Tag Archives: health

3 Ingredient Dishwasher Tabs

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I found this recipe on Pinterest and I wanted to try it out before I shared it. Just to make sure it works well and really cleans my dishes. After 4 months, I can truly say these work and are way more cost effective than store bought. Plus you know exactly what is going in them.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Baking Soda
  • 1/2 cup Citric Acid
  • 2 tablespoons Dish Soap

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the dish soap and squish it into the dry ingredients until you can form a ball with it and it stays together. I use my hands to mix so I can test out if it will hold its shape as I go, but you can use a spoon if you want. Then fill your mold with them and let them dry overnight. Pop them out and store them in a jar or whatever you have for storing! (Beware, if you have a cut on your finger, the Citric Acid will let you know. So wear gloves if you must)

I just throw one into the dishwasher before I start it. I do have hard water, so if I have vinegar on hand, I’ll put that in the rinse aid section of my machine to help, but it’s really not needed.

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Tuesday Homestead Update

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We are officially using the sawmill! It’s an amazing part of our homestead and will definitely help us to progress forward from here. We are using the first few trees to create wood for planter boxes. That way if it’s not perfect, it’s ok! I cannot wait for us to actually build the boxes and start growing! Come on spring!

Our meat chicks are now 2.5 weeks old. So they will go outside starting next week! Super nervous about that, but really happy to get them out of the house. They sure do make alot of noise for such tiny birds. They have grown a ton since day one. I’m proud to say we haven’t lost any so far. Praying that we keep that record going once they are outside.

My sons and I began constructing the chicken tractor that we will move them too. It’s small and we will need to make a bigger one when they begin to grow, but this one will work well until the wood is cut. Plus itll work very well for our chicks in the spring. Ill begin incubating them here soon. Luckily, we have plenty of scrap tin and chicken wire laying around. So we can just throw tractors together pretty quickly.

Some new exciting news is our kids are about to begin raising their own animals. Summer and Wyatt have both chose an animal to raise and create an income from. This will be a major part of homeschool this year. It will be their responsibility to feed, water, purchase feed, clean the pens, figure out income possibities, usw that income to purchase things needed for the animals, the whole nine yards. They are so excited for this new business adventure.

Our rabbits are almost ready for processing! The date is set for Feb 4! We have sold most from this batch, so we will only be culling three. So itll be a super short day. We also have two litters of kits due anyday now. The nesting boxes are in the cages, full of bedding, just waiting on the right time. I love having new litters of rabbits around. They are so fun to watch and play with!

Thats it for today’s update! I cannot wait to show you all of the exciting things we have coming!

God bless,

Grace Revival Homestead

Tuesday Homestead Update

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Hey yall! It’s been a hot minute since I posted one of these, so I decided to just jump right into it!

Since our last update, we have expanded to include meat rabbits! So far this adventure has been incredibly rewarding. We have an amazing meat source that we can monitor exactly what goes into it. It’s healthy, low fat, and can be used in the place of chicken in most recipes.

As of right now, I have 2 does, and 2 bucks in rotation. I plan on keeping a doe from this litter to add on as well. That should cover us for a while on meat!

We also just put up a new chicken coop and run. Hurricane Ida completely destroyed our last one, so we picked up old fence pieces from other areas and built this beauty at almost no cost! It houses our wonderful layers. We have 14 hens and 3 roosters. However, one of our roosters is about to go to his new home very soon.

We are still building and repairing things the hurricane took out. The rabbit grow out cage needs a roof, our chicken run needs hardware cloth over it to keep hawks out, and the horse’s fence needs restrung. But every day we get one step closer to being done. Then we can move on to our next animal adventure!

I sat down last month and wrote out our homesteading goals for the next few years. I have such big dreams, my husband just laughs at me. I’ll just give you a hink; oink oink and buzz buzz are coming within the next two years. Well, God willing and the creek don’t rise. Seriously though, we flood way to much, I need the water to stay down so we can achieve these goals.

Well until next time!

Thanks for coming on this adventure with me! God Bless!

Grace Revival Homestead

AND It Broke….

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My ankle. Not all the way, just a fracture. But painful none the less. And I injured it in the most silliest way possible. Trying to chase my daughter to wipe my dirty hands on her shirt. Let me explain!

Yesterday, I was sitting outside, writing a blog post to update everyone on our homestead, just enjoying the peaceful day God blessed us with. I spot my horse and decide to bring her an apple to enjoy.

