From Homesteading to making a Home

Reading the title, you may think, “What the heck does she mean by that?”

April of 2016, I decided it would be fun to take the chicken coop that was on our property when Max and I bought the house, to actually fill it with chickens. I did a little bit of research, and then mid-April, I brought 6 little babies home. Sheila (the cliché white chicken with black flecks), Buff (a Buff Orpington), Red (a Rhode Island Red), Fred and George (ina)(Welsummers), and Raptor (a Wyandotte). We kept them in a plastic tub in the garage, slowly raising the heat lamp week after week. And those 6 babies grew and grew, until about May I think it was, we put them out in the coop, and then it seemed like overnight, they were full size and laying eggs. Slowly at first, then right around August, I’d go out to 3-5 eggs a day!

Then, earlier this year, I brought some eggs in from the coop and realized I had 3 dozen eggs in our fridge!

The benefits:

• Farm fresh eggs every day
• No hormones
• Taste great
• Only costs $15 a month to feed the girls
• Weed control
• Peck the ground for bugs

The downfalls

• Can’t find a decent waterer, thus watering every day
• Access to coop isn’t ideal to collect eggs
• Chicken poop stinks up the coop and it’s difficult to clean it
• Must tend to chickens’ food and water in all weather situations
• HUSBAND DOESN’T LIKE EGGS (like what?)
• I don’t cook enough to utilize eggs
• Neither one of us has time to sell our eggs to family and friends
• Cluck at all hours of the day

So, what to do what to do.

We decided to pass off our chickens to our friends who moved up the street from us (up the street being like a 5 minute drive).

The downfalls

• We still have like 18 eggs in our fridge to use before they go bad (and I’m burnt out on eating eggs haha)
• I’ll miss having “organic free range farm fresh” eggs
• Our dog, Ruger, no longer can practice his herding techniques to round up the chickens once they’re done free ranging in the yard.

The benefits

• My husband and I can enjoy the peace and quiet of our back yard
• Dog doesn’t get distracted by chickens when he’s trying to do his morning business
• Saving $15/month
• Our friends said we are welcome to get eggs from them.

All in all, I think we made a good decision. I learned what it’s like to raise and tend to chickens, and quite frankly, it’s not for me. I would like to be able to jet off to a weekend destination with my husband and our dog, and have our friends feed my cat. Chickens aren’t hard to raise or tend to, but they are another level of commitment that just doesn’t fit the Wolcott lifestyle. But I am thankful to have had them, and they’re only a short drive up the road if I want to go pay a visit. J

Brand New Life

Today, the world said “Hello!” to Sophie. Today, Sophie entered the world. Today, Sophie is brand new. Today, Sophie has done nothing wrong. Today, Sophie hasn’t said one bad word. Today, Sophie hasn’t cursed anyone. Today, Sophie is flawless. Today, Sophie is perfect.

Today, she is new.

Today, I am new.

Today, you are new.

We are new because of Jesus. Every day, we are entering the world after sleep. At the start of every day, we are brand new. At the start of every day, we have done nothing wrong. At the start of every day, we haven’t cursed anyone. At the start of every day,we haven’t said one bad word. At the start of every day, we are flawless. At the start of every day, we are perfect.

At the start of every day, we are new

At the start of every day, Jesus loves us.

At the end of every day, Jesus loves us.

We are like babies every day, given the chance to start again. (Yes, as babies, we are born dead, born into sin, and it’s our free will to choose eternal life in Jesus, but let’s roll with the metaphor right now.)

We are pure, untouched, clean and not tainted. Just like sweet Sophie.

Today, my husband and I were blessed to become Godparents. Today, we have a new responsibility to love Sophie and share just how awesome Jesus is. Today, our best friends were made father and mother (Not that they haven’t been for the past 9 months). Today, we get to start cheering them on in parenthood, to offer what wisdom we can. Which, if I’m being honest here, I think my husband will do a grand job at, he’s the youngest of 8 and has like 16 nieces and nephews. And then there’s me, I babysat from like age 13 to age 18ish. 9 years later, I’ve only sporadically helped out in my church’s childcare area from like 2009-2012. Today is the day I start again. Today, I am excited for my best friends to embark on this parenthood journey. Today, I continue my prayers for Sophie, for her parents.

