Artistta

Well it's June and I still don't have a post up! Eek, time is flying by far too quickly and I still can't seem to get everything done. Isn't that just the story for most of us! This week I'm staying busy trying to get ready for a garage sale we are having Thursday through Saturday. June is a very big month for us for a variety of reasons and we have some important decision making ahead of us and plenty of research to do in the process.

One of our big goals of June and July is to pay off the rest of our credit/car debt. The garage sale is one of our first steps in trying to do this. We are trying to sell everything we don't use on a regular basis. We've been going through our home, room by room, closet by closet trying to sort through things we need, want, are holding on to for no reason or just using up space. Some of the items we are selling are no big deal, but are good to get rid of before we look into moving later this summer (more on that later). Other items we hold far dearer to our hearts and are going to be much harder to sell, but we know we must if we want to reach our goal. One of the things we are selling is my wedding ring. I have to be honest and say I truly don't want to sell my ring, but I feel that the Lord is trying to teach me some valuable lessons and one of them is that material possessions truly are not important and we can not allow them to define who we are. This isn't an overnight thought, but something that's been on my mind and has been laid on my heart for months now. If we are able to sell my ring and some of our furniture and my husband's turntables (another item that will be hard to sell, at least for my husband, and those who know us well know why) we move much closer to our goal of ridding ourselves of our credit debt. I say credit debt specifically because we still have a school loan to pay off, but that one is more manageable than the credit card.  Debt has defined far to much of my husband and my relationship and we've been trying to pay it off since we got married almost 7 years ago. I can't even begin to tell you how ready we both are to be done with this burden. It's been a long, hard journey but it's time for the journey to be over. When I have a bit more time to sit and write, I'll share the full story with the hopes that it will encourage others to become or at least begin to work towards being debt free.

Other things on our horizon... we are looking to move and hopefully purchase land to start towards our goal of homesteading and beginning to move towards a more off grid lifestyle. I've been reading a wonderful book called Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker. Shannon from Nourishing Days actually shared the book on her site and then Michael was so kind to send the book to me to read. I'll share more on the book in it's own post, but it's been one more element that has been encouraging me to look at how we live today with a different perspective. I've no idea what our lives have in store for us, but the most important thing to me right now is truly handing my life over to the Lord and letting Him lead it and that does not mean leading it within the constrains of what I'm comfortable with. For the first time I've no anxiety about all the unknowns, but am at peace with whatever unfolds in the next couple of months. Maybe it will mean we don't move, maybe it means we not only move but move out of state, we simply aren't sure yet. All we can do is take one step at a time and seek the Lord the whole time.

Also, coming soon is a new website for Artistta. It's in the process of being designed by my husband who is a graphic artist and is now beginning to do web design. I'm hoping the new site will allow me to have more interactions with you all and also be able to share more things about my art. Which leads me to the next thing I'm working on... artwork! Well at least trying to. I have several painting begging to be started and it's time I really put my foot forward and begin selling my work again. It's far, far too expensive of a hobby to never make anything at and I only have so much wall space! :D

So friends, readers and those of you who just happened to stumble upon this site, stay tuned. More is coming soon!

Thanks for staying tuned!