Well, maybe not. I think that's rather pagan.
I will be extremely surprised if anyone catches this post - I confess to having abandoned my posts for a year now.
Wow!
In this year, the changes have been great. Not great, as in swell, but great as in massive!
It took 4 years, but I am now officially single. My attorney said he'd never seen a case like mine and probably never would again. It took a very long time and there were a whole lot of crazy things that happened, but it was finally finished in March of this year. Whew!
Our beloved home and farm are gone. We are moving from one house sitting job to another. What a challenge!
I work a lot to provide for Michael and I, so our lifestyle has been altered considerably. Michael works a lot as well.
But I have learned a lot of things and am grateful for the chance to continue learning and seeing what God will be doing in our lives.
I have no photos at this time and I'm having a tough time with figuring out how to get things done when we don't quite know where any of our stuff is, or when we'll be in one place to the next, so I've not taken many photos lately.
But we are in a sweet little old house right now on 9 acres. I will write more about the challenges of this little spot, as well as the wonderful things about it later.
Michael is now almost 5 foot 11! LOL What a man he is, and such a blessing to me. He turned 16 a couple of weeks ago and is preparing to go get his license. I am looking forward to being able to sit in the passenger seat and do tasks during his driving time to and from town, which takes about 20 minutes each way.
I will see if I can get moving on the blog. I have so much to do, so much I am considering and praying about and need to focus on. It will be good to be able to share it with others, for encouragement, as well as for feedback.
Is anybody out there? LOL
Off to gel the dashing young man's hair before we are off to town for his "man class" and I find something with which to occupy myself.
Still listening to birdsong and smiling because of it,
~ Faith
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Showing posts with label Faith Is. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith Is. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Lemons, lots of them.
.
I have never wanted this blog to be about my problems, but rather how to rise above adversity and move on in my life, relying on the Lord for my provision.
That being said that, no one can know about the lemonade if the lemons are never seen. It just looks like sugar water. And my life is definitely not made of sugar water.
I had mediation on Thursday and it did not go well. It was many hours of things that I never thought I would hear my husband say. That should not surprise me, as he continues to live his life in a way that I never would have believed he was capable of when I first began a relationship with him at the tender age of 15.
I don't want to go into all the gory details, but the upshot of the whole thing was, he walked away from mediation because I would not agree to his final offer:
Sell the property now. Give him all the money which he will use to pay off all his debt (the mortgage and his 50,000 dollars in credit cards, his name only) leaving Michael and I with nothing and no place to live. Get a full time job. Put Michael in public school. He would pay 1400 dollars a month for four years and then he's done with me. Keep in mind, his tax returns for the last 6 years have been a gross of 155,000 dollars, and he retains the ability to continue on in that work. Me - I get to start over with no education.
We will now go have this settled in court.
Among the things I realize I will have to deal with are his accusations that I am unfit to teach Michael. That he never wanted Michael to be homeschooled. That I am lazy and do nothing to educate him. That he is deficient educationally, probably several years behind his peers, and that I break homeschooling laws. That he is socially deprived.
There are many other things that I will be having to deal with concerning this in the months to come. I won't blog much about them, as that is not my focus in life. However, I want any reader to understand that my blog name isn't a flippant title, but reality. Each day the Lord helps me to give the lemons to Him and watch Him make lemonade for us.
He prepares a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
My cup runneth over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Today, however, is Shabbat. A day of rest and focusing on the Lord's goodness, and the joys of life he has given us in family and friends; what is truly important. We have had some great phone calls with family today and we have some friends coming over to play games and visit.
May your day be blessed!
~Faith
.
I have never wanted this blog to be about my problems, but rather how to rise above adversity and move on in my life, relying on the Lord for my provision.
That being said that, no one can know about the lemonade if the lemons are never seen. It just looks like sugar water. And my life is definitely not made of sugar water.
I had mediation on Thursday and it did not go well. It was many hours of things that I never thought I would hear my husband say. That should not surprise me, as he continues to live his life in a way that I never would have believed he was capable of when I first began a relationship with him at the tender age of 15.
