Growth & Gratitude Journal

[maritalbliss86]

This is another thing that will sound nuts... oh well, thank God it's just a journal.

Back in 2019 there was a prophecy from a person with a prophetic gift that 2022 would be the start of a period of time called a Winter of War... and they guessed it would last about 10 years, so until 2032 😞.  

As with anything like that, of course most people disregard it outright and don't pay any attention to those kinds of predictions.  And even biblically Scripture states that no one knows if a prophecy is actually real and will come true, until they've seen it come to pass.

I remember feeling strongly though that this one was probably right, much to the detriment of the world.  And this was in the fall of 2019, so months before the whole covid thing happened.

Afghanistan, Ukraine, next Taiwan and then a major fall of the European and US financial system probably.  We'll see.  A lot of it has to do with Biden's weakness of course, but I do think there are bigger things in the background as well.

[maritalbliss86]

Did Biden seriously just say this last night?!?

"Putin will never gain the hearts and minds of the Iranian people!" [emphasis mine]

😂 OMG 

how does one confuse Ukrainians with Iranians 😂🤣

[maritalbliss86]

I wanted to update here about all our changes and the crazy new life we've got going on!!!!!   Ugh it makes me so happy - ridiculously happy everything we've done in a very short amount of time.

First... we sold our house and netted a huge profit.  I'd been trying to get my husband to do this for a couple of years, since I could just feel the times and seasons changing (mystically I mean - in a spiritual sense), and wanted to get the heck out of anywhere close to chaos.  We were outside the main city, but I wanted to get much further away.

We are now surrounded by hills that look more like mountains, cliffs and just amazing beauty everywhere.  The mom group I was in mostly all live in a different area (outside the city but still far out like we've moved).  We wanted to live there, but it's an area that looks like devastation and poverty... yes, the prices of land are cheaper, but you pay for that in other ways ascetically and safety-wise.  There are almost not trees, and so much dust and thorns and then all the poverty around you on top of that 😞.  It just wouldn't be uplifting, all of that, coupled with how it's not even a safe area crime-wise, it was an easy decision for both of us to make.  

I'm VERY happy with the area we chose, the land is lush with green as it even gets more rain, as much as Seattle, which is a big thing for Texans.  We're planning on doing a rain collection system ❤️.

So we sold and didn't have a place secured yet to go to, but I *knew* one rental would show up with exactly the price I had in mind... and it did a day later!  My mom told me, "You'll NEVER find a rental in that price range and with enough room..."  Next day, I found it - God provided.  My mom has always had less faith, and is typically more pessimistic about God providing things in general.  She even admitted (before this event) that I had more faith than her.  Makes me so sad.  She makes all her decisions based on fear, which means she cuts off family, frequently promises major gifts only to go back on her word, and in general, just makes bad life decisions based on that fear.  She would TELL you she doesn't do this... but I look at her actions and she's double-crossed more people that were close to her and loved her than I can count right now.  It's sad and sucks.

Anyway... our life is incredible right now!  The rental is HUGE for what I was thinking would open up.  I was worried we'd be stuck in something small, but still grateful.  But no!  God provided a HUGE double wide mobile home - 4 bedroom 3 baths, for only $1,000 per month!  That is not normal for this area, it should be at least 2,500 or higher, so this was DEFINITELY a God thing where He provided exactly what I had in mind (to the dollar) so that we'd continue to build up savings easily and without stress.  AND to top it all off... the landlord is this amazing Grandmother type of woman who owns many properties and manages the rent for all of them herself, and is a Christian and kind and wonderful!!!!  UGH!!!!!  It all just worked out so impossibly well.  She's even offered to help me figure out how to can everything!  Just such a nice person... we are truly blessed.  

I'm giving all the credit to God here...  Yes I technically found it myself, but I *knew* it would open up and knew God would provide.  Sometimes I swear He waits to see the obedience (selling our house) before He provides... and that takes Faith, something even a lot of Christians (like my poor, sad Mom) just don't have.  I wonder if they ever look back and, "see," the blessings they missed out on because they didn't have that faith that it would work out?

