Made to... Inspire, Encourage and Equip

It has been a month of lessons for me.  God is growing me in ways I don't enjoy.  He is constantly challenging me to put aside myself and to follow him wholeheartedly.  My husband and I have started working on our finances. Talk about a nightmare!  After 15 years of marriage we both have our own ways of doing things and our own expectations.  It has been a source of strife in our marriage since the beginning.  In talking about it and trying to agree and compromise I realized that a lot of my issues with money come down to the simple fact that to me money is security.  With it I can buy things I need and things I want.  My security however comes in the form of spending money.  My husbands on the other hand is saving money.  There's the disconnect.  We have the same goals we just disagree in how to get there.  I want a huge stockpile of food and household items so that if we aren't able to buy things later it doesn...

Saturday was the day.  Our pig was freezer bound with only one small problem. We became emotionally attached.  As a family we have committed to raise our animals with love and respect and then when the time comes to be as humane as possible.  We butchered one pig this spring but were holding on to Chops hoping to be able to breed her. She was huge! We figured about 600 lbs. Here she is with Charity 3 months ago:) When we realized it wasn't going to work to breed her we knew it was time. We got up early to get started.  Bryan and I were hoping to get the worst done before the kids got up.  We have one early riser so Triston was already up and about.  We prayed before we started that God would give us strength to do what needed to be done.  That He would calm us and Chops so that she wouldn't sense any tension or fear.  Everything went fairly smoothly.  Bryan killed her immediately with one shot while she was happily munch...