Most notable, and influential definitions of health

These are some quotes I found in a book I have been reading bits here and there this week:

"The most notable, and undoubtedly still the most influential, definition of health is that of the World Health Organization. The definition appeared in the preamble of its constitution during the late 1940s; "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity."

This definition stemmed from a conviction of WHO organizers that the security of future world peace would lie in the improvement of physical, mental, and social health. The definition suggests that health goes beyond the mere avoidance of disease and extends to how one feels and function physically mentally and socially."

These are some quotes I found in a book I have been reading bits here and there this week. I think that the one of the most important factors was left out of this definition and that it our spiritual health. It is the one aspect that will determine our longevity. You know - with Heaven in mind. It doesn't matter how long we live on this earth - if this is all we get then there isn't really much to live for, especially these days. But when we come to realize that this life is not the end we can have hope in a bright future and that bright future is possible if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is one of the most important things. Health is important. And in order to have good health we need to not only look at physical health, but we need to keep in mind that mental health, social well-being and spiritual health are important, But our spiritual health is of vital importance!! :O)

"In Proverbs, Solomon repeatedly delineates the health advantages that come through knowing and loving God."

"My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity." "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:1,2,7,8 NIV)

"My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find me health to a man's whole body." (Proverbs 4:20-22)."

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Be sure to come back tomorrow! I actually feel like I am getting back into the blogging mood again. I have already typed up several posts and have several more ideas.

See you tomorrow!

May God bless you and keep you safe in His loving arms!!!

Keep praying- read to find out why!

Keep praying- read to find out why!

"Then He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One who was seated on the throne, and when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 Elders threw themselves to the ground before the lamb. Each of them had a harp and golden bowl full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints)." Rev. 5:7,8

"That the prayers of the saints are contained in golden receptacles may indicate the preciousness with which Heaven regards them."

Now isn't that beautiful?!

a tiny update

It has been a while I since I got on here to write up a blog post and everything has changed. Looks like it will be easier to use - once I figure it all out. Sorry I have been MIA. Just doing alot of stuff here around the house. I don't get out much - not because I am scared- but because I do not want to wear a mask. I have tried, believe me I have it is SO hard for me to breath wearing one. It has been a month since our Governor has put that mandate into place - I sure hope that he will reconsider. Truth is that our numbers have gone up even faster now that there is a mask mandate. We only had had 3 deaths in the first several months of this Covid mess - when we had the choice to wear a mask or not. NOW the numbers have jumped to 7 and that was at the 3 week point of mask mandate.... I am sure that the forcing people to wear masks is causing immune systems to go down. And NO I do not want to argue about it - it is just my opinion and what I am seeing with the numbers. 

Can you tell I am very tired of this mess. I am sure everyone is by now. If you aren't - you may be the exception. 

Well I will try to get on here so I can share a few things going on around here, what I am doing to cope, and what I am doing to keep myself busy and out of trouble. Take care ya'll 

Just a little something I saw on Facebook and had to share: 

I will never take it for granted again

There are so many things that  I thank as American people - and maybe other people around the world take for granted. And it takes something happening where you realize how very lucky you were to have what ever it was. And then I think after you finally come to a realization of how lucky you were to have it - I think you live the rest of your life appreciating it in a new way.

I think the biggest thing that happened to me that caused me to realize I was taking something for granted was when I lost my hair during chemo - 6 years ago. Ever since then I have been grateful for my hair - no matter if I get a good hair cut or not- I am still thankful to have it!

Recently I shared how grocery shopping was something that I used to take for granted but about a year or more ago - God just begun working on me and helped me come to appreciate it without losing it - which was very good because of the recent things that have been happening since March. It isn't as easy to go to the store and get what you need or want. I am glad I learned to be thankful of the blessings of being able to go to the store and get what I wanted or needed - before it became a problem.