We definitely had to have faith when we were pregnant with our first baby.  Faith God would work it out.  Faith not to be tempted by abortion because even though we were married, we were in poverty and college and just not wanting a baby at all.  

Well that baby just made me breakfast in bed this morning (UGH!!!  *tear*!!!) He's incredible... arguably the most brilliant person I've ever known (and will know *tear*) - so smart and kind and humble and yet ambitious for his own dreams.  If I hadn't had faith that God would work out this inconvenient pregnancy, even though it made our finances a million times harder and my schooling, work etc, all of it took a major hit and was, "sacrificed," so he could live - I'd take that all again over sacrificing my own firstborn just so that we would have had an easier financial life.

He went fishing yesterday and brought back a bouquet of wild flowers for me, too!  Just so thoughtful and amazing.  It is scary that in the US women have so. much. power. over innocent lives like this, that his very existence would have been eradicated if I felt so inclined.  It's hard to imagine how the other siblings, who all benefit immensely from him being such a wonderful older brother (!) would have missed having him there (missed in the way of not having of course because they wouldn't have known anything different).  He's such a huge part of the family, especially for the siblings who arguably all love him the best LOL, and I think for me personally I would have always wondered, or felt that feeling of potential guilt at some point.

Anyway... So we sold our house, got into a cheap but amazing rental that has more room I expected and with a landlord who genuinely cares about us, and then the REAL FUN has started.... We started accumulating animals ❤️❤️❤️ 

So I now have 3 hens all egg-producing 

2 Nigerian Dwarf goats, one that I'm about to breed so that she has milk (for milk, cheese, yogurt, and soap making)

I'm getting 2 MORE Nigerian Dwarf goats this week or next ❤️ more girls for milking ❤️

4 Meat Rabbits - two I bred immediately last month and we JUST had our first litter born a few days ago - 6 little meat rabbits that will produce somewhere between 30 and 40 POUND of MEAT once I cull them.

2 Pet bunnies that are tiny dwarves  for the kids to play with (and so that they don't get attached to the baby meat rabbits since those are going to be a good food source).  

So I basically... in a short amount of time, turned our lifestyle into a homesteading one where we are almost self-sufficient for most food sources (I'll have to get back into gardening... it's just hard right now with knowing we'll eventually build or move elsewhere, it's hard to invest even more into the rental like building garden beds etc.).  I think I'll just wait until after we move to our final homesteading site, and then plant the Biggest Garden I've Ever Done LOL... it will be epic, and it will be self-sustainable with lots of good food.

Next is figuring out what to do long-term wise.  And the water issue.  Wells are so expensive in this area, because of how high up a lot of the land is and how far they have to drill... so rain water collection may help, and getting water trucked in to help create reserve storage.

[maritalbliss86]

Something else I thought of...

Our landlord is just such an admirable lady, I asked her to mentor me into getting properties to either rent, or fix and flip.  So together with her and our wealth manager, I went to my first auction where they were auctioning off foreclosure homes and land lots.

So exciting!  Wow it blew my mind how interesting these people were.

I wanted to badly to get one particular house/property I had in mind that was up for auction, but my wealth advisor told me to just go and watch these people the first time.  Watch how they act and what they do and see just how high that property ends up going for.

He ended up guessing almost he exact amount it sold for (which I would have had a hard time flipping to be honest).  So his expertise was RIGHT!  It got too close to a million, which is what it would have resold for anyway.  I'm glad I listened to his wise advice (this is why he's one of the top wealth advisors right?  LOL because he should understand know what he's talking about).  

But we're trying to get funding to do our first Fix and Flip.  We just had so much fun flipping our house, and netting all that profit, I think I can do this on the side along with the other things I'm managing like homeschool and our little backyard hobby farm stuff.  

I've been approved for funding, but having a hard time getting anyone to allow us to do a rural property (in the area where we are).  The house prices here are exploding because it's just such a desirable area, so I'm confused as to why they're approving me for funds for Fix and Flip in the city, but not here (where people are dying to move)?  

I'm sure I'll get approved at some point, but we have to take advantage of this while the market is still high obviously, so time is of the essence.  

