…Whether by our own doing, or more likely by God’s divine plan, my husband and I were self-employed during most of our marriage. This was a two-edged sword that at once was wonderfully freeing when we had business and money coming in, and at the same time was tremendously unsettling when no work was on […]
Chapter excerpts
excerpt CHAPTER 22 – THE COUNTY FAIR
…I glanced back at my daughter chasing down yet another loose, rampaging steer, and saw the livestock agent go to her aid. Before I realized what was happening, I saw the steer flip the agent, and then flip my daughter. The announcer immediately called for the ambulance that was always waiting at the sidelines, and […]
excerpt CHAPTER 21 – SHARING WHATEVER WE HAVE
…Fast forward 20 years: I am a young wife, with lots of kids, and my husband works for a corporate pay check part-time, and for himself part-time. Many months we had to “rob Peter to pay Paul” to make ends meet. Some months we had extra, some months we had nothing. I remember a low […]
excerpt CHAPTER 20 – THE ADOPTED KIDS
…Reactive Attachment Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and severe Dyslexia now came to live in our previously normal and peaceful home. Along with them came lying, stealing, sexualized behaviors, violent rages, freeze, fight, and flight. The real parenting in the trenches had begun. In addition to all of this, […]
excerpt CHAPTER 19 – WIDOWS and ORPHANS
…In the spring of 2012, my two oldest daughters discussed their desire to go to Africa to help orphans, and then asked my husband to consider joining them. We researched and found Engineering Ministry International (EMI), which was assembling a team of engineers and needed an architect to help site survey and design an addition […]
excerpt CHAPTER 18 – THE FARM
…We parents learned as much as our children about stubborn ram sheep that butt you if you turn your back on them, stupid turkeys that drown in the rain, neutered male goats that look like females, and chickens that peck each other to death. Each new day brought new experiences, some good, some not so […]
excerpt CHAPTER 17 – ABBY AND ALASKA
…Abby had had a cold before we left Denver, and she was also teething. On Christmas morning, when she began to have more volatile spit-up than from milk alone, we grew concerned, but not overly. Cary and I had relied on a great pediatric practice in Denver, but to contact the “on call” doctor from […]
excerpt CHAPTER 16 – HOMESCHOOLING
…Homeschooling was an area of growth for Cary and I as well, as it molded us into the mature adults we became. When you are confident and relaxed because the Lord is leading you, and you are fearless because of that confidence, you are willing to take risks, and try again and again when failure […]
excerpt CHAPTER 15 – PLAYGROUP
…When Cary and my stepson joined me in that home, it was still spacious. My German Shepherd, Rocky, was our second child, and we began to enjoy all the comforts of city life. Cary’s border collie blue heeler mix dog, Tia, came to live with us, too. There were a number of elderly couples on […]
excerpt CHAPTER 14 – PRO-ACTIVE PARENTING
…From that point on, we became fairly consistent in our parenting, and though we were no experts or learned professionals, we felt our parenting was right and righteous. The problem with most experts, in my humble opinion, is that their parenting experience is generally based on two kids, one of each gender, or on research […]