A Rough Overview

What are we doing?
If you recall, our New Year's Resolution was to get closer to self-sustainability. To that end we started up the garden boxes, changed some more eating habits, attempted to start recycling and building a compost. There have been lots of other little changes here and there, too. We bought a ton of books that would help us learn to eventually live on a farm of our own.

This August began the 7th year that Allan and I have been together. I was reading in my bible last year about how the 7th year was the year of jubilee--the Jews would all store things up for the 6 years and on the 7th year they would do no "work," instead trusting God to have provided them with enough to get through the year of jubilee. We talked about what that looked like to us, (after all, if it doesn't apply to us now, what good is it?) and we decided that it looked like us committing our relationship and our lives to the Lord. We talked about doing things like marriage seminars and working less so we could spend more family time together.

As for the restlessness in our spirits, I think it's fairly clear to anyone who has been reading along here. We need to MOVE. Not necessarily in location, (though we strongly feel that may be on the horizon) but in spirit. It's time for an about-face. So, Allan quit his residency and we put the house on the market. He took the first two of his board exams to be a certified prosthetist and will take the final in January. We'll find out in March if he is certifiable, (haha, no pun intended, but it fits) and at this point, whether or not he is is not much of a huge deal anymore.

We've been Blessed with a monthly pension from the VA that is measly, but if we can get the equity out of this house we're looking for and put it into a cheap piece of property and house, we can afford to live on just that. It won't be extravagant, but that's not the aim.

What is the aim? To be self-sufficient, to rely only on the Lord and our hands for what we get. I'm not interested, (and haven't been for a long time) in "stuff" anymore. It just looks like clutter that distracts us from the Lord and worse--from each other. Afterall, I'll get to spend eternity with God, but I only have a few precious years with these wonderful people he put in my life. The more stuff I have to clean, keep track of and upgrade, the less time I have to spend on/with my friends and family. I'm sure that sounds absolutely insane, but...it is what it is. We have downsized so much in the last 2 years and the only time I feel bad about it is when someone comes over and says something.

We want to give A LOT. So it seems backwards, right? Why don't you WORK HARDER so you can GIVE MORE. That seems logical...but...the more we make, the more the percentage of what we give goes down. I can't begin to explain that, but it's a trend I've noticed. Plus we have less time to invest, (there are more ways to give than just monetarily) and we're more exhausted/grumpy so our giving seems shallow. Who needs that?

Overwhelmingly, we NEED to have land. We need it to grow food for us and raise animals for us and we need it to do the same for other people we come in contact with. Neither of us has the first idea how to do this other than what we've read in books, but it will get done. The learning curve will probably be steep, but we have faith that God will help us along the way as He always has. Especially since we know this is His will for our lives.

Ultimately it has become glaringly clear to us in the last 18 months that life here is great, but there is something bigger. Life here is comfortable, but there is something more liberating. Life here is "normal" to the outside world, but there is something strange and beautiful. What is that something waiting on? Us to listen to the calling. So we are. We've been toe-ing the line for a while and now it's time to jump. We know He will catch us.

None of this is what I intended to write. I had it all in my head and organized so it would make sense, but I sat down to a cloudiness and this is what came out. So my prayer is that you, as the reader and as someone who loves me and my family, will get out of it exactly what He needed you to get out of it and that you'll pray for us, not to change our minds, but to be guided clearly in the coming months. It's possible His answer is "no, not right now." and if that's the case we'll stay here, but we're pretty sure things are about to change drastically.

Love and miss you all!