If you are struggling,
I have a message for you.
Multiple Sclerosis will not define who I am.
It may dictate some of the physical things that I struggle with on different days, but that DOES NOT MEAN THAT I HAVE TO BE NEGATIVE.
Our attitude and the way that we treat others are way more important than being selfish and or using our own rough times to be more miserable.
It's all about our perspective.
Look at this:
I have Multiple Sclerosis.
It's absolutely aweful. I am miserable every single day and am not staying positive, and affecting others around me.
I have so much trouble adjusting to every tough thing that comes my way in my life.
Things will never get better.
OR ...
I have Multiple Sclerosis.
My life is so blessed. Although I may have difficulty distinguishing my good and bad days, I choose to stay positive in my mind so that my body can continue moving forward. I am so blessed to be able to raise my kids, be a homesteader and have a farm.
Life is amazing 👏
See?
All about perspective.
Stay positive my friends.
#multiplesclerosis #multiplesclerosiswarrior #ms #perspective #neurologicaldisease #disease #stayingpositive #faithful #Godisgood #viral #multiplesclerosisawareness #awareness #msmom
Part #2: "Have you by been struggling with anything else besides your vision?"
It was the first time that I realized that I had been making alot of excuses for my symptoms along the way and here I was being confronted with the reality.
Dr. Gdih showed me my scan of my optic nerve and all the inflammation that was surrounding areas behind my eye 👁
He noticed the concern plastered all over my face, and told me he was going to make a couple phone calls.
I went back into the waiting room and finished my now luke warm coffee ☕️ texting my husband and mom about my worries...
Dr. Gdih walked out at least 20 minutes later with a piece of paper in his hands telling me to head over to HSC hospital in Winnipeg. It was after 6pm and this amazing specialist stayed well past his work day to ensure that I got the best treatment possible. He made sure to write out an emergency referral to a neurologist advising blood tests, an infusioned CT scan and an MRI.
I thanked him for his time and compassion and I walked out to my car and sat down to absorb everything that had just happened.
I was alone.
I thought about driving back home and getting my husband to drive me back to hospital but I really needed him to take care of the kids because I had already been gone the entire day.
So with my one good eye, I drove to get some food because I knew that it was going to be a long night.
I sat in the parking lot and silently ate my food trying to stay positive and tell myself that it was going to be nothing.
But as got closer to the hospital I had this gut feeling that this trip to the hospital wasn't going to be the same.
I couldn't get the question that Dr. Gdih asked me out of my head.
Have I been struggling with anything else besides my vision?'
My memory flashed back to that time that I was helping trim goat hooves with Joe and our son Austin.
The process itself requires holding down a goat on the ground so that we can safely trim their hooves.
We were trimming
Part 1: Two year ago I lost 80% of my vision in my left eye, and my right eye 👁 had so much trouble adjusting.
It started with a small blurry spot and a weekend of the worst headache ever.
I thought I got something in my eye.
But the blind spot got worse and grew.
By the time I got to the eye specialist he immediately sent me on an emergency referral to a neurologist at HSC hospital and I couldn't see anything out of my left eye....
OPTIC NEURITIS is an eye condition that occurs when the optic nerve swells and becomes inflamed, damaging the nerve fibers that transmit visual information to the brain.
It can cause blurred, dim, or faded vision, flashing lights, and difficulty distinguishing colors or objects from their backgrounds.
It only took a week or so to slowly lose most of the vision in my eye. Over the course of the weekend before my diagnosis I suffered with the worse pain I had ever felt behind my left eye and my skull. It felt like someone had hit me with a sledge hammer in the sign of my head.
I remember the conversation with Dr. Gdih, who was the optomologist I was sent to from my regular Optometrist.
It was in the hour before his office was closing and I was one of his last patients of the day.
I was sitting in the waiting room googling all of the things I could about the 'possibility of Optic Neuritis' after hearing about it for the first time and so many things came up, but the biggest cause before diagnosis that kept coming up was Mulitple Sclerosis..
Dr. Gdih walked out and called my name and I was so numb and exhausted by that time of the day he called my name again, "Christina Hooper?"
He looked at me and said, "it's been a long day, did you want a cup of coffee? ☕️ "
Well of course my demeanor suddenly perked up and I smiled and replied, "Absolutely !"
He went to his office and brewed me his own personal cup of coffee, and wow was it just the thing I needed.
He sat me down in his chair, and did a couple of tests and then pu
Have you dove down the dark side?
Homeschooling, homesteading, gardening, raising chickens and goats are just the beginning.
I would love to connect with you !!
Tell me in comments have you have gone down 'the dark side' of homesteading??
Our story:
I am obsessed with them all.
Let me introduce myself here to all the new followers 🚜
We are a self sustainable family of 7 living in Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦.
I am a mom to 5 wonderful kids and my hard working husband owns his own plumbing and heating business.
