KV Organics

seeking restoration of sustainable life... personally, professionally, & spiritually

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Revamping Blog

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So, after almost a year of getting my tech-challenged feet wet with blogging, and obviously struggling a bit to keep up with it since baby #4 arrived (thanks for your patience!), I’m thinking I might need to revamp things a little here.  I suspect if I can organize my posts into a more predictable rhythm, then maybe it will be easier for me to stay more consistent with my writing goals.  I hope!  What do you think?  🙂

As I reflect on the “green journey” messages I feel even remotely equipped to share (some more than others), I can pretty easily lump them into the following four categories:

1- Entry Point #1 – Personal Care Product Ingredients
2- Entry Point #2 – Working From Home
3- Deeper Whys for Green Living
4- The Ongoing Journey of Learning and Change

Everyone on the “green journey” has his own “entry point” that got him started.  For me, it was the toxic ingredients a friend pointed out in the baby shampoo we were slathering all over our firstborn – and the opportunity I was given to work from home, educating folks on safer product choices.  The “deeper whys,” beyond just not wanting to expose my family to unnecessary toxins, have become clearer to me along the way, and they have motivated our family to continue the ongoing journey of learning and change.

So, starting in August, I will experiment with putting myself on a little rotation.  Someday in the distant future I may be able to rotate through all four categories in one week, but for now while I’m too busy enjoying life with my precious little ones, I’m hoping to accomplish rotating through them in a month.

One post a week, that’s my goal.  First week of the month = Personal Care Ingredients.  Second week of the month = Working from Home.  Third week of the month = Deeper Whys for Green Living.  Fourth week of the month = Other things we’ve learned and/or tangible actions we’ve taken in our home along the way.

We’ll see how it goes!  And once again, thanks for your patience as I hammer out the balance in my life with techie things.  🙂

I’d love to know – what was your “entry point” onto this path?

Only Human

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OK, so my poor blog has now seen April pass as well.  But I think we’re getting into our new groove, and this is a quick post mostly to remind myself that I’m only human.  I hope it can be a blessed reminder to all you other type-A personalities out there as well.  🙂

I loved my February e-fast.  It was truly a detox.  When I logged back on to email for the first time, I think I felt my brain melt.  Besides clearing out and responding to my emails, I spent most of March trying to get acclimated to some new time limits online, and now, at the very end of April, I’m finally getting back to blogging – at least once a week, Lord willing!

The e-fast was helpful in many ways.  It was a wonderful time of drawing closer to the Lord, just resting at His feet while serving my family only.  I began my e-fast with a desire to get His direction, and in some ways, I came out of February with more “service options” placed on my heart than I started.  At first I thought, “God, that’s not very helpful, I was hoping for some clearer direction!”  Then I came to realize His wisdom here – it forces me to stay closer to Him each day going forward.

One of the biggest reminders that I came away with, having all these interests and passions stirring inside me, is that I am only human.  OK, duh.  But, I need frequent reminding of that, and I know I’m not the only one.  🙂

It’s one of those weird paradoxes in life, I guess.  The more I find God expanding my heart for needs in the world, the more I realize how severely limited I am to do anything about them.  Rather than run myself ragged trying to “do, do, do,” over-commit, and live a stress-filled life on so many levels, I need to rest in the little peace-filled niche He has carved out for me within His greater plan and let Him do the work through my tiny action steps of faith.

Going into May, He continues to remind me daily to stop my striving and just give my best to the tasks for which He’s called me.  Right now, that is first and foremost my family and home (which includes our own creation care/downwardly mobile/green journey).  My work beyond the home – whether with my business or volunteer work – is in His hands to guide and grow through this severely limited human as He wishes.

“His strength is made perfect in our weakness.”  Such good news!  🙂

Goodbye March

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OK, yikes!  Where did March go?!  Wow…

I did, in fact, get back online March 1st; however, it took me a while to clear through the 500+ emails in my inbox, and it’s obviously taking me a while longer to get back to my blog.

This is just a quick “Blog News” post to thank you all for your patience.  I have so many thoughts that I’d love to share with you, but I am really trying to limit my computer time.  Lots of posts sketched in my mind, a few in the draft folder, and hopefully some going up online very soon, Lord willing, but I do much prefer snuggling with my kids to staring at the glow of a computer screen.  🙂

Thanks again for your patience and support as I try to sort through and focus my swirling thoughts while adjusting to life with four kids!  Hugs to all!

