Country Living

Today I have been working on projects around my house both inside and outside. While eating lunch I thought I would reflect over this weekend...this extra long weekend would not have been possible without the many men and women that risk their life for our nation and gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. For that I am thankful! Happy Memorial Day! Sometime today while you are enjoying this great weather outside take a little time to reflect on the meaning behind today so as a nation we don't lose touch with the purpose of today.

This weekend marked the unofficial kickoff to SUMMER. Memorial Day weekend brought several of my family members together on the family farm. Members of my family have been living on the family farm for almost 100 years now. It is the current residency of four members of my family...my parents and my cousin Matt and his wife Amanda. The farm is located on the Tennessee Kentucky stateline and it is still a family gathering place for holidays every now and again. My parents house is usually where everyone gathers. It will not be too much longer before we out grow my parents house if we keep adding at the current rate! Number 25 will be added in a few shorts weeks...but here are a few photos from this weekend of a few of those who were able to make it.

 

 

 

One evening several of us decided to take a little stroll on the family farm to see what was happening. I couldn't resist snapping a few photos along the way since country living on the farm isn't something that I get every day now that I'm a city girl in the metropolis of Tompkinsville. Enjoy a few scenic views, because I know I did that evening.

I love this small path since it helps keep the property interconnected.

Barn # 1...The tobacco barn (view 1)

 

The tobacco barn view 2...the barn quilt was painted by yours truly a few years ago for a school project while working on my master's degree. The pattern is called "Log Cabin" and it was selected since my mama has made all the cousins quilts in this pattern. This is the barn I spent many days when I was younger helping in the family tobacco crop & my 4-H sheep projects were raised in this barn.

It is hay season on the family farm so daddy and Matt have been a little busy. 

Barn #2...the Ridge Barn. I love this barn because of its character and charm! When I was a kid it was the "red" barn, but that has long disappeared. Now my aunt Kathy is the proud owner hence why I called it the "Ridge Barn".

 

Somehow sunsets in the country always seem prettier.

 

I am thankful and blessed to have been raised on such a beautiful family farm. I realize that now that I am an adult, but when growing up I did not appreciate the country living. Living on the farm meant that I had a few chores and had to help in the tobacco patch and my mama's daylily patch. I had to get up early and be on the school bus around 6:45 a.m. in order to be at school by 8:00 a.m. Most of my friends lived in town and had the convenience of being near everything, but that wasn't the case for my family. To shop or do anything "big" we had to travel one to two hours depending on if we went to Cookeville or Nashville. I survived without all the hustle and bustle of city life. Life on the farm has its own pace and things seemed to be simpler then and even now today.

 

Thinking about today being Memorial Day and country living & farm life  made me think of this passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, time to keep and a time to throw away,a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

 

I am glad that my parents decided to build on the family farm and raise my sister and me there. I got to be raised with my Pa Ralph being our closest neighbor. Not many kids can say that! If we ever needed anything he was there in an instant to lend a helping hand or words of advice or encouragement. I never dreamed at the age of 28 that I would be living back so near the family farm (I am less than 10 miles away), but somehow God's plan brought me back when I was 24. I don't know what is in store for me in the upcoming years but one thing I know for sure is that I love going back and visiting the family farm and country living every now and again even if it is just for a visit. Without these special veterans in my life I would not have been so lucky to be able to experience life on the farm. Thanks Pa Ralph & Pa Virgil!

 

Ralph Craighead

Virgil Savage

 



It's Strawberry Season!

It's strawberry season on the Tennessee Kentucky stateline! This weekend I helped pick strawberries on the family farm. These photos are from one days pickin'. Needless to say mama and daddy have been busy in the garden harvesting these little berries and preparing them for the freezer...that is if they were not consumed first! Strawberries are full of vitamin C and they also contain vitamin A, folic acid, fiber, and iron. They are low in calories and loaded with nutrition so that makes them great to eat! Strawberries are best eaten almost immediately after they are harvested within the 2 to 3 days. After they are picked you remove their "cap" and then enjoy them!    

Mama's Berry Patch...the strawberries are on the right (5 rows of them) and they are my favorite, but I cannot wait till the blackberries (on the left) come in sometime in July because they are also delicious!

I could not resist trying to consume several strawberry dishes yesterday since I had farm fresh strawberries! This is not a normal occurrence in the Savage household. I did not want those little yummy berries to go to waste especially since I helped pick them.

Breakfast (Bran Cereal & Strawberries with Milk)

Lunch (Fresh garden chicken salad with strawberries, apples, almonds, blue cheese crumbles, craisins & honey mustard dressing)

Afternoon Refresher (Strawberry Tea)

Dessert (Strawberry Shortcake) 

I haven't turned into a strawberry yet, but I'm ready to go back to the berry patch to pick some more because after reviewing these pictures I'm hungry again for some more berries. Can you tell that strawberries are one of the Savage Girl's favorite fruits? What is your favorite? 

