Monday, June 20, 2011

Searching for new inspiration

Right now I'm inspired by searching for inspiration.  I'm reading up, asking questions, taking one step forward every day in search of what is next for me! 
Already life is pretty full with our business and our family.  The thing is, the business is based on the talent and passions of my husband, it's his gift!  Our children too have interests and school and things going on in their lives and I know I keep the heart of the home.  Yet, for their sakes and mine too I want to have my own passion!  I could easily make my life about them.  When someone asks "What's new?' I could say Anna is doing camps all summer, the boys are finishing up with baseball and starting soccer soon...... the list goes on.  But for some reason I want to be able to answer that question about me.  I mean, they are asking me right?! 
I also don't want to be the mom that wont let her children have some freedom.  They are already who they are meant to be.  I feel like my role as a mom is to stay nearby to offer guidence as they figure it out for themselves.  We all have purpose in this world.  Theirs has nothing to do with my ideas for them and everything to do with what God created them to be.  So, as I use my instincts to follow my passion I hope they will also learn to use their own insticts and hear their calling(s).
For this mama, already, I know I love farm life, at least dabbling in it!  I love being a farmgirl, with country music playing in the air whilst I garden or care for our home.  I love cuddling up with my toddler to read, laying in bed at night with my 10 year old chatting about all her ideas and giggling like a school girl.  I love play fighting with my boys and scrubbing their faces clean several times a day!  I love summering at the beach with our family making memories together to last a lifetime!  I love partnering with my husband in everything - even when it's a little crazy around here! 
Life is good, so full of opportunities, so abundant. 
Please do share with me how you found your own passion in life and how you work in all the things that make your heart sing!
Blessings,
Olivia

Monday, June 13, 2011

Authenticity

Simple Abundance.

A few years ago I stumbled on this book at my mom's house.  She always has interesting reading material that she finds and then surprisingly often doesn't read ;).  Anyway, I found this book by Sarah Ban Breathnach filled with inspiration, and overflowing with thoughtful meditations and intriguing quotes.  It's all about living passionately, fully and authentically.  Being who you were created to be.  I refer back to it when I am uninspired to try to "prime the pump" but also when I am feeling the rising tide of a dream coming to life as it is now...

So how this translates into my life right now is this.  Brace yourself it's not all pretty!

I feel like we are in a precarious place right now in the world.  Times ahead look like they are going to be difficult.  For many people, here in our America and all around the world life is already very hard.  Sometimes, I wish I could just pretend like everything is rosy, live in my happy little cottage and shut the world out.  I could almost pretend that things will always stay this way ~ where we have more than enough, where my children are safe and small and right here with me to tuck in every night.

But there are signs all around if you take notice that things are not as they should be.  Evil is growing, maybe not yet too noticeable right here in my own backyard but close and far, it's growing.  There is a quote that has been standing out in my mind, "to not stand in the face of evil is to stand". 

One thing I want to take a stand on is my faith.  My faith in God is a gift that my parents gave me from the very beginning and I am thankful for this sustaining life giving powerful faith.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is my God too.  He says about Israel, and the Jewish people that they are the apple of his eye.  He chose them to reveal Himself to the world, the creator to the created and also through them to save the world by his son Jesus.  He says those who bless them He will bless, those who curse them, He will curse.  I believe that Christians must defend Israel as the world starting to turn on God's people once again.  The Jewish people have a right to defensible borders, a right to exist and as our allies they need our support.  Here is the irony ~ they do not ask for our troops, they do not ask for our finances, they simply ask for us to stand in solidarity that they have the ability and freedom to defend themselves.  Please stand with me if you will... many people aren't even aware that there is controversy surrounding Israel yet but it's there.

Expressing this has been on my heart for awhile.  Being authentic to me means searching for beauty which sustains my soul, and yet it also means speaking my heart even when whats on it isn't pretty... 

So how else does this all relate back to Simple Abundance you might ask?

Here's the thing, I know that my interests, my personality, my strengths ~ everything about me (and you) was created on purpose for a purpose (even many purposes).  Stay with me here, I'm a bit of a rambling writer. 

I may just be getting ready to embark on a new journey... I feel the tug on my heartstrings to "get a new dream" (as I mentioned in my profile).  In addition to honing skills necessary to whatever the future may hold such as vegetable gardening (the potager), farm animals (the chickens, rabbit & goats), and much more... I'm back to where I started from!
 Before I met my husband I wondered what would bring meaning to my life.  (This is like 10 posts put together I think - maybe I shouldn't have waited so long!)  Creating a family and a life together is and has been so fulfilling.  Having a husband and four babies has definately used up my nurturing side.  Creating a home and garden to live and cozy up in has utilized my creative side.  So whatever I do in the future has to somehow combine these two defining attributes.  Obviously, my little family isn't going to finish raising themselves!  And my home will need tending too.  But, I'm back to where I started from because I've realized I like my life to be FULL.  My dear friend Leah once said "what if your the kind who never feels done having babies?" before I got to have our little last one! 

I wondered that a little too.  But no, I am done with those kind of babies (my husband shouts, yahoo!) I need a new kind of baby!  A new dream to behold...
More on this as it comes together...
Anyway, to tie up all the strings of this post is this, I am a conflicted, deeply feeling, passionate, country girl striving to say what needs to be said and get done what needs to get done! 
Whew, finally, is anyone still listening to all this blathering on and on?!
If your still here :), Blessings,
Olivia

About Me

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wife & mother of 4 beautiful children, 2 girls & 2 boys. small business co-owner; catering and a restaurant/alehouse, writer, gardener, lover of freedom and humility found in christ, small town enthusiast, book reader, admirer of noble truths, beauty and love

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