I can't wait though!  I'm loving this side business and my husband is excited about the possibilities too ❤️ 

[Jibralta]

2 minutes ago, maritalbliss86 said:

I'm confused as to why they're approving me for funds for Fix and Flip in the city, but not here (where people are dying to move)?

I wonder if they earmark certain areas for their subsidiary companies to invest in. Banks have become very clever that way. For example, after graduate school, my student loans had a 6.8% interest rate. I was not able to take out a loan with a lower interest rate to pay them off--the bank actually prohibited it. I could however, get a 2% loan to pay off my 4% car loan. But I couldn't use that loan to pay off my student loan. Obviously, the banks benefit from this somehow. I ended up paying both loans off in cash. Screw them lol.

[maritalbliss86]

20 hours ago, Jibralta said:

I ended up paying both loans off in cash. Screw them lol.

That's great!  Cash is king, as they say 😉.  

[Seraphim]

Here are two channels that I watch about Nigerian goats that are awesome. 

 

[Seraphim]

 

[Seraphim]

Both of these channels are from Arizona. Very good channels.

I have a wide varied eclectic viewing taste. 😉 if you want to know anything about a topic I’ve probably watched a channel about it. 

[maritalbliss86]

On 5/9/2022 at 12:58 PM, Seraphim said:

Here are two channels that I watch about Nigerian goats that are awesome. 

 

They are just So. Cute. ❤️  We just got two more that look just a little bigger than those in the video... very cuddly, and even therapeutic.  

[maritalbliss86]

On 5/9/2022 at 1:01 PM, Seraphim said:

I have a wide varied eclectic viewing taste. 😉 if you want to know anything about a topic I’ve probably watched a channel about it. 

That's wonderful, Seraphim... and you do have great taste in channels - I always seem to find the best ones through your suggestions, so thank you very much for making them!

[Seraphim]

Just now, maritalbliss86 said:

That's wonderful, Seraphim... and you do have great taste in channels - I always seem to find the best ones through your suggestions, so thank you very much for making them!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! 

[maritalbliss86]

Awful update about my brother... in a relatively short amount of time (kind of) he's made a series of horrendous decisions that are going to impact him for the rest of his life (and mine by default).  😞 

His mental health has gone extremely downhill... he's basically f*cked up his life big time and I'm genuinely scared how my husband and I are ever going to help him / or if we do, how that would impact our kids etc.

I've gone back and forth considering the different sides of all of it.  The immense grief and what his life could have been (that was years ago when I went through that depressing period), then moments where he handles it really well, and everything seems wonderful, but this is quite different 😞 I don't know how it will end for him, but I'm pretty sure it will end in some kind of death.

[Seraphim]

I am so sorry to hear about your brother . 😓Hugs. 

[maritalbliss86]

8 hours ago, Seraphim said:

I am so sorry to hear about your brother . 😓Hugs. 

Mental illness is just so hard.  He was doing SO well for awhile... and then I can't tell which is illness and which is own decision-making/disregard/lack of empathy etc.  

I had a dream I was pregnant again also.  Which of course is impossible (I've actually had my tubes taken out!).  But my same, personal Dr. was telling me I was definitely pregnant, that this birth would be especially painful because somehow I was sewn up - which again is nuts since that's illegal.  I took it to mean symbolically this birth will be especially painful, like having to be cut open/ripped open.  The Dr. let us know that someone was presiding over all of it, and that it was going to be OK.  

I think the dream was trying to warn me that we may be getting another baby... his baby.  Which is possible if she drinks and drives (the woman he suddenly married and got pregnant). Child protective services usually take the children away when that scenario plays out... so my husband let me know that is actually a possibility that we could end up being CPS's safety plan.

[Seraphim]

I totally get you. My dad was severely mentally ill and made a lot of horrible decisions and actions that affected everyone not just him. It is so unfortunate. ❤️ Now that my dad is gone I like to think of him as all better and that he is happy. 

[Jibralta]

3 hours ago, maritalbliss86 said:

I think the dream was trying to warn me that we may be getting another baby... his baby.

Would you be ok with this?

[maritalbliss86]

10 hours ago, Jibralta said:

Would you be ok with this?