February E-Fast

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I have been really enjoying my babymoon this past month, but my type-a self has a very hard time slowing down.  No surprise to those who know me, I know; but the truth is that I really do want (well, sort of want) to slow down – and need to slow down.  So, I’ll be taking a total ‘e-fast’ for the month of February.  No email, no online research, no social media…

This decision isn’t so much about having a newborn in the house, actually.  In many ways, the transition to life with four kids has been very easy.  But there is certainly no coincidence in the timing between baby #4 coming into our family and all that’s been going on in my heart and mind over the past year leading up to this point.

Here’s the deal…  Even though I sometimes try to grab the wheel and take control, what ultimately drives me in all that I do is the Lord.  What is He up to?  What does He want me to do at any given moment?  What’s my role and purpose in His bigger plan?  How can I best serve Him and the people He has put in my life?

Right now, I feel like He’s asking me to just sit down and be still for a while so I can draw closer to Him and get some direction.  There are too many open doors in front of me, and I cannot possibly walk through them all at once if I’m also going to be the wife and mom He wants me to be, so I really need His guidance.  But every time I get online or on email, my desire to research a huge variety of green and healthy living topics gets me stuck online for hours.  Although this desire to learn is God-given at its core and closely connected to what He’s doing in my life, everything has its time and season.  Right now, I’m strongly sensing the need to stop being Martha and spend some serious Mary time just sitting at God’s feet; I need to quiet my mind by staying offline for a while.

So, this post is to let folks know that you won’t be able to reach me by any online means until March 1.  You can still email or Facebook message me, but I won’t get it until March.

If you need or want to get in touch for any reason in February, please do feel free to call or text me.  For those of you who are clients, I am still committed to serving your needs during the month of February, but will do so by phone rather than by email this month.  And if there is any way that I can be praying for anyone during my e-fast, feel free to call or send prayer requests via text.

See you online in March!  🙂

Oh, and by the way…  Almost as if God really wanted to drive this ‘e-fast’ idea home to me…  My email experienced some sort of mysterious technical glitch last Thursday.  All my archived emails (which were numerous) and backlogged emails in my inbox from before January 2o-something just suddenly went POOF!  Totally disappeared and cannot be recovered.  If you had emailed me prior to January 27th and never heard back from me – I’m sorry but your email probably got zapped.  If it was important, please either call or text me, or email me again and I’ll respond in March.  🙂

Baby Here

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Just a quick post to say that baby #4 arrived safe and sound on Monday afternoon, 12/20.  Andrew Peter, 8-3 and 20 3/4″ long.  We’re all settling in and laying low.  Hope to get back to blogging in mid-January.  In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  🙂

Going Hermit

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Wow, it’s December already.  Baby’s due in a few short weeks.  I’m ‘going hermit’ soon, so please don’t be surprised if my online presence diminishes a bit for a couple months.  Emails, blogging, facebook, etc will all be touch and go for a while, especially once baby actually comes.  But I’ll be back.  Feel free to still email, call, or message me – just please give me some extra time to get back to you.  😉

As much as I love interacting with people on a regular basis, I have to say I’m really looking forward to my hermit time in the newborn fog.  Mostly looking forward to a time to slow down on all the research and work I feel compelled to do in the many areas of greener living and creation care, so that I can spend some time reflecting on all that God has taught me this past year.  Locking eyes with a precious, amazing little newborn while nursing is a great way to force me to sit still and get super reflective.  I look forward to drawing nearer to Him (especially during those quiet middle-of-the-night feedings) and discovering His vision for my life in 2011 after emerging from ‘the newborn fog’ (time of total family focus) around February.

What a ride!  So crazy sometimes, but so thankful.  So blessed.  And hey, there are still a few weeks until the 22nd (due date)!  Will try to do a couple more posts here in December before baby actually arrives, but just in case… I wish you all a blessed holiday!

Blog Launch

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OK, here we go.  I have been talking about doing a blog for months now, and thanks to my friends Jacob & Meghan Smith at Whiteboard Media, I’m finally getting started. My goal is to provide a valuable site for those who want to begin or continue their own journeys into organic, natural, holistic, green, sustainable – however you personally want to phrase it – living.

I’m no guru, just a mom on my own journey; but I love to research and dig to get to the bottom of things, and I love to interact with others and their ideas on a wide variety of topics in such a way that, hopefully, we all grow for having shared some time together. My desire for this blog is that it will become a supportive online environment where: 1- I can share tips, resources, thoughts, and ideas that I have found helpful along my own green journey, and 2- anyone who has helpful input of their own will share as well.

Here’s to everyone learning and supporting one another as we go.  Click here if you’d like to know a bit more about my story.