Today is a really good day. Remember that.

Today. Today. Today.

Amen and Amen!

 

(By the way, Sophie is absolutely adorable and precious and 8 lbs of sheer beauty. Since she isn’t mine, it isn’t right for me to post a picture. But just think of the most precious baby, and multiply by like 10, and you have the Sophster.)

Rewriting the script: My identity

I’ve got some identity issues going on. And they’re related, and I can’t seem to figure it out. So I’m going to just brain dump my thoughts here


Now that I’ve been married for 5 months and 3 days, you’d think that I’d be totally accepting of my new last name. I write it on work stuff that I sign, but it still doesn’t hit me. When I see it on my Facebook everytime I post something, Facebook has a weird glitch. Occasionally I’ll be writing my draft as “Samantha Jo Pfisterer”, then, as it posts and loads in that semi-grayed out it’ll still show that, but when it posts, it corrects itself to “Samantha Jo Wolcott”. But, I am a Wolcott.

For 27 years I was a Pfisterer. So, I can see the difficulty in trying to break that habit of seeing who I am. It’s. Still. Weird. to me. Every time I write it, it comes off that I’m like a high-schooler, writing my name with my crush’s last name. But I am legally a Wolcott. I did get married. I did profess to our 150 guests that I will love my husband until my dying breath. I changed my name legally on all the important documents (minus my passport, but I’m working on it) I am a Wolcott. I no longer “belong” to my parents, I “belong” to my husband. Instead of parents over boyfriend, it’s now husband over parents. I am a Wolcott.

So that’s issue number 1. Issue number 2, is as follows.

I am a child of God. I am a daughter of the King. I have a destiny in the Eternal Heaven of God.

But I still find it hard to accept that. I still struggle through, who am I really? What does following Jesus really mean? What does His death on the cross really mean?

God’s been leading me through Joshua and Judges. And he’s been teaching me some really great things about my identity in him: Obedience brings victory; God uses the least, the unexpected to bring His glory to light; Among other things, there's just so much.

How cool is it that God uses stories from the Old Testament, from hundreds of years ago to teach us the same lesson He was teaching our forefathers (and mothers). I can't wait to keep reading through the OT and find what other nuggets of His great love He will reveal to me! I'm also trodding through Leviticus and that's been oh so cool to go through too! Who'd have thought right?


When you are in the dark about where you should be, or in the dark about who you are, turn to the Book of Light, the Book of Love, the BIBLE and open it up. There is where I will find who I am. There is where you will find who you are. There I am learning what it means to truly follow God, to have a friend in Jesus, to be reprimanded well, justly, but not cruelly.


I'm so excited to keep walking on and reading daily all that He has to say! Will you join me?


Amen and Amen <3

21 days to make a Habit

Research has shown it takes 21 days to build a habit. If you do the same thing every day for 21 days straight, you’ve now created something you’re going to do every day. And when you don’t do it, you feel lost, “off”, disoriented etc.

I didn’t realize it until Friday morning (February 10^th, 2017) when I was talking to my coworker, but I unintentionally formed a habit. “I haven’t eaten breakfast at home before work ever since I started. I’ve always eaten it at my desk” is what I told her. I’ve been at this same job for 3+ years (4 in June! Woo!). But eating breakfast at home before work is something I need to change. I need to start and really commit to up at the same time every day and in bed at the same time every night. I’m thinking I’ll be more energized and ready to go if I do these things.