This week end opened my eyes to something else that I will not take for granted any more. When we were driving home from our camping trip- it was Sunday morning. As we drove by a church - I was happy to see a parking lot full of cars!! People were gathered together to worship the LORD! As you all know that I have been blessed the last 2 months to be able to go to church- it has blessed me beyond measure! And as I drove by this and several other churches it did my heart so much good just seeing people gathered together to praise the Lord! Every time we drove by a church and lots of cars were there I was say "People are praising the Lord!" or "People are worshiping the Lord!!" I don't think I will ever take that for granted again. I think it will always be a blessing to me. I wish I remembered the churches name - I might look it up on a map and see about contacting them and telling them how blessed I was to see the cars there. God wants us to gather together to worship Him and He wants up to be a beacon of light to the world around us. I think it would be a blessing to that church to let them know that it blessed me just to see them meeting. I wonder if more people in their community will join their church based on the fact that they are there and opened and welcoming people in. People need the church now more than ever before!!

Refreshed

This past week end I went on a camping trip. It was very refreshing to my soul. Usually on my camping trips I am inspired to write and get several posts written up, but not this time. This time I think that I was so depleted with all the craziness going on that I spent a good amount of time just sitting at the campsite watching my granddaughter play and fish.

I also discovered that I enjoy magnet fishing much more than I enjoy fishing for fish. I think it's because of the fact that when you magnet fish - you are fishing for something that is stationary- as apposed to something that is moving. Fishing for fish requires you know just the right time to pull in order to get the fish. Magnet fishing requires patience but a steadiness when you realize you have something on the other end of the rope.

I got one of my favorite things on my very first attempt at magnet fishing for this trip!

And the biggest thing I got - or should I say my granddaughter and I got was this: 

This was a bit more challenging to get in and I was thankful for my granddaughters help! We actually pulled 2 chairs out of the water - the other one had been in the water longer - we left it there for something else. 

We got all sorts of other smaller things. We both really enjoy magnet fishing!!! 

I was able to go hiking 1 time on this trip. But it was a great hike - this trail has 3 bridges. I love them!! 

I didn't see as much wildlife on this trip - probably just too hot. 

But this trip was very needed and refreshed my soul.

I am very happy to be home and back with my animals! 

I am so glad that I have a place that I am comfortable and enjoy being. There is so much craziness going on in our world and right now I am choosing to spend a majority of my time at home- not because I am afraid of the virus - no- it's just more peaceful here at my home. 

I hope you all are doing well. :O) 

Sabbath Praise

Next week we will get back to our series- but today I wanted to share one of my favorite praise songs. Be sure to listen to it all because about 3/4 of the way through this song is an awesome part that just totally blesses me! I hope it blesses you as well.

Unexpected Blessings

We will be going camping in the next week or so. We needed to get tags for our truck and our RV. It has been a year since our family has been able to go camping and we had just let the tags go on the RV. So on a very hot day in Texas - we headed out to get the tag for the RV. My husband went in and about 15 minutes later came out frustrated and mad. He had been told the year before that our RV did not have to be inspected because of its weight- but they were telling him that yes - it needed to be inspected. Another hoop to jump through. Now remember it has be very, very hot here in Texas this week - temps in the triple digits and heat index making it feel even hotter.

We drove home hooked up the RV and took it to be inspected. Once he was home - we headed off to the office to get the tags- probably about 8 miles away. When he went another lady who had worked there for a long time helped him and come to find out or trailer did not need to be inspected- and it wasn't suppose to be the 133.75 that our paperwork showed - so thankfully she knew what she was doing and changed the information so that the bill reflected what it should - making the bill just under $80 once they added a convenience fee for him to use a credit card.

We could have been mad when we were sent off to have the inspection and we were a little upset - and really perplexed at why it needed to be inspected even thought it was below the weight limit. But thankfully we just did what we needed to do - because even with our two trips to town and having the RV inspected and paying the convenience fee- we still paid less over all than our 133.75 bill had originally been. And we learned a lesson; sometimes when life doesn't seem to be working out - there may be an unexpected blessing on its way. Just be patient. :O)

Six miles, Two Miles and What?

For the longest time we went to a church that was about 6 miles away. A couple of years ago I transferred to a church just 2 miles or so away. I knew God was leading me when I made that change. But even before Corona hit - I had felt uneasy about some things- mostly about my Sabbath School class. We would pick books to read and discuss. We voted on the books - and sometimes there was a good book and sometimes not. Then the Corona virus hit and closed the church. Several things happened in this time period that disappointed me greatly.

