Good bye 30's

Turning 40 has always been a dreaded thing for me...not sure why... I think it is because someone put 40 pink flamingos on my mom's lawn for her 40th... seemed like 40 was a joke...and I don't want to be a joke.

So here I am, thirty-nine and three quarters...wondering if I am ready to be forty...hoping my 40s aren't seen as a joke... praying my 40s are full of opportunity...dreaming that my 40s will be filled with the joy I feel right now, today.

Being that my crystal ball has been broken since I had children, I can't say what my 40's will hold, but I do know that, at 39, I am more confident, joyful, and content than I have ever been.  I know God loves me. I have a crazy family that supports each other (and my crazy ideas). My husband and I love eachother deeper than I ever thought possible. And i have a pet pig. Life isn't boring at 39.

As I close out my 30's I look back and see my youth, my naivete, my hard headed nature... my pretty skin, figure, and hair...I also see diapers, nap schedules, and tantrums... all great moments and lessons...

When I look ahead into my 40's it is so foggy...so unknown...so adventurous. Greg and I have never shied away from a challenge nor accepted the boring and mundane. God has a plan and, although it may not be my plan is can guarantee it will not be boring or a joke.

Living Life

Look at us... all prettied up...15 years ago.

I have since ripped this dress trying to squeeze my mom body into a size 2 and the dog ate Greg's tie... I wear less make-up these days and he wears overalls and a straw hat...we have added grey hair, a few laugh lines, 3 kids, and acres of memories.

We are not natural planners, thankfully, because we couldn't have planned this life even if we tried. There is not a fight, a disappointment, a loss, we would change. Each moment is a memory. Each challenge draws us closer. Each day is part of a bigger story.

We like to think we live life a little left of the norm and we pray other's can enjoy a marriage as whole as ours.  Our marriage is not perfect. It is not the marriage by which to measure your's.  Our parenting is not textbook worthy, but our kids are amazing humans despite our sarcasm and flaws. Our life isn't for you, but our joy is. We want you to have this same joy.

How did we get here, you ask? God brought us here. It is by His grace and His love that we stand here today... make-up off, soul bared, and living life honestly.

So it is from this place we will start sharing the wisdom gained from living, loving & serving...I hope the posts that follow will inspire you to let go, experience a simpler life, & live in His plan.

This is not about the Sharp Life, this is about your life. Time to live it.

Farmers Vacation too

It's April. I gave up, called uncle, and booked our farm family on a two week camping adventure in the sunny southern USA. We left our farm beasts with 2 very "equipped" farmer wannabes, packed out trailer and fled the snow.

What do farmers talk about and do on vacation? Talk about how much they miss our beasts... and swim. Oh, and laugh. I have laughed so hard i shed tears...at the expense of a child... oh her life is full of epic moments.

We've learned a lot too... home is safe and the world is not always ready for the weirdness we embrace... but it hasn't stopped us from being who we are and living for Him. Glad that we could "be the nicest white people" an 8 year old girl has ever met. Proud we could stand up to a man openly disgusted with our family. Thankful His grace surrounds us.

We've met new friends, burned our skin, & planned spring projects for the farm... and ate poorly. Donuts anyone?

This may be the close of our family's epic camping adventures as we plan future trips to more distant lands,  but the laughter and joy will ring in our trailer and through our pics for years to come.

Here are some snap shots of our adventure so far.

6 months of living the dream

We are in the middle of our first winter on The Sharp Life Homestead... January. Its freezing out there. I am a palm trees and coconuts kinda girl, so i have taken to knitting by the fire. Knitting and rocking in a chair that hasn't seen much use since our first tiny human was born in 2003. Rocking, knitting, and dreaming of green grass and fresh dirt... I am also doing a lot of...

 

"This is crazy, Sharpie! We don't know how to farm!! What have we done?!?"

 

What have we done, you ask? We bought a farm.

Do we have experience?  Nope.

Do we have a secret stash of cash? Nadda.

What do we have?  .... vision and faith...and hopefully a wee bit of pixie dust.

 

After 15+ years of dreaming and planning we took a leap of faith, knocked on a door (literally) and shabam, bought a little peace of hill billy heaven.  We don't know what we are doing, but thanks to youtube, kijiji, and a few good friends we are off and running...maybe running isn't the best word, off and... giggling. Yup laughing really hard.

 

First foray into homesteading was to set up a chicken coop. Six months in and i would consider us chicken hoarders. Yup. We have 55+ chickens that together lay 4 dozen eggs a week... do the math with me folks... thats less than an egg a week per hen... i think we are doing something wrong...Here are my theories:

1. The hens are mourning the loss of their 10 rooster brothers. Don't even ask about that day...shivers. Rooster stew anyone?

2. Perhaps our pretty hens are still living in fear from the vicious acts of mink terrorism that took 5 of their sisters.

3. My final theory... the hens, like me, are just not winter producers...instead focusing on eating to build a nice layer of insulation.

Regardless of the reasons why, bottom line is that eggs are not a good income stream...  Good thing i have my suit job. It feeds these hungry beasts... not to mention those hay burners in the farm yard...apparently no homestead is complete without a moody donkey and her 2 horse friends.

