Whats in a language Pt 3

Whats in a Language….

 

Its not how we speak!  Sometimes its in the feeling behind the words. Ever talk to an Elder and listened to their stories….the way their eyes light up, or their voices get louder or softer to really emphasize their point.  The way the hand gestures are? If you have not had the pleasure, you should try it sometimes. I mean really listen, open your heart, your mind and your ears.  Watch, what happens is purely a miracle to behold. Treasure that moment , for all too quick time with our Elders is fleeting and fading….and whom will be there to share the stories, the wisdom, the knowledge of an entire life lived to the fullest?

When I was a little girl, I had a Papa, he wore a cowboy hat faithfully everyday (even when he napped!) He had cowboy boots on and the jeans with suspenders. He was magnificently tall, he hung the moon and the stars in my little grandbabies eyes. I sat at his feet while he played his guitar and harmonica(which was attached to the top of his guitar) and sang. I still remember the sound of his voice, and the smell of the room and the feel of the songs. This is how his legacy lives on in me. I learned to play the guitar. I learned to sing. I knew that what ever I learned I wanted to share with my children.

Well, this past year has been a whirl wind of learning, frustrations, hurt feelings and Lord knows….anger!

I was so excited because this year an amazing Elder and a good friend of mine were teaming up to do a preschool language program. (Because we homeschool this meant that myself, my 8 yr old, my 3 yr old and 1 yr old would be participating) Also on Mondays and Tuesdays in the Fall was Language class and guess what my husband attended them with us!

I was sooo excited to start. First, I had to get a Statutory Declaration signed my my biological mom. You see I was starting all of the paper work to get my Status. The little white card that tells you what band you belong to, and that says Hey you are Native! Yuppers here we go!

She refused to sign it, she needed to sign it because my dad was never placed on my birth certificate. It was an emotionally draining situation that blew up my a thousand percent each moment. A drama that could surpass any on television.  Albeit, she has her own personal reasoning, it was hard to walk through and harder because it left a lot of questions of the paternity and if the man I have know as my dad (for 28years) was my dad. It was a very hard, emotional situation. God, was my focus because without my faith in Him and what was to be would be…..I might have had some other things that happened.  At times, the hurt would spill into an anger that consumed my heart, it made me want to lash out at her. It made me so tired, drained, it made me feel like I belonged nowhere. God gently kept telling me that I was I was His daughter and He had it in His Will.

Now, let me tell you. Although, I knew for better or worse God had His ways and reasons……this sent me for a hard hit. I felt lost, looking at my dad, at my family members, the resemblance’s I had once seen so clearly were hazy. Like it was murky water that I couldn’t quite see the same as the clear crystal blue they were before.  I was afraid, afraid that a man I grew up with, lived with , fought with, respected and loved, a man that I so knew was my dad, our tempers, how we talk, how much we talk! All of these things were in question. I had been living in our sweet gorgeous valley, for two years! Two years pouring into our language, learning our culture, meeting cousins, auntys, uncles, friends.  Don’t get me wrong, it was not wasted time. It was cherished moments, and loved moments. But if I was a LSIB what was I?

I also, started having weird memories flooding over me, dreams that felt soo real. Memories I had long since forgotten and pushed aside. I had a very hard growing up. There  were good times but a lot of scary, angry hateful, spiteful moments. These were consuming my sleep.

My husband and I talked about it, prayed about it and decided to lay to rest. We got a DNA test. Now just so anyone else out there knows these tests are not cheap. It cost us $700 just for a scrape of the inside of my cheek and my dads. Yes, I know there is a lot involved with this process but it cost us a lot of money. It was worth it. To know for sure that my dad is my dad! It gave me clarity and although it didn’t stop the emotional rollercoaster I had been riding it did give closure to a question that he had kept locked away in his heart for all these years as well!

Now for applying to become a First Nations Status Card holder……ugh and sigh and allot of praying! They tell us, that the DNA is not good enough! That I must have my birth certificate changed over to have my dad added.  So we think sweet simple I have my dna test this should be a breeze…think again! Stats Can will only change the Live Birth Registration to add my dad if my mother signs the documentation. Which, she refused to sign anything! So we hired a lawyer (just to let you know, no we are not made of money but we felt that this was an investment in our family!) so we buckled down and didn’t spend money on anything that we didn’t 100% need! We had been blessed so that it wasn’t such a harsh burden! The lawyers says that INAC cannot do that. They cannot legally require a birth certificate, that a DNA test is admissible as one in the same with my birth certificate.  So, we called to see if we could go around all of this, turns out we can pay to go to the court house and see a judge explain situation and prove our case and have him stamp the birth certificate…..we don’t have money for that. We have three children at that time and really couldn’t do it. So we researched and talked to the lawyer. For all legalities the INAC cannot legally refuse the dna test. So we submitted anyways!

