Harvest and Seasons

 

I'm transitioning into a new season of my life and I'm excited about change. In fact, it feels like the last nine months have been nothing but change. Good Change.

 

But, its important to change well. What I mean is, I believe when your stepping into something new its wise to make sure your not leaving a mess behind you. So for the past two months I've endeavored to do just that, change well.

 

I've focused on raising up new leaders to replace me in a variety of areas and while I've enjoyed it and discovered a new found passion for mentoring...I haven't been able to spend much time in the garden.

 

My blog probably doesn't reflect that though. I tend to take a bazillion pictures during the time I do have and schedule posts in advance to make sure I have something to look back on come winter. God has been faithful during this time, with steady rain every week to make up for my lack of watering. He is good!

 

As a result, I discovered that I have quite a bean harvest, even after feeding the local bunny population. More on that in a future post. Tonight I harvested a variety of beans, a patty pan squash, my first roma tomato and a yellow crookneck squash.

 

 

 There is nothing quite like coming home to a surprise harvest.

It all started with Laundry Detergent

 I’ve been surprised with the changes in my life over the past four months. It all started with laundry detergent. I was on Facebook and happened to see a link for Homemade Cleaning Recipes one friend shared with another. I was intrigued. I’ve always like the idea of being self sufficient, not from my provider, but from consumerism as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy my Lucky Brand jeans, Cinnamon Toast Church Cereal and other consumer goods. However, I like the idea of knowing how to live simple, even if it’s just-in-case knowledge.

Laundry Detergent

I also like easy, really easy. After perusing my new favorite website, it appeared the easiest recipe to try was the powdered laundry detergent. I basically just mixed three dry ingredients together and I had detergent. Enough detergent that I estimate it will last me about a year, for the price of $7.50. The best part was its less toxic than regular detergents and it did the exact same thing my old laundry detergent did, clean my clothes! I use to spend that in a month on laundry detergent, so I’m pretty pleased with my savings of $82.50 a year. 

 

All purpose cleaner

Did you know vinegar cleans? I didn’t. It turns out if you mix distilled vinegar with borax (a natural mineral) and some essential oils, you get a pretty great all purpose cleaner. I keep mine in an old 409 bottle, I really like how that bottle sprays. It sprays perfection.

Dish Soap

I attempted to make my own dish soap back in September. It went well for an hour. Then the soap that I had boiled down congealed and I couldn’t get it to squeeze out of the bottle. FAIL. I then learned a friend of mine just mixes Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile soap and water together to make hers. I copied this with the peppermint version and really like the results. My husband is not thrilled with the small amount of bubbles it creates (compared to regular detergents), but I really like the scent and it cleans my dishes great.  

Shampoo and Conditioner

As a former hair stylist, I’ve always valued higher quality hair products. There was a time in my life when I only purchased Aveda or Phyto products and nothing else touched my hair. It was great, until I needed to tighten up my budget. The truth is if you don’t color your hair and you go easy on the heat styling, you can use the cheap, $2.00 to $3.00 shampoos and not notice a difference in the health of your hair.

The problem is your pouring some rough chemicals over your head each time you wash. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) are commonly found in shampoos; they strip the natural oils from your scalp and can leave your hair dryer that it really needs to be. Also, they are both irritants, meaning you don’t want this stuff in your eyes. I’m not really sure if there is any research to back this theory, but I find myself wondering if we are constantly pouring irritants over our head daily if there is possibility of long term eye damage.

I haven’t completely rid myself of regular shampoo and conditioner, but I have cut back. I wash my hair about three times a week, using John Frieda Sheer Blonde Shampoo once and substituting with Baking Soda and Vinegar the other times. On the days I don’t wash my hair, I rub corn starch into the roots to absorb any extra oil and then brush out (partially). The corn starch actually gives my hair  a bit of volume and I’ve found that I prefer my off days. 

The Simple Mom blog has an entire post dedicated to going Shampoo Free, which is where I got the idea to make the switch to Baking Soda and Vinegar. The two counteract each other in their PH levels which create balance and leave my hair softer than I expected. The days I use them are my 2^nd favorite hair days. I still use Sheer Blonde because it lightens my naturally dark blond hair. I plan to experiment with Chamomile tea in the future to see if I can get the same lightening effects.

Acne treatment

Did you know that tea tree oil is used to treat acne? I didn’t, but now I do and for me it works better than the benzoyl peroxide which is also potentially carcinogenic and explosive!?!

Facial Cleanser

I have spent the past eighteen years struggling with overly oily skin and acne. It started early in my life and with the exception of the times I’ve used Proactive and Yaz, I’ve never really gotten rid of it. While I was on the Simple Mom blog recently I came across a post about the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). The theory is that by using normal facial cleansers, even ones made for oily skin, you are stripping your face of its needed oils. In return, your skin overproduces oil to compensate for this. As a result, your skin just gets oilier. When oil gets trapped by dirt in your pores, you experience break outs. The goal is to remove dirt from your skin without stripping your skin, by using good oils that nourish your skin. 