About 1 1/2 months ago I talked to a friend who shared with me that her church was open again (ours was still closed down). I was SO happy to hear that this church was open and a week later I was there to praise the Lord with other believers. And after several weeks I decided for sure that I wanted to transfer my membership. I wanted to belong to a church that showed it's faith in Jesus. And who opened and allowed it's members the choice of if they felt comfortable - to come to church and if not - they are welcome to watch online; just the way I thought it should be. So I have been going there for about 2 months. And even though it is 10 miles from my house - it is exactly where God wants me to be! I don't mind driving further away - especially since they continue to be a bright light shining for Jesus! There are many hurting people out there - now more than ever we need churches to stand up and represent Jesus to the world. I am SO happy that God led me to a church who is willing to do so. Praising the Lord!! :O)

Thankful and Grateful

For the past year, I remember many times feeling so thankful and grateful as I walked around the grocery store or as I drove home from store. I thought about how back in "Little House on the Prairie" time they didn't have things as easily accessible as we do. I hadn't realized at the time that God wanted me to be grateful for something that many take for granted. I was thankful and found myself many times telling Him "Thank you for the blessings of being able to go and get what we need.

I had never experienced a time where I went to the store and found so many empty shelves. But once the lockdown began toilet paper was one of the first things to disappear off the shelves. Thankfully I have been able to keep us stocked with a decent amount of toilet paper. As time passed more and more shelves became empty. And even in the last month it has shocked me how there are still things that are not at the stores.

I think we need to pay attention to what God brings to our minds. He could be warning us of up coming event. Trust me ~ I have been wondering what could be next. So much has happened over the last several months that I never anticipated and I just hope it gets better and not worse.

Many seem shocked that the number of cases seem to be going up - but we all need to realize that one of the main reasons that the numbers are going up is because there is a WHOLE lot more testing going on. And then there is one more thing to consider. So I know someone who they think may have Corona Virus -she was tested at an urgent care clinic. But here employer wants answers quicker - so she also had a rapid results test done. There is a VERY good chance that if she is tested positive that it will count for 2 cases. Oh and then I also know that they ask the person how many people are in your household- this number then is added to the possible cases if she is positive. So she could be counted at least 2 times and if she is positive she would have to have 2 tests that were negative in order to go back to work - so any more of those tests that come back positive could also be added to the count. Anyway I wanted to share this to help with peoples fears. All we hear on the news is how many people are testing positive and it can cause hear - especially if we don't understand the reasons why we are hearing of so many cases. I wish they would actually tell us how many people are hospitalized of the confirmed cases - because many of them are being sent home to self Argentine.

Sorry for jumping off on that - but like I said I think that many people are very scared because they don't understand a lot about that stuff.

Anyway my main point of this post is to say that I realize now that God was gently warning me as to what was coming and I am glad that I at least appreciated the freedom I had to grocery shop and get the things I needed. And that the shelves were usually stocked. I am going to try to be better at paying attention to what God tells me so I can be ready for what ever else comes my way. .

How I am Staying Sane

Hello! I hope you all are doing well and staying healthy. Our world these days is crazy. If you had have told me 6 months ago that all of this would happen - I would not have believed  you. At each stage I have felt like it couldn't get worse than this and then something else happens. Here in Texas there is a mask mandate for any county with more than 20 active cases - when you go into stores and are places you can not maintain 6 feet social distancing. It is crazy. And it makes me SO happy that I had worked over the last several months to stock up just a bit. I have bigger plans for what I want to do but the fact that I am avoiding stores as much as possible - not because I am afraid of the virus. Nope. I am sure that my son had it at Christmas time last year and then my husband several weeks later. And I very well could have had a light case of it - because I got sick but was able to get over it without going to the Dr. Praise the Lord! I am very uncomfortable wearing a mask for several reasons. First of all it is because I think that fresh air is VERY important for our health. And second - when I where the mask - I feel as bad if not worse than I felt when I had to wear a hat because I was bald. It is physiologically damaging to me. I used to be able to go to Aldi's and then I would go to Walmart and get what ever I could not get at Aldi's. Now I am good to be able to get through Aldi's. Thankfully my husband had picked up the slack and has gone to Walmart the last couple of time. I have not been there in a month now.