We are so blessed to homeschool our two youngest children on our homestead.
I was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis November 2022 and took a step away from my fitness coaching business to run the farm full time along with homeschooling our children 💞
What a beautiful blessing it has been.
We moved from the busy city life and have lived on our 80 acres for 12 years, creating a self sustainable life for our family.
We raise goats(14), laying chickens(60 plus), Rooster(8), guinea fowl(40+), 4 geese, 8 ducks, 1 Tom Turkey, 3 hens, 1 peacock hen, 1 pot bellied pig named Luna, 1 rabbit 🐇 named Gus, 3 dogs 🐕, 6 cats and 2 budgies.
We have milked our goats for fresh milk and even tried goat meat too, delicious 😋!
Winters are very long out here, so our time lately has been hauling trees 🪵for the wood boiler and fire place each year, insulating the chicken coop and grabbing straw from a local farmer to keep the chickens, goats and our special pot belly pig warm for our cold winters.
I have self taught myself along with the help of my amazing mother how to can and prepare our own foods from scratch.
My gardening skills have come from both of my amazing mom and dad.
Dad always had a greenhouse growing up in the city and still grows all his own foods from seed.
Self sustainable life is not easy when you are dealing with crazy temperatures, flooding and drought.
You become stronger because of it and it creates this unimaginable joy that
Live in the moment.
2025.
The year of many opportunities and taking the time to live, love and trust God's plan 🙏
2024 taught me how to appreciate that not all stories have a happy ending in the way that we want.
Even though I didn't understand why things were happening
it taught me to trust His plan.
It hurt.
I didn't see it.
But I had to keep going.
I can't wait to share our journey.
You won't believe me if I told you.
But you will see how messy the world can get.
You will find refuge in your darkest times and see that it was Jesus who carried you through.
#godisgood #viralreels #viral #farmlife #countrylife #fireworks #newyear #2025goals
Dixie definitely participating with chores,
and checking in on the wagons shock performance 👏
She jumps in and expects a ride so here we are ...🤣
Golden retrievers are the best 🥰
#goldenretriever #viralreels #homesteader #farmlife #countrylife #farm #chores #goldenretrieversofinstagram
I am definitely going to hang out with my goats more often 🤷🏼♀️🤣🐐
#goat #viral #viralreels #farmlife #homesteader #homesteadersofinstagram #farm #goatfarm #funny
Right where I am meant to be 🥰🤣🐔
#viralreels #farm #viral #homesteader #chickenpalace #chickens #chickensofinstagram #chickendance #dance
✋️ STOP ✋️
This is your sign ‼️
Listen 🔉
#viralreels #goodadvice #countrylife #pond #canoe #pondlife #viral #listen
What an awesome winter day! We have been getting a ton of snow ❄️ time and spending alot of times outdoors lately and I am loving it.
Homeschooling gives us so many moments of this time together ❤️
It truly brings so many moments together and does nothing more than make me wish that I homeschooled all of our children 💔 😢 so that we had more time together as a family.
But I know God needed me in other areas of my life as the time.
Some times I didn't understand why he didn't answer my prayers for our kids and then out of no where he called me to homeschool Joseph and Julia and it truly was a blessing abd answer to this season that I didn't even see.
It allowed me to connect to other moms that were on the same page 💞
Home school your children!
I promise it will completely change your mindset, your connection to your children and your walk with Jesus!
🙋🏼♀️How many Homeschool Moms are here? 👋
Let's connect!!!
#Homeschool #countrylife #countryside #winter2024 #kids #homeschoolingmom #homesteadersofinstagram #homeschoolinspiration #farmlife #viral #viralreels
I have been desperate for an answer.
I have been begging You Lord for answers.
I have prayed so many times in head.
But until two nights ago I was outside and the Holy Spirit spoke these words into my life,
"May God show you the right thing to do".
Last night, I was hurting 😫, worldly hurt. Things that I can't control that are happening right now.
I got a nudge from Him, 'Go get your Bible and open it'.
"May God show you the right thing to do".
My Oma wrote this phrase in a letter addressed to me on December 14, 2001.
I have read this letter hundreds of times, especially when I miss her.
I have been asking for answers but never stopped to received them until now.
I had words spoken to me and I finally opened up the scripture.
"May God show you the right thing to do".
I finally got it. 🙌
Open up your Bible.
Jesus is alive and wants to be part of your life.
He ☝️ finally showed me the right thing to do.
Psalms 86:11 tells us, "Teach me your way oh Lord so that ai may live according to Your truth".
#psalm86 #faithoverfear #trustintheLord #godlywoman #Jesus #Bible #jordanstcyr
Oh dear Lord!! The joys on the farm 🚜 🦢
#viralreels #farmlife #viral #countrylife #homesteader #farm #funnyvideo #funny #embdengeese #geese #birdsandthebees
