A Tough Day

Today has been a tough day. When I began my prayer I was not even sure what to pray for because I was struggling so much. I want whatever the Lord wants for me, and I also want to do all I can to care for and comfort my family while that privilege is still mine. However, even when I am optimistic, the stress of what will we do can be hard. So I finally decided that when we struggle perhaps the best thing we can pray for is the patience to make it through the tough days.

I am so grateful for my testimony in a Loving Heavenly Father that enables me to have comfort when things are difficult.

Faith, Hope, and Charity

When I first began to study the scriptures I would read that Faith Hope and Charity were related. I understood a little about Faith and Charity, but I didn't even understand what Hope was. I knew what it was to hope for something, but what did that have to do with Faith and Charity. Over the past few years I have began to understand that Hope is one of the most precious gifts that we have been given and that the scriptures help us to have Hope. What exactly than is Hope. Well Hope is exactly that Hope that after all we have done ( the good and the bad) that the Atonement will work not just for someone else, but that the Atonement will work for us. Hope is the gift that despite our mistakes, our transgressions, and our sins that we can apply the atoning blood of our Savior to our lives. Hope is never giving up on those we love and Hope is never giving up on yourself.


Charity is the pure love of Christ. Hope says that Christ's love applies to each and every one of us.

Faith is the belief that we lived before we came here as spirits, that this life is for us to learn, and that after this life we can live with our Father in Heaven who loves us with our families and friends we also love. Hope is never giving up on our Faith because we Hope that as we are going through this life and learning that we can apply the Atonement to our lives.

Isaiah 5:25

25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Hope is believing that when we sin there is a Father in Heaven waiting for us to turn to Him and He is ready to help us and He loves us.

I don't want to make bad choices, but like most everyone who is subject to an earthly body even the best of intentions sometimes get pulled apart by the smallest things when I am overloaded with stress or I am really tired or hungry or perhaps I am struggling with something that someone said to me that was cruel. I have off days and sometimes off weeks, but I hope and pray that I will never give up on myself because I know that through all my mistakes I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and is waiting with His hand stretched out still.

Homeschool and Homesteading

Our homeschool experience like so many other experiences in our life and like the experiences of so many other homeschool families in an evolving process. Sometimes we find something that we really like and enjoy doing and other times we put time and money into something that is just a complete bust. I have to say that one of the things that has cost us a bit of money and is a very real part of our homeschool experience is our homestead, however it has not been a bust. Our experiences on our homestead have been very rewarding and we have learned and lot and we continue to learn a lot every week. I am so grateful for the experiences we have here.

Sometimes I have to remind myself of the great blessings we have had here (like some mornings when we have to unfreeze the water pipes).  However, I don't have to do it too often because we love our experiences here.

In the Doctrine and Covenants in Section 88 verse 118 we read: "And as all have not ^afaith, seek ye diligently and ^bteach one another words of ^cwisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best ^dbooks words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."

Here on our homestead we have been learning and teaching each other, and I am so grateful for all we have been able to do together as a family. We have moved large piles of rocks and a lot of dirt. We have pulled out fence posts and burned tumbleweeds. We have built walls in our cabin and built and rebuilt shelves. We installed tiles and we have hung, textured, and painted drywall. We installed windows and dug trenches. We raised chickens and pigs. And through it all we have learned and grown together as a family while we learn. We saw hearts soften and miracles as we purchased this land, and so with confidence that our Father in Heaven was watching over us we moved here to begin our Homesteading Homeschool experience 8 months ago.

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.