I have shared before how fun activities that I really enjoyed like thrift store shopping and going to Antique mall- have also been taken away - I could go to them but would have to wear a mask - no thank you..... and dressing rooms have been closed for at least 3 1/2 months now... And I used to love to go grocery shopping but that too has become a challenge - a walking on egg shells experience....

What I have been thankful for is things to do at my house. Working in the yard and garden has taken a good deal of my time - for several houses many morning. I am SO blessed that my son is working from home and so I do NOT have to be at his house at 6:45am like I did last year. And because I don't have to I am able to work in the garden and the yard! That has been SO therapeutic! 

I am also getting into things like drying herbs and learning new skills to help improve my life here at home.

My quilting machine gave me problems and last week I was very frustrated with it - hadn't actually quilted in a year or so now but was thinking about it all and the space it takes up. Anyway I had a plan to sell it and as I was doing some research on it to see how much I could ask for it I found a youtube that I think will help fix the problem I had with it. I can not wait to try it out. So if I get it working correctly, I have a good number of projects in my sewing room to keep me busy.

We have moved things around, gotten rid of things, and added some cabinets to our kitchen. All of these things is adding to the quality of our lives. I have a list of things I would still like to do but at least we are headed in the right directions.

Anther major things I have done is to study my Bible more. My new church just started studying Revelations in prayer meeting and I only missed Revelations 1. So I am going to go through that study with them. Revelations can be a scary book to study- but it does have a blessing for those who read Revelations (Revelations 1:3). So it is well worth it to study.

Praising God is another great thing that I have been trying to do more. When the stress of life starts bogging me down - I will pull up some praise songs and sing along. It's always a good time to praise the Lord. Keep our eyes on Him through the storm is the only way we can safely pass through it.

Anyway I hope you all are finding things to help keep you sane during these crazy times. If you have some great ideas - I would love to hear about them in comments. :O)

Victory in Christ.....series chapter 6

His Victory Mine 

For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed. I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the part which God expects me to do, and which I can do, I was trying to do God's part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory, but to receive the victory that has already been won for me by Jesus Christ. 

"But," you will ask, "does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight?" Yes, it certainly does. "Are we not told that we must strive to enter in?" We surely are. "Well, what, then?" Only this: that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to strive. 

Christ as a man fought the battle of life, and conquered. As my personal representative He won this victory for me, and so His word to me is "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). I can therefore say with deep gratitude, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). My difficulty was due to this: that I did not give heed to the fact that victory is a gift, already won, and ready to be bestowed upon all who are willing to receive it. I assumed the responsibility of trying to win what He had already won for me. This led me into failure. 

This victory is inseparable from Christ Himself, and when I learned how to receive Christ as my victory through union with Him, I entered upon a new experience. I do not mean to say that I have not had any conflicts, and that I have not made any mistakes. Far from it. But my conflicts have been when influences were brought to bear upon me to induce me to lose my confidence in Christ as my personal Savior, and to separate from Him. My mistakes have been made when I have allowed something to come between me and Him to prevent me from looking into His blessed face with the look of faith.When I fix my eyes upon the enemy, or upon the difficulties, or upon myself and my past failures, I lose heart, and fail to receive the victory. Therefore, "looking unto Jesus" is my motto (Hebrews 12:2).

The fight that I am to fight is "the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12), but the weapons of this warfare are not of the flesh. I do not believe in myself, and therefore I have no confidence in my own power to overcome evil. I hear Him saying to me, "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9), and so I surrender my whole being to be under His control, allowing Him to work in me "both to will and to do" (Philippians 2:13), and when I act upon the faith that He will do this in the way of victory, He does not disappoint me. By living His life of victory in me, He gives me the victory. This means that I offer my body a living sacrifice; that I must not willfully choose the way of disobedience; and that I will not consent to any known sin. Such a course, which is the life of faith, makes it possible for Him to impart to me the victory that He has won for me.

His victory is my victory. Have you taken Him as your victory 

"O glorious victory, that overcomes the world!" 