I don't want to go into all the gory details, but the upshot of the whole thing was, he walked away from mediation because I would not agree to his final offer:
Sell the property now. Give him all the money which he will use to pay off all his debt (the mortgage and his 50,000 dollars in credit cards, his name only) leaving Michael and I with nothing and no place to live. Get a full time job. Put Michael in public school. He would pay 1400 dollars a month for four years and then he's done with me. Keep in mind, his tax returns for the last 6 years have been a gross of 155,000 dollars, and he retains the ability to continue on in that work. Me - I get to start over with no education.
We will now go have this settled in court.
Among the things I realize I will have to deal with are his accusations that I am unfit to teach Michael. That he never wanted Michael to be homeschooled. That I am lazy and do nothing to educate him. That he is deficient educationally, probably several years behind his peers, and that I break homeschooling laws. That he is socially deprived.
There are many other things that I will be having to deal with concerning this in the months to come. I won't blog much about them, as that is not my focus in life. However, I want any reader to understand that my blog name isn't a flippant title, but reality. Each day the Lord helps me to give the lemons to Him and watch Him make lemonade for us.
He prepares a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
My cup runneth over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Today, however, is Shabbat. A day of rest and focusing on the Lord's goodness, and the joys of life he has given us in family and friends; what is truly important. We have had some great phone calls with family today and we have some friends coming over to play games and visit.
May your day be blessed!
~Faith
.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
I have been tagged with an award.
.
You are a hard worker. Someone who takes the scrap out of life and builds things with it. Someone who has so much going on that others can see the evidence of it all around you. You are one who contributes mightily to life.
This award was given to me by my very first subscription, Tracey, of Peaceful Acres. She is another awesome lady who is going it alone, as Michael and I are. She does some great things and posts about them on her blog, which I get to learn from. She'd make a fun and interesting neighbor to share ideas with, and she's got beautiful grandkids.
When you are awarded the Honest Scrap award here are the things you should do. (I am keeping in mind it is the middle of growing season and all of you may not have the time) First, you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not already know, but are true. Second, you have to tag 10 people with the award. Third, you have to let the people you've given the award to, know that they've received this award from you. Finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you.
1. I’m a down-to-earth dreamer. I always have some sort of big idea I’d love to do that takes about a billion dollars, while I happily go about my work for the day.
2. It took me til the age of twenty to get the courage to have my ears pierced.
3. I do Sudoku to put myself to sleep at night.
4. I would love to have a dozen or more children.
5. I have always had very long hair all my life, except for an ugly short shag phase in the 70s that my mother forced me to get.
6. My favorite movie that I’ve watched the most is the original Parent Trap.
7. The only water I have ever liked to drink was from our California well when I was a child.
8. My first ambition was to be a jockey. But I grew to be five foot eight.
9. I have had only one romantic relationship in my life.
10. I am happiest when things are neat and organized.
Now, for the ten blogs I nominate for this award, I choose these.
The Never Done Farm
Farm Girl Cyn
Brambleberries in the Rain
Apples of Gold
The Self-Sufficient Life
Life on A Colorado Farm
The Jersey Homesteader
Worms and Flowers
Simply Canning Updates
This & That Homestead
Enjoy these lovely ladies and their blogs!
~Faith
.
You are a hard worker. Someone who takes the scrap out of life and builds things with it. Someone who has so much going on that others can see the evidence of it all around you. You are one who contributes mightily to life.
This award was given to me by my very first subscription, Tracey, of Peaceful Acres. She is another awesome lady who is going it alone, as Michael and I are. She does some great things and posts about them on her blog, which I get to learn from. She'd make a fun and interesting neighbor to share ideas with, and she's got beautiful grandkids.
When you are awarded the Honest Scrap award here are the things you should do. (I am keeping in mind it is the middle of growing season and all of you may not have the time) First, you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not already know, but are true. Second, you have to tag 10 people with the award. Third, you have to let the people you've given the award to, know that they've received this award from you. Finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you.
1. I’m a down-to-earth dreamer. I always have some sort of big idea I’d love to do that takes about a billion dollars, while I happily go about my work for the day.
2. It took me til the age of twenty to get the courage to have my ears pierced.
3. I do Sudoku to put myself to sleep at night.
4. I would love to have a dozen or more children.
5. I have always had very long hair all my life, except for an ugly short shag phase in the 70s that my mother forced me to get.
