I have always thought of myself as fiercely independent. I believed that I had to be this way because of being an orphan. I never felt that I could truly trust anyone. After I met my husband Michael, this independent spirit began to wane. I used to think those Christian women who believed in submission were crazy. Why would anyone want to do that? When I married the first time, my husband and I always said that we would do things 50/50. It never worked out that way, but that’s what we said. After that marriage fell apart and I began to do soul searching and I read more of my Bible and I talked to people, got counseling, my mind slowing began to change.

I was single for eight years before I met Michael; he had been divorced and single for fourteen. I had my son from my first marriage. He had no children. I was very concerned for my son because his father was not involved at all. I needed someone who was going to be a good father and someone on whom I could depend. I began to see how God’s plan for his family made sense and that was what I wanted. I wasn’t raised to be traditional. My parents did not have a traditional marriage in the sense that my mother really ran the show more so than my father. They both disciplined me. I was far more scared of my mother than my father. My father was more affectionate and spent more time with me, in spite of the fact that he worked so much, than my mother did. Once I was in high school and college, I did not see either of them much because they traveled a lot. My parents raised me to go to college and get a job and marriage was not necessarily a life goal to aspire to because I could do it all myself and didn’t a men to take care of me or my needs.

When Michael and I met and fell in love, I was absolutely sold out on a traditional marriage because I absolutely trusted him to be a Godly husband. He has not given me any reasons not to trust that he will always make decisions in the best interest of our family and that God is at the center of it all. This is such an enormous stress relief compared to how my life was in my first marriage. But the world is changing now and we are encountering social issues that are throwing us curve balls we never imaged having to think about.

Unlike the majority of couples, we do not have conflicts about money. We don’t because, for the most part, we are in agreement on those issues. The problem we have now is that, even though our income is more now than it has ever been, costs are also more than they have ever been. Even though we should be in a situation where life should be fabulous, we feel more stressed about money now than we did years ago when we made so much less. So, I am trying to find more ways to save. Obviously, I am trying to cut expenses where I can. I try to cut unnecessary spending where I can, but you know how that goes…just when you think you’re doing great up pops an expense you were not expecting like a medical bill, or a car repair, or a vet bill. There is always something. So, you never feel like you are getting ahead.

So, now, I am learning to make some of our food at home. Trying to making things like yogurt, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, etc which can be cheaper and better for you made fresh at home instead of buying at the store. We have lost our knowledge of how to make these food items because food makers wanted to make everything for us, convince us it was cheaper and more convenient for them to make it for us, and then they poison us with their chemical concoctions. It is truly a mess we have gotten ourselves into. I remember is college I got to be friends with several international students and I had three of them over for dinner one night. My mother asked them what was the most unusual item they found in America. They all said the same thing…Dough in a can! They were shocked that we did not have freshly baked bread every day like they have in Europe. It is crazy because bread really is not that difficult to make, it is delicious, and homemade is so much better than the preservative ridden, seed oil filled grossness sold in our grocery stores. So, I am learning the skills of my grandmother and great-grandmother. This week I am learning to tinder fat for beef tallow so that I can throw out my seek oils. I made a few mistakes, but they weren’t fatal. I’ll be better on the next batch and on down the road. Gardening and other skills are on my to-do list for this year as well.

We feel the health and welfare of our family is worth the sacrifice of a little time and maybe a little money here and there. Some may save us some; some might be a tad more, but be a health benefit. Progress isn’t worth it if it’s the progress that is killing us, right? All these forever chemicals, plastics that are inside our bodies, and we wonder why we have more childhood cancer, more autism, more obesity. But the same people who protest these things are the same people who jumped on board with an unproven COVID vaccine and multiple boosters and who promote “food” made inside laboratories. The shift from calling “meat” to calling it “protein” is not a coincidence. It is a strategy. Over time, the powers that be hope you forget the word “meat” altogether and that you will eat anything called “protein”, so that means you will eat anything they put in front of you called “protein” whether it is actual “meat” protein that comes from an animal or protein that comes from insect, plant, or chemical created in a lab and you will not question it. I say, “No, I will not.” And be assured, those same powers that be will not be eating the same food as you. They will still be eating whatever they want and it will not be lab created because they are better than you.

The only way to beat their system is not to play in their system. It is to buy local and to make your own; to make as much of your own as you can and to work with your neighbors as you can. It is time to get back to 1930-1960s America where we knew our neighbors and we worked together. Women worked together gardening, picking fruits and vegetables, snapping peas, canning, making cheese, butter, sewing, working together to raise our families. This how our country survived wars and hard times. We can do it again in the face of all the craziness going on, we can do it again, but it requires an American spirit of tradition. What do you say?

Have a great week!