Another habit I didn’t realize I started was one I began at the beginning of the year. I remember as a new believer, just learning to get my legs under me, hearing “Read your Bible every day” was something I was not a fan of. I enjoy reading for pleasure, or doing things because I want to. As soon as it becomes a “task” or a “do this or else” I don’t want to do it; I doubt I’m alone in the matter. But at the end of last year, I decided I was going to read through the bible in a year. It didn’t dawn on me that this was a “task” I was establishing for myself.

But I wanted to get to know my God more, I wanted to know my Heavenly Father. So that when I utilize my gifts, I can listen for His input and His direction as I do the things he has blessed me with. So, I found a reading plan online, copied it into my journal, and have been chugging along through it.

And now, I’m addicted. I carry my bible EVERYWHERE with me. If I walk out the door without it, I feel naked. I read it on my work breaks. I read it after work in coffeeshops between tasks. I’m using reading plan Apps with extra information about context to help me get through it…and my mind is BLOWN at the greatness of our God. Holy cow. So I’ll be blogging about what he’s taught me as I feel led.

If you balk at the thought of reading your bible on the daily, really take those feelings to God and address them. Because you’re not going to get better if you stay bitter. This honestly has been one of the best things I’ve ever done for my walk with God is reading the bible daily. Charles Spurgeon said “Why would I look into the face of man in the morning before looking into the face of God?” (Paraphrased and restated, but it’s still the same meaning). And oh how differently I feel when I spend mornings with God, briefly or extended, versus the days I don’t. I resolved to start my Saturday as this new habit, as Friday was already gone. So, God willing, it will become a new habit to really carve out time in my mornings to spend time with Him before I spend time with mankind: my coworkers, my husband above all else, baristas, fast food workers, grocery store employees, and on and on.

Amen & Amen

 

It's a Gift: Art for the King

I’ve always had a love for the arts. As a kid, I would come home from school, or in my free time on the weekends or at lunch, and I would write. I would write stories and illustrate them. I’d color in coloring books, I’d draw tons of doodles. And once, I picked up a thin (on cardboard like) canvas and I painted it with watercolors. It was a house, and I was in elementary school.

I’d like to think I got it from my mom. She took art classes at the community college when she was in her early 20s, working full time and having a social life as well. She painted this beautiful mural like piece, gosh it has to be like 30”x50” or something ginormous (I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, so it might be smaller). And it was amazing. It hung up in my grandparents house. After they died, she got it back, and now it’s at their house in Las Vegas. It was of a roadrunner and a cactus. Oh how I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be artsy and create the next amazing painting, or write the next Great American Novel.

But instead, “Good grades, Hygiene” in high school. “Good grades, hygiene” in college. It was straight from one set of schooling to the next, so I could make it with a good paying stable job in the adult world.

I wasn’t really allowed or encouraged to pursue arts, or I just changed my mind too much with what I wanted to do that my parents didn't want to "waste money" on a hobby I wouldn't keep up with. Sure, I could join National Honor Society, Book club and cheerleading. I think now, of course, hindsight is 20/20, if I had really pushed to be creative and really go for that artsy line, I could have made it work. I could have learned a lot and maybe been the next Picasso. But I didn’t.

Now, however, my artsy drive is resurfacing. I have a new fire burning in my body to make art, to paint, to write stories, to create poems, to do what I loved to do growing up. Where did this rekindled passion come from?

I’d like to think it rekindled at Picasso and Wine, a local paint and sip place here in Reno. You show up, and they walk you through step by step how to paint with acrylic paint on a canvas. You can enjoy wine and Mimosas with your friends as you take 3 hours of your day to paint. I went to 2 of them here in Reno. And Summer 2016, my husband (fiancé at the time) and I went to visit my parents in Kansas City and my mom and I went to a paint and sip there.


But here's the real story: God blesses us with gifts and talents that just come naturally to us. And artsy creativity is where one of my gifts takes root. There are times I wish I was musically inclined, because who doesn't want a set of awesome pipes? Or Furious Fingers on the piano or guitar? But that's not where God's called me to be. I didn't "Got it from my mama" I got it from my Father, my Heavenly Father.


