I decided that with so much in our lives changing, and me having more time at home than I previously have, it is high time that I keep up on this blog on a regular basis.
A lot of you that are a part of my mailing list received our Christmas letter. For those of you who didn't, I thought I'd highlight the big changes in our year briefly.
Adam and I have long been yearning for the opportunity to work together on an occupation that would allow us to work primarily from home and for ourselves. We prayed about it a lot, and it became clear that beekeeping was one of those occupations. Since Adam's family has owned and operated a small beekeeping business for 16 years or so, we already had the basis to begin making that happen. Over the last several years, Adam and his Dad Jim have worked hard expanding the business to a size that would support all of us. This year we were able to see a lot of fruit from that hard work.
All summer long, Adam and I continued at our day jobs while working afternoons and evenings with the bees. By the end of the summer we had gone from 40 or so hives, to almost a full tractor trailer load. Our house had been on the market since the end of January, and we all were anxiously awaiting it being sold so that the rest of our plans could come about. As in so many life-changing things, God taught us a lot of patience and reliance on Him through all that waiting. There were times when we weren't sure if it would all work out, if everything we'd worked so hard for and dreamed about would actually come about. But as with so many other times in our lives, God pulled us through when were were least expecting it. In less than a month, God sold our house to our neighbor's new employee. On October 28th we moved a half mile down the road into the house Adam grew up in, and began work on building Adam's parents a log cabin in the front field of that land.
A week after selling the house, I was able to quit working at BPI, and prepare to take the bees to South Carolina with Adam (he had already quit Dailey's in September). Everything worked out in just the right time. Since then we've made a few trips to South Carolina for the bees, and while we are back in Vermont we work feverishly on Jim and Gail's cabin to get them in as soon as possible! We're hoping to have them in maybe in another month or so.
We are currently getting ready to head to South Carolina again this week to check the bees. We hope and pray that all of you have had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year in 2015, one that challenges us to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus, who makes this entire life here on earth worth living.
