Unemployed Again

It has been 9 years since we have faced unemployment. We saw this one coming, but we were unable to find a new job before the ax fell. In addition, we now have our homestead that we have been working on that we don't want to abandon. We are hopeful that we will be able to find a job that will pay our bills and allow us to keep our homestead. We continue to move forward, and when I feel discouraged I just remeind myself (usually out loud because that works better) that faith and fear cannot co-exist.

I am so extremely grateful for a Father in Heaven who I know loves me. I hope and pray that I live worthy to receive answers to my prayers. I hope and pray that my husband and I can find a solution to our current employment problem. I know that living on our homestead has drastically reduced our cost of living and moving elsewhere will increase our cost of living. This is especially true if we still have the payments on our cabin and our property in addtion to an home where we find work. We understand that a lot of people live seperate lives when they have to get a new job. I really don't want to have to go with that option. Although it might seem okay at first, I know that the stress on our family would be really hard. And yet many families are left with no other option. A friend of ours was living without his dear wife as she was taking care of her grandchildren while their daughter went back to school and work following the death of her husband. Tough trials like this seem to be the norm instead of the exception as an increasing and steady pace.

I am grateful for the scritptures and for Temples because these things help me to feel comfort during my times of trials.

Little House on the Prairie

One of my favorite shows growing up was Little House on the Prairie. I have a daughter who is so similar to me that it is amazing. I just knew she would love the show also so we finally got the first disc from Netflix and everyone in my family loved it. We found that we really could identify with the show too, after all we are a little house on the prairie. Actually I'm not sure if our house is bigger or if theirs if bigger. However we have electricity and running water. I have to say I love the comforts of our modern age.

Freezing

Every day when we wake up our water if frozen. It takes about 2 hours to get our water running. We have done what we can to try to fix the problem, but it is so cold that the measures we have taken aren't good enough, so we still have to thaw our water lines every day. We are really hoping to get our wood stove into our cabin this weekend so that we have heat in our home more often. We originally thought we could use propane heaters, but we can't leave them on all the time and it is really expensive as we have to refill our tanks a couple of times a week. Hopefully we can get the parts we need for our stove to install it.

Perspective

My children have a lot to teach me. Most recently it was about perspective. My four year old son was racing about our small home that is just under 400 square feet. I asked him to stop running around because the house wasn't big enough to run around in. He rebutted my argument and proclaimed that I had built a big house and there was plenty of room to run around.

I love my son, I have been feeling the weight of living in a small space with my large family, but he reminded me that perspective was valuable to our comfort. To my beautiful little boy, our tiny home is a grand mansion. I love my family.

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

I could use a swift kick in the pants when it comes to being thankful most days. I have a beautiful family and I belong to God's true church. I am so thankful for all the countless blessings that I have in my life. Unfortunately it is easy to get caught in thinking about what I don't have instead of what I do have. I wanted to take a minute to express my gratitude for the sunshine we got on Thanksgiving day. We had very little sunshine leading up to and after Thanksgiving here, but on that day we had enough sunshine for me to use my slow cooker to cook our Thanksgiving meal. I am so very grateful for that blessing. I am also grateful for our tiny house. It is something that I am super grateful for while at the same time I struggle because I would love to live in a bigger house. I am however grateful for all we have been able to do with our tiny house and especially grateful that Heavenly Father has given us the beautiful experiences we have had here.

Freezing temperatures

Well, this week has been freezing temperatures. Last week was cloudy, rainy, and snow. We had been able to get most of our waterline covered, but we still had one exposed area left. Last night we were able to get the last area covered and this morning when we woke up the lines weren't frozen.
Also, we have been able to stay worm in our beds through the night. We still turn on the heater first thing in the morning to try to drive away the cold air, but our cabin is staying warm enough to keep us from freezing. There are still some things that I want to get, like flannel pillowcases. It is amazing to me how big of a difference a fabric on a pillowcase can make on a head during the night. I am so very grateful for the progress we have made, and I hope we can continue to make progress on our cabin and our property through the winter months.

Its raining, Its snowing

We are on day three of overcast skies and rain, and today we had snow also. Our oven is outside because of safety issues and so tonight we were able to see if we like brownies enough to walk back and forth through the rain and snow. I guess we do.
Also we have to ration our power because the skies have been so overcast. Learning to be conservative with our resources is a lesson we all should learn, so I really don't mind my kids learning to be mindful of their resources.
The other thing we have faced over the last three days is everyone in the house together almost all day today. Our house is too small for us to be stuck inside all day everyday. However, we aren't usually all inside everyday all day. For the first time I am thinking that church at 1pm next year will be a good thing because it will break up our Sunday right in the middle with an outing to church.
We still have a long way to go to be ready for winter, and the days are hard with no sun and lots of rain and snow, but I am grateful that our house is almost finished. I am also grateful that we do have power, even if we have to ration our power.
Also, I love my family, even if I am stuck in the house with them. `I have discovered that I will not do well in this house unless I am able to keep it clean because otherwise the house is just too small.

Solar Power

We have been really spoiled up until this week. Yes we have had to adjust to watching our use of power so we don't run out of power, but we pretty much use all our power every day (which is quite a bit for off grid). Well this week has been overcast, so we have had a lot less power for each day. We still have enough power if we ration out our power, but we definitely need to see what changes we can make to get through the winter on cloudy days.

Storage solutions

I am always amazed at how a little more storage can make such a big difference. Today I put up a small shelf with some cup hooks in my kitchen. Such a small thing, but it makes things better. The best part is I was able to make the change without any additional money. I did buy the cup hooks a few weeks ago, but the wood was left over from a project at the beginning of the summer and the shelf brackets were salvaged from a house that was being torn down. I will have to take the shelf down when I do get the money to finish the wall behind it, but for now I have the storage and I am using it.

Tiny houses are not good when everyone is sick.

This week my tiny house got the best of me. We are going through the flu this week, and I still have construction materials in the corners and walls that needs finished. Plus we are really limited on storage which means we are constantly stacking things on top of things. My husband finally has a Saturday that he can hopefully finish some projects, and he has now come down with the flu himself. I worked daily to keep up on the cleaning in hopes that I could find my sanity, and today I lost my sanity and my cool. Luckily for me my husband is understanding and my children are loving and forgiving. I am so grateful for the love and support of my family and despite my frustration today, I still love my little house. I just hope that I can somehow, with everyone sick, (and probably me sick next) I can get some more of my house finished this weekend. Hopefully we can make some progress. And hopefully I don't have any kids throwing up tonight, even though at least 3 people have already told me they might.