Help the Hostkoetters Overcome Financial Hardship

My name is Sarah. My husband, mother, my two kiddos, and I live in Cave Junction. We have come a long way from the way we were when we moved to the valley about 10 years ago. We started in a 33' military tent in Selma, with my 1-year-old son, Raymond. I stayed home with him while my mother, Donna Beaudin, worked at the Post Office sorting center in Grants Pass, sometimes on the graveyard shift. My husband, Warren, was working at the mill in Grants Pass. We had one vehicle and were off-grid during this time. I became pregnant with our daughter, Dianna. There were times I was left alone for hours with no phone service or power, but managed to keep it together. Over time, with the help of people like my Aunt Holly, we finally rented a home. This home was sold out from under us after a year and a half, and we were in a pickle again.

We moved to a piece of someone else's land and were able to buy two school buses over a year and a half period. The situation with the woman who owned the land turned into us being treated like numbers rather than human beings. We were forced to move with very little time to do so. A dear sister/friend of ours and her amazing family gave us a place for a couple of years. It was a huge relief, but with my mental health and other tough health and job situations, our marriage nearly fell apart.

We ended up having to move again. During this time, my kids and I found the Most High, and Christ came to us and brought us near to Him. My husband, having been working hard on himself as well, found he was able to get us a house. This was just a couple of months after I was offered a job at New Tribe Tree Gear, which closed its doors three years ago. I was able to work there just over two years and we were doing okay. We now had a car per adult, and my mom had worked 5 years at the Post Office locally and came to stay home with the kiddos while I worked. Eventually, the owner of where I worked retired, so did her business of more than 30 years.

We were pretty tight now. My father had moved into our home with his wife of 16 years and had passed away from emphysema and pneumonia at the end of the major "pandemic" situation. He was paying rent, and that was very helpful. When he passed, we had to cover his expenses and lost the rent he paid.

I am also an ARMY veteran, and I am disabled in ways that may not always seem obvious to others around me, but I am service-connected and only receive a very small amount per month. Enough to just pay the water bill most months. My situation makes it very hard to work in many positions where standing, being around many people for long periods, or being under fluorescent lamps or loud sounds are at play. Looking at this computer is causing me a lot of pain at the moment.

About a year after we moved into this house, my husband, Warren, found his faith. We are now all very Bible-based in all we do. Of course, we stumble, but our home has now become completely sober, smoker-free, and filled with the Spirit. We purged all things from our old lives from our home and prayed for deliverance...and do often still. We keep the 10 commandments and walk with our Messiah, as He is our only true example.

One Sabbath, we were going to our fellowship, and we were hit by a truck. It hurt Warren and me and shook our kids mentally. It has been two years since, and with the money lost there, and with my father passing and having to eat the funds for that, as well as our roof leaking and having to replace it in a hurry, as well as our HVAC pooping out, and all the unpaid days off work that Warren's company makes them take, we are really struggling.

It was okay for a while, we had it, but with this roof payment we are going under badly. We go to the food bank for food, as well as volunteering at one of them each week to help out. We have been purging and cleaning in order to move and buy a new home, and hopefully pay off debt and start over. It is getting to where I have to choose whether I can buy food or gas to get my husband to work...is how it looks.

Our monthly income, as is the case for so many people right now, is too much to get public assistance, but too little to pay the basic bills. We have a garden, we have chickens for our own eggs. We are trying very hard to be frugal. It just isn't enough.

We homeschool our kids Biblically, and keeping them home with me, their momma, is what we believe to be the best thing for them.

I don't expect others to feel responsible for our path that led us to where we are. We know it has been bumpy, crooked, broken, and at many points...just our own doing. This has been the best four years of our lives as the "Hostkoetters" though, and perhaps some of you might choose to give support. We thank anyone who reads and even considers, or prays for us. Prayer is THE most helpful thing anyone can do. 100%.

To be sure, the funds will be used to immediately get our water, power, electric, and car insurance.