the frugal life is the good life.

That's right. I tend to find much joy in living frugal. It forces out creativity and to make use of things we would normally overlook. Apart of me loves the challenge, apart of me loves the use of time, but I always love the outcome.

There is always room to stumble across new ways to save, in money, consumption, energy...anything...which i enjoy as well. Here are some ways that I have changed in my everyday living, some new practices, some I have done for a few years.

1. Line drying my laundry. It gets me outside in the sun...a quiet time, mostly done in the morning for me. Who doesn't like to start off their day outside listening to birds as the sun is shining on their face? Plus, dryers take up more energy than we think. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that an electric clothes dryer accounts for close to six percent of a households annual electricity comsumption! Line drying also saves the clothes. Dryers weaken the fabrics fibers faster than line drying them. I personally love when i can enjoy wearing my favorite shirt for three to four years (yes, i do find some joy in that).









2. Home Made Bread. I'm so thankful for the bread machine some good friends of mine recently gave to me. I really enjoy the covienece of it (kneading is not my favorite...the machine does it for me). There is even a timer you can set. I can, and have prepared the mix right before bed and i wake up to a wonderful warm loaf of bread. I also like knowing only a handful of ingredients makes up this loaf:

-flour -salt -water -honey -yeast

It comes out to about 70 cents a loaf. I usually make a medium size loaf or two a week, which a regualr size of flour can make close to five medium loaves! And a plus is the texture of the bread comes out so enjoyable.

3. Cleaning my face naturally. I recently had an allergic reaction to a face wash I switched to. Ironically, this certain face wash contained no chemicals, just herbs and herb and oil extracts. I found out my reaction was to the number of extracts as well as to certain ones. My face became dry, very red and burned. After talking to a friend about it, she shared with me a concoction of olive oil, caster oil and grape seed oil she had been using to clean her face. I then began to apply olive oil to face to heal it up, then following up with a 'facial steam', or a hot rag placed on my face to remove the oil. I now have been using the oil cleansing method to clean my face, and it's working great! i have pretty oily and sensitive skin, but finding just the right balance of olive oil and caster oil, my face has recovered greatly. And all these ingredients can be found at the grocery store. I would advise you to read more about it on my new favorite blog.

4. Cleaning my house naturally. White vinager and baking soda, and your favorite essential oil (right now i have patule mixed into mine). A great way to get rid of oder and a classic way to get rid of stains or to polish. $3 for the white vinegar, $2 for the baking soda....and i've been using it for two months and going....

5. Planning my garden. Owning my own home has brought much excitement to being able to plan my garden...which can approach faster than we think. I like to start my seeds indoors come February, and begin turning the soil come March. But right now composting can begin! It's a good idea to work in a few layers of autumn leaves to the compost bin, and the perfect time of year it is! I like the reminder that 'What grows from the ground can go back in the ground.' Composting over the years has somehow coincided in my diet containing a majority of produce. My trash comsumption is next to nothing, as the 'trash' of most things i'm eating just goes back to where it came from.









(eco-friendlymag.com)

6. Making your own broth. One thing i love about the cooler weather is how enjoyable soups are. Soups are also great on the budget, as making a big pot and eating off of it for the week, or freezing it for another time is very helpful. This is also where buying a majority of produce comes in handy, as it's very simple to make your own broth. If your compost is overflowing, or if you want to put it on hold for a while, just take all your veggie scraps and freeze them. Once you have a zip-lock bag full, or a few containers full of frozen veggie scraps, put them in the crock-pot for a night or day while your at work. Make sure you add plenty of water, and it's fun to add spices in that would go well with the soup you're planning on making. Once it's soaked for about 8 hours, drain the liquid and now you have a great quality vegetable broth to use in a soup.

We'll end at six, but for more ideas for making your life more frugal, i reccommend these blogs/websites:
Simple Mom (no, you don't have to be a mom to find this site useful.)
Mother Earth News
Design*Sponge

What are your favorite ways of being frugal?

life in the autumn season.

Autumn has arrived, and with it my favorite colors have showed up. An eventful autumn it is. It's a season of challenges and blessings, business and new commitments, transitions and beautiful moments to soak in. A few wonderful happenings have occurred so far in this autumn season. I'll share them with you in brief.

a short, yet wonderful camping trip to Red River Gorge. This was just at the beginning of the season, so the leaves were just beginning to turn red...but hadn't quite reached their deepness...yet they are at it's peak now, and what a breathtaking sight it is.

I've been spending quite a bit of time with Henri Nouwen and Wendell Berry, being reminded about solitude and how connected we are to Creation. I've also been cooking and baking quite a bit in my new (to me) yellow kitchen. Squash soup, squash bread, cabbage soaking in a crock pot and many loaves of bread are frequently coming out of my great gift of a bread machine...and the best part is being able to share these delicious concoctions with loved ones. It's also been nice to meet neighbors and brushing up on my swahili with a few neighborhood kids that have been popping their heads in. how i have missed their culture!

i guess this was more of a brief update instead of one of those 'thoughtful blogs' i never really get to. life is just too busy these days to be spending time in front of a screen, and i'm totally ok with that.

enjoy the colors, smells and the layers of the season!
-stephanie

lessons past.