6. My favorite movie that I’ve watched the most is the original Parent Trap.
7. The only water I have ever liked to drink was from our California well when I was a child.
8. My first ambition was to be a jockey. But I grew to be five foot eight.
9. I have had only one romantic relationship in my life.
10. I am happiest when things are neat and organized.
Now, for the ten blogs I nominate for this award, I choose these.
The Never Done Farm
Farm Girl Cyn
Brambleberries in the Rain
Apples of Gold
The Self-Sufficient Life
Life on A Colorado Farm
The Jersey Homesteader
Worms and Flowers
Simply Canning Updates
This & That Homestead
Enjoy these lovely ladies and their blogs!
~Faith
.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Crazy February! ~
.
So, what has been going on with us? Well...
When you are faced with your entire life being ripped out from under you, through no choice of your own, you are left with trying to start over, but not having any ability to be free to try out anything you like.
My goal is as it always was. To remain true to my vows and commitments I have made. I was always faithful to my husband, though he was repeatedly unfaithful to me. I willingly remarried him, on his word he had changed. Even when he refused to work things out with me, not telling me why, I remained true, despite the mounting evidence that he was again living a lie and hiding his life from me.
I also intend to be the best stay at home mother and homeschooling mom I can be. It's what I said I would do and I'm going to do my best to uphold that.
My husband does not honor my commitment to hold true to vows, either to him or to our children. Not only has he left us, but he was supposed to care for me my whole life. I had no plans or ability to support myself, gain any retirement, he promised to care for me. Yet, here I am again. And he would like nothing better than to not have to support me at all. He certainly has no plans to care for me in my old age, but would leave me destitute, while he uses my half of our work together, his ability to earn cash, for his own purposes while I fend for myself.
That being said, I was working on a few things over the last few months that I hoped my turn into long-term income for me. However, in order to make money, you have to have money. At least some extra beyond your basic living expenses. Now, not only was I not getting basic expenses any longer, but I was getting nothing. Needless to say, the things I had been working on, went kaput! Now we were in survival mode.
Even Michael spent hours a day looking for ways to contribute. He came up with many ideas for income and we opened an ETSY account for him. Well, we tried. We found that you have to 18. So it's under me, but he spent all week collecting cedar shavings, cutting scraps of fabric, and tying them into masculine themed drawer sachets.
We also drug out the old window washing equipment we bought for one of our sons and busily began covering old phone numbers with new on business cards and polo shirts.
We got one job. We are still doing this window washing job every Sunday afternoon or morning, before or after church. We are so busy and running all over the place, that this seemed to be the best time. We actually live about 1/2 hour from town, so we have to combine all our trips and they usually take a lot of time.
We remained very active in sewing and planning of our Civil War Spring Ball that was to come at the end of March. So I did a lot of attempting to sew during this time, but we did not do a lot of work around the farm. I didn't do much baking, we ate only the barest of necessities, we turned the thermostat down to 62 degrees, quit using hot water except for a shallow bath when necessary. We really had to scrunch down. In March, we began to get a little income again, but it was reduced.
I had no money to divorce my husband, until my parents paid for me to hire a lawyer. That is in the works right now. I hope to have some financial protection soon.
We always try to remain as active in the home schooling group as we can, though we cannot do all the things we did before. Time constraints as we have to find ways to supplement our income as well as take care of the farm alone and with equipment breaking down it takes longer. We do our best to find ways to be of help to others, so when something comes up, we try to be there. Michael's sports have disappeared from his life. No money and no time for them. He has had to give up a lot because of his father's decision to leave us. But He does remarkably well. We have a happy home, nearly completely free of anger and negative emotions, and we both trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to care for us, even when we are left by those who vowed to be there til death.
If you've been given the bitter drink of betrayal and abandonment, do not be surprised. Evil exists all around in this world. God did not cause it to happen, it was a human's choice to seek pleasing only themselves.
God replaces what evil the world dishes out with good, to those who love and serve Him. It may look different than we expected, it may be later than we were stamping our feet for. But He is faithful. He never breaks a promise.
Oh, and I remembered why I went with the Flock browser. Flock is incredibly slow, but it has a great widget for dragging and dropping all my pics quickly! YAY!
Cared for, even in the midst of difficulties,
Faith
.