 

All We Have, All We Need

Yesterday I mentioned that many of the fun things that I enjoy have been taken away. I am sure it is that way with most. But today I wanted to talk about it a bit. Some thrift stores in my area are open - but not only do they require a mask to enter - but they have also closed their dressing rooms. So what is the point if I can not try stuff on. So far I have not gotten desperate enough to shop to go.

Then my volunteering job has been put on hold and there is no telling if I will be going back or not. I am learning through all of this to hold my plans very loosely.

A lot of the things I was participating in at my church have also either been canceled or are zoom meetings. Which I have NO desire to do. It's just not my thing. So apparently these were not things for me. And I am okay with that. I have plenty of other things to do. Plus the discomfort caused me to make a great decision that I may not have made otherwise. I will share more about it later.

I used to really enjoy grocery shopping and now that is not something I look forward to. It is more like walking on egg shells. I have more thoughts I want to share about this but that will be another post.

Not only am I losing the fun things that I have enjoyed but my sister is moving away - 5 hours away.

It really seems that many things that I enjoyed have been taken away. I should not be surprised because I think we have to come to a place of realizing that if Jesus is all we have that we have all that we need. And this is really becoming clear to me. I am wondering if others of you have been noticing this happening in your lives as well? I would love to hear from you all. It is nice to know that we are not alone. Hope to hear from you. :O)

Going to Try Something New

Today I want to share something that I have decided to try because of watching this youtube video:





Several years ago I got a herb garden going. I only started with one plant each: rosemary, sage, oregano, and parsley. I have been happy that most of these plants have come back year after year. What a blessing! This year I actually had quite a few new parsley plants come up. I had not realized that and had bought another parsley plant -one each flat leaf and curly. I also bought a basil plant. I have used more of the rosemary, parsley and basil plants. I haven't found as much use from the sage and the oregano plants. But this video changed that - I think I am going to try dry some of my herbs. I think it would be awesome to be able to dry my own and if it does well - I may try to get more of each plant growing so I can get more dried and put away.

A week or so I tried to get another rosemary plant going. I am hoping it works! Maybe I can try to get more of the other plants going the same way - I can try.

So watching these type videos is very helpful. Not only does it distract me from the mess that our world is in right now - but it also teaches me things and encourages me to try new things. I have plenty of time now - since many of the fun activities that I enjoyed doing have been taken away. But more about that on another post. See you soon :O)

Time To Purge?

I have had a take a break from my volunteer job ever since Mother's Day for some personal reasons, but before I left we were getting a huge amount of donations. So many people had SO much free time and you could clearly see that they chose to spend that time going through their things and getting rid of things. We got much more that we even had room for. And I am sure they are continuing to get that volume of donations.

So today I wanted to as the question: 

Is this a good time to purge our closets? 

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this question, but I wanted to spend some time sharing a few thoughts I have had lately. 

Last year I spent a decent amount of time thrift store shopping. Sometimes I even wondered if I might be going way to often. Truth is I didn't always buy stuff. If I did not find things I loved - I would leave empty handed. But like I said I went a lot. Now I am VERY thankful that I did. Especially since I have hardly been able to thrift store shop the last 4 months or so. Although thrift stores are open 99% of them make you wear a mask or have the dressing rooms closed. And I do NOT like buying clothes without trying them on. You can not truly see how they will work for you unless you try them on. So it is SUPER hard to even get clothes right now. And with all the stuff going on in the world - and our issues with China and since many things are made in China - it could very well become increasingly harder to find clothes. 

So I think it is a good idea to go through our clothes and organize them to what fits nicely and all now. And if things are damaged or just positively wrong - as in too short or what ever - my suggestion is that maybe you might want to hold onto your clothes just in case. I think it is going to be harder and harder to replace clothes and it just might be a great time to hold off at least for a bit. This shut down/ regulations mess is lasting way too long and there is no telling when it will be over..... if it ever is. So what I have chosen to do is to just hang loose for a bit and take good care of the clothes I have. Help them to last for a good long time. 

If things clear up - we will all have plenty of time and energy to go through and get rid of stuff if need be - especially if we are able to find some great replacement piece. But for the time being it might be a good idea to hold onto things you may want to wear in the future. :O) 

Learning Time

My routine used to involve me watching an episode of House Hunters or House Hunters International while I had my meals. I enjoyed them and will probably from time to time watch episodes from these shows for some down time but recently I have found a better use of my meal times.

