows we had this past season). The tree house my children and husband put together. My parent's nosy horses looking in our windows before we built a fence. My kids playing outside from sun up to sun down. Falling asleep together in our big bed at 7:00 because we were so tired after working so much that day. Working so hard around the cabin to get it ready for gardens......all this hard work done as a family unit was really enjoyable.
I'm glad to be back in a home with all today's technology and I have learned: It is a lot easier to dream of a pioneer lifestyle in the safe confines of an air conditioned home with running water than it is to live it! Our dreams haven't changed but our actions to get there have. We are currently looking for land way out in the country to put a mobile home on. We have our eye on a couple of places......but everything has to line up right. We are still trying to avoid a lot of debt......so saving the money to get to the dream seems like a long process for us, but Lord willing we will get there!
We are still homeschooling and plan to start again in August. This will be our 3rd year in and I'm loving it! I can't imagine doing anything different. We will have a 3rd grader, kindergartener and preschooler. My hands are full and my hours busy but I love every single minute of it!
Have a blessed Wednesday!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)