Homestead separation?

I haven’t had much of a chance to blog this past week. Truth be told, when my mind gets overly busy or I’m feeling a little anxious about something, I just don’t do so well with blogging and… well… there’s been lots to be thinking about.

I shared on facebook the other day (http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=184095461603942&id=87164962268 ) that my husband is looking into working outside of province. About 2000 km (over 1200 miles) away actually.

Seven  years ago my husband started his own business and officially became self employed. Since that time, it has been nothing but a blessing. Difficult? Yes! Trying by times? Yes, very! Rewarding? Most definitely, YES! Our son has grown up from the time he was just 10, until now at 17, working along side his father. That one aspect alone has been one of the biggest blessings as far as I’m concerned. My husband has taught Joshua how to lay flooring including hard wood, laminate and tile, shingle a roof, build sheds, build decks, put in doors, cabinets, build additions, revamp homes, landscaping, you name it, if it’s reno’s of some sort, they’ve done it!

Together they have turned this view:

Into this view:

And this:

Into this:

Together (and yes, the rest of us have also helped along the way) they have turned this entire property, and it’s buildings that one no one else wanted, into a property worth well over twice what we paid 5 years ago.

Everything was going quite well. This past spring we even decided to finally get me a new (to me) vehicle. For the first time in our married life, we jumped into vehicle payments. Scary, yes, but things were looking really good between our two businesses and we felt confident all would be well. It had been two years since we had more then one vehicle and although I did fine not being able to go here and there at the drop of a hat, we had teens who were now wanting jobs outside the home etc. and it was just time for me to have a set of wheels again.

Well… then fast forward to summer, and our provincial gov’t implemented a new tax. The HST. This meant an increase in cost for every job my husband would do for others. 12% . Things have been up in the air with word that they (gov’t) would take back the addition of the HST, and then saying they are going to wait until next September to make any changes, etc. etc. etc.. One thing after another.

In the meantime, the small businessmen like my husband and quite a few others we know, have been hit hard. Why would someone lay a hardwood floor NOW when they can just wait and see if that extra tax will ‘disappear’ next year? Things have just come to a SCREECHING halt.

We’ve never had that happen before. To be without work. All our married lives (over 20 years now!) as long as we were willing to work, the work was there, for both of us! That’s just the way it’s always been. It hasn’t always been the easiest work, but the work has always been there.
But, it hasn’t just hit my husband’s business, it has hit many. We’re hearing it over and over again. Business friends unable to make ends meet when just a few short months ago everything was great.

We’ve held in there as long as we could but now, times are becoming desperate. My business has been doing well, and for that we’re extremely grateful. However, it takes an awful LOT of pads to keep a homestead, a family of 7 and the bills that go along with it all, paid. It also takes an awful lot of my time. I have children to raise, a home to run, kids to take to work, etc.. There is only one of me and as much as I appreciate the help my family gives, they just can’t help enough for this busy-ness to continue. And yet, we can’t afford to pay someone else to help. Catch 22. We’re also not sure we want the business to go in that direction. In house seems best. I’m not ready, nor do I know if I ever will be ready, to hand over any of the business ‘reigns’ to someone else. This business was begun to provide a way for myself, and one day our girls, an income. A family business. We feel pretty strongly about keeping it that way. Any time we start wondering if we should be considering otherwise, we never feel right about it.

So, my husband has been pushing open any doors of opportunity he can find, and right now he’s pushing this one. Working in the oil fields, far from home.

There’s nothing concrete yet. He has to take a course on Thursday and from there he takes the next step. We have no idea how fast or slow all this could/would unfold. Everything is up in the air right now.

If this all happens, it’s going to be a very different lifestyle for our family. We’ve been spoiled these last years, I’ll be the first to admit that, as far as having dear hubby/daddy around. I’ll always be very thankful for that time. But times change, and I’m trying my very very best to look at it all in a positive light.

Life is an adventure. Sometimes there are hills, mountains, slips and falls along the way though, and sometimes it can hurt, but the adventure continues anyways and you can either get up and move along, or sit and wallow. I’m choosing not to wallow. We all are. If this happens, we’re going to take this new adventure by the ‘horns’ and go with it for all it’s got!

In the meantime, we’re not giving up on our dreams. Homesteading is our dream. We don’t feel that with these changes, we have to change our dreams. We may just have to take a new path, a different path, an unknown path, to follow them.