Does not Work Well with Others

This is hard. Working full time with my husband.

Navigating together as full-time parents, farmers, and business partners. Parenting is not new to us. But doing it together 24/7, is. And when every time we try to calmly work out a business decision we're (surprise) not seeing eye to eye on, and the 5 year old trips and falls flat on her face and starts wailing, the 8 year old needs help with a math problem, the teen and preteen get into it, while at the same time the toddler tries takes it upon herself to pour herself a glass of milk and the entire carton ends up on the floor, and then the dog and the baby and the toddler are all wading through the giant milk puddle... well then, it's just hard. And now we're out of milk.

Isaac, stop eating the soap.

Farming is relatively new to us and I struggle letting him take the reigns and be the 'boss-man' because it was my dream to begin with. I've had the passion for years and my tattered, ear-marked copy of Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living" proves it. When we bought our first home on an acre and a half, I couldn't wait to turn it into a mini-barnyard, complete with compost pile and large garden. Joe saw our long acreage as the perfect driving range. Needless to say, we've not always had like-minded ideals. This is a new passion for him. He was incredulous when I first told him I wanted some chickens for my birthday (6 years ago). Ridiculous, he told me. Out of the question. Yet being the awesome husband he was, he went out, hammer in hand and converted our shed (the same one he kept his golf clubs in) into a chicken coop. Love him. And then came the goats, and convincing him to let me till up just a little more of his yard each year to expand the garden. And then last year he took a real interest in the soap making, and the garden, and he would let me sit and read excerpts of "Encyclopedia of Country Living" to him while he weeded the garden. And now here we are on our own farm and his own tattered and ear marked copies of all Joel Salatin's books are laying around. I should be so lucky. I am so lucky. But instead, so much time is being wasted on deciding between his way of doing things and mine. Still. And it's hard to step back and let him lead.
If we had to write references on each other they both would inevitably say, "does not work well with others." Hmph.

But ultimately, I desire to be under my husband, not above him. This is where we're both happiest, and, well, it's biblical. So learning to be submissive while being in partnership is hard too. And I'm going to make him read this so he understands just where I'm coming from and where I want to be going.

 I love ya honey. We can use the boxes you like for packaging the soaps. Now let's go disbud those baby goats.

 

 

 

Elizabeth