I can’t believe I am typing that year at the top. Where did the time go? Life is going at full blast around these parts because of the holiday season, a heavy work schedule, homeschooling, medical appointments, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy. and more.
First, this is a blog about my life here in Arkansas on 5 acres, since we sold 5 acres of our land, and how I and my son plan to manage it all. Originally we were a family of eight, six children, two parents, homeschooling, homesteading, home business, and just making our way through the world. Children grow up and move out as they should. I have one little one at home, who isn’t so little anymore being 16 years old.
My 16 year old son is diagnosed with 1q21.1 microdeletion of his chromosome. As a result he has level 1 autism, intellectual disabilities, congenital defects in his joints and bones, auditory processing disorder, asthma, hypothyroidism, and is a low sight individual. He actually does rather well considering his medical issues. We are still in the discovery phase in relation to his medical issues.
I enjoy planting, gardening, quail, chickens, and many smaller animals. I am in the middle of planning my year next year. I will need to make every penny stretch. I do not work a typical W-2 job and no currently my son does not get disability, SSI, or food stamps. I work “gig” jobs through various companies and manage to pay my bills and put $10 back here and there. The only assitance we recieve is medical help even though we are eligible for much more. We have applied for assistance for his disabilities, but so far the best the government could say is that they would “review” it in May.
My son will need to learn a vocation before I leave this earth and Lord willing I will train him to homestead and run a small home business. This also means his basic academic skills will have to improve. Homesteading and a home business is the only thing I have done my entire life consistently besides write. I pray I can manage to train him well enough to survive on his own, even though he currently is at a first grade level.
I am still working through an illness, but after that I hope to make woodstove cooking videos, yard cleaning and garden prep videos, and may be some sewing if I feel up to it. IN the meantime I plan the year, trying to make the most of everything we have.