Definitely no, is my gut reaction.  I'm finally embracing the freedom of our last baby getting a little easier and having time to do even small things like read a book 😕.  Let alone the big things we're undertaking.  We were very happy to be done.  

We'll have to see what happens and IF it comes to that.  I cried telling my husband the dream.  But I've seen things like that work out....  It could just be a dream, but we'll have to see.

[maritalbliss86]

On 5/8/2022 at 10:12 AM, Jibralta said:

I wonder if they earmark certain areas for their subsidiary companies to invest in. Banks have become very clever that way. For example, after graduate school, my student loans had a 6.8% interest rate. I was not able to take out a loan with a lower interest rate to pay them off--the bank actually prohibited it. I could however, get a 2% loan to pay off my 4% car loan. But I couldn't use that loan to pay off my student loan. Obviously, the banks benefit from this somehow. I ended up paying both loans off in cash. Screw them lol.

So I ended up convincing a private money lender who uses all cash, they were able to see the value in flipping a house out in a rural area. It's still waiting on appraisal though, and I'm not sure the seller will accept my offer, but we may be very close to getting one because I was able to make a cash offer this week. Fingers crossed 🤞.

[Jibralta]

Fingers crossed!

[maritalbliss86]

I recently got a copy of When Money Dies, about the insane inflation in Austria and Germany and surrounding areas after WWI, when their currency slowly became worthless.

What's interesting is that it has diary entries of what it was like on the ground.  Here is an excerpt:

Quote

 

Although the misery of Austria was more immediately and directly the result of war, the pattern was to be repeated almost exactly in Germany.  In both countries rapid inflation caused homegrown produce to be withheld from the urban markets, with hunger and anger the inevitable result.  All Austrians, but especially those with savings, watched horrified as the value of their money fell, Frau Eisenmenger among them.  She noted in 1919:

"The State has been obligated to put 10,000 kroner notes into circulation - each equivalent to two years' income from my capital.  A suit costs about six times what it was in 1913, but some things like food are a hundred or two hundred times as much ...  Paper clothes are being sold.

Never had I dreamed it possible that one could purchase so little for 10,000 kroner... 

Jealousy and envy flourish in this atmosphere, and if one has procured some harmless article of food, one is careful to conceal the fact from one's fellow men.

Hunger reigns inexorably and selects its dumb and uncomplaining victims above all from the middle class."

 

There are other diary examples... one woman selling her beautiful piano for a sack of wheat flour to feed her kids.  People dropping dead in the street from hunger, mostly elderly men because they were too proud to ask for help and couldn't live on their meager retirement pay.  

Quote

In November, a year after the Armistice, Frau Eisenmenger wrote that her position was alarmingly worse, the financial situation beyond her understanding.

The krone, at 25 Swiss centimes the previous Christmas, was now quoted at 1/12th of a centime.  Her shares, however, were going up.  Gambling on the stock exchange had become the fashion - the only way to avoid losing all one's money and perhaps to add to it.  Many new bankers were giving people advice, the flight from the krone governing all transactions.  

Meanwhile, Frau Eisenmangel wrote, "the large numbers of the unemployed, their passions fermented by the Communists, are seeing with discontent ... a mob has attempted to set the Parliament building on fire.  Mounted policemen were torn from their horses, which were slaughtered in the Rignstrasse and the warm bleeding flesh dragged away by the crowd ... the rioters clamored for bread and work ...

Side by side with unprecedented want among the bulk of the population, there is a striking display of luxury among those who are benefitting from the inflation.  

New nightclubs are being opened.  These clubs have the further effect of greatly intensifying the class hatred of the proletariate against the bourgeoisie."

 

[maritalbliss86]

So I just received another interested cash buyer that is looking to buy from us wholesale.

I have 2 in the works... one that offers 10,000 if you get them a house deal, and then this other couple that will probably offer more like $3,000 or 4,000 which is still nice.  

I mean... that's more that what I was currently making per month ($0 lol).  

I think we can do this... or at least I can since I do have extra time now that the baby is getting a lot easier (knock on wood!).  

[maritalbliss86]

Need to update on the homesteading front --

So I processed my first rabbit this weekend with the help of my rabbit meat mentor M.  My husband can't be there to always do these things because if his work, so it's necessary I'm able to handle it 😬.

