Yesterday was a big day for me. We loaded up all the goat kids from this year and last year’s kidding plus another doe we had picked up last year and they headed for the livestock sale. Saturday was actually harder than the day of. Anticipation is always harder for me than the actual doing of a thing and this was no exception.
In my heart I know it was definitely the right thing to do. Homestead projects have always been, for us anyway, about providing what we needed and not growing beyond our comfort zone. Bigger is not necessarily better in almost any category. This is a recurrent theme here I am sure you have noticed. (I tend to think out loud and this is what we have been thinking about so very much lately.)
When Allen first suggested we were becoming a business rather than a homestead it was upsetting. It was not because he was wrong. We were becoming that. But growth is good right? It’s the American dream. It is capitalism at work. What’s the problem? Well the problem is that we are a family, not a factory. My chosen vocation is wife and mother, not provider of goods or services – paid or unpaid- outside these 4 walls. Anything else has to support the primary roles, not detract from them. Profit and praise are not the deciding factors. Quality of life is.
We have seen home businesses that were actually ‘mom’ businesses which grew and taxed the family. We knew we didn’t want that. We are discovering however that it takes even more self-discipline to control and limit expansion – whether in business or possessions or our social life – than it does to continue to grow.
It also takes a lot of self-discipline to trust your spouse’s leading and do the hard things that are asked of you, even when you know that person is asking for your own good. It is so tempting to mull it all over and then present lots of very sensible – even spiritual – reasons why it is you cannot or better yet, should not, follow through. However, the blessing is not in the resistance. It is in the whole hearted willingness.
I am trying to look at the house the same way. We are addressing the craft room, school room and storage shed next. Many items in all of those places have been with us for years. They have been boxed or shelved in many houses but not used. They are my “someday” things. Someday has not come. Instead of “someday” there is “everyday”. Everyday to work around them, everyday to have them take up space. So again this week we continue emptying space, clearing out the clutter in both our home and our hearts. We are taking a step out in faith and trust and embracing, in all areas, only what is blessing us.
My prayer today is to trust more in my family than in my “stuff”.
Starry Sky Journal 
“We are discovering however that it takes even more self-discipline to control and limit expansion”
ironic you don’t use this self-control w/ other areas of “expansion”
We limit our burdens, not our blessings. We firmly believe the key to happiness, now and ever after, is knowing the difference between the two. In the eyes of eternity a child’s soul is not equivalent to a goat nor to a duplicate set of china. Jesus bought us the one, we bought the all the rest.
“…not as the world gives do I give to you.” John 14:27
Does that ‘self-control’ really mean birth control Sue? I do truly envy the fruitful families. It is not a bad thing. The Bible calls children a blessing and debt a curse, we are the first generation to refuse the blessing and apply for the curse. Paraphrasing a quote I read once, can’t quote the source though, I have found it to be all too true.
Back to OUR week long decluttering project as well, must be that pre-school organization urge.
Beautiful post, and timely for me. Your family is beautiful, and you are a shining example to us currently smaller Catholic families.
I have really enjoyed your blog. I had my own business for a while and even with just the two children at the time it just swallowed up our lives. It is so easy to constantly add just one more thing to our lives. We just don’t realize how much it can really add up.
Great thought provoking post! It has hard to clear out the “clutter!” Your family is beautiful and your blog as inspired me as a mother of 4 beautiful young daughters that are definitely a blessing to us. It is sad that some do not see them that way….
God Bless you Kim!! Wonderful post! God always spoke of children as blessing, never as a burden. We have four blessings in our home and I hope we will be blessed with more. 🙂
We recently made a long-distance move and were forced to cut down on possessions. It is a hard, hard process. I will always remember my best friend sitting with me on the floor as I agonized over a stack of Martha Stewart magazines. I mean agonizing!! I was struck by how much emotion and energy is used up on “stuff” which should rightly be funneled into the people in my life (1 husband and 6 children).
I am praying for you as you continue to cull. May God give you peace with all your decisions about what to eliminate.
We bought our farm with the intention of raising produce to sell and it quickly got to the stage where I couldn’t keep up with demand. I had a very long waiting list for my CSA, but I still wasn’t making a profit and my customers got most of the veggies, while I was too tired to cook any good food.
When my first baby came along, I had a very hard time figuring out where to divide my time between the farm and my family. I began to suspect that as the financial pinch grew bigger and my hubby gave up his travel heavy job so he could be home more, that perhaps the farm was no longer God’s plan for us.
When we found out about our second baby, we were certain that it was time to give up the farm. We moved to a cottage on 1 acre in a small town and I don’t miss the farm a bit. I just knew that the farm business would take over the family.
That’s not to say you need to move or anything, just that I know too well how easy it is to go from hobby to homestead to farm business. Those animals keep multiplying! 🙂 Find your happy medium and stick with it.
One day we may move back to the country, but I don’t think we’ll go back to raising products for others.