Thankful Blessings

Rainbows are Reminders of God's Promises to us.

Good Morning!  While this is not posted ON Thanksgiving, I thought I would write about our blessings this week.  There are so very many, I couldn't possibly tell you all, so I will share some of the biggest ones.

*I am a Christian.  God sent his Son to ensure I had a spot in heaven.  If I had no other blessings in the world, this would be enough. 

*Family - husband, children, granddaughters, sister, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who are like family w/out the blood tie.  I have an incredibly loving, supportive, caring, crazy circle around me.  Going through tough times, my kids and several cousins were my rocks. They sustained me when I felt I had nothing left.  Meeting my husband and deciding to take a chance and share my life once again opened up a whole new world of love, sharing, and compassion as well as the creativity in my life.  He brought along 2 children for me to love and with them, I added granddaughters to my blessings list. 


*Farm Life - I have dreamed of having a self-sustaining lifestyle for most of my adult life.  It has been a progress in my thinking as to what self-sustaining really is, but I always knew I wanted something "more" than the typical idea of the American Dream.  I am well on my way.  We have our little farm and we are working on the self-sustaining part.  Some day, I hope to not only produce 90% of what we need for our food, but have the farm create enough income to actually pay for itself.  I don't know if I'll ever get there as fully as I like, but in the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey.


*Creativity - I am creative.  I like to make things.  I like to reuse things.  I like to try to come up with new ideas and take old ideas and redo them to turn them into new ideas.  I prefer to "do it myself" whenever possible.  I like to make things for family and friends (as gifts) that I not only know they'll like, but will use and need for years to come.  I am slowly teaching my husband to reuse things available (read as - use trash to make treasures <grin>) to create new things.  I love the look on his face when I say "oh - don't throw that away".

Pallet Half Wall for the lean to - no "construction" needed....

*Critters - while I know this technically belongs in the farm section, I believe they are more than "farm".  My critters fall into 2 categories.  Pets and not "exactly" pets.  The pets are obvious.  The "not exactly pets", you
 may wonder about.

Our goats are not for eating.  At this point, they are dairy goats and not worth the effort to process unless starvation was a concern.  They are production animals.  However, they are also loving, sweet and totally too cute.  We thoroughly enjoy  our interactions with them and look forward to working with them each day.  We will sell/re-home some of them as necessary (a couple have life homes here since they wormed their way so deep into our hearts), but while they are here, they are an integral part of our lives.

You've heard the phrase "Circle the Wagons", but have you ever heard "Circle the Chickens"??

The chickens are for egg production and meat.  I have a couple that have life homes here, but the rest were purchased or hatched for the sole purpose of egg production (until they no longer produce) or meat.  While they are here, they get all the attention they ask for; they eat chicken foods - bugs, grass, weeds, grains, leftovers from my kitchen etc; they live "chicken lives".

 
Our cats are a source of entertainment and unconditional love.  When we don't feel well or the day has been particularly difficult for whatever reason, a good kitty-hug will make things all better (at least for the moment). 







So - those are a couple of the things I am Thankful for.  What are you Thankful For?

Next week, I'll be posting about our Homemade Holiday coming up as well as sharing what I will be starting for the spring garden.