I am thankful for toil and sweat, frustration and sorrow. These are the things that push me through. These are the things that bring me closer to my Creator. These are the things that bring growth, appreciation and thankfulness. Though, they happen on different levels, emotionally, spiritually and physically, i'm glad to be able to see their value, and blessings.

and this brings me to yet again, another Wendell Berry quote, which i came across in his Native Hill essay. It is for you to chew on and ponder:

"We have tried to escape the sweat and sorrow promised in Genesis--only to find that, in order to do so we must forswear love and excellence, health and joy."

His presence in the lowliest things.

"The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in it's passivity and beneficence, and in the penetrating evergy that issues out of its peaceableness. It increases by experience, by the passage of seasons over it, growth rising out of it and returning to it, not by ambition or aggressiveness. It is enriched by all things that die and enter into it. It keeps the past, not as history or as memory, but as richness, new possibility. Its fertility is always building up out of death into promise. Death is the bridge or the tunnel by which its past enters its future."-Wendell Berry, A Native Hill

David Pawson & John 3:16

After listening to David Pawson’s Sermon ‘John 3:16’ over the past few days, I have finally finished it. It coincided on my recent trip to Georgia, in a particular place where heresy seems to over rule Truth…in a place where there is much need of Truth. It was a challenging visit, as I was having to revisit a place filled with memories of such darkness and struggle. At the same time this was a place of transformation and sharpening, and much time clinging onto my Lord.

I am looking forward to listening to the sermon again, as this first time listening I was driving for part of the time, cooking for another part and then finally took some notes on the last bit of my listen. I would love to track many of the points made in this sermon, but I will share with you my bit of notes I took on the last hour of this four hour sermon.

David Pawson spends four hours picking apart one very known verse, John 3:16. He goes to say that the Gospel of John is about what Jesus was; a story of a person, rather than his work. It is written for mature Christians and to believers to remind them to not believe ‘the wishy washy stuff’ around them. This contradicts the most common misconception of this verse. This verse is written to believers, not to unbelievers. It is abused when it is used as a tool of evangelism. It does not adequately tell people on how to respond to the Gospel. There is no word about repenting or baptism or the Holy Spirit. This is where it makes sense to me when Pawson said the people John is writing to has repented and has been baptized. This verse is to help them go on believing.

Pawson made a point of it not making too much sense that Jesus said John 3:16, but vs.16 was John commentating on verse 15; that Jesus stopped at vs.15, and John picked up at vs.16. Maybe John could see Christians drifting and had this deep burn in him to help his brothers and sisters stay on track. Take a notice the verb usage is vs.15 & 16:

¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

A few notes of mine goes as this:

*Vs. 16 would be repetitive if Jesus would have said it.

*The verb usage is different. Vs.15 is before Christ was crucified, as the verb usage in vs.16 is after the crucifixion (notice gave not give).

Later on he thoroughly explains the 4 main words for love in Greek.

Thelema which is parallel to the English word lust (please correct me if I’m wrong, as this part is coming from my memory. I was driving at this point in the sermon.)

Philos is parallel to the term friendship.

Eros is parallel to attraction, a chemical reaction out of your own control (and the closest to today’s ‘Worldly Love’).

Agape is closest to the English meaning ‘Care’, as if to care for someone, or to show someone you care.

In John 3:16, the term used is Agape. “For God so Agaped the world…” It is not ‘For God so lusted the world’ or ‘For God was so attracted to the world’, but ‘God cared…’ So this love is much different than any worldly love. You have to accept the Love of God and experience it to understand God’s way of Agape.

Something Pawson said that stuck out to me is ‘This is not a verse about loving everybody, but a verse about giving a way out.’ He followed this with bringing up a man name Marcion who lived around 144 A.D. His teachings were purely heretical. He rejected the the Old Testament and Yahweh, saying that the God of the Old Testament was not the same God as the God of the New Testament. He chose books of the Bible, and teachings he only wanted to believe. He called this ‘New Testament God’ a ‘Motherly God’. He also believed that there was not a Hell.

This struck me hearing about Marcion. I’ve come in contact with many Christians following his teachings over the past year, and had to stand up for truth in the name of Jesus and defend the truth against such teachings repeatedly in the last eleven months. It is frightening how many evangelical churches have slid into such teachings and is blinded from the full truth of Jesus Christ and the Cross. They are blinded by the multitude of grace that is found constantly in the Old Testament. I’m learning about more and more people believing and following such principals and faith who call themselves Christians. I had no clue there was a name to go with it.

It is scary, frustrating and wrong how we Christians just slide right off the track of truth. It shows me the importance of holding one another accountable in our struggles and unbelief. We need to be like John and have a deep burn when we see our brothers and sisters so easily drifting away. We all need to keep our eyes wide open, feasting on the whole entire Word, and staying saturated in prayer.

Again, these are just notes and a reflection on this (very good) sermon. I recommend listening to David Pawson’s sermon on John 3:16 and spending time in the Word with any doubts or new 'ideas' it may spur on. I unfortunately do not have a link, but please let me know if you find one.

May peace be with you.

swings

While swinging side by side yesterday afternoon, five year old Bahati looked over to me and said 'Miss Stephanie, i love swings. they bring me to cold.'

yes, swings do cool us off in the hot sun.

I just love the choice of words from little ones...especially if they are learning english.

Asante.

Most phone conversations these days start with 'miss stephanie, when you come back?' (no typos included...). it breaks my heart, but makes me thankful for having such wonderful people in my life...especially here back at home. i am very thankful to have so many people that keep me in check in this season of healing and processing. seriously, praise God, and thank you all.