Then the waiting game….

During this waiting, we had the priviledge of learning our language! I learned from an Elder that sometimes its ok to not have a regular school type setting. My 3 yr old son would not sit in circle and just wanted to play. This beautiful woman told me to let him….boy oh boy it took a lot for me to do that! And you know what she was right….he learned more language from osmosis than anything! It made my heart sing! My Elder is a beautiful woman, I enjoyed sitting on the floor and listening to her teach and gleaning and learning! I learned more than a language, more than a culture I learned a love for people and a love for my life. I believed God gifted her to me at the right exact moment.

My dear friend, she is an amazing teacher. She helped me learn to calm down, to soak it in and to let things happen. She has six children all under the age of 14. She is a super hero mom. She worked along side of this beautiful Elder and I tell ya I was gifted an education of language and an education of motherhood, compassion, love and determination. This education is far more precious than anything I have ever learned in school! For you see my dear friend, although I know she is a closet superhero, she is a normal mom, good days, bad days amazing days! I have been blessed to get to know  her and learn from her. All at a time where I felt I was a failure in so many ways! God gifted me amazing women, mothers, grandmothers….friends and He knew that I needed them.

 

I also was gifted the opportunity to learn how to make traditional ribbon shirts, moccassins, and yarn bags for berry picking! We had so much fun! We forged friendships with other moms, and I tell ya nothing surpasses the laughs, the smiles and the amazing time we all had!

For you see a language is nothing without the people in which speak it. A people is not really a people without the love, laughter, faith, confidence, strength of who they are!

I am a born again Christian, I love my faith!

I am a Lower Similikamean Native woman! I love where I came from!

 

I will teach my children about God, about Christ and along side it all I will teach them of their heritage, language, culture! I will teach them to love others, to serve others, to be kind and to always always help when you can. No matter who the people are! For God called us to love one another, not just those you think deserve it! He called us to love one another and to serve in love! Forever my children will learn from example and from what we do.

 

Go listen to your Elders, hear with your heart, visualize the story. Fall in love!

Another post, will be my status situation for now, learn your heritage, learn your language! Learn Learn Learn!

Praying that this post encouraged!

Stacey Homemaker~

The Why’s The How’s…..Really how Can I get through this?

Ever wonder why your life is the way it is? Have you ever thought, “wow, is this really my life?” I am sitting here and realize how amazing and wonderful my life truly is.

Not that I am wealthy in money. Not that I own a big fancy house or that I have a brand new car. Not that I have nails done and perfect hair…..

 

I am thinking about all of the lessons that I have been shown, the lessons that happen upon me by accident, and the lessons that I had to be drug through kicking and screaming.

I am a proud mama of three amazing children, and pregnant with our fourth child. I almost died with both of our first two children and by all medical means I should not have made it through either one.

Our third child was God’s gift to me. It was His amazing love, strength and encouragement and gift for trusting in Him even when I was so scared to have another child after the first two.

This lesson is one of my greatest of all to learn. I will not be given more that I can bare. I will not be tested without the teacher knowingly testing my true abilities and not just my thought abilities.

You know those abilities that we ourselves limit our own selves. We somehow get stuck in rut, believing that our strength only comes from us ourselves, pushing, running, working, forging on and somehow we wonder why we are so tired. We wonder why we are so stressed. We wonder why it seems that no matter what we can never get ahead.  Key words: Why and I’s.

It is in all of my achievements that I look back on now….I was leaning on how much I could accomplish. I was banking on how much I could handle. I was swimming in a sea of why’s and how’s and oh no’s…

In a single moment, for the first time an un medicated labour, a healthy labour……oh my word the pain that I hadn’t the pleasure of being introduced the first two times around. The single moment where the rubber met the road….where I in my own strength, in my own body, in my own mind knew I couldn’t do it. I wanted those drugs. I wasn’t strong enough. I was not able. I was not willing anymore…and in that instant it was like God himself holding me and urging me and took over and said, “It is then in which I carried you!” “You got this” I gave birth to our third child, a daughter. No drugs and absolutely gorgeous! In the moments I knew that God gave me the gift of endurance, strength and perseverance and never ever left me for a moment.

