17 Feb

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." - Proverbs 16:9 I got plans. Lots of plans. You can say I'm what they call, "a planner". Yes I'm proud to identify with an enneagram 3, and planning brings me joy. But if you've been following recently, along with my Trailer Failure a couple weeks ago, my plans haven't really been panning out the way I'd like. So went this past weekend. I was supposed to make a four day trip to pick up my mini Jersey heifer & bull - one in Minnesota, the other in Montana. I planned...

16:42 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship
01 Feb

Over the past four days, I've driven over 15 hours all over Colorado, totaling about 850 miles. No, I wasn't planning on road tripping, and no, I am not trying out to be a truck driver. All I was doing was trying to pick up a livestock trailer. Last year, I found a great used bumper pull livestock trailer that was "only" 5 and a half hours away, on the other side of the state. It was at a farm we visited in the fall, and the drive was gorgeous. Surely, I thought, it wouldn't be a big deal to...

21:35 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship
08 Oct

I feel like someone somewhere once said "It doesn't matter if you start small, just start." Part of my dream is to have our own small farm - with a focus on soil health, species diversity, and natural systems. I want to have sheep, cows, pigs and chickens, all working symbiotically together. I want to build a passive solar greenhouse so we can grow our own fruits and vegetables through all four seasons at 7200 feet (2200 m) above sea level. We're not there yet. But I've been encouraged to start small. So this past growing season, on the tiny deck...

16:47 / Featured / Instagram / Land / Stewardship
22 Sep

The Backstory After we moved back to the United States from Hong Kong, I started noticing that drinking milk made me feel uncomfortable. It progressively got worse to the point where I would get bloated and be in pain. I decided to give up drinking glasses of milk or eating bowls of cereal with milk, but I still wanted to have milk in my tea and coffee. So I tried the alternatives - almond milk was fine, oat milk pretty good. But in the end I went with lactose-free milk because I still wanted the milk taste. We also went with...

09:36 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship
17 Sep

I compiled this list of things I didn't used to know about chickens. For most of my early life (i.e. before Nick), all I knew was what I saw on my plate. But my in-laws have had backyard chickens for about 15 years, and I have learned a lot from them. I've helped care for their flock and even brooded a few chicks myself, which we moved to my their coop when they got bigger. Now, I am a huge proponent for backyard chickens. We currently rent a house where the HOA restricts livestock & chickens, but I look forward...

22:45 / Featured / Land / Stewardship
10 Sep

Over the summer, I was able to tackle one of the projects that I had been wanting to try for a while - building an at-home vermicompost bin. Vermicomposting is the process of using worms to naturally turn our organic garbage (kitchen scraps) into nutrient rich compost that is one of the best possible fertilizers for gardens. Background I first heard about vermicomposting in one of my favorite movies, The Biggest Little Farm. The film features the beautiful story of Apricot Lane Farms, a regenerative, biodynamic farm based in Southern California. When the owners, John & Holly, were first trying to...

15:19 / Featured / Land / Stewardship
02 Sep

School this year looks nothing like anything we have ever experienced in history. I've been reflecting on how stressful it has been as the one-day a week homeschool program that my boys are attending has already changed their supply list THREE times in the past two weeks to try to prepare for anything that might happen with COVID. I was driving home from the school drop off today and praying for my mom friends, all of whom have had to make difficult decisions of what to do with their children's education this year. Some have chosen to fully homeschool, some...

10:44 / Featured / Heart Things / Instagram / Parenting / Stewardship
06 Apr

We met our friend, Rachel Tan, in Hong Kong back in 2010. She was leading an amazing small group of young professionals who were seeking or new to faith. We quickly built our friendship and became like family as we all navigated living in a busy city like Hong Kong and following Jesus. Since then, Rachel has been living in Los Angeles, working in the entertainment industry both as a lawyer and film producer with her husband Dan. We love sharing Rachel's story because it's a wonderful example of stewardship - being faithful to the passions that God has called...

10:28 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship
01 Apr

Part of our stewardship dream is to be more natural and create less waste. While we don’t want “being green” to become an idol, nor a point of judgment on ourselves or others, we do believe that if we have the ability to make a choice, we should try our best to make one that stewards God’s creation as well as possible. He’s given us so many natural tools to sustain us, we might as well use some of them 🌱 Like many of you, I started using a vinegar, water + essential oil spray to clean the kitchen a few years ago...

21:11 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship
27 Mar

Quite a few people have asked where I got my journaling Bible. It's a beautiful TruTone ESV Journaling Bible with an imitation leather cover. I actually bought mine at Hobby Lobby, but it is also available on Amazon. I love it because I can make all sorts of notes on the edges. For the more creative types, you can also do hand lettering along the edges too. At the same time it's not too large or unwieldy. I also have an ESV Study Bible, but that thing is a bit of a beast, and not as much fun to carry around,...

22:47 / Featured / Instagram / Stewardship