Note- This post was written in May of 2016. A lot has changed since then including going through Hurricane Michael and moving back home to Virginia……
Sometimes life changes direction. Sometimes you’re just plugging along doing the same ol’ thing and then you know God is telling you that it’s time for a change.
If you’ve followed our personal story from the beginning of our homesteading journey, you know that we have been in the same place for the past four years waiting for our own homestead.
There have been many places that we thought we were definitely going to buy or lease but for one reason or another they didn’t work out. Looking back, I see that as God closing doors that we didn’t need to walk through.
We’ve been very fortunate that my parents have been happy to have us live with them and allowed us to homestead on their property. We have learned so much about raising our own food and the farming lifestyle here.
Starting Over From Scratch
A couple of months ago, Farmer Derek, the farm kids, and I went for a long drive through the mountains. We decided we really needed to get out and seek God and His will for our lives.
We felt a stirring but we didn’t know what He wanted us to do. We spent the day focusing on Him and enjoying the time as a family in His beautiful creation.
On our way home that evening, Farmer Derek and I both felt the Lord telling us that we needed to move back to Florida. We had not discussed this and we both were a little surprised but very happy about it. We told my parents and they were thrilled. T
hey have spent the last four years traveling back and forth between here and there to be with my brother, his wife, and their children. They will be able to sell their home and move there as well. My dad may not be able to retire soon but he can enjoy his time off from work. 🙂
What about the farm and the animals, you ask? Well, we thought about moving them but after looking into it, we realized it would just be way too much to undertake financially and logistically.
We sold all of our beef cows (that was a little sad), the pigs all sold or went to butcher, and Gertie went back home to Clover Hill farm with Tonya. That was the hardest part to let go. I love my Gertie girl so much! We will also miss our best homesteading buddies, Tonya and David and their family. We have been through a lot together and learned a lot with them.
Now, that we had a clear direction, we had sold all of our animals, we had de-junked our “stuff” (nine people accumulate A LOT of stuff lol), we were just waiting on a job and a place to live. We waited, and waited, and waited. Ok, maybe it just seemed like forever.
One night, I had a dream that my sister-in-law’s dad (also our pastor in Florida) called Farmer Derek and said he knew someone that wanted to hire him. I kind of forgot about the dream and didn’t mention it to Farmer Derek. Well, the day after my dream, guess what happened, my sister-in-law’s dad called Farmer Derek and told him he knew someone that wanted to hire him. Farmer Derek called this man (who we knew from our church there) and talked with him for a while. He gave him a job offer and we were set to move. We were now just waiting on a place to live.
We were looking for a rental and hoping for a place with some land so we could start homesteading right away. There was nothing available. We also very seriously considered buying a camper and living in it on some land until we could build our own home. We asked God to give us a clear answer by the end of the day. God came through in a huge and clear way!
My sister-in-law’s dad called Farmer Derek again and told him that he knew someone that had a house on 2 1/2 acres that would probably owner finance to us. Derek called this man (also someone we knew from church) and he indeed offered an amazing deal to us on owner financing. I’m leaving out many details here but trust me, God worked huge miracles for us. It gets pretty personal and I’m only willing to share so much private information with the entire world 😉 .
This home is large enough for our family of nine, much better than living in a camper for sure! We will be able to put our garden in immediately and get fence put up around the property. We will be filling it up as soon as we can with all of our farming endeavors.
There is a plan for the garden, bees, chickens, turkeys, pigs, a milk cow, a beef cow, and anything else we can get into. It won’t all happen right away but it will all happen in its own time. We are just beyond excited at how God has provided for our family at this time. We know that He will continue to open doors for us as they need to be opened.
And here we are, finding ourselves starting over from scratch and we are more than ok with that. 🙂
My own little palm tree
Neighbor cows
Future chicken coop
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I am so excited for you guys!!! I am also encouraged feeling that Scott and I are in the same position. Seeing how God worked everything out for you all encourages me that everything will work our for us also. The waiting is hard, but God always comes through!
Yes! The waiting is so hard. God’s timing is always right. ? We will be praying for y’all too.
So enjoyed the blog!!! Love It!! We are getting ready for your arrival……….We have learned over the years that God definitely has a plan……………..we just have to learn to walk in it!! One of our favorite scriptures is………..
Proverbs 3:5, 6
Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart
Lean not unto YOUR own understanding
In ALL your ways acknowledge HIM
And HE will direct your path
Works everytime!! HE is very faithful to HIS word
Thank you so much! He is so faithful to us. 🙂 We are so excited and can’t wait to be there.
That palm is actually a date palm. You might actually get some fruit from it in future.
That would be awesome!