Lately I have been blessed to find some great youtube channels. I have only touched the iceberg and I look forward to more great youtubers! Anyway so during my meal times I have started watching some great youtube videos. I have learned so much already and am excited to learn more! It was while watching a Homestead Tessie video and seeing one of her pantries that I decided that I needed to be a bit more prepared. The times we are living in made it perfectly clear of the importance of having a bit of an extra supply of basic essentials. I am not a crazy hoarder or anything but I have decided to have a bit of extras of the basic things on hand. Last week I shared how I put a shelving unit in the corner of my sun room. I have extra canned goods and such on this shelving unit. My plan is to "shop" from it when my pantry gets low. And then I will put things on my grocery list as I take things off my shelf.

There is so much to learn and although I enjoyed the House Hunter shows - I am so happy to find a better way to spend my time. Now I am learning all sorts of great stuff that I hope will help me be more efficient and run a better homestead myself. If you have some favorite homestead youtubers or blogs - please share in the comments. I was lucky last week and found a blog that had a long list of some blogs that I want to check out. So I have them saved to my computer and will go through them one by one keeping those which are useful. I look forward to that time as well.

Do you have some time carved into your day for learning new things? It's very important. It helps keep our brains strong and healthy; and that is important!

Victory in Christ...series chapter 5

His Righteousness is Mine 

Jesus, the Son of God who became the Son of Man, bestows His righteousness upon me as an absolutely free gift. As I meditate upon this, I know not how to express in a worthy manner the thoughts that throng my mind. Without flaw, without defect, His righteousness is perfect. He is the only man of whom this can be said. And He wove this beautiful robe of righteousness that He might clothe me with it. This is the wedding garment that the King furnishes for every guest. When thus clothed, I can go in "with Him to the marriage feast" (Matthew 25:10). 

My own garments are defiled with sin, and my own righteousness is as filthy rag. He provides for me the white raiment, that the shame of my nakedness may not appear. At infinite cost to Himself, but "without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1), He imparts to me the riches of heaven, the most precious treasure in the universe, His own righteousness. this He does by giving Himself to me. He Himself becomes my righteousness. His righteousness, His life, and Himself, are inseparable. This increases my joyful wonder. He does not divest Himself of what He bestows upon me. He Himself is the gift. He asks me to give myself to Him in order that He may give Himself to me. 

The righteousness of Jesus is not a theological creed, but a living experience. It not only changes my standing with God. But it also determines my conduct. The gift of His righteousness is not an entry on the credit side of my ledger account in the books of heaven to balance a troublesome account, a transaction entirely devoid of any personal touch with me. It has to do with my inmost being. It purifies the current of my life, and sweetens my thinking, my speaking, and my doing. It makes me a new creature in Christ Jesus. 

When a gift of such infinite value is offered to me, what am I to do? Accept it, of course. Yes, but how? There are four simple steps: First, I must admit my lost and helpless condition, and my need of more than human help; second, I must fully submit my will to God's will; third, I must commit my life entirely into God's hands; fourth, I must permit him to reveal His righteousness, not only to me, but also in me. Admit, submit, commit, permit- these are the steps, and they must be taken anew every day. 

The real experience of a Biblical faith covers this whole ground. By that kind of believing which takes God at His word and acts accordingly, I enter into the full possession of "the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9). How God does His part, I cannot explain. How I can do my part, I know, and so do you. "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7). 

"My hope is built on nothing lessThan Jesus' blood and righteousness." 

Admit 

Submit

Commit

Permit

Deepening the Pantry - Link

Today I wanted to share a link to a favorite blogger who talks a lot of deepening your pantry. At least once a week she posts a "Living the Pantry Lifestyle" which is very informative. You can look back on past posts and learn quite a bit. You can click on the link above to go to the last post about this. I hope you are blessed.

Again - if you know of other bloggers who post about interesting things like this please leave info in the comments. Thanks :O)

It will be a busy weekend for us as our youngest son will be getting married this week end. So lots to do. It has been a busy week as well. Hope you all have a great week end.

