I pulled this one out of the archives, if you haven't read and are curious, this is how it all began just 4 short years ago.
So I have an AMAZING story to share...
My journey to becoming the "incidental farm girl" is a pretty cool one. Rewind a few years and I was working full time, as was hubby, opposite shifts of course.
But, we have the best of it all right? Two incomes, no childcare. Check. But, now we want a farm, some land, you know a place for our kids to enjoy growing up outdoors with the horse we were boarding. We had 3 children (expecting #4) and wanted them to experience countryliving. So, we found the perfect farm (like 4 different times!) And the last one we found seemed to be an open door. We put our home on the market, entered into a contract and sat back to pray...Then there it was, we got an offer on our home and we were set...just had to wait a little longer. Felt like green lights and open doors all the way...
Interestingly enough God was working behind the scenes at the same time. We were thinking of making some educational changes (in my mind that meant possibly private school) for our children, however, after many heart-to-heart talks with hubby and lots of prayer I felt that God was calling us to homeschool our children. Something my husband later confessed to me that he had been praying for me to decide to do for years.
But wait...I worked full time! And we were going to be buying a very expensive farm that meant I REALLY DID HAVE TO WORK...LOTS! Oh and I kinda thought homeschoolers were...well, you know...weird. There I said it. I never intended on homeschooling our children, we lived in a good school district, why would I? But, I have learned (through much trial and many errors) that when you feel God calling you to action, whether you want to or not (and I did not) you had better do it. So, there it was, there may have been a slight sigh of relief when that contract fell through on the homes as our buyer could not sell in the alotted time. So, that meant we weren't buying that expensive 15 acre farm...that I soooo wanted...insert frown. Hubby then says..."with this housing market we would literally have to have someone knock on our front door and ask to buy...because we are never going to sell our home." With that we took the for sale sign down.
Okay, so we move forward right. Hubby has so much faith in me that he thought that I would just be able to keep right on working full time and start homeschooling. I knew better. So, I began to pray, I prayed for God to lead my husband to want me home, like not working, like no second income...you feeling me? God is amazing and shortly thereafter it became my husband's idea that I should come home and we should quit this madness of working opposite shifts, never having calm family time and chasing the American dream of what I like to call "Bigger,Better, Faster." That also meant give up the farm dream again. So we did. We made a 6 month plan and I worked like a madwoman at my job, lots of overtime all the while with a new baby at home...and then...I quit my 15 year career as a social worker.
So, we settled into a routine. I was finding my groove homeschooling a 7th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader while managing a 1 year old and when we learned we were expecting again, We were thrilled. Because, for the first time I was free to fully be a wife and mother...something I really enjoyed doing when I did not have a full time job pulling at me. And the homeschooling thing? I really liked it, my kids really liked it, I felt like I was getting so much more in tune with my children, my husband, and life. We were rolling along and life was good, we had learned to be content in what God had for us, maybe he wasn't planning a farm in our future, but what he had led us to was very fufilling.
We had another valley to pass through though. We lost the baby I was carrying around 13 weeks in. It was winter and though I was still relishing my role as homeschooling mother, I was crushed. We prayed, we cried, and I asked God for a peace and to get me through. He is faithful because he gave me a peace about that loss...and he comforted the hurt.
Another month goes by and on a cold February day there was a knock at the door. Do you remember my husband's comment? There stood the former owner of our home, we purchased the home from them 10 years prior. And with the former owner, a full price cash offer to purchase our home. WOW! All because.. you know, their daughter had moved in across the street and they had really good memories of raising thier children in our home. WOW!
But wait...We only have half of what we had before, I am not working, where will we go? God was not done yet. I look back now and I cannot believe how little faith I had. I mean, God has a sense of humor and he sent the "knock at the door" but I didn't rust that he already had it all worked out. Hubby and I started scouring farms, land, anything and kept coming up short. I was afraid that we were going to end up in an apartment with homeschooled kids and a hubby who worked nights...scary huh?
So on day #7 after we had the offer in writing for the purchasers of our home we looked online at real estate ads again. I hit "refresh" and there it was. Just listed, in our price range, almost 6 acres, and less than 5 minutes away! We called about it and saw it within 2 hours. It was perfect. We made the offer, it was accepted and we were approved to buy!
So, now I am the incidental farm girl. It is so amazing when we yield to what God wants to give us instead of spearheading our own plans.