Now…married for almost five years, we own and operate our own business, I homeschool our children and love our life. But there are still those moments of utter chaos, trials and tribulations….and His love remains. In the business, in the stress, in the OMW moments, in the disrepair, in the moments of pure joy, in the amazing moments of kisses, hugs and I love you’s….and all the mess, all the chaos….I know not ever will He leave me and not ever will I be given more that I can bare.

My husband and I were watching one of Pastor Danny Castle’s sermons and he read out this amazing poem. In so many times this poem showcases how I feel and how I want to parent. I want to share it with you.

 

 

The Race.

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failures face,

My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,

Excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race,

Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,

And each boy hope to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,

To win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.

One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd, was running in the lead

And though, “My dad will be so proud.” But as he speeded down the field and

Crossed a shallow dip, the little boy thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace, and midst the laughter

Of the crowd he fell flat on his face. As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win

It now. Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face, which to the boy so

Clearly said, “Get up and win that race!” He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a

Bit that’s all, and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,

His mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again. He wished that he had quit

Before with only one disgrace. “I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face with a steady look

That said again, “Get up and win that race!” So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind

The last. “If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve to run real fast!”

Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten….

But trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again. Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear

Dropped from his eye. “There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try? I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”

But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face. “Get up,” an echo sounded low,

“You haven’t lost at all, for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall. Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place! You were not meant for failure here!

Get up and win that race!” So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit, and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit. So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been, still he gave it his all he had and ran like he could win.

 Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.

Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end. They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place, head high and proud and happy—no falling, no disgrace.

But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in the last place, the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race. And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud, you would have though he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd. And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.” “To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

 

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face, the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race. For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all. And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face, another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

~attributed to Dr. D.H. “Dee” Groberg

 

My prayer is that you are encouraged today. Not one of us is perfect. We do not need to win the race in the manner we think. You are amazing and you need to rise each time you fall. That is the greatest accomplishment through it all. Praying you have an amazing day.

Stacey Homemaker.

www.holyjoe.org

 

Loving Moisturizing Bars Home Made

Homemade is one of my true passions. I love making and creating. It gives me a sense of accomplishment, a sense of “I really did that!” I really can do that. I don’t know about you but I really love that feeling. Even if no one ever saw or uses anything I make, I still am excited and feel accomplished that I created something.

Sometimes as mothers, wives, home makers, chef’s, menders, defenders of all that is right in your children’s world, chauffer’s, maid, laundress and pretty much jack of all trades, and it’s a 24/365 a year career, we forget to treat ourselves to a hobby.

I am talking about a bonified only to do something that is for you, hobby. For me, researching and creating things for my family is mine. Making clothing for my children, making soaps and crafts. All of this is my hobby. Learning to do new things is like a much need fix of fresh ocean air for this busy mama.

Making the time, is a real mind warping conundrum sometimes. I don’t always get to do it every day or even once a week. When I do, it’s like an amazing rush of amazement and content ness.

Now I am not saying by any means that I am not fulfilled completely by my husband or children. But if you’re a mama you can on some level understand what I am talking about.

I have extremely sensitive skin. Most moisturizers burn, itch, or make my skin red and blotchy. When I am pregnant this is magnified and my apprehension for chemically laden products is heightened. Thus, my search for a bar or lotion I could make myself with ease and not needing a bunch of ingredients (some or all I cannot pronounce). Lol!

I happened upon www.frugallysustainable.com and saw her recipe for the bars. Although as you will see in the recipe of my I omitted all but bare minimal of ingredients. I only had four ingredients on hand so I used what I had. I have to say with my eczema and sensitivity I am in love and will never go back to traditional moisturizers again. Although I will share with you what I will do differently next time around!

