One of my goals for this blog is to let you have a peek at reservation life. My first visit here was in 1991. I came away a little shell shocked. I had heard stories and seen slides of third world countries all my life, but I was not prepared to see this on American soil. My heart went out to these wonderful people and after several visits, I moved here in 1994. At the time, I had only planned to be here for a year to teach Kindergarten. God had other plans. I met my husband. We married in 1997, and I have made this place my home. I am no longer shocked by the lifestyle here, instead I'm shocked when I return to my childhood home area and see how everyone has so much.

We married in the fall of 1997 and moved into a singlewide fixer-up trailer. We had no water and no electric. We did have a propane tank and a propane stove to cook on. We live about 250 yards from my mother-in-law, so we put our small chest freezer at her house. Everyday I'd go over there and swap ice packs to put in an ice chest where we kept some cold food. We hauled water in a 55 gallon drum on the back of a pick-up, then bucket by bucket we'd dip and pour into another 55 gallon drum inside the house. The two of us used a barrel of water every 5 to 6 days. This was for cooking,drinking, dishes and showers. Laundry was done in the closest town 22 miles away, which is also where we pick up our mail. Showers were taken with a camp shower. We didn't solar heat the water because we did not have a good place to put it outside where the dogs couldn't get to it. Instead we heated water on the stove, mixed in some cool water and filled the camp shower. A camp shower is NOT the most satisfying shower, but we did get clean. We had an outhouse,too, of course.

After 20 months and paperwork troubles that I don't care to recall, we got electricity. After 4&1/2 years we got running water.

It was a hard way to live for me. For DH it was a way of life. I do not regret those years. I know now that I can live this way if need be, and I can THRIVE while doing so. It also helped me make friends here. I was living just the same way other women here were, and dealing with the same frustrations. I was one of them.