Our Christian Walk

     Many times in my life I have questioned God about "Why?"   Not anything else, just "Why?"  I know, it is not my place to question God and his infinite wisdom.  I know, God knows his plans for us.  I know, that God knows why he did not let us have children.  I know, that God answers our prayers, His way.  I know, that eventually I will learn patience and He will give me my answer.   I know, I know, I know.   

     I have read the passages in the Bible for patience and questioning and hurt. 

     I have prayed for my husband to become the head of our home as it is laid out in the Bible.  I have looked back over the last four to five years and have watched as my husband has grown in understanding of God's love.  I have to say that God is answering that prayer and is still working on him. 

     We have been married now going on seventeen years.  Over the last four to five years, it seems that our individual ideas have begun to coalesce into a common idea of  home, building a farm, and preparing for the future.  We have also begun to look for a home church to nurture us in our Christian walk.  We have visited one while we have been home and it looks promising.  We hope it will be a good fit.  The only problem is it being so far from our home, about 20 miles.  But if everything else works, the drive will not matter.

     When we bought our ten acres of land on which to build our home and farm, we dedicated the land to God's glory.  We told God that whatever happened on that land was for Him.  Good or bad.  We will still praise him.  My husband and I, after we signed the papers to purchase the land, stood at the top of the hill at the entrance to our driveway and said a prayer of thanksgiving and asked God's blessings.

     I cannot say that our adventure has been easy.  We are approaching deadlines on building permits.  God has provided for us in our needs and I have confidence that he will continue to provide for us. 

   " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall in divers temptaions; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."  -James 1:2-4   KJV

     Thank You, LORD for everything you have done for us and for all you will do.  Only through you will all be accomplished.  Amen



    


 

Fresh sausage and dirty rice recipe.

     Now that we have power, I have finally been able to get my cooking skills back up to snuff.  Several months ago a friend of ours offered to raise a hog for us for slaughter so that we would have some pork to go in the freezer.  We took him up on it. We paid for the pig, feed, processing, and his labor.  We had a 320 pound hog and received 210 pounds of pork in return.  We now have a small chest freezer full.  I also got some fat to learn how to render lard.  I can't wait.  But anyway, I digress. 
     One of my favorite quick meals is dirty rice.  Most people make their dirty rice with hamburger meat but I make mine with sausage. When we got our pork back, we received 64 one pound packs of sausage.  Mild breakfast sausage.  It is wonderful.  Just the right amount of seasonings.  Well, for dinner I thawed out one pound of sausage and crumbled it up in a small dutch oven and then browned it.  Drain the fat, leaving about 1 tablespoonful of fat with the browned sausage.  Then, I take a package of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and WIld Rice Fast Cook Recipe and follow the directions on the package for all but the adding of oil or butter.  The sausage fat replaces it. Mix the package contents with the sausage and then add the water and let it cook as it says on the package.  Once it is done, you have my version of dirty rice.  Quick and simple.   Just add a salad or some greenbeans maybe and you have a meal fit for a king.  I added some brown and serve rolls and yum yum. 
     Next time, I will add some pictures but it was all gone before I could take any.   Have a great day. 

Yah! we have power and plumbing

Alright, we are now getting caught up.  We got our plumbing done Monday, Jan 2, 2012.  Only about 3 months late but at this time I am not complaining.  Georgia power is supposed to be out this week to put our power in when the weather is good.  We hope we will only be grid tied for a short time til we can get our solar power figured out.  Here are some more pictures of our home place.  The first picture above is our new storage bench in the master bath.  We used rough looking stepping stones to line the wall and to set on the center section that the candles are sitting on and then used 3 ceramic tiles to fill in.  Then I am going to upholster the 2 lids and paint the sides later on.

Now, this is the krooked pine that this blog is named for.  It is right at the driveway as we come in off the road.  This picture was taken last winter after our big snow. We, hopefully, will be home at the end of the month to try to get our underpinning done and get our driveway entrance poured with concrete.  Then, we will only have our well and waterlines to do and we will be set to get our certificate of occupancy.  Finally.  We might have to get our permits extended one time for a three month extension, though to have enough time to do everything.  The biggest problem is coming up with the money to do so.  When you pay as you go it takes time. Wish our Federal Govenment did everything this way.  We might be in better fiscal shape.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Being Home and Back on the Road

 Finally, we are home and have been about ten days.  We have worked so hard and I am sorry I have not posted since we have been home.  We now have vinyl flooring and carpet in our home.  It looks so good.  Now we can start bringing furniture home from storage.  So, now the only things left to do are the following: get the power company attached, get the plumbing attached to the septic system, get the driveway entrance concreted, and get the well drilled.  Then, after the final move in we can start on our animal shelters and fencing.  We need a goat barn and chicken coop.  We want to fence in the entire ten acres but that is going to be expensive so we will do it a little at a time.  Here are some pictures of what we have accomplished so far during the last time we were home and now.

