There are changes a coming.
2011 has been a year of many changes for our family, and for this business. It’s been a year driven by survival. It’s been tiring, and trying, physically and emotionally. It’s also been one of many, many, mixed emotions. A mix of survival, and of blessings.

During this time, I’ve had it said to me,
“Be thankful your business can support your family!”

Believe me, NO one is more thankful then I.

However, there are realities in life.

First reality, I am just one person.

Second reality, I am not just a business woman, first and foremost, I am a wife and mother to five. A homeschooling mother at that.

When I am on my death bed one day, hopefully many, many, years from now, I won’t be found saying, “wow, I sure wish I had spent more time on my business…”

I’ve spent plenty of time on my business. Much more time then any wife and mother should, for too long anyways.

For a season, things have needed to be this way. As a wife and mother, my financial help needed to be very great for our family to survive.

However, if things were to continue upon the path they have been heading, I will be at the end of my life one day, I will look back and say, “I sure wish I had put my priorities in place, and kept my family FIRST.” By then, it would be too late!

*Julia helping to sort instock pads.

I don’t want my children to remember me only as the woman who always made enough money to feed them and keep a roof over their heads.

I want my children to look back and say, “no matter how difficult things got, or how hard mom needed to work, she ALWAYS made time for us.”

I am VERY thankful this business has done, and continues to do, SO well.

Those of you who have followed us along, know that my husband has landed a truly wonderful job as an engineer! This has been a HUGE blessing. Even if he IS 2000 miles away, at least our family is headed in the right direction. He’s just gotten there ahead of us.

For the past 8 years or so, my husband has been self employed, as I am. For a few years things were actually going fairly well. Things seemed VERY good. Both his business, and my business, were growing

However, at one point, our gov’t here in BC implemented a new tax. This tax affected my husband’s business quite immediately, and all business came to a halt.

Times became VERY difficult for our family.

Last winter my husband headed to the oil fields for work. He was gone three months, and then the work was over. He was there just long enough to get our heads back above water again. We kept hoping when he got back in spring that things would change, work would come in, and some did. A job here, and a job there, just enough to eek through, along with my income. We’ve been hobbling along. This put a lot of stress on each one of  us. Not just my husband and I, but our kids too.

Some may feel it’s not good for the kids to know what’s going on in the finances of the family, but that’s just not how we do things. Our kids ARE this family, as much as my husband and I are this family. They are involved in every aspect of everything we do. We are a family unit, not individuals living individual lives under one roof. We are a family unit, living together, while still keeping our individual personalities.

*Shaylah making cookies

If you’re a fan of Little House on the Prairie, you may remember when times became tough, and the family pulled together to get through it all.

I can proudly say we’ve been there, done that, that is the Homestead Emporium family.

Mind you, I’m not like Ma with a constant quiet demeanor and positive attitude. My husband isn’t like Pa, playing the fiddle to work out his frustrations. We both get grumpy and stressed, and our passion shows not just in the good work we do, but in our stress levels too.

Our children don’t run barefoot to the fishing hole, read their Bibles every night and never say a mean word to one another. They get stressed out too, get downright grumpy with each other, and bicker, even with us parents (or now, with my husband gone, with ME!)

*Graydon cutting out VersaPads.

However, no matter how ‘real’ this family of mine may be, I can not stress enough how blessed I am by each one of them. My husband, when his work has been slow and mine needed to pick up, was there to help me while he was home. Even when we would argue over how things should be done, or why there wasn’t enough money that week to pay such and such a bill, we remained focused and reminded ourselves, and each other, that this is a SEASON.

*Elsa snipping threads on finished products.

No matter how stressed our kids got, or how much we might bicker, if a load of hay needed to be bought for the horses, or even if we were short on the funds to pay the mortgage, our children stepped up to the plate and offered to help where ever, and how ever, they could.

Whether it was through funds from their own jobs, helping in the business by cutting extra stock, or simply by doing extra house cleaning (still working on HOW to get them to clean without being asked… lol), they pitched in. And continue to do so.

*Joshua helping make dinner.

I have never been so humbled, as I have been these past couple of years.

And honestly, that is probably the biggest blessing of all of this. Even though it also hurts, a lot. My true colors have shown through these trying times and not every color I am is always pretty. We won’t speak to my kids about mommy stressed out during pms time… let’s just say, a little over the edge.

*Alesia baking

All this to say (and I realize this is very long… blog posts should not be this long… call me a rebel…) there will be some changes coming to the Homestead Emporium.

My biggest goal for this shop is to never get burnt out, instead to keep it growing slow and steady! This shop was begun not just for myself, but for my family. As a help, not a hinderance. This shop is a VERY LONG TERM goal.

However, this shop can not RUN this family, the family must run IT.

And that’s where the changes will be taking place!

So stay tuned, and in the meantime, I thank you GREATLY for your continued support! We ALL thank you!
You’ll never know how much it’s meant to each of us, not just me, but my husband and my children too. To read your heart warming stories of making it through your own difficult times, and the prayers and support that has been sent our way. Each time one of you takes time out of YOUR busy lives to drop us a line,  it has REALLY helped!

Thank you.