Hello Steemit

Hello! My name is Bridget. I am 28, engaged, and nearly 14 weeks pregnant. I live in rural NW Arkansas and work as a caregiver for a local non-profit organization supporting individuals with disabilities. I was a CNA for a short time, but after working in a facility decided to stick to in-home care until I achieve my dream of having a home business with enough income to sustain my family in the simple lifestyle we have chosen - homesteading. This is my second pregnancy. The first ended in miscarriage at 15 weeks 4 days, so this time I have been very paranoid and have not really been able to enjoy it because I feel something could go wrong at any moment. I don't think I will begin to feel better until I have reached a point where the baby could be delivered preterm safely. My fiance and I have purchased a trailer home from our neighbor which we plan to have moved onto family land to begin our homestead. It has been slow going because we are at the mercy of the crypto market. We have a small investment in Bitcoin and are waiting for the price to go back up so we can cash out and have enough to get our home set up, which must happen before the baby arrives. Needless to say, this has been a very stressful time for us. 

I have many different interests, which I want to include in my home business - photography, woodworking, wood burning, jewelry making, crochet, sewing, writing, drawing, painting, etc. Basically, anything crafty and creative. I often jump from project to project and have a hard time staying focused, but I'm rarely bored when I get into my creative mode. I also go through phases where I don't feel creative at all, like many people do. I have been in one of those phases for a while now, but I think a lot of it has to do with my current living situation. I just don't have the space I need to work on a project at the moment, and feeling cluttered and claustrophobic can cut off the creativity pretty quickly. 

I am no social butterfly. I tend to keep to myself and my very small circle. I'm usually content to stay home and do not enjoy large crowds, but every once in a while I find myself feeling like I should get out more. I'm working on it. lol

I'm a conservative politically, I suppose you could call me. I support the 2nd amendment fully and believe it was written for a reason, and not just for hunting purposes. Anyone who thinks we shouldn't have to defend ourselves from our own government or society should really open a history book. It isn't just paranoia and conspiracy theory. It's fact. It has happened before, and it will happen again. And again. So while I recognize that we have a problem with violence in our society, I do not believe taking away the rights and privacy of law abiding citizens is the solution. A criminal who wants to harm other people will always find a way. There were just a series of bombings in Texas last week I believe. No guns were used. And guns are more often used in defense than they are in committing crimes. If you take away a person's right to own a gun, you make them a target for criminals who don't care about the law. You strip a person of their ability to defend themselves. For example, I live 30-45 minutes away from the nearest city with a hospital. When I had my miscarriage, it took 45 minutes for the ambulance to get to me, then another 45 minutes to the hospital. It took a total of 1 hour 30 minutes before a doctor ever laid eyes on me. If that had been a situation where there was a gunman on our property breaking into our house, we would have been dead long before the police ever had a chance of getting there. If we had guns, and we do, we could defend ourselves, and we would more than likely survive. Is there a chance we could still be killed? Absolutely. But I would rather have a chance at surviving and fail than be an unarmed, helpless victim. 

All that being said, I am not here to lecture anyone. Everyone has a different opinion, and that's ok. If you don't like what I have to say, keep scrolling. I won't engage in pointless debate, but I will have intelligent conversations. While I feel strongly about my beliefs, I respect others' beliefs as well. You are as entitled as I am to individual thought. (I'm also a defender of the 1st amendment.) All I ask is that if presented with new information that contradicts your beliefs, please learn from it. I do not respect willful ignorance and blind faith, and I have had to change my own beliefs many times over the years as I have been presented with new information. 

Wow, that was a lot deeper and darker than I intended! I'm really quite friendly and open-minded, just passionate.