 
                                         We got the septic system put in last visit home.

                                                       Our kitchen looks great.

                                                           Our master bath, too.

Now, at the start of this post it was July now it is November.  I am afraid we went mia for a while to due to some truck issues we had that caused us to not make the money we usually do.  So, now we are 4 months behind in our timeline of completing this endevor. 
    We were able to finish the floor covering of carpet and vinyl.  We have now finished the guest bathroom and it is now usable if we had water.  We still do not have power or water and have not been able to finish anything else other than we now have gate at the road on our driveway.  Hopefully, we have a truck that will run and stay running and get us down the road to finish what we started.  Again, hopefully, I won't go mia again any time soon.  I am very sorry about this.  Ladyhawke.



Dachshunds

   Today, I thought that I would introduce you to our cohorts in travelling.  We have three dachshunds or otherwise known as weiner dogs.  They are Punkin, HottDogg, and Noodles.  Punkin is 12 years old now as is HottDogg.  Noodles is our youngster at going on 5 years oold. 
     I grew up with a dachshund named Daisy that lived to be 15 years old before having a stroke and had to be put to sleep.
     Dachshunds are a very loving dog and very personable.  BUT they can be very stubborn.  That is their only drawback. I have talked with other dachshund owners that agree with me on that point but like us they cannot have just one. Two or more is usually the way of ownership of dachshunds.  Punkin and Hottdogg are housebroken to walk on a leash and do their business outside.  We made the mistake of pee pad training Noodles when she was the only dog on the truck and now changing her to do otherwise has proved to be most difficult. 
    Punkin when coaxed a little will sing and talk to us.  Back when we had a young man taking care of our home and animals for us while we were on the road, was sitting in the living room and Punkin came up to me and volunteered to start singing and talking to me.  But she would sing and talk, turn and look at him,  look back at me and sing and talk somemore.  I don,t to this day know what she was trying to tell me, but his face turned red and I asked him if there was anything he needed to tell me as she was trying her darnedest to tell on him.  We later did have to send him packing as he was not taking care of our home and animals as we needed.  Following are some pictures of our cohorts.  Hope you like them.

Punkin is on the left.

Hottdogg is on the right.

     

This is Noodles.

     Noodles is the most playful.  She always wants to play fetch or tug of war.  She is also a daddy's girl.  She has to know where her daddy is at all times or she is whining and looking out the window to find him.  Then when she sees him it is a most joyful jig that she performs.  Her body will swing into and form a complete circle with her tail hitting her in the face.  They are the joy of our lives.  Life in the truck would be most boring if they were not in it.  

The year so far in pictures

     I finally figured out picture downloading so here are a few to get you up to date on where we are with our new home and farm.  Don't depend on the dates on the pictures for actual timelines as I am bad about correcting the date on the data back of my camera when I change the batteries.  This is looking down our driveway the day we found the land.  Someone had already cleared two areas on it but had they had since grown back up.

     A week later, after we bought it and after it had been bushhogged.  Believe it or not this is the same driveway as the first photo.  Meet My Beloved Other Half.  The Blacksmith.

     Our new home, the day we went to see it for the first time.  It is hard to tell in this picture but it was in two pieces.

     Day of delivery.  We actually got to see the first half delivered and set up before we had to hit the road again.  We have wonderful friends that we trust to oversee some parts of our home and its building, when we are not home. 

     Seeing our home set up on the property, completely set up for the first time.  We were so excited.

      
    
     Porches added and storage building brought in. Starting to look like a home.
Sort of.  Still have many things to do before actually getting to move in.  But very close.
Thanks for stopping by.  Lady Hawke.
                                                                                                                                 

Archives

Just for anyone that does not know.  I am still learning how to do this blog and have somehow swapped posts.  The correct order of my posts are Getting Started, Travelling, and then Farming.  Sorry.  I'm human.  LOL. Lady Hawke.