The follow is a post from contributing writer Honey Brown.
When everything is going well, you don’t think about all the things you do everyday, you just do them. Then a string of events comes along and knocks you out of your comfort zone. You have the option to panic or you can trust God and find a solution that works for your family.
We recently had a series of events that was more than frustrating, but as you will see, we got creative and used it as a learning experience for the whole family.
The Vacuum Breaks
First the vacuum breaks. What do you do when your vacuum breaks and you have already bought two in the last six months and can’t afford to replace it, again?
You sweep.
Thankfully we have low pile carpet which makes it easy to sweep. And we will keep on sweeping until we can get another new vacuum.
The Washing Machine Breaks
Now we are sweeping the carpets and the washing machine breaks. No, the washing machine didn’t break because we were sweeping the carpets, it broke because it was very old.
We wash a minimum of one load per day and that is not including towels or bedding, so using a laundromat would not even be an option if we had a van or loads of coins, and we don’t have either.
What happens when the washing machine breaks and you have no money to replace it?
My creative husband set up big rubber tubs in the backyard and is teaching all the kids to wash the clothes by hand. We have even been hanging clothes to dry on our drying rack out in the sun (and on the heat pump and off the hooks on the fence too).
The Kitchen Sink Breaks
So now we are sweeping the carpets, washing clothes by hand, and the kitchen sink breaks. Our family of seven certainly can’t go without washing dishes for 1 day, more is simply laughable.
What do you do when you kitchen faucet falls off in your hand on a Saturday night and no one can fix it until Monday or Tuesday?
Well, you get creative. My husband hooked up the garden hose to the laundry sink in the basement and we washed dishes with nice hot water and better pressure than we have ever been able to get from the kitchen sink.
Everything Is Replaceable
We live in a generation where everything is replaceable and we have been taught to take the easy way out. At least, that’s the one I grew up in. If something is broken, throw it out and buy a new one. Things are not built to last.
Thankfully, my husband came from a fix-it or find-a-solution kind of family.
Everything In A Hurry
We live in a fast food nation and we expect everything in a hurry. We forget that life was not always this way and people used to work really hard just to tend to their daily tasks.
Learning Experiences
We have learned many things from this whole experience:
- we can tackle whatever life throws at us through prayer
- we can be adaptable
- we can find solutions to everyday problems
- we can work hard when we need to work hard
- our kids have way too many clothes
- clothes used to end up on the floor and get washed even when they were already clean
- that you can get good exercise doing work the old fashioned way
The next time you are faced with difficult circumstances, think about how you can creatively problem solve.
What challenges do you have right now that need a creative solution?
Honey Brown is the wife of Jonah and the homeschool mama to five beautiful children. When she is not learning hard lessons and finding creative solutions, she can be found blogging at Sunflower Schoolhouse and Honeycomb Design Studio.
