Friday, May 23, 2014

Living the Life We've Been Given

For those that don't know me in real life, we live on a farm.  It isn't ours, but we have the most wonderful landlord.  We live in a quaint farmhouse, raise chickens for meat and eggs, 3 steers for beef (1 is ours) and pigs for pork.  We have duck eggs and chicken eggs in an incubator right now and a huge garden is mostly planted.  We are able to hunt deer, squirrel and rabbit on this property and fish in the pond that is here.  It is a dream.

I was raised on a farm.  I knew going in that I was walking straight into a life of hard work and much responsibility.  Cows, pigs and chickens need fed and watered regularly.  Their pens need tending and maintenance.  Gardens need planted, cared for and then harvested.  The harvest will need to be preserved.  The cows, pigs, deer, squirrels, rabbits, fish and chickens need to be caught or butchered and then preserved.

Although my husband is a state employee, we are not rolling in money.  I am a stay at home mom.  I homeschool 2 of our children on a shoe-string budget.  Currently, most of our grocery budget is going to feed future groceries :)  It is what it is.  We manage.  No, we more than manage.  We are living.

Memorial day weekend is upon us.  I tend to get a little depressed around this time of year.  My husband frequently works holidays and we rarely get invited to cookouts.  We don't have a camper or RV so we rarely camp.  Even if we wanted to and were able to we wouldn't be able to go anywhere because someone must care for the animals twice a day.  We are tethered here.

As I am sad we don't have a typical middle class life (financially or socially) I remember that many in this world would love to have what we have.  This week I managed to sell just enough eggs to buy chicken feed.  I cleaned my moms house and earned enough to buy some needed groceries.  The tiller broke (again).  God will provide.  He always does.  How can I be sad about that?  I am placed in a position of watching God work in our lives over and over and over again.  That is wonderful!!!!

So middle class typical isn't working for us.  We need to make our very own typical :)  Maybe your typical isn't exactly as you imagined it would be.  That's ok.  Embrace it.  Trust me, it is much more enjoyable to embrace life rather than wish for someone else's.  You never know when someone else would wish to be living your life :)

1 comment:

Victoria Stankus said...

We always tend to think "the grass is greener" in someone else's yard. But, its not. Once we get up close, we can see they have just as many bare spots and holes in their yard as we do. So, its better to just be satisfied with what we have. Its a lesson I am still learning at times, too. ;)