M. is from up North and has been living like this for decades since his childhood, so he's the one I bought from as well as the person to teach me everything I need to know. He's moving back up north because he's tired of Texas and all the problems we're having.  He has 300+ acres that have been in his family for generations so he's already set and I didn't realize it, but he was actually helping me to take over his niche in this community (!).  

He's setting me up to be able to sell both meat rabbits and pet rabbits and connecting me with the people he sold to and businesses. It's insane and another God thing.  I couldn't be more grateful.  I can't believe how God's taken care of us in this transition, putting specific people in our life at just the right moment or time. It's so amazing.

 

Soooo.... Processing a rabbit 😭.  It took him 2 minutes and that was going slow so that he could teach me (!).  It was insanely easy, and the meat was in the fridge so fast I couldn't believe it.

We just cooked it tonight and the flavor was out of this world. It actually has a bacon kind of flavor, but then I spoiled my rabbits so this one has a bit of fat on it and I'm thinking the fat must have given it that flavor. But overall I'm VERY impressed with how easy it is and how tasty it is.  Rabbit meat is supposed to be super healthy, too, slightly healthier than chicken I believe, so we're providing nourishing food for our family and giving Biden's food prices the middle finger.

I prayed and also had a moment where I thanked the rabbit for giving it's life before being able to eat it -- it felt *wrong* to eat a bite before acknowledging this sacrifice that took place. I mean.... watching an animal die so you can eat is so life altering (remember I'm the "snowflake generation" so this was huge).  Im glad we're living this way... More connected to real life and nature, and I'm teaching our kids to look at meat that way too now.  

For people who eat meat that's from a grocery or restaurant, I can see how it's almost impossible to have a connection with how an animal had to die so they could eat that. I didn't either before this ... But WOW I'm not going to be able to see meat the same again now. I'm a lot more grateful and I see it as such a valuable thing especially with the shortages etc.

The goats milk is exciting too. ❤️ I'm glad I can use it to help new moms if the baby formula crisis continues or gets worse.  It's soooo good for babies and children, a lot better than cow's milk.

[maritalbliss86]

Random rant 😍

I ended up watching some of the selling sunset reality show of realtor ladies in the Oppenheim group ❤️.

I liked more of them than I expected I would, they reminded me so much of the girls I grew up with in the small, affluent town I grew up in where girls dyed their hair blonde and all the moms had a procedure called the mommy makeover (plastic surgery) and some teens actually had breast implants...it was nuts! And soooo dramatic.  Maybe that's why I'm blonde and low-key now though, growing up in that kind of world is so so strange, yet had it's effects on me whether I wanted it to or not. 

I think I did ok considering how out of touch with reality that world is.  A lot of my evolution has to do with my husband though ❤️ he's been such a strong, good character to hold on to, like a rock or anchor in hard times and able to joke through anything.

So I liked watching the ladies sell their houses. I feel like I understand women like that 😊 I think if I had to pick one I most identified with and come across as, it would be Heather. We even kind of look alike.

It killed me that she didn't end up with Brett! There was sooo much sexual chemistry and he even admitted he would have a mad crush on her if they wanted the same things (!!!).  He reminded me of my husband 😃 the way he flirted with her and the sexual chemistry there between them etc... Made me soooo sad he wasn't with her and she married some Moussa guy. 

People underestimate how amazing being in love feels... And if you marry the one that makes you feel like that, that feeling doesn't go away. It almost feels too good to be true at times, just made me so sad that Brett will more than likely never experience anything like that.

So it was sad. Jason and Chrishell were even more devastating -- geez!  Not watching anything else like that for another few years now lol.  

But the real estate market was so fascinating, I feel like I learned a tiny bit, but wow that Christine woman 😳👀😬 so many things one could say about that.

Jason and Brett seem so smart, but the whole reality show thing didn't seem to work out best for their company overall.  I hope they end up doing ok....

[maritalbliss86]

How could I not mention Maya ❤️ I identified with her, too, with her low key personality and how she kept popping out babies, plus she's Israeli.