Overweight VS. Skinny

Is being healthy and overweight better than being skinny and unhealthy? This question was recently posed to me. I am no health expert by any means, but I do have a degree in Human Ecology with an emphasis in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics. I have a good general knowledge of the human body and what has worked for me personally during my lifestyle changing journey this past year. So here is an attempt to answer the question about being overweight versus skinny and who is healthier...if an individual is making healthy choices with the foods they eat, they exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and have a healthy blood pressure, blood glucose & cholesterol reading from their doctor then I believe they are being as healthy as they can be. These are some of the essential things that help create healthy bodies. An individuals weight might not be ideal, but an overweight person who is trying to be healthy are at a "healthy state" for their individual body. Doing something and being proactive to better than doing nothing at all!  God made us all different and unique in all shapes and sizes. If you are concerned about being healthy then as individuals all that we can do is try to be the healthiest that we possibly can be at whatever size we currently are at. The skinny person who is not trying at all to be healthy by the choices they make might actually be worse off than the overweight healthy person, because they do not care and are not concerned about their health. So yes, I believe you can be skinny and unhealthy!

Over the course of the last eighteen months I have learned that your weight is not everything. The media world has helped to give us a false view of body image and what is overweight & skinny and healthy & unhealthy. Love your body at whatever weight you currently are at. You are beautiful/or handsome and made in the image of God! If you love your body then the eating healthy, exercise, sleep, and blood pressure, blood glucose, & cholesterol readings will somehow find a way within a healthy range when you are psychologically ready. You have to have the desire to be healthy and want to change for yourself and no one else but yourself. That's when you are psychologically ready and then I believe you can begin to get physically ready by making wiser choices within your life. This might mean admitting to yourself that you need help from professionals or a support system. Anyways, LOVE the skin you are in first, then everything else will fall into place. Being healthy will work its way into your new lifestyle when you are ready.

If you still find yourself confused or need more encouragement then create a support system to surround yourself around. Talk to your health care provider because they might have some really great tips and pointers for you from a professionals standpoint. Find people around you that will help encourage you to reach your goals if you want to get healthier. Your support system could be made up of your family and friends, maybe a group of individuals who are trying to achieve the same goals as you (like my Weight the Reality Series group), or it could even be a group of fellow Christians who could be your cheerleaders. Your co-workers need to be involved also because more than likely you are around them as much as you are your family and friends. Join a fitness center and the people you meet there will become part of your accountability and encouragement team. Last but not least involve the most import person who helped create you...God. Pray about your health and ask for His support in your journey. And...my door is always open if you need my encouragement...because I know that I need yours daily! 

Learning From a Special Lady...

It has been an historical week to say the least. Tornadoes ripped through the state of Oklahoma. An innocent soldier was murdered in broad daylight in London. Millions of insects called cicadas have begun to emerge from the ground to serenade us throughout the summer. A new grocery store opened up in a small town promising lower priced groceries. A committee of seven ladies finalized plans on a summer concert series. A former co-worker moved on with a new life opportunity while leaving behind a vacant agriculture and natural resources county agent position in a small rural county in Kentucky (the job will be posted soon). A small group of dedicated individuals participating in a program called Weight the Reality Series continue to lose weight and make healthier life choices in order to have better bodies. A friend decided to move and transition into a new town to be closer to her work. And on a more personal note...my "Savage Life" continues. I have come to realize even more now than ever before that I cannot do it all, so I say a little prayer for God's guidance and my personal sanity. I put a smile on my face and attempt to manage one thing at a time on my to do list.

Now that I have had a chance to step back and reflect a little over my week it is kind of ironic that this week I have been reading about a special lady that overcame many obstacles! I am trucking right along with my daily bible readings and this week I have been reading about a lady that had courage. She followed God and His will for her in order to help her friends and family. She had faith and courage despite the obstacles that were thrown her way. Here are some applications that I think we can observe from this special lady.

