Category: About

Face each day with humility and give Glory and Honor to God!

Live each day with humility and give glory and honor to God! This is sometimes easier said than done! We sometimes can get into the mindset that we have to make time in our busy days to do so. The best way I have found to make this work for me is to recognize every moment I live is a chance to be humble and give Glory to God. I don’t have to set a specific time to draw this occurrence into a daily planner, I just have to have a mindset of being in a constant state of being humble and giving Glory to God! He is worthy of this constant awareness.

#thresholdhomestead #goatmilksoap
Morning chores with the animals.

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Catching up on this last year’s video upload!

Have you all been wondering where my blog post have been hiding? Well, this past year has flown by! How about you all?
I have had to do some updating to the website to try and make it more user friendly. I have also decided to just go back in time and upload all of the YouTube videos with a small blog explanation. When life has gotten busy on the homestead, most of my updates have been quick post on my social media venues, so please join those to keep up to date. I hope that this does not overwhelm anyone. Once I finish all of those, I have plans to keep the blog post on my website more up to date!
If you have previously seen any of the upcoming post or videos, just forgive the repetition!
If you are not subscribed to my instagram@thresholdhomestead , that is the main venue that gets updated on a daily basis. I do cross post on my fb page, as well. Please subscribe to my YT channel and the other social media forums, so you won’t miss the day to day post, that don’t make it here! Please no shame here, life is busier some weeks than others!
Thanks for following along,,,,,
I am sure I will be as amazed as you are at just how much has changed over the last little while!

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My RE-Introduction

 

Most of you who know a little about my background will notice that this is a new introduction for my blog.  My life has changed quite a bit over the last few years. I am now experiencing life on the verge of a new threshold, hence the current blog description: threshold homestead.  I grew up living a sheltered life on a small 9-acre farm, and then married and lived the challenging 28 year-long life of building a productive farm while raising two children, who are one and two of the greatest blessings that God granted me to experience. As life can be challenging with or without the added struggles of making a farm dream become a reality, the ups and downs can knock the wind out of you.  With God’s help many times over, we just picked ourselves up again and again and kept moving forward toward the goals laid out before us. More times than most, we just kept our mindset on the small daily goal of making it into the bed each night, with the hope of doing the same thing all over again the next day.  

As I mentioned, my life has taken some expected changes and some unexpected changes.  My 28-year marriage was interrupted by a test that was not passed, some negative choices were made, and my ex-husband chose a different path for the future of the life, we had planned and built from the ground up.  His decisions forced me onto a new path, one which I am still trying to figure out. It has not been easy, but from the beginning and even before what I know to be the beginning, God has had me in the palm of His Hand, and I know exactly how very blessed I am.  

No, my life has not turned out the way I had dreamed, and many of my old dreams did not come to fruition. However,  I have been given the incredible blessing of starting over, to be able to see the potential for new dreams, fresh new doorways to walk through, and a chance to rewrite what I see, as I walk this new path, and I look ahead toward a promising new horizon.  

So much has happened, I am now the receiver of two great new blessings, my two grandsons, Roman and Knox.  I have a new home, one that keeps me busy, as I try to remodel and update it, as many of the 1950’s building codes don’t quite meet today’s standards. I am doing this a little at a time, as I am working and trying to purchase the required materials and labor as I can afford to do so without going into debt.  I have hopes to begin farming on a small scale compared to my old life, what can I say, my farming roots run deep.  

I was also blessed by God to be able to make sure my daughter finished college debt-free, and fulfill her dream of a beautiful farm-style wedding.  And, I have been able to help my son get a more solid footing for his future. God has been good to us all! His promises never fail!

And now, He (God) is saying to me, let’s get your show on the road!  I have put this off and put this off, but the day is finally here, where I begin my telling of my story.  I have struggled with where to start, and as I was cutting my grass for the last time this past fall, just shortly before my daughter’s wedding, I made a decision, the best place to start is right where you are.  Here I am….just the beginning, just the threshold, just the start….

Stick with me as I journey forward toward my new dreams, all being whispered to me as I listen to HIM: my father, my counselor, my protector, my provider, my redeemer, my ALL IN ALL, JESUS!

 

Cream Cheese Peach Cobbler

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INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter(melted)

FLOUR MIXTURE

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 TBSP baking powder

1 pinch of  baking soda

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

1 egg

CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE

1 package cream cheese

1 8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup crushed pecans-1/2 cup here and 1/2 for topping *(total needed 1 cup)* (or flavored Emerald Pecans)

1/4 cup of the fruit juice (from the pint of fruit juice below)

FRUIT MIXTURE

1 pint peaches

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

 

TOPPING

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup crushed pecans (or flavored Emerald Pecans)

 

PREHEAT OVEN AT 350 DEGREES!

In a casserole dish stir 1 cup each of flour, sugar, and milk, add 1 TBSP baking powder and a pinch of baking soda.  Whisk the egg and mix with the flour mixture.  Do not over stir.

In a mixer combine the cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup of the pecans, and 1/4 cup fruit juice.  Dollop this over the flour mixture-DO NOT STIR!

Mix 1 cup confectioners sugar with the fruit, dollop this over the flour mixture, too-DO NOT STIR!

Sprinkle top with cinnamon and brown sugar,and pecans, then pour the melted butter over the dish -DO NOT STIR!

COOK IN A PRE  HEATED OVEN AT 350 FOR 27 TO 35 MINUTES.

Let it cool, or eat it while still warm.  ENJOY!

