Hi! We’re the Tompkins’ and the Viator’s. Marc and Monica Tompkins, otherwise known as Grammie and Papaw, are Mikayla’s parents. Shalin and Mikayla Viator have two littles, Kohen (5) and Oakley (3).

Our journey began around 2020 when we watched the world as we knew it disappear. We quickly began to realize that we'd been missing a vital skill: learning to be self-sustainable. We recognized that we knew very little about how to provide for ourselves and we understood that homesteading was the best way to learn. After tossing the idea around of relocating to this little town in East Texas and months of praying and seeking direction from the Lord, we felt Him leading us to make a drastic move from our hometown, a very large city just north of Houston.

While we were still in the city, we began by experimenting with sourdough, ditching simple store-bought products and learning to make them ourselves, starting a small backyard garden and finding alternatives to commercially-made, harmful household products. In November of 2022, we made the move to Mount Enterprise and started our family farm and homestead. Our farm is now home to pigs, goats, chickens and bees. It’s been an incredible learning experience!

Not only were we moving across the state - we left our normal sized homes and moved into 400sf tiny houses! To say that it’s been an adjustment is quite an understatement, but we look at it as an opportunity for the Lord to refine us and make us more like Himself. There have been challenges and struggles, but we’ve learned a new outlook on life and at the end of the day, we’re thankful to have a (tiny) roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. Sometimes, when you have all that you need and more right at your fingertips, you forget to praise God often and consider His blessings - it just becomes one of those things that, for lack of a better term, we simply just take for granted. Shifting to a much simpler (but MUCH busier!) lifestyle has helped us recognize His hand in everything, all around us, all the time. Not only in nature and His creation, but all of the opportunities we have to live a life that’s glorifying to Him, whether serving our community, discipling our children or loving each other as we love ourselves.

As you’ve probably already noticed, our family loves the Lord and wholeheartedly strives to keep Him at the center of it all. We don’t know what our future holds, but we know Who holds it - and we know that He is good. Our goal in doing all of this is not only to be able to provide for our own family, but to serve our community, meet our neighbors, find local food and love others to Jesus.

We know that whatever we do, as long as we’re doing it for His glory and seeking His will, that He can and will handle the rest. We hope that you’re blessed by our efforts to get back to the way God intended things to be!

In Christ,

The Tompkins’ and Viator’s