Sunday, April 15, 2018

A Little Background

I am married to the most wonderful man! Eric.

We have 5 children, Seth, Amelia, Elanor, E. Scott, and Naomi, who I refer to collectively as "onions."

Frequent moving was not ever a plan we intended. However, we have moved around quite a bit: 8 times over the last 16 or so years.

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted a horse, and a farm to go with it. Animals, a garden, and fruit trees. Eric made my dream a reality when we purchased our mini-mini farm in May 2014, all 4000+ square foot home and .54 acre of it.

We had a barn. Really it was a 2 car wood structure garage with a loft at the back of the lot.


We had a horse, 8 chickens, lots of goats and kids.
the poop zone

The "poop zone" was toward the back of our lot. We had a 1000 square foot garden, and a 16 tree orchard.


I realized just how big our land was when I asked to borrow a truck to get mulch for a landscaped area. We drove it into the back yard and it seemed small.
This is 1/2 of our "no poop zone"

It was wonderful.

A LOT of work, but wonderful.

Our plan was to stay there until our youngest graduated high school.


But….

In early 2016 Eric felt inspired that we needed to sell and move.

WHAT?

Walk away from my beloved dream come true?

Yes.

Ok.

Sigh

Sometimes obedience is often not easy, but we chose obedience.

We moved to Kenny and Mary's ( Eric's twin brother and his wife) empty home for a while, and quickly met people that changed our lives.

We made the transition from public school to home school in 2016. The TJEd (Thomas Jefferson Education) home school philosophy rang true for us and we jumped off of the conveyor belt. We have been part of 2 commonwealth home school groups and we have loved each one.

We came to learn more about principles - looking for them in scripture reading, teaching our onions, learning ourselves, and applying them to our lives on a daily basis. Learning principles and living by them rather than merely conforming and following the “rules.”

Eric lost his job in May, 2017. This opened the door for us to prioritize what we value and to determine what we really want and we offered our plan to the Lord. Personal revelation can be overwhelming at times!

Our goal is to live a Georgic lifestyle. To be connected to the earth, to grow as much of our food as possible, if not all. To raise and harvest our own meat. To live off the land, being connected to our resources and to know where the things we use and consume come from.

We are looking for treed acreage (20+) with a water source (well + spring, creek, pond) and a livable dwelling.

We were instructed NOT to go into debt to purchase it.

I shake my head every time I think of this.

How?

Where?

Why?

Wait, what?

Come again…

And yet I have the faith that the Lord will continue to guide and direct us, that He will provide.

I have been looking for our next home for about a year now. Our first consideration is water. Second is home school law. We love home school! Then we looked at other laws that my deter us.  For example, we decided to avoid Tennessee because the insurance required to have horses is outrageous.

I found ONE property in Arkansas that fit our specifications and budget, but the bank went with a different purchaser. Our entire family was devastated. I continue to search, diligently.

The house we are living in is under contract. We have commitments to our homeschool group and to our children that are not yet completed.

OUR SOLUTION - move into our RV, then travel the country to find our next place to call home if I don't find one sooner.

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