So, what has been going on with us? Well...
When you are faced with your entire life being ripped out from under you, through no choice of your own, you are left with trying to start over, but not having any ability to be free to try out anything you like.
My goal is as it always was. To remain true to my vows and commitments I have made. I was always faithful to my husband, though he was repeatedly unfaithful to me. I willingly remarried him, on his word he had changed. Even when he refused to work things out with me, not telling me why, I remained true, despite the mounting evidence that he was again living a lie and hiding his life from me.
I also intend to be the best stay at home mother and homeschooling mom I can be. It's what I said I would do and I'm going to do my best to uphold that.
My husband does not honor my commitment to hold true to vows, either to him or to our children. Not only has he left us, but he was supposed to care for me my whole life. I had no plans or ability to support myself, gain any retirement, he promised to care for me. Yet, here I am again. And he would like nothing better than to not have to support me at all. He certainly has no plans to care for me in my old age, but would leave me destitute, while he uses my half of our work together, his ability to earn cash, for his own purposes while I fend for myself.
That being said, I was working on a few things over the last few months that I hoped my turn into long-term income for me. However, in order to make money, you have to have money. At least some extra beyond your basic living expenses. Now, not only was I not getting basic expenses any longer, but I was getting nothing. Needless to say, the things I had been working on, went kaput! Now we were in survival mode.
Even Michael spent hours a day looking for ways to contribute. He came up with many ideas for income and we opened an ETSY account for him. Well, we tried. We found that you have to 18. So it's under me, but he spent all week collecting cedar shavings, cutting scraps of fabric, and tying them into masculine themed drawer sachets.
We also drug out the old window washing equipment we bought for one of our sons and busily began covering old phone numbers with new on business cards and polo shirts.
We got one job. We are still doing this window washing job every Sunday afternoon or morning, before or after church. We are so busy and running all over the place, that this seemed to be the best time. We actually live about 1/2 hour from town, so we have to combine all our trips and they usually take a lot of time.
We remained very active in sewing and planning of our Civil War Spring Ball that was to come at the end of March. So I did a lot of attempting to sew during this time, but we did not do a lot of work around the farm. I didn't do much baking, we ate only the barest of necessities, we turned the thermostat down to 62 degrees, quit using hot water except for a shallow bath when necessary. We really had to scrunch down. In March, we began to get a little income again, but it was reduced.
I had no money to divorce my husband, until my parents paid for me to hire a lawyer. That is in the works right now. I hope to have some financial protection soon.
We always try to remain as active in the home schooling group as we can, though we cannot do all the things we did before. Time constraints as we have to find ways to supplement our income as well as take care of the farm alone and with equipment breaking down it takes longer. We do our best to find ways to be of help to others, so when something comes up, we try to be there. Michael's sports have disappeared from his life. No money and no time for them. He has had to give up a lot because of his father's decision to leave us. But He does remarkably well. We have a happy home, nearly completely free of anger and negative emotions, and we both trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to care for us, even when we are left by those who vowed to be there til death.
If you've been given the bitter drink of betrayal and abandonment, do not be surprised. Evil exists all around in this world. God did not cause it to happen, it was a human's choice to seek pleasing only themselves.
God replaces what evil the world dishes out with good, to those who love and serve Him. It may look different than we expected, it may be later than we were stamping our feet for. But He is faithful. He never breaks a promise.
Oh, and I remembered why I went with the Flock browser. Flock is incredibly slow, but it has a great widget for dragging and dropping all my pics quickly! YAY!
Cared for, even in the midst of difficulties,
Faith
.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Looking Back
.
I am still trying to do catch up on my blog for the last six months. This was due to nearly having my finger chopped completely off around Halloween by a skill saw. How apropos. (That's the first time I've ever spelled that, and it looks funny!) I kept taking pictures, even if not posting.
To post them now, I go back to my saved photos, pull out the ones that showed some of what we were doing, then quickly try to write about it. It being April, we are extremely busy right now with spring planting and getting the farm organized in all its yearly enthusiasm.
I found that I've hit a spot in my photo record where not a lot was going on. I now remember that it was when I got word from my DH that he was no longer going to be sending any money and, as usual, it was all my fault.