But despite what these hungry animals are doing to our wallets, i am in awe of what He has given us...

 

We have a place to teach our kids some real life lessons. We have the earth to feed our bellies good food. We have forests and fields for our kids and their friends to explore. We have a warm house to hide from the winter chill. We have a place that will be used to serve and feed His sheep (both human and sheep sheep). We have a calling, now to answer that call...

 

The journey will be hard, but, we are The Sharps... we will find the joy and you will find comedy in our adventures.

 

Some days i will post recipes, maybe pictures, maybe a tale from The Book of Sharp... hopefully you will stick with us and maybe you will grow a little bit too.

The Sharp Life

We are The Sharps. We live a simpler life. We work hard to love our neighbours. We desire to lead from our knees and raise kids with servant hearts. All of this makes us a bit strange by 1st world standards.

To push the comfort zone further, we strive to live the homesteading lifestyle. We strive to grow & raise the majority of our food and shop ethically (local, fairtrade, organic, recycle).

We aren't all bonnets and long skirts. We are jeans, ball caps, and the odd tiara...sadly.

We hope to bring the simpler lifestyle back into fashion. We want the nearly forgotten arts of home preserves, rustic baking, wholistic farming, & knitting to be reawakened. We strive to inspire.

This is The Sharp Life:
Live simply. Love wholly.  Serve humbly.
Embrace your weirdness ~ just as Jesus did.

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10, NLT)

First World Problems.

I have mentioned (and I will mention again I'm sure) that I struggle with "first world" gluttney and what we perceive as our "needs", but you wouldn't have know that if you spoke with me the past 4 weeks.  I am so ashamed and embarrassed. 

We listed our subdivision home about a month ago.  It's a nice home.  Large on the global scale of homes, but quaint by many Canadian standards.  We love our house and how it has protected and sheltered our family during our early years.  But (and there's always a but with humans), we have always desired a farm and want to live a more natural lifestyle, less dependent on the trappings of the consumerism that traps many of us, especially in the first world (Western World, Developed Nations, however you want to lable the rich people of the world). 

So we did it, we approached a local farmer and asked to purchase their home for our homestead.  They said yes...  and my concerns about gluttney disappeared as my dreams took over. 

As we built our dream homestead in our imaginations, as it began to take shape, we started making lists of things we needed... tractors (not the old rickety type, oh not for the Sharps), fencing, new furniture, an extended pantry, a bathroom reno, chickens, cattle, hay, trailer,... and on the list went.  It was indeed exiting...

Then things got complicated with lawyers and banks and zoning and lots of things above my head...  A mortgage seemed like a lost cause. 

And no body seemed to want to see our beautiful house...

And our bank account seemed to dwindle with some bills looming... 

We started to stress a bit... you could feel the tension at home...  not between anyone, but definitely around all of us. 

Scratching our heads we said, we'll press on.  Let's complete the plan...  Let's pray and wait.

Psalm 34:12 - Who out there has a lust for Life?  Can't wait each day to come upon beauty?
Psalm 34:15-16  God keeps an eye on his friends, His ears pick up on every moan and groan.  God won't put with rebels, He'll cull them from the pack.

Then we were hit with a sadness and realized our greed.  Here we were worried about where we'd live and how we'd pay for things when God, the creator of the universe, takes the time to colour the grass.  Look at the sky...  He created it to be a reflection of heaven... in Genesis He calls it the Heavens... surely he will take care of us.

Then visions of women around the world living in what I would call a shack, with no property or cloths or clear direction on where to find food, manage to live with joy and peace in the hearts.  I realized we were putting this farm above all other things.  We wept.  This wasn't us.  We don't get caught up on the trappings of "normal" people...  we "embrace our weirdness"... We look for ways to help the orphans, widows, and the oppressed because in helping them we will be closer to Jesus and we will show the world Jesus's love.  Jesus didn't run to the rich, He embraced the outcast.  Why were we, the rich, not running to Jesus.  We were being gluttens, worried about a house and food. 

Then we realized, for the 1000th time in our lives, that we can't make this farm happen...  It's His farm.  If He wants us to have it, He will take us there.  We praised Him.  We often forget to praise Him for stresses and worries...

Our prayer changed... we stopped praying for His will on our lives, but for our lives to be lead according to His will. 

Our vision for the farm grew more with prayer.  We saw how our farm could produce healthy foods for a local food bank.  We saw how we could help people prepare meals on low to no income... we saw family time by the bon fire and picnics in the fields... small groups using our place to enjoy life together...  we saw opportunities to live The Sharp Life.

We started living our weird life again...  I baked pies, breads, cakes...  we gardened, we walked...  we laughed.  Then the house sold (after receiving multiple offers I might add).  Our mortgage happened (after loosing 3).  Our finances straightened out... 

But still I struggle...  why do I get this fantastic property?  Why do I have food every day?  Why don't I have to walk miles to get clean water?  Why don't I have the same joy I hear in the churches and streets of Haiti and Ethiopia? 

Next step I guess...  getting over my first world guilt and finding my third world joy.