So I have an AMAZING story to share...
My journey to becoming the "incidental farm girl" is a pretty cool one. Rewind a few years and I was working full time, as was hubby, opposite shifts of course.
But, we have the best of it all right? Two incomes, no childcare. Check. But, now we want a farm, some land, you know a place for our kids to enjoy growing up outdoors with the horse we were boarding. We had 3 children (expecting #4) and wanted them to experience countryliving. So, we found the perfect farm (like 4 different times!) And the last one we found seemed to be an open door. We put our home on the market, entered into a contract and sat back to pray...Then there it was, we got an offer on our home and we were set...just had to wait a little longer. Felt like green lights and open doors all the way...
Interestingly enough God was working behind the scenes at the same time. We were thinking of making some educational changes (in my mind that meant possibly private school) for our children, however, after many heart-to-heart talks with hubby and lots of prayer I felt that God was calling us to homeschool our children. Something my husband later confessed to me that he had been praying for me to decide to do for years.
But wait...I worked full time! And we were going to be buying a very expensive farm that meant I REALLY DID HAVE TO WORK...LOTS! Oh and I kinda thought homeschoolers were...well, you know...weird. There I said it. I never intended on homeschooling our children, we lived in a good school district, why would I? But, I have learned (through much trial and many errors) that when you feel God calling you to action, whether you want to or not (and I did not) you had better do it. So, there it was, there may have been a slight sigh of relief when that contract fell through on the homes as our buyer could not sell in the alotted time. So, that meant we weren't buying that expensive 15 acre farm...that I soooo wanted...insert frown. Hubby then says..."with this housing market we would literally have to have someone knock on our front door and ask to buy...because we are never going to sell our home." With that we took the for sale sign down.
Okay, so we move forward right. Hubby has so much faith in me that he thought that I would just be able to keep right on working full time and start homeschooling. I knew better. So, I began to pray, I prayed for God to lead my husband to want me home, like not working, like no second income...you feeling me? God is amazing and shortly thereafter it became my husband's idea that I should come home and we should quit this madness of working opposite shifts, never having calm family time and chasing the American dream of what I like to call "Bigger,Better, Faster." That also meant give up the farm dream again. So we did. We made a 6 month plan and I worked like a madwoman at my job, lots of overtime all the while with a new baby at home...and then...I quit my 15 year career as a social worker.
So, we settled into a routine. I was finding my groove homeschooling a 7th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader while managing a 1 year old and when we learned we were expecting again, We were thrilled. Because, for the first time I was free to fully be a wife and mother...something I really enjoyed doing when I did not have a full time job pulling at me. And the homeschooling thing? I really liked it, my kids really liked it, I felt like I was getting so much more in tune with my children, my husband, and life. We were rolling along and life was good, we had learned to be content in what God had for us, maybe he wasn't planning a farm in our future, but what he had led us to was very fufilling.
We had another valley to pass through though. We lost the baby I was carrying around 13 weeks in. It was winter and though I was still relishing my role as homeschooling mother, I was crushed. We prayed, we cried, and I asked God for a peace and to get me through. He is faithful because he gave me a peace about that loss...and he comforted the hurt.
Another month goes by and on a cold February day there was a knock at the door. Do you remember my husband's comment? There stood the former owner of our home, we purchased the home from them 10 years prior. And with the former owner, a full price cash offer to purchase our home. WOW! All because.. you know, their daughter had moved in across the street and they had really good memories of raising thier children in our home. WOW!
But wait...We only have half of what we had before, I am not working, where will we go? God was not done yet. I look back now and I cannot believe how little faith I had. I mean, God has a sense of humor and he sent the "knock at the door" but I didn't rust that he already had it all worked out. Hubby and I started scouring farms, land, anything and kept coming up short. I was afraid that we were going to end up in an apartment with homeschooled kids and a hubby who worked nights...scary huh?
So on day #7 after we had the offer in writing for the purchasers of our home we looked online at real estate ads again. I hit "refresh" and there it was. Just listed, in our price range, almost 6 acres, and less than 5 minutes away! We called about it and saw it within 2 hours. It was perfect. We made the offer, it was accepted and we were approved to buy!
So, now I am the incidental farm girl. It is so amazing when we yield to what God wants to give us instead of spearheading our own plans.