Needless to say, a mad scramble came into play to try to find a way to support Michael and I. God provided many small jobs suddenly for us, whether housecleaning, or planting things, we also got a once a week window washing job.
Our church came and supported us greatly. When my car needed repairs, they took care of it. When we needed food, they took care of it. When I had no money for utilities, they took care of it.
But we were very busy just trying to find ways to earn money. I didn't take a lot of pictures then, nor were we doing a lot around the home or farm. So the last few posts have been sparse, and the next few entries will not have too much going on... And now you know why. :)
Somehow, my Heavenly Father always cares for me,
Faith
.
I am still trying to do catch up on my blog for the last six months. This was due to nearly having my finger chopped completely off around Halloween by a skill saw. How apropos. (That's the first time I've ever spelled that, and it looks funny!) I kept taking pictures, even if not posting.
To post them now, I go back to my saved photos, pull out the ones that showed some of what we were doing, then quickly try to write about it. It being April, we are extremely busy right now with spring planting and getting the farm organized in all its yearly enthusiasm.
I found that I've hit a spot in my photo record where not a lot was going on. I now remember that it was when I got word from my DH that he was no longer going to be sending any money and, as usual, it was all my fault.
Needless to say, a mad scramble came into play to try to find a way to support Michael and I. God provided many small jobs suddenly for us, whether housecleaning, or planting things, we also got a once a week window washing job.
Our church came and supported us greatly. When my car needed repairs, they took care of it. When we needed food, they took care of it. When I had no money for utilities, they took care of it.
But we were very busy just trying to find ways to earn money. I didn't take a lot of pictures then, nor were we doing a lot around the home or farm. So the last few posts have been sparse, and the next few entries will not have too much going on... And now you know why. :)
Somehow, my Heavenly Father always cares for me,
Faith
.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Faith Is...
Hi there!
This is me, but don't get used to seeing my face because this blog is not about me.
It's about you!
You, well OK, and me as well, but all of us ladies who are making lemonade out of the lemons life has dished out.
Good thing there are plenty of sweet things in life to add to those lemons so we can serve one another and enjoy the blessings we've been given, even in the middle of challenges we must face.
Briefly, I am a stay at home mom who married at 18, had four children, committed to staying home and raising them as well as home schooling them and being a great wife, mom, and live as naturally as possible on a little farm.
My husband however reneged on the deal and gathered several girlfriends over his years as a - SURPRISE! - long haul truck driver. A little career change he sort of sprung on me after we were married.
So I've raised four kids on my own, home schooled them, taken care of the place, remarried him after he 'changed' and now once again find myself alone with him off somewhere with another girlfriend, and me trying to figure out how I'm going to keep it all together, survive my second divorce from him, and take care of our last child without him having to suffer much more than he already has.
I've got to continue what I've been doing, plus try to earn money and buy my land back from my husband before he loses it to the IRS. I didn't mention that he's very bad with money? LOL It was land I purchased while divorced from him the first time and he used as a down payment on a home loan. I really would like to keep my home to raise my son in.
Once again I have a beautiful new beginning to experience. And this new beginning includes a hope that I might develop a blog that is more than a place to post my personal days and thoughts, but more a place to encourage others who are in difficult situations. Ladies, life is tough! Yes, it is full of blessings and fun and adventure, but it can surely hand you a box of lemons and tell you to deal with it at any given moment.
I know there are many of us out there. How do I know it? Because 4 of my dearest friends are in the same boat, and we are all creating a variety of lemonade recipes. Some of them say, "Faith can do ANYthing!" It's not true. But I will sure put out an effort to try anything I can. It saves money, keeps you from being at the mercy of many circumstances and makes lemonade a real adventure!
I am currently continuing to home school Michael. I am going to fight to my last breath to keep his life from changing any more than it already has. He didn't deserve any of this. We have lots of activities that are a part of that with our HS group. I am also trying to get my little farm back on its feet after years of not being able to work it due to my husband not wanting to put much money into it. I am working side jobs whenever I can.
I'm here to make lemonade, pass it around with love and laughter, and hopefully encourage you to come up with your own lemonade recipes as well. So grab your kids if you have them, they can play in the yard, and sit with me on my virtual veranda. I've got a glass of cold and sweet lemonade for you right here. Let’s have some fun while we take a break from work.
Faith
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