Oh and our other son has his daughter for the month of July - so I will be pretty busy - but I will get on here and share as I can.

7 Years of Plenty....Prepping

About a month ago, a fellow blogger shared a link to Homestead Tessie's youtube channel. I checked it out and enjoyed it. Life got in the way and then about a week or so ago I decided to check out another one of her videos. The calmness of her voice and the nature around her were so soothing and I watched another video. It really spoke to my heart. I plan on watching more of her videos in the future. But today I just wanted to share with you this awesome video. She talks about the importance of having extra food and supplies. And shares about this great resource to help you along the journey towards being a food prepper. And explains that being a food prepper is not being a food hoarder at all. It is getting extra food when you can so that when times get rough and you can't get as much - you will have food. As  I was watching this video towards the end of it I was reminded that in the Bible - in the story of Joseph - God told the people to store food from the 7 years of plenty for the 7 years of famine.

I hope you are blessed by this video and be sure and check out more of her videos. You will be blessed. If you know of more homesteading youtube channels that you have been blessed by - please share in comments. Thanks so very much!! :O)

An Exciting Project

Some exciting things happened this week end. Today I will share with you one of the awesome projects that we worked on! It is something that just came up quickly really. I had been watching a homestead youtuber and had really liked how she had extra food storage in her home. Then when I went to mow a few days later I noticed a metal shelving unit out near our mower shed. I brought it up to the house and started dreaming about what I could do with it. You see I had to figure out where I would put it. I knew the room I wanted to put it into but I had to figure out what we would need to get rid of and how we would arrange things to make it work. Well just a couple of days later - with very little money spent we had a great set up. 

First let me share with you how my metal shelving unit looked when I first brought it up to the house: 

It wasn't very pretty at all. And it had a lot of dirt and spider webs on it. Luckily we had an air compressor in the garage and I worked on blowing all the dirt and webs off of the unit for quite some time. We got a couple of bottles of spray paint and after I cleaned this up and we did some grinding of the shelving unit, my husband painted it for me. It turned out great!!! 

Here it is in my sun room. I am so very pleased with the way it turned out. I went to Dollar General and I bought 2 rolls up some rubbery shelf liner stuff for the bottom to shelves. The other shelves we will be using the cardboard boxes which help me to line 4 like items in each row. I am able to pull the cardboard box out to get stuff easily off of the shelf. I am not done with getting everything for the shelving unit but that is the way it is when you are food prepping. You slowly build up your supply.

I have always kept a decent amount of food - you never know when you will need to prepare a big family meal and it is better to make sure you have things on hand than to struggling to make a meal. 

When you look around with all the things going on in the world you realize that it is important to have a good supply of things at your home. You all remember the toilet paper shortage we had not too long ago- believe it or not a friend of mine posted on facebook earlier today that HEB and the Dollar General she went to today were totally out of toilet paper! Really? Well  can you blame people? The news is hyping up how there are SO many new cases and I am sure many people are pushing for another shut down - even though if they are worried they can themselves decide to stay home. They don't need to have the whole world shut down because they are afraid. Anyway enough about that.

I will try to share a neat little video about food prepping where she tells of a book - that is a great resource to those who would like to work towards have a little extra food and supplies at their homes. In these troubling times, when we just don't know what to expect from day to day- it is a good time to be prepared.  I will also share a great blog that talks about prepping. I know there area  a lot of different sites out there but these two ladies have such nice kind hearts and are such a blessing to read and watch.  Come back tomorrow for the youtube video. In these troubling times it is so nice to listen to this lady talk and to see her lovely homestead. 

So as you can see we got some great projects done this week end. I had a nice secretary roll top desk - I had always wanted a roll top desk but then once I set up my desk at the window with the great view of my back yard - I lost interest in the roll top. I would much rather look outside. So we got rid of our roll top desk. I am so happy how this project came together. And I am so thankful for the ladies who have taken their time and effort to share what they are doing and for encouraging me along the way. This shelf will be my store. When things get low in my pantry-I will pull things off of this shelf. This way it will be easier to use the older things first and then replace with the newer things. This will help prevent things from going out of date because of putting new things in front of the older things and forgetting to rotate.

See you all tomorrow :O)