He's called me to the creative: the writing and the painting, and perhaps the drawing. I've taken one step to let Him be the director of my art. Our Family Bible Study/Home Group had a Prophetic Paint night at the end of January this year. And it was amazing. God moved in so many ways that night. He spoke to me through my painting and my second mother (mother-in-law). It was so cool.


So if you have a God given talent, use it. Pursue it. Take means and measures to make sure it gets done. Listen to that quiet whisper in your heart and mind to lead you in your gifts.


I'm looking into taking some classes at the community college and maybe get an Associates Degree in Painting or the Arts. We'll see where life takes me. But either way, I'm making art for my King for His Glory, to spread His Gospel, to spread His Light.


Amen & Amen.  

Time to answer the phone: Jesus Calling

I love being able to hear other people speak life into people. I love it when they say "I feel God is saying {insert message} to you". It's so cool for me to see people's "Aha!" moments and the little lightbulbs lighting up as things click and register. Sometimes tears are involved, because God is so so good.


But it's recently been cool, because I've been that people, that person? It's been me hearing truths from God through other people. Apparently I haven't listened to His whispers, or have put them off. And He's ready for me to step up, and fully come into what he's called me to.


My sister (well in-law technically, but either you're family or you're not, and she's family twice over, sister by marriage and sister in Christ) Leslie is pretty dang prophetic. The last few times I've talked to her, alone and in a group setting she's had some great revelations about my life. And I'm pretty stoked to put them into action. Same thing with what the Bethel students have spoken into my life. (Side note, they're coming again this weekend, weather permitting, and I'm pretty stoked)


I'm really excited to see what God's going to do with these revelations. Like the home group I'm part of, we are all worshippers and prophetic. Some are both, like my sister Leslie (boy can she sing!). I've been told I've got the calling of prophetic and that it is big in my life. I'm learning to hone that skill and listen to what God is revealing for me to reveal to others.


And last night, Leslie reaffirmed my skills in writing. Writing is what I'm called to do. Writing is a passion. Writing lights me up and I can go for days. I grew up writing stories and illustrating them (with what little talent I had); I grew into poetry in high school and had some work published in an anthology. And then in college and after, it all kind of died off. The intensity of the adult workforce may have jaded me to the creative outlet of hobbies and Godly callings.


So restarting this blog with a new direction and a new focus is going to be my Step 1 into tapping into the gifting God has called me to. I'll be documenting and just revealing how He's growing my testimony. So if you're interested in following along, please do. :) Until the next post...


Amen & Amen.

With Love from Bethel, part 2

What an amazing experience hosting the Bethel students was. We hosted 3: 2 girls and a boy. The diversity made for amazing conversation, and a great revelation from God. It's so cool how he uses other people to speak into your life. I was completely blown away by Him, and the love that the Bethel students had.

One of the ladies was from Ecuador, and the other from New Zealand, they both seemed late 20s-30s. The boy was 19 and from Oregon. The insight they provided into my husband's and my life and marriage is something only God could have spoken to them, how else would a 19 year old boy know deep wisdom on marriage? There was no way they could have known my husband was hard on himself, scolding himself for this or that, I didn't even know. They spoke wisdom and encouragement into a "bible study of sorts" being held at our house, there's no way they could have known I'm going to start hosting a Jesus centered book club at my house 2 times a month. They spoke a bunch of other things a little too personal to share at this point. It's times like these I cannot deny God exists. It's times like these I want to go and share what happened to prove to people God exists that there's no way to deny or disprove what happened.

God's been leading me through a new season where He wants deep rooted intimacy and relationship with me. And it's been so cool to see it through and the Bethel students even spoke to this as well. I can't wait to see what else I can do for the kingdom, and how I can use the gifts God has given me to help further His kingdom.

I'm definitely hoping this blog becomes one of those mediums I can use to reach the masses and share the love God has for all of us.

Stay tuned :)