After she messily finishes her apple, my hand is covered in horse slobber and mashed up apple bits. So I turn to my daughter and proceed to taunt and chase her with my nasty hand. Trying to wipe it on her shirt.

Which led to me stepping into a hole, mid sprint/pivot, and hearing a pop then falling to the ground. It was terrible! Of course, my son and daughter run to my rescue. My son drops to his knees and begins praying for my ankle, while my daughter panics and runs around the yard. Poor child did not know how to handle momma in pain.

So I send her to get my mother in law, who lives next door, and we hobble me into the house. A few hours later, I’m splinted up and leaving the hospital wondering how to handle a homestead on crutches?….Thank God for both my momma and my mother in law for tending to me and the kids. It takes a village guys!

Now here I am this morning, watching a storm blow through with my leg propped up. Thank God because now I dont have to water the garden (God had my back there!)

So to everyone out there, life took a crazy turn, but I am not to worried. God has a reason for every thing. This is just another episode of Grace Revival Homestead!

God Bless

Grace Revival Homestead

Day 2

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Yesterdays prayer was so refreshing that I absolutely cannot wait to put up todays! This time we are going to be praying about health, mainly because my son’s sugar has been super high all morning. I need this prayer at this moment and hopefully you’ll find something valuable from it as well.

By His Stripes We Are Healed

Dear Heavenly Daddy,

Thank you for this beautiful but slightly flooded day in Louisiana. We appreciate Your kindness and love so much! Your grace and mercy far exceeds our limited way of thinking. Lord, I pray for divine healing today. We have been struggling to be a makeshift pancreas for my son lately. His blood sugar continues to be untamable and its frustrating to say the least. I pray that you step in and take control. I proclaim healing in his body and for all of his organs. I proclaim healing over every family that comes across this post. I pray for peace during sickness and for comfort. Relieve pain in joints and nerves. I rebuke cancer and all diseases that attack your children.

I pray for peace for the families that have sick children. Wrap these people in your loving embrace. Lord, for people that are hearing diagnosis’s for the first time, relieve their stress and fear. Your perfect love cast out all fear and we are standing on that promise right now. Send them people to support them and help hold their arms up like Aaron and Hur did for Moses. Teach them how to praise you in the storms of life. Don’t allow the enemy to use these devastating diseases to draw them away from Your love and comfort. I am standing in the gap today for families that are so overwhelmed that they cannot reach out to You. Lord protect them and wrap them in Your love.

Thank You Lord. Thank You for doctors with Your wisdom and for counselors that are willing to hear us out when we feel buried under our emotions. Thank You for supplying all of our needs before we even realize we are lacking. You are Jehovah Jireh! We love you so much!

In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

With All of God’s Blessings,

Stephanie Smith

The Highs and the Lows

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For the last few weeks, we have really been struggling to keep my sons sugar in a “good” zone. First we struggled at night. He would drop 6-7 times a night, every night. Talk about me being a zombie for days on end. I was EXHAUSTED! Now that we have it almost under control at night, it is unsteady during the day! Meals that he has ate the entire time he has been diagnosed now send him to a shockingly high number. When just last week that exact same meal to insulin ratio sent him plummeting to an all time low. Let me just say that type 1 diabetes is frustrating and exhausting and just defeating sometimes.

#HONEYMOON PHASE

My son is currently in the honeymoon phase of T1D. Now, don’t get confused here, there is nothing fun about this honeymoon. It means that his pancreas still sometimes produces insulin. So he eats, we dose his insulin for the food, and BAM his pancreas works right and also gives him insulin. So we find him plummeting very quickly and having him shot gun apple juice…..insane right?! Then there are times that his pancreas doesn’t work at all, like today. So he ate the same breakfast that he has ate all week, but today, his insulin does nothing for him. He skyrockets to a very scary number and all we can do is dose him again and wait the two hour window for his medicine to take affect. Type one diabetes is stupid.

ITS ALL A WAITING GAME TO THE COMPLETE DEATH…

of his pancreas, that is. So, we sit and wait on his pancreas to fully die out. Hoping the day comes sooner rather than later. Living in this Russian roulette of insulin or not is really hard for his little 8 year old body to take. And it breaks my momma heart to pieces to watch him suffer like he does. Plus living with the stress of unknown long term effects of his sugar roller coasters. I’m not saying it will get better once that day comes, but I can hope that maybe, just maybe, it’ll be a little smoother.

If you know someone with T1D or have any tips or tricks of the trade, please send some my way! I’ll take all the help God brings to me!

With All of God’s Blessings,

Stephanie Smith