Featured Resourceful Gal- Rachel Heffington

Hey readers! Julia here. We are delighted to share with you another of our featured resourceful gals, and this week the spotlight's on... Rachel Heffington! Everybody give Rachel a big hand of applause! ;) *roars of applause* Okay, okay, that's plenty. :D

J: Welcome, Rachel! Tell us a little about yourself so our readers can get acquainted with you.  

RH: I like to call myself the cock-eyed optimist. I'm practical, but there's just a terribly buoyant side to me that refuses to be entirely squelched, even in the hardest of times. I'm a novelist (as yet, unpublished) and a stay-at-home daughter. I work in our family business, help with the house and kids, and generally live a patch-work life that Jesus is faithfully knitting into something worthwhile in His eyes. My biggest desire is to be used by Him in some grand, adventurous way, small or large. For now, that way seems to be stretching pennies till you can see daylight through them. ;)

J:  I think your sense of humor is the thing I enjoy most about you, Rachel, and after having the privilege of reading some of your novels, I have no doubt that you WILL be a published author one day! :D So, what is your BIGGEST, #1 tip for resourceful living that you've discovered? Choose the best one, you can share some others in the next question. ;)

RH: Where there's a will there's a way. We like to complain that there's absolutely nothing to eat in the entire HOUSE or that we have absolutely NOTHING to wear, but I'm telling you that it can work if you take the dare to be creative.

J: I love it! :D Methinks I need to make that motto into a big sign and hang it where it smacks me in the eyes every day. :D Now... we want to hear some of your best tricks for feeding a large family on a budget. :D

RH: "Nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage". ;) 

J: Trust Rachel to throw in a movie quote! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I believe! ;)

RH: No, really, this has been a skill I've gotten a lot of practice on this past year. Our family has never had much money, but the past two years have hit the business really hard. Plus, we've gained a vision to eat healthily, trying to avoid flours and most other starches and refined sugars. That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? How on earth can you feed a family of 12 healthily with a skimpy budget? We aren't Irish--we can't survive off of potatoes thrice daily. ;)

• First of all you grow a garden, which (if you can get past the price of seeds) greatly expands your repertoire of fresh groceries. 
• Second of all, you polish your sense of humor and take everything in stride. 
• Third of all, you become awesome at learning how to manipulate the herb cabinet. I am dead serious here. You can make a bland pot of rice or a pan of wilted potatoes snap to life with a skillful hand at seasoning. Conversely, there's nothing that will ruin even the best cut of beef more than a clumsy sprinkle of random herbs. Learn combinations and substitutions. The pot of chili I made this winter contained cocoa, coffee, and other atrocities, but tasted AMAZING.
• Also, meat can be used as a garnish. We've gotten used to it. Totally. Who ever even heard of each member of the family having a whole chicken breast? HAH! Instead of grilled chicken, try grilled chicken salads, and you can spread it three times as far!

J:  Those are all fabulous tips! We also grow as many things as we can in our garden, and it helps out the grocery budget tre-men-dously, that's for sure. Tell us about how your family works together to get things done. Do you assign tasks to everybody, or do you all pitch in where needed?

RH: Originally my parents had made a chore chart with designated responsibilities for every kid. The bones of that have stuck (and changed) over the years, but since graduation I've been more of a catch-all, just helping where help is wanted. You know. :) 

J: That I do. ;) Okay, we all love DIY and home decor over here, and who doesn't love a party? Share with us some of the ways you turned your home into a coffee-house for one night to raise money for your missions trip to Romania! :D

RH: Pretty much once we had chosen the idea of a coffee-house, we took inventory of what we had and what we wanted to do, and ran to Pinterest. 

(Julia interrupts: *Squeal!* :D I love Pinterest!!) 

RH: Haha! My goal (because we didn't have any funds to use) was to do it without spending a red cent. We went with four categories for decor: European, Hipster, Vintage, and Coffee-Shop Classic. Literally, we spent nothing except a dollar to buy a package of putty for sticking our things up on the walls. We ransacked out attic, discovered cardboard looks amazing from far away, used newspaper for pinwheels, and lots of paint and glue for everything else. Other members of the team lent us some silver coffee-pots and things, and we did it up gorgeously, as the pictures will show.

J: GAH! Too cute. :) What adorable signs! And as I know, the Lord blessed that coffee-shop night and you raised more than you'd dreamed you would to finance your trip to Romania. God is so good! What are some of the dearest lessons that He has shown you through this adventure of living resourcefully? 

RH: Hands down, that He provides. Not on our time-scale, but on His. 

J: Wowwwww, I love that!

RH: And it's always just enough, somehow. We seriously could not live without Him because logically, we'd be in the gutter. But He's faithful and His provision is enough. :)

      He has also taught me how important it is to have a sense of humor. To see the empty cabinets as a chance to make a familiar recipe by substituting the ingredients you do have for everything it requests that you don't have. :D

J: I'm inspired! Thank you so, so much for being interviewed on Resourceful Gals, Rachel! It's been so much fun having you here! (Isn't she great, everyone?!?) :D 

RH: You are very welcome, Julia! I hope I said something worth saying, and that you all will enjoy this peep into my "resourceful" life. :D If you want to stop by, I have a blog where I write about my life, lessons, and adventures at www.lassofalltrades.blogspot.com.

       Thank you for having me, Jewels! And may the rest of you live wonderfully resourceful lives!

The only picture I have of Rachel and I... :D So blessed to know this gal!

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