New and old beginnings Pt.2

“First of all, I would like to thank all my Family and Friends for the love and support you have given me through this journey.”

I hope you read that in your most famous southern valley girl voice because I sure did.

No but really, thank you everyone who took the time out of their day yesterday to read and share my blog. And those of you who took the time to join the site so you can get updates and comment. That really means a lot to me when someone takes time for our family.

I know this won’t make me rich, I just like telling our stories.

“I love to make people laugh.” – That one I probably did use on plentyoffish.com back in the day…and meant it.

Grace and I get that from my Daddy. Although, he’s one quiet man.

If he’s talking, he’s either giving you a “Come to Jesus meeting”, playing his guitar, or cracking witty inappropriate jokes when the room is dead silent.

Neither I nor Grace is one bit a quiet person. That’s why I felt it was an appropriate time to start this thing.

We just all have so much to say and either we will flood y’all’s Facebook feed, or we will talk over you too much when we see you, and you may get angry if you can’t get a word in!

Having a farm, being a full-time parent, and homeschooling is pretty much a full-time job. So, this is also a great way for family and friends to keep up with our shenanigans on the days we can’t see you or miss a phone call.  

Honestly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the feedback and support.

Grab ya some Black coffee this time & a comfortable seat.

New and old beginnings Pt.2 – Bacliff, Tx

After we left our little cottage, we ended up in a big beautiful two-story brick house with gorgeous antique Bay windows wrapping around the 2nd story.

I wanted to be by the bay because my heart will always be near a body of water.

(But Ain’t nobody have the money for a beach house with acreage! Cmon now!)

Fishin’ and swimmin’, Grace calls her momma “A real life Mermaid.”

Little does she knows that she's MY real life mermaid. She was born on Galveston,Island.

But little did WE know that there was nothing more for us there in Bacliff, just a wholeeeeeee lotta more meth and robberies.

The first time I ever pulled out my gun on someone was at that house, when a woman tried robbing us in the middle of the day because in her mind, she thought it was a great time to do it. She also thought she had been there for 3 nights.

Although the drugs and crime were so high there, I would have to say I met some of the best people I’ve ever known.

One of my best friends now was my neighbor down the road then.

The clients that came to my house to get their hair done in our garage apartment downstairs…

Heck, I even miss my ol Client that would forget every appointment, come on the wrong day, and wouldn’t take the fact that she had dementia from her family or from her hairdresser. I’m just grateful she lived a couple doors down so she wouldn’t get lost on the way home. I love that woman.

But most of all, the Church Family we accidentally stumbled upon in that little town.

My faith grew that year. It will be a time I’ll never forget in my spiritual walk.

We ended up at that church one morning (because we were running late for another one), and Bayshore friends was down the road in walking distance.

Little did I know that we just walked into a Quaker Church filled with people way older than us.

I could count on my hand how many young families were there then. But in all the churches I’ve ever stepped foot in, (And I’ve been to many) those had to be the kindest people I had ever met in my life.

I grew up Southern Baptist, I didn’t know when a church has “friends” in the name, that it meant quaker.

I just thought it was because they were friendly! Ive never felt that kind of love in a Baptist church.

(No offense.)

We fell in love with those people, we watched the church grow, and watched more and more young people join.

 

I attended my first retreat, and WOW was that life changing.

My husband got to play the bongos off key in front of the congregation, but they didn’t care, they loved his beautiful noise! And so did I. He made me so proud drumming his big heart out.

In one of my impulse decisions I “voluntold” myself to make cookies for 100 people for an church event, took about 2 days to make.

They were nice and yummy until the humidity in the mold -infested house melted away all the icing . Smeared it all over the cookie bags. They were hideous.

I cried for hours and didn’t even want to show my face at church ever again… but my church family made me feel like I just had won an episode of “The Great British Baking Show.”

I felt like I just lost an episode of “Nailed it.”

 

Bacliff was not our home, Bayshore Friends Church was our home.

But we couldn’t go post up in the church pew at nighttime. (Well, they would probably let us, but you know what I mean.)

I still cry when I start missing my friends there, and Grace always talks about HER “Mrs. Cathy.” Well, She’s mine too.

There wasn’t enough room for animals in that neighborhood, but there was enough room for a Garden. 🌻

First time ever trying my hand at vegetable gardening, 100s (maybe 1,000s) of dollars later…I got about 1 okra and a couple of beans.

My failure of a garden became my obsession to learn everything there was about gardening & herbalism for the next two years so that I would be successful at it eventually.

I went as far as learning how to make my own medicinal medicine. My Momma would joke and call me the “Curandera” but my children gave me the name of a “faith healer.” Because they truly believed, so did I.

For years John had been telling me that “God was telling him” it was time to “Head to the mountains.”

Well, we don’t have any mountains in Texas, and Im not living somewhere cold.

For those Christians that read your bible, you know exactly what he was really talking about.

Things I learned at the house in Bacliff;

1.    My husband has a hobby of hoarding junk. “Because you never know when you will need it.” Especially in the apocalypse. Hence the name I gave him “Junkyard John”.

(We collected a boat that only ran twice, an RV that hasn’t been vacationed in, couple old four wheelers, bunch of skateboards and a crap ton of other things I don’t even know what they are.) But he supports my craft addictions, Marriage is a give and take. At least I admit mine is an addiction!

2.    We humans seem to judge everyone by the way they look on the outside.

Well, my husband doesn’t.

A local homeless man would come around the block, John and Luke would always offer him water.

The night we left, that man cried because John was leaving.

He told him “No one ever looks his way” because of his situation.

Although, he once told John someone “slipped meth in his coffee”. John still invited him to church every time he saw him & loved him anyway. Guess what? He came!

 

God humbled me that year.

 

So, we saved all our hard-working money, and we toured about 10 homes. About 3 contracts fell through on houses we really wanted, I cried a lot, and we almost gave up. Something in us felt God was still working in the waiting.

We kept praying and praying and one night I pulled up a house on HAR for the last time.

Funny thing is, I kept skipping it on my prior search sessions.

Maybe because it was set in my mind that I didn’t wanna live in a “trailer.”

 

Come to find out the land was in walking distance of the Neches River, 16 ½ acres, a creek, a barn, a shed, 16 chickens and 2 pigs.

Body of water, land, chickens, AND pigs?

Hell, we will live in a tent for that.  

*** Disclaimer*** It’s not really a trailer, it’s a huge “Manufactured Home.”

Anything was better than that House on Bayshore drive, I swear it was filled with evil.

Maybe due- to- the-fact that a couple fell from an elevator that was once in the home. Or maybe because the prior owner used the downstairs for an illegal bar for a longgggg time.

We all know anything that happens after midnight is probably a bad idea unless you’re at a church lock-in.

And even then, it’s probably best you’re asleep at the appropriate time or you will end up getting kicked out of church camp like My friend Jessica and I almost did.

 

It was 10 p.m. and I contacted the realtor to ask if we could see what would be our future homestead the next morning. He replied just a few minutes later...

New Beginnings Spurger, Tx Part 1 coming soon! 😅