 

Recipes for the week

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GRAPE SALAD

Red and green grapes

1/4 cup pecans

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 packs cream cheese

1 8 oz container of sour cream

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

In a mixer combine cream cheese, granulated sugar, sour cream, and flavoring until smooth.  While that combines, wash, dry and remove the grapes from stalk(set aside about 8 to 10 grapes for garnishing).  Also, in another container( I use a zip baggy),  crush the pecans, add the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Combine the cream mixture with the grapes, put it in glass dish, arrange the grapes that you set aside on top and sprinkle the brown sugar and pecan mixture over the top(just use enough to garnish the top and save the rest for the next time).

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Chicken Salad

Rotisserie Chicken

1 bell pepper

1 small red onion

3 stalks celery

1 to 2 boiled egg

1/2 to 1 cup Mayonnaise

Remove chicken and shred and place into a bowl.  Dice the bell pepper, onion, and celery and eggs and add to the chicken.  Add enough mayonnaise to your liking.  Enjoy!

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Pimento Cheese

1 8 oz extra sharp cheese

1 jar pimentos

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 to 1 cup Mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

Shred cheese, add the other ingredients to your liking.  Enjoy!

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Crescent Roll Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Rotisserie Chicken

2 heads broccoli

2 cans Condensed Chicken Soup

1 cup Mayonnaise

1 cup milk

2 cups shredded sharp cheese

1 can Crescent Rolls

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 *

Remove chicken from bones, chop the broccoli.  Combine the condensed chicken soup, mayonnaise, milk, cheese, salt and pepper, and mix.  Combine with the chicken and broccoli and put everything in a casserole dish.  Roll out the crescent rolls and place on top of dish, bake  for 25  to 3o min or until bubbly, and topping is light brown.  Enjoy!

That’s all for this week!

 

 

 

Share Your Blessings!

I will soon turn 47, for the second time!  I know you are probably thinking, “she has lost IT!”  Let me explain.  Last year, I made up my mind, that I was 46 and on my birthday, I would turn 47.  I actually thought I was 47, until an appointment with my doctor, to get treatment for an upper respiratory infection.  During the assessment, the doctor ask my age, then the year that I was born, then she said, umm…..you aren’t 47, you are 46!!! Which means, when I thought I was 46, I was actually 45, and so on.

On Friday, I had to travel to my county DMV to renew my license.  Yea, I have to admit I was dreading the visit, for a couple of reasons.  One, I really liked my current photo on my license, it was taken 10 years ago.  So,  I had to fix my hair, put on makeup, and hope for the best.  Two, the long wait just to get the updated photo, isn’t on my list of favorite things to do.  As I often do, when faced with a negative, I decided to keep a smile on my face, and continue to do so, no matter what happened, beyond those double glass doors of the DMV.

As expected, the line was long, and only a couple of clerks were on duty.  I kept my positive attitude, and decided to look around for someone to start a conversation.  I made eye contact with a few people, smiled, and they smiled back, but none of those were close enough to talk.  So, I finally made it to the point to pick up my application, and proceeded to my chair and began to fill it out .  Before I had time to finish my paper work, my number was called, and I jumped up, signing my signature at the bottom as I walked to the desk.  Can you say multitask?  My heart sped up a bit, and I just kept smiling, in spite of my nervousness.  I always get nervous, when it’s time to do the eye test, because I wonder at what age, my eyes will need glasses for driving.  I passed the test, but had to keep repeating the last four digits of the line.  I was trying to figure which number I was getting wrong, but I kept saying the same, as I had read each time.  I was really getting nervous!

When I finished, the clerk stated that she couldn’t hear me, because the man beside me was talking very loudly.  Well, he was to my left deaf ear, and I didn’t even hear him.  I told her that I had lost the hearing in my left ear, after a bad head cold a few years ago.  I told her, my hearing loss really gets on my husband’s nerves;  when he is trying to talk to me, and I can’t make out what he is saying.  I was jabbering away, I guess I was still feeling my nerves a bit.

Well, here comes the blessing of my day.  I was so not expecting to get a blessing, at the DMV.  The clerk shared a story of her son’s sudden loss of his eye sight.  I will share this story as best as I can, as she was very soft spoken, and suffer from the a fore mentioned hearing loss.

Her son was a state highway worker, and was mowing the side of the road.  Another vehicle hit him from the rear, and caused the mower to hit the ground very hard, and this threw him up, causing him to hit his head.  The brain damage from that hit, caused permanent damage to his left optic nerve, and he lost his ability to see out of that eye.  His right eye, was his weak eye, and he couldn’t see very well, at all.  She shared that one day, during his recovery from the accident, she had picked up some movies for him to watch.  He tried to watch them, but finally told her to turn the TV off, because he could not see what was on the screen.  Her eyes teared up, and she touched her heart, as did I.  When another parent shares their child’s pain with you, you immediately understand and feel the same kind of ache.   I had no concept as to my surroundings at that time.  She then shared the miracle with me.   With many prayers and much faith, his weak eye began to get stronger.  He then, became a candidate for corrective surgery, and now he can see very well.  I was so blessed at that very moment, and I became very thankful that God put me in that place at the right moment.

I thanked her for sharing her story with me, and told her, that she had made me day.  She finished processing my license, and we shared a pleasant goodbye.  For the next ten years, every time I look at my license, I will remember that wonderful clerk’s blessing.  Also, I will remember my blessings.  If I have to show my license for any reason, and someone mentions the smile on my face;  I hope that I will get to share my DMV experience again and again!

So, if you are ever at the DMV, and you wonder what is taking those clerks so long, stay positive,  you might just find out; like me,  someone might be having a moment of being BLESSED!

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