Progress

Well, we lived on the property last summer. Most of the time, we didn't have internet, and the rest, we've been living more intensely than I ever thought possible.

Yep. We camped. For 3 months. And it was the most spiritually amazing experience our family has ever been through. I had nothing but positivity and absolute faith that things would work out. Our ward was one of the best wards we have EVER been in. Everyone was so friendly and supportive and generous. Every talk in Sacrament meeting was a direct answer to our situation. Every Sunday school was full of intelligent people who participated in discussions that made me thirsty to study the scriptures for the first time in my life. I couldn't get enough, and I know the Lord was pouring out a TON of blessings and growth on me.

When you live in such a way that you work to get clean clothes, you work to get warm water, and you are grateful for a canvas roof, you lose all lazy materialism and gain a proper view of what is important. "When you can't do what you've always done, you do what matters most", and for 3 months, we did that. We focused on our family relationships. We explored the area, went to the county fair every day that it ran, got the walipini greenhouse put in and the raised hill for the foundation, and dug the pier holes for the planned cabin. We were adopted by one the neighboring families the first Sunday we were there, and they provided us with continual love, morale boosters, raspberries and gallons of water for the duration of our stay. We even prepared to sign the kids up for school, hoping hubs would find work in the area so we could rent nearby over the winter.

 It was "rough", sure. We handwashed clothes and dishes, cooked every meal outdoors, used a solar shower and Rubbermaid tote to bathe, slept in the borrowed RV and pop-up trailers, cleaned up after the windstorms and rain flattened our camp, and had to drive 15 minutes to use the phone or wifi.

 

We saw tons of wildlife: deer, turkeys, skunks, you name it, but we also saw the most amazing starry nights and misty mornings. The valley was green and amazing for the entire summer.

 

The drawback was, by the end of the summer we'd spent our most of our savings on food, and hubs hadn't found work. We'd applied EVERYWHERE, but nothing came through and he was in the deepest funk I'd ever seen him in. Then the adversary had his turn. September came and so did DCFS to make sure we weren't going to camp over winter on our own property.

 None of the homesteading bloggers out there say anything about nosy strangers freaking out over people camping on their own property and getting the government threateners involved, but apparently it happens.

We assured him we were smart enough to not camp in winter, reminded him that it was private property, and sent him off. Rgh. Nothing like feeling hunted and violated on our own land with no cause. I'm ashamed to say we let that vulnerable fear he put us in dictate our next move, which was to pack up immediately and head south for the winter.

The lessons we learned far outweighed any disappointment we had in not getting things going as fast as we hoped. Sometimes you have to let the Lord's timing take over. We aren't in a rush anymore, it will happen when it's right. We just have to stay focused and keep doing all we can.