 

Recipe

ÿ1 ½ cup bees wax

ÿ2 cups Extra Virgin Coconut oil

ÿ1/3 cup dried dandelion leaf

ÿ½ cup dried chamomile flowers

You will need:

ÿa two quart slow cooker (using for this purpose only always)

ÿmeasuring cup

ÿplastic stirring spoon

ÿmolds for your bars

1.   place coconut oil, dandelion leaf, and the chamomile flowers into the slow cooker

2.   infuse for 1 hour on high (make sure you are frequently stirring and watching it)

3.   once the oil and the flowers are melted but it on low for 1 hour

4.   switch to warm and leave overnight

5.   in the morning switch to high and add your bees wax.

6.   This is extremely important that you are watching it closely, bees wax can catch fire if to hot

7.   When all bees wax is melted pour into your molds

8.   Let sit on counter for one hour then move into fridge until completely set

9.   To use rub between hands and the heat from your body will melt the bar enough for you to distribute evenly onto your skin.

The reason I used Dandelion Leaf is because of the healing properties specifically for psoriasis, eczema, dry skin and dry scalp. The reason I used Chamomile flowers is because it to has the healing properties and a natural pain reliever.

Now, although I love these bars and that my skin is soo soft now. It is June and in our neck of the woods starting to get warm and dry. Which means cracking and bleeding usually already for my poor hands. I have not cracked or bled yet. I am so in love with my bars.

This is what I would change with my next batch;

Firstly, I would strain out all my flowers prior to adding the bees wax. The reason for this is that when applying the bar to my hands the flowers are extremely tough and ouchy.

Secondly, I would add vitamin e pure essential oil to the mixture just before pouring into the mold. The reason for this is to add to the healing and strengthening of the elasticity and immunity in my skin.

Lastly, I would use square or rectangle molds instead of pretty molds for myself so that it is easier. Although, I would still use my pretty molds for giveaways!

Overall, I am completely in love with making this for myself and for others! So this recipe was a complete success!

 

I have to say that when researching on the internet, I found the frugally sustainable website (I am in no way being paid or anything and all is my own opinion) is extremely helpful. The author gives step by step instructions, recipes and for those who do not have time to make it on their own, she sells her products as well.

 

Praying that this post was encouraging, and that you can take something new learned!

Praying that you have a spaztastic day!

Stacey Homemaker

 

www.planetbee.com

(purchased our bees wax from, amazing quality)

www.frugallysustainable.com

(where I found original recipe)

www.pentictonwholefoods.com

(where I purchased my extra virgin coconut oil)

 

 

Meet Stacey Homemaker.

Stacey is married to a wonderful man of almost five years. They met at age of 6 and hated each other. Lol! After moving, living and life separated the two; they reunited at 23 and through a very short, but intense three weeks of dating were engaged. After a seven week period were married.

                Stacey is a blessed mama of three amazing and gorgeous children, and is currently pregnant with baby number 4. She also is homeschooling her children and keeps them quite busy.

                Stacey is a crafty woman. She loves to create things out of old things (she uses the word “upcycle”). Her passion is to sew and create lovely things for her children and for her family. This year she frustratingly took on the task of trying to knit (don’t worry it will be a post soon) and she is currently teaching herself to plastic canvas.

                Stacey is always making sure that our family is cutting costs where we can by making things from scratch, in order to put the money into things that really need it. For example, food, educations, and family day field trips.

                This year she also was able to learn some of her heritage and the traditional ways of making; moccasins, yarn bags, ribbon shirts, ribbon skirts and even a wee bit of beading.

                Currently, she is working on becoming bilingual in her traditional language of Nyselxcin. That will be a post as well, it has been a blessed journey to learning her heritage.

 

                As a family we believe that through Jesus Christ we are able to have a relationship with God. That in order to have the beautiful gift of salvation we must believe in the literal miraculous conception, birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

                As a family we use the King James Bible, and respect that each person has their own reasons for the version in which they love to tell of God’s beautiful word is their own decision.

                As a family we believe that each child is a gift and a blessing from the Lord. We believe that it is our divine appointment to have the amazing blessing of being gifted a child to raise, teach, and guide into adulthood and furthermore into eternity.

                We hope you enjoy Stacey Homemaker’s blog. We want you to be encouraged and want you to enjoy our blog and all of the wonderful posts coming your way.

                Although we respect others opinions and advice, if you leave slanderous, rude, vexing language your comments will be deleted. This is a blog to strengthen, encourage and share knowledge together. It is not for hate speech and things of that nature.

 

                May you be blessed each day by our posts. Thank you.