1. Sometimes we need to stop and thank God for helping us overcome obstacles, trials, tribulations, and evil that is around us. We need to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak and be thankful for all the blessings that come our way no matter their size, shape, or situation. Life might not make sense now but God has a plan for your life just like he has a plan for my life.
2. Sometimes we might be placed into situations that we necessarily do not want or desire for ourselves, but instead of harboring on the sour situation we need to add a little syrup and make lemonade out of the lemons that life throws our way. We need to understand there is a purpose and we might not understand it now, but one day all the puzzle pieces will fit together perfectly because someone else with more powers is designing our life and we just get to play a small part in the process. 
3. Taking risks is a part of life and we must be willing to take the risks that come along in life in order to gain something greater. Some of the best things sometimes come when things are unknown. The lady I have been learning about this week was willing to go before a powerful king without his permission. She was willing to risk her life for her friends and family because she did not have anything else to loose.  
4. There are times we need to pray about things, seek a Godly counsel and wise advice from others, and then there are times we need to simply wait a while and have patience. But when the courage comes we need to move forward, step out of our comfort zone, and have faith in God's plan for us. The lady I was studying trusted in God and she saved a nation. She was willing to risk it all, but when we are like this special lady others will want to be like us. Others will look to us as an example, for answers, and for help. We need to be humble enough to acknowledge that we do not know it all and that answers can be found when one seeks the one and true God who knows it all.  

If you have not already figured out my special lady was Esther and we can learn much from her in the short ten chapters about her life in the Bible. So tonight when I say my prayers I am going to ask God what He wants to do through my life. Let us each remember that God put each of us on this earth where he wants us to be and for a particiular period of time. Let us have faith in His timing and will.

My Family Legacy

This weekend the Savage Girl is getting to celebrate a few family milestones on my maternal side of the family. I had one cousin graduate from high school and another cousin is about to give birth to her first baby so a baby shower is planned for tomorrow afternoon. These milestones indirectly affect me since my extended family is expanding and new paths are being embarked on. All this got me to thinking about our family legacy.

Bonnie on graduation day...and yes she got her very own electric man for her
dorm room from yours truely!

I have always heard that cousins are a childs first best friends! Oh the stories we could tell on each other from our days on the Craighead farm! Here are some of my cousins recently at Sara's baby shower in December. Now Mallory is about ready to have her little one too!  

Each day we are writing our history and life story whether we realize it or not. We need to take time to reflect on the things that are truly important and worth preserving  for others to view and remember us by in order to help preserve our legacy into the future. Everyone has things within their life that they feel is important and worth reflection time but sometimes we forget to communicate our legacy to others on why it is important to us. I feel that my parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents have done a pretty good job communicating our family legacy on to the next generation of Craighead youth. It is exciting to see my cousins now as they are opening new life chapters and carrying on that legacy into the future. My hope and dream is that one day I can do this too if it is God’s will and plan for me to have children of my own.

My great-grandparents Hazel & Homer Gates. 

My grandparents Ralph and Jo Frances Craighead.

 

My parents Leah and Charles Savage.

I believe there was a theme to this Craighead family legacy. All of us grandchildren I believe were passed on this family legacy that consisted of values, beliefs, and the love for heirlooms and preserving the family history. Some have chosen to let it impact their life and change their family and or individual history. It has impacted us all differently! This is not to say that we all have followed the same path or that we are all clones of one another. Trust me we have all made our own fair share of mistakes and some have even had their our own off road adventures in life. We are human and life happens! But I believe because our family history was passed down through the years we now can see certain values, principles, and beliefs that are repeated in each generation. Hence now why it is a legacy that I believe we are continuing to pass down. In a nutshell here is what I believe our family legacy consists of…

• Belief that there is one church, one God, and one truth. We each were taught that we all have the responsibility to think, believe, and obey the truth but if we want God’s acceptance then we must be willing to accept what was taught in the beginning and not ignore the teachings of the bible and the examples we can learn from it.
• Education is very important and your daily attendance is crucial when it comes to attending school. Continuing your education is a must! It is the door opener to the future and the opportunities that lie ahead. Learning is lifelong and doesn’t stop in the classroom. Learning is an exploration of yourself and the things around you. You must ask questions and inquire to learn new things in order to continue learning and fully understand life.
• Service others and give back to your community whether it is within your life work and career or your personal free time. Give selflessly of yourself in order to make a difference and help make small changes for the total overall larger life picture. Volunteer your time and energy, but do not expect anything back in return.
• Provide leadership for the things you are passionate about. Step up and be a leader if you are needed because it is a job, someone has to do it, and so it might as well be you.
• Cherish the things you love and the things that make you happy. For some within my family that means holding on to family heirlooms and historical family pieces so that the future can know the past by passing the information forward.    

No, my cousins and I did not go to family legacy school. These were just small things in life that I believe that our parents and our grandparents instilled in us through the life they lived and the example they set forth. If only they could see us now! I can see the impact of the family legacy within each of our lives. I am sure they would be very proud and beaming with joy from all of our achievements. I am pretty confident that there are more turns and roadblocks ahead for us but I believe our future is bright and that the legacy will be remembered and carried forward!  

Are you leaving a family legacy? If you have not ever thought about it maybe you should reflect a little and see where you want your family legacy to be. Who knows you might change your family tree!