I use a combination of Castor Oil which draws out dirt and Extra Virgin Olive Oil that moisturizes. I’ve been using this method for three weeks now and I REALLY like the results. I’ve notice my skin is softer, less oily, clearer and it even glows a little. Plus, I really like the relaxing effects of massaging the oil into my skin. 

I still purchase other bath and cleaning products, such as:

Honest Company Face & Body Lotion – Hypoallergenic / Non-toxic

Honest Company Body Oil - Food-grade quality, cold pressed oils

Honest Company Sunscreen – I used it daily on my face, neck and hands

Honest Company Stain Remover

Yes, I could probably branch out in the brands I use but I really like Honest Company products.

It’s been a great four months and I was surprised with how much I’ve really enjoyed learning natural, easy ways to live. I look forward to learning more.

Any other suggestions out there to try?

 

What about 2012?

Listen to Kenneth Copeland's message here!

My Focus Is Off

"When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble (those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness." Proverbs 11:2

Sometimes I find myself thinking FAR too highly of me, instead of him. I notice this is when things start heading down hill very fast. I notice that I depend less on my relationship with the lord and attempt to lean on my own understanding. Suddenly, Life seems dull, lackluster and my patience becomes shorter. I spend less time in the Word and then I am focusing my attention on things that are just time wasters. This is when I know I'm heading into dangerous ground.

There is something to be said about having a humble spirit. In Daniel 10:12 the lord tells Daniel to "Fear not, for from the first day that you set you mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of your words."

On the other end of that spectrum, in Isaiah 2:11 "The proud looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

The truth is how can you depend on the lord when you envision yourself to be so great? You can't.

I'm off to humble myself before the Lord and get back on track.

What Fear?

My husband and I are in the process of building our first home. We've experienced a wide range of emotions since the day we decided to take the first step. You see we've been attempting to purchase home for years now, but there was always something not right about the timing. Once we came so close that we had an offer in on a house we had our hearts on only for it to fall through. God had other plans for us.

That was nearly three years ago and while we've looked at other homes, we have managed to keep a firm grasp on our apartment lease white knuckled and not ready to let go.

When the interest rates started falling and home builders began offering everything under the sun to sell, and then the first time home buyer incentive....well it was enough for us to step out and take another look. This time it was right, after prayer and three weeks of harassing our home sales representative (who has more than earned his commission) we took that first step....that leap of faith.

The evening we drove home after signing the contract it started, fear seeped in. It started with just one little thought.....what if? What if something happened to one of our jobs, how would we make our mortgage payments? In less than twenty four hours it went from "what if" to "this can't work". I'm not sure how we let that happen, fear doesn't come from god. Fear comes from trusting in things that are not of god, so place your trust in the lord and don't allow fear in your life. Seems simple and yet it happen so quickly. I'm very happy to say that as soon as we identified that we were in fear we ran straight to the lord. After prayer and renewing our minds, the fear was gone and peace had returned. Resist the devil and he shall flee (James 4:7)

What would of happened if we had allowed the fear to remain? Knowing how I have tendency to take control of EVERYTHING around me (still working on that one) I most likely would have gone back on our contract to build. I'm not even sure if you can do that, but I would have found out and lost our earnest money in the process. The worst would have been that I had stepped outside of the lord's will. I would of allowed the devil to steal the home God set aside for us and has been planning for us to have for these past three years.

Don't allow fear to control your life...God is in control.

Recommendation: Psalm 91- the whole chapter :)

Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you sins?

Have you prayed this prayer?

“Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. I give you my life. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life and into my heart. Amen”

Then guess what, you are a Christian. The Vine’s expository dictionary defines "Christian," as a word formed after the Roman style, signifying an adherent of Jesus, and was first applied to such by the Gentiles and is found in Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16.

This is the basics of Christianity, the very link that ties us all together. We have ALL sinned and have ALL fallen short, but by the grace of God we were redeemed by the blood of Jesus. You would think that you would find all of us celebrating together the beauty that is Christ and our victory that the lord bought for us. Instead you will find that we’ve become one of our own worst enemies and our weapon is persecution. Second Timothy 3:12 states very plainly “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”, yes as a follower of Christ you will see more and more persecution. However, this persecution is supposed to come from the devil, not from each other.

There are many denominations, faiths, doctrines and ministries that teach Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. They encourage people to give their lives back to god, to turn away from sin and develop their relationships with the lord. They each endeavor to spread evangelism and further God’s word in the world. Yet, they find themselves caught up in the petty, small differences between each other. Maybe they don’t see eye to eye on baptism, the Holy Spirit or whether or not God wants you to prosper. Instead of uniting and supporting one another they tear each other down. When they should be sharing a much needed word from the lord, they are flinging careless insults at each other.

It is no wonder Christian’s have such a negative reputation among non-believers. How can we say that we are followers of Christ when we can’t even abide by a simple commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt 22:39)? We should be such an oasis of God’s love that people who don’t know Jesus Christ can’t wait to develop that relationship because they see his love reflected in our lives and want to be a part of it. Sadly many Christian just display the same strife seen in the rest of the world, the only difference is that theirs has a religious twist on it.

The word clearly states in Second Timothy 2:14 “Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers” (Amplified Bible). This battle of words has got to stop and the focus on sharing the message of Jesus Christ to the world needs to return.