Path to Freedom

Here is my first recommended blog: Path to Freedom Urban Homestead. I have a dream to own my own self-supporting little spot one day, and this website is full of ideas and dreams. Enjoy!

Path To Freedom

About the Urban Homestead

In the mid-1980s, our family set out to do the seemingly impossible: To create what we dubbed an urban homestead and live a self-sufficient, low-impact life in the heart of the city. For years we worked steadily to transform our ordinary urban lot in Pasadena, California, into an organic permaculture garden that supplies us with food year-round.

Having found food security in our own backyard, we were emboldened to take further steps. We began powering our home with alternative energies and fueling our car with home-brewed bio-diesel. Along with new technologies, we also embraced the simple living of past generations. We kept farm animals for egg production and manure, used secondhand goods to decrease our consumption of earth’s nonrenewable resources, and taught ourselves a variety of back-to-basics skills. Through much hard work, and no small amount of blessing, our "urban homestead" now enjoys a dramatic degree of independence, with ever-decreasing environmental impact.

The journey is ongoing—and we are by no means finished—but we are grateful to have come this far. In 2001, we named our homegrown venture “Path to Freedom” and created this website —the first ever devoted to urban homesteading. We hoped that by documenting our personal experiences we could offer encouragement to those striving to live a simpler, more self-sufficient lifestyle. Eight years later, PathtoFreedom.com is now the largest and most comprehensive urban homesteading website, with more than five million hits per month. We believe that our family’s real-life experience is what makes the site unique: We aren''t just writing about the latest eco-practices and products; for more than two decades, we have been living the revolution. At our daily blog, "Little Homestead in the City," you can witness first-hand our struggles and joys, defeats and successes on this pioneering journey.

We now run a family of websites which offer goods and interactivity for others on "the path." For our expanded online outreach, non-profit organization, and progressive online stores, visit this link.

Please note that Path to Freedom is a noncommercial, family-operated venture. We devote countless hours to this site, and, despite the opportunity for profit, we remain committed to keeping it an advertisement-free forum. We do this because we believe in giving freely to others, a value upon which strong, healthy communities are built. We hope you will take this principle to heart, and will view this site not just as a place to “take” (answers, ideas, inspiration), but as an opportunity to “give” as well. Whatever you may gain by reading about our journey, please remember to “pay it forward” to others in some fashion. Together, we can ignite a revolution of spirit that will truly change our world for the better!

-- Jules, Justin, Anais, and Jordanne Dervaes

A little change here

You are going to be seeing a little change here at A Mother's Apron. A few weeks back I posted a frugal tip and thought I would follow each week with a new one. This was well received and I have decided to continue on with it. I have also decided to add links to my favorite blogs, similair to the A Mother's Apron facebook page, yet different. I will be "highlighting" some of my favorite blogs, not posts as I do on the facebook group, but entire blogs, each week. So hopefully we will see a little more activity here at A Mother' Apron Blog. Blessings dear ones, Tracylea

You will regret it............

I think it is our natural inclination to tell people when they are doing something sinful............but don't we all learn better lessons if we figure it out on our own?

"You will regret it", is a common phrase that people say, yet we seldom hear "you are going to hell if you do it".

But ultimately isn't that the outcome we should all be concerned about, going to hell or at the least displeasing God? The word regret sounds so much better than hell.

So if you see someone doing something wrong (sinful) maybe you should say, "you are going to hell". Would that stop them. It might!

I have a child who is straying pretty close to the "going to hell" line. I know what he is doing will cause him regret, but is it sinful? Yes, he has crossed that line. So should I tell him the truth. Yes, I think it is time. Will it be easy, no. But is it necessary, yes.

Matthew 18

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹⁰"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.^a]">[a]

¹²"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

A Brother Who Sins Against You

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you,^b]">[b] go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'^c]">[c] ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

¹⁸"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be^d]">[d]bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^e]">[e] loosed in heaven.

¹⁹"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

²¹Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

²²Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^f]">[f]

²³"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents^g]">[g] was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' ²⁷The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.^h]">[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

²⁹"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

³⁰"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³²"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' ³⁴In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

blessings, Tracylea

Be careful dear ones............

I think most of us have heard the following children's song at least once:

Oh, be careful little eyes, what you see.
Oh, be careful little eyes, what you see.
There's a Father up above, looking down in tender love,
So be careful little eyes, what you see.

Be careful little ears what you hear
Be careful little mouth what you say...
Be careful little hands, what you touch...
Be careful little feet, where you go...

But as with many songs we sing over and over again we often lose their meaning. But this little song has been playing in my mind over and over the last week, especially when I have been on the Internet. And the message is coming through loud and clear.

Be careful what you see, hear, say, touch and where you go. Got it. As the Bible clearly tells us :

Psalm 101 (King James Version)

¹I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

²I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

³I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

⁴A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

⁵Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

⁶Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

⁷He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

⁸I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

Ladies the Lord calls us to watch what we see, hear, say, touch and where we go! Not only are we to watch, there are ramifications if we don't! Pretty serious ones.

Blessings dear ones, Tracylea

Serve the Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 16:17-18 (King James Version)

¹⁷Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

¹⁸For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Wow, read that again.......and again............and again. That is so powerful. "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly....." Ouch.

I have been re-reading my copy of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald. In Chapter 10 Mrs. Chancey points out that we are all servants and true happiness is found in sacrificing for the Lord. Christ is our wonderful model in all this. (See John 10:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:15) As Mrs Chancey wonderfully points out:

"Over and over again, Jesus shows us that true living is found in joyfully sacrificing ourselves for others. It is found in dying to our own desires and wants so that we can pour ourselves out for Christ in the service of others. "

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald

Are you serving your "own belly" sister? Or are you a servant to our Lord? Do you die to self daily or are you faithful to the Lord when it is convenient? Prayerfully ask yourselves this, I have and I don't like the answer much!

Blessings, Tracylea

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother, turn your heart towards home!!!

"We have forsaken what is good with what is BEST. The days can be filled with many temptations, all enticing our souls, minds and our hearts away what is God’s best for us. I believe many of us unknowingly choose such busyness for our lives falsely assuming it is the norm, but what we really need is to just live more simply. Simplicity helps to restore peace and order.

Sometimes we need to pare away the unnecessary things in our lives. This might be saying no to outside activities or events. This might be stepping down from some ministry positions we have found ourselves in. This could be putting some of your favorite craft projects on hold to be able to do some real work around the home. This might also mean taking a long break from the internet if we find it always tugging at our hearts pulling us away from our first duties."

Posted By Mrs. June Fuentes

Read the entire article here ~!

Blessings, Tracylea