Thankful for the Unconventional
Thankfulness is a state of heart and mind. We can view the glass as half empty and be discontent, or we can view the glass as half full and be thankful. The Scriptures say to do all things without grumbling and disputing. How easy it is to fall into that trap of grumbling and disputing instead of being thankful!
We are well aware that our lifestyle is what many would call “unconventional.” Up until now, we’ve always lived in a modern style house, unless you consider the 1 bedroom cabin we rented when our 2nd daughter was born “unconventional.” Our cabin on the dirt road was a tad bit “unconventional.” But, to us, it was wonderful. We were living in the country down the road from my parents. I am not a city girl, so living in a little cabin on a dirt road was peaceful and home. The two little girls and I would have picnic lunches in the front yard by the orchard. We lived simply and were content with little.
Since that little cabin on the dirt road, we’ve lived in “conventional” houses. Some of those “conventional” houses were older, some newer. The last house we owned was only a couple of years old when we bought it. It was small, but it was almost new, on 1/2 acre and it was rural. So, for the most part, up until now, we’ve lived the “conventional” lifestyle which most of us in today’s America are used to and consider “normal.”
But “normal” is relative. Now, according to today’s “conventional” standard, we live “unconventionally.” But, if you were to compare our “unconventional” lifestyle of today to early America or any other time or place in history, and even many current societies, we live royally. It’s all a matter of what one’s perspective of “normal” is.
Having lived in “conventional” housing most of our life, our family would say that its really over-rated. And living rurally and building as God provides the funds, is hard, but oh so worth it! We’ve learned so much, not just building wise, but character wise. We’ve learned to work. We’ve learned to build. We’ve learned to milk animals. We’ve learned how to change flat tires. We’ve learned how to hunt. We’ve learned how to butcher. We’ve learned how to change tires, and we’ve learned how to drive and back up trailers. And, we’ve learned so much more!
Most importantly, we’ve learned that we need to be content with much as well as to be content with little. We’ve learned that one can live an abundant life while cooking over an open fire (as our forefathers did), or heating water to wash dishes, that one can be content living in a beautiful canvas deck tent cooking in roaster ovens, just as one can live an abundant life while cooking on a propane stove, in a beautiful double oven, washing dishes in a sink with running hot and cold water. Its all a matter of perspective.
When we were just living in the 5th wheel, we were thankful, remembering the Pilgrims and the very real hardships they suffered when they came to this land with no housing at all. Remembering the Pilgrims helped us to keep our new life in perspective and to be thankful. How many people get to camp on their own property for an entire year in their 5th wheel? ; ) It was an adventure! It was beautiful to both sit and work outside as nightfall approached and see the colors in the sky change, glisten and fade into dark as we watched the stars start to pop out one at a time until there were too many to count and the sky was full of God’s glory. What a gift that year was! And the memories we made were and are priceless.
When we added the canvas deck tent to the 5th wheel, it was glorious! We were so thankful for the additional space and room to occupy and set up house. We didn’t need a “conventional” house to be thankful! WE had a canvas deck tent! How many people get to live that kind of adventure? Some people pay big money to go camp or live in a Yurt. What stories our children will have to tell their children some day. And it won’t be tales of woe. It will be tales of life here at Plymouth Rock Ranch!
When we enclosed the canvas deck tent raised wood floor into a “conventional” stick built cabin, it was wonderful and we had so much for which to be thankful! And on top of that, it was Thanksgiving Week ; ) We loved our tent, and some had dubbed us the Tent Family ; ) but our tent wasn’t going to hold up much longer and needed replacing. We thanked the Lord for His wondrous provision for us and were thankful for our new cabin and the many blessed friends who came and helped us build it in one week’s time.
One week later, the Lord miraculously provided us with a beautiful custom oak cabinet kitchen with gorgeous granite counter tops for our humble abode. Once again, He showed Himself, Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides, to us, in the little details of providing for us a wondrous kitchen for our new cabin!
Rick found a beautiful large kitchen sink at Habitat that is now in our kitchen. A coworker decided they wanted a stainless steel double oven instead of a white one and graciously handed his beautiful white double oven down to us. My handy husband altered the waiting-for-a-double-oven cabinet that came with our new-to-us kitchen, to fit our new-to-us white double oven and ran the electricity for it, and whalla! We’re so thankful to now be cooking in a beautiful white double oven!
Our most recent addition is enclosing the 6′ deck at the end of the cabin into an entry/pantry/fridge/freezer storage room. Oh, how 100′ of additional square footage added to the logistics of our daily life!
We are thankful! We are thankful in little. We are thankful in much. We are thankful for how the Lord provides for us and how the little things in life are sources of joy………….unless we want to see the glass as half empty………..then they will be sources of discontentment. It is a decision each of us must make each and every day. Will be be thankful? Or will we be discontent and grumble? Thankfulness…………..
- We are thankful for the Lord in our lives.
- We are thankful for each one in our family.
- We are thankful for each one of our animals.
- We are thankful for our fresh Jersey milk, our fresh eggs, the roosters crowing, the nose nudging of an English Shepherd, and the recent rains which have watered our parched land.
- We are thankful for our friends.
- We are thankful for our neighbors.
- We are thankful for our land.
- We are thankful for our cabin and the progress we are making.
- We are thankful for the trials.
- We are thankful for the blessings.
- We are thankful to the Lord for His many abundant provisions for us.
- And we look forward to how the Lord will continue to provide what it is that He wants us to have each and every day.
Some people feel sorry for our children that they have to endure such “hardships” living “unconventionally.” Funny thing is, our children feel sorry for those who must live in a “conventional” house in town with no land of their own to go build forts on or raise their own chickens or build their own house, or milk their own cow or grow their own garden, or fix their own car, or get away from the hub-bub of the city.
It really all comes down to one’s perspective on what “normal” is. And beyond that, it comes down to being content with little or being content with much. For if we were living in the city in a “conventional” house, we would still need to be content and thankful. Although, we must admit, it would be harder for us all to be content in the city in a “conventional” house than it is to be thankful living “unconventionally” in the beauty of the country with room to grow and learn.
We are ever so grateful to the Lord for planting us on our rural property in our “unconventional” lifestyle. We are truly blessed.















Lt. Colonel John Eidsmoe, USAF (Retired), Counsel for Foundation of Moral Law and Professor of Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy, took issue with the changes recommended by the Attorney General’s office:
Bradley Pierce, family rights activist and Attorney, was a contributor to the early versions of HB 41. Pierce made the following observations:














