Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

When I was in second grade, my family moved from the city to the country, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Could 5 whole acres of land really be ours?  No fences, no sidewalks, no neighbors within spittin' distance...just peace and quiet living away out in the country.  ( Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of our house with me.  This is representative.   Found it here .) The previous owners had a small amount of livestock, so the property was equipped with some farm buildings.  There was a fenced-in pasture of 2-3 acres, a large storage barn, and a chicken coop attached to the back of the garage. My mom had heard that a long-time friend was raising sheep and seemed to be having a good time at it.  Naturally, my mom's curiosity was piqued, so she began to read up on sheep farming.  We had the land for it, and the barn with a watering trough.  A few weeks of research led to dropping that idea - too much work.  No go....

I just finished reading A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick.  I was inspired by the fortitude of the main character, a woman who had been freed from slavery.  She fell in love with a "white man" and they secretly married.  On the Oregon trail, she had to pretend to be her husband's slave.  They both thought it best to do it that way, for her safety.  During the exhausting journey, she gave birth to their first child.  A few hours after labor, she was walking behind the wagon. I can't imagine doing that, but that's just the way it was.  A 5-hour trip with my kids in the car is currently my limit, and I can't imagine giving birth without an epidural, in the comfort of a clean hospital bed, surrounded by medical personnel.  This woman has inspired me! Not to travel across the country in a Conestoga wagon, nor to give birth then walk several miles. When they arrived in Oregon, they staked a claim and started a nice little home...