For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

As my husband approaches his military retirement we are starting to throw around  ideas for our future. For all of our adult lives we have only known the military. We have never owned a home or lived in one place for a long period of time. We both have a desire to live a more rural life and are starting to explore ideas such as organic farming and living “off the grid”. My problem is this… most of the web sites I find that are about these topics are very, very liberal. We are not. We feel that we need to be good stewards of the land and animals that God has provided for us,  not that we should hold them higher than humans or worship them in any way. I want my children to be able to eat the fruits (and veggies) of their labor, to
understand that God gave us animals to take care of but also to be used
for food and clothing.  We would love to build a home that produces most
of it's electricity from the sun, wind, or water. So- my question is this… is it possible to live an environmentally friendly life without becoming a tree hugger? Can you be a large conservative christian homeschooling family who grows their own food, grinds their own wheat, makes their own clothes, produces their  own power…. but still drives a 15 passenger gas guzzling van  to church on Sundays?
If you know of any conservative blogs/ websites that address these issues I would love to read them!

I love Christmas time…  I love the lights, decorations, Christmas Eve services at church, cool weather, and  especially the Christmas tree. Now don't get me wrong, the absolute best thing about Christmas is that God sent His Son to earth to save us, but after celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, my favorite thing about Christmas is picking out and decorating the Christmas tree.  The ornaments bring back memories of times gone by, and each year another one of our children is old enough to remember the year before.
You see, when I was a child we had to have an artificial tree. My brother had asthma and the real tree bothered him.  So we had a fake tree. Every few years my dad would cave to the begging of my sister and myself and take us to the Christmas tree lot and spend a good part of an evening picking out a real tree.
When I got married I decided that I would always have a real tree, and for the most part we have. A few years ago we started a new tradition, not only would our tree be real but we could cut it down ourselves. The first year we did this it was like a fairy tale. The kids rode in the back of the truck up the mountain on the way to the field of trees.  Then they happily ran all through this forest finding the perfect tree, which dad cut down, loaded up, and took home for the decorating. Last year did not go as well, to sum it up, it involved lots of mud, a four-wheel drive, a tractor with some towing chains, cow poop, and flashlights.
Even though we have  left the country, I was not willing to give up our new tradition, so I searched the internet for a Christmas tree farm in our area. I came across a pretty cool web site that lists places all over the country where you can cut your own tree as well as pick your own produce. They even list places where you can take a sleigh ride. Pretty neat! So Saturday we are off in search of the perfect Christmas tree. The kids are excited, I'm excited, and dad is bracing his back for heaving the tree on top of our Suburban. Let the fun begin!

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I guess I  am a city girl now. We left our  little house in the country for a big house in the suburbs.  As I type that, I am realizing I am the opposite of many large homeschooling families- who sell the house and move to the country! As I have now lived in civilization for a little over a month, (after spending four years in relative isolation) I am making some observations about life here in the 'burbs.
First- no one, no one has more than 3 kids, and everyone feels the need to tell me how many kids I have… as if I can't count.
Second – everyone is in a hurry, I can't seem to figure out what they are all hurrying to, but they need to be exactly where they are not, at that very minute.
Third – I don't think anyone eats dinner at home, my husband and I waited over 30 minutes for a table for two on a Tuesday night at 8pm.
Fourth – Even in a big city (where you think they would be more informed)  people kind of give you a strange look when you tell them you homeschool. 
Fifth – Cities and neighborhoods like rules. They like to tell you how to park your cars and what you can put in your garbage.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. I am still adjusting to this different way of life, where the boys have longer hair than the girls, and all the kids have  tennis shoes that are also roller skates.
My kids are still trying to understand why they can't use the BB gun in the back  yard to pick off squirrels, and why they can't run free in the street.
In spite of this, I am thankful for the new friends we have made, the new church we have found, and the pharmacy 4 minutes away. It is nice driving 5 minutes to the store and not an hour, it is nice driving 10 minutes to the doctor instead of  30. And, although I hate to admit it, it is nice to stop in to TCBY and get frozen yogurts for the family after a long day.  City life can be good… if you make it.
I guess what I am trying to say is that, even though our lives might not go as we planned, it is always God's plan. So I plan to make the most of every day we are here, as long as it may be…..