Y’all, this Woman of the West, is a homegrown Texan. She is a servant of God, living her life loving her husband, helping people feel beautiful with her hair stylist skills, and ranching in the Texas Hill Country. If you follow her on social media, you already know she is funny, smart, and quick to share reminders that God is truly in control. Her story is raw and real and through it you can see the gospel lived out. Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins, and God’s plans for redemption and grace are evident. Thank you, Sierra, for sharing part of your story with us! Check out more below…
What does homestead mean to you?
Homestead to me is being happy where you are. Sometimes the homestead isn’t perfect but it’s being able to adapt and change but a place that always welcomes you back with open arms. Homestead is a place you plant roots.
Where do you live and how long have you lived there? Where did you grow up?
My Husband, Cody and I live in Marble Falls, Tx. We have lived here since 2016. I was born in Tx. Stayed here ‘til I was 5-6, we moved to Oklahoma for a couple years to help grandparents out with the cattle and we moved back to Texas when I was 8-9. From then on, Johnson City, TX raised me. A cute little town in the Texas Hill country.
What are some of your favorite things about living a western lifestyle (on a ranch or in the country, small town living, with horses, farming, the community, etc.)?
I love everything about small town living. I love how people enjoy the simple things in life. The café breakfast talks and old men sitting drinking coffee talking about cattle, I love how people don’t try to keep up with the Jones, cause I’m still trying to figure out who the heck they are myself. Marble Falls is growing...and it is growing a lot. It honestly is great for our business, but scares the heck out of us to raise a family in. It is getting so fast paced and the traffic, well it’s not backed up cause of tractors on the county road, that’s for sure.
I love the western way of life. Mainly the people. The people, for the most part, will give you the shirt off their back. With being raised around animals and rodeo, it teaches you to have responsibly for something besides yourself. Those animals can’t take care of themselves. And rodeo, man it’s a humbling game. I love how it teaches you real life. Not everyone is a winner and you must work hard and try harder to make it work to be able to pay to play the game. No participation ribbons in rodeo.
In what ways do you see God in your homestead?
I never thought of it this way, but God is with you no matter where you are. Home is where your heart is. And your homestead no matter how far away you can get, it always welcomes you back with open arms and no judgement.
Who did you learn the most about life from?
My mom, Kim Todd Hodge. She is a Godly woman. Hard worker, caring, support system, great friend, even better mom and loves with all she has. She has been hurt by life, but she never loses faith. She has taught me so many things about life. About how to find the bright side in the rain and how the rain and storms can teach us something but without the rain. we don’t get the green grass later.
What is a life challenge you have faced and how did you overcome it?
One the hardest thing emotional I’ve ever had to face was my parents’ divorce after 30 years of marriage when I was 28 years old. I felt like I needed to be strong for my mom since she is always strong for me. So many emotions and heart ache and pain, I really didn’t deal with the pain for myself until two years later when one day I just couldn’t keep it together anymore.
I sought help. I started going to an applied kinesiologist chiropractor, I started journaling and I started a course called thehappiestlives.com for mental health. I started praying about hurts and being truthful with myself about how I wasn’t ok. I knew my mom had already been through enough, so I didn’t want her to know I was in pain because of it also. I am very thankful that my parents can be adults after the divorce, and they are friends and we can all get along for the new normal dynamics of the family.
How did you get started as a stylist? What is your favorite thing about your job?
I discovered in the 6th grade that I wanted to be a stylist. A girl came for career day and talked about being a hairstylist. I was so interested in the entire deal. Making money daily, being my own boss, getting to be creative and problem solve and making others feel great. I went for my first professional haircut not long after that and in her chair, I decided that is what I wanted to do. And all the things I knew the job can do, my favorite is being able to provide a great living for my family while making others feel beautiful.
All my clients truly become friends to me.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned from horses or from living in a rural place?
The good and bad thing is I learned that responsibilities come first. I didn’t eat ‘til my horses and animals were fed. Chores weren’t chores when it came to animals, It was things that had to be done and now. The bad thing about this lesson is I have a hard time just chillin’ if things need to be done or giving myself time to regroup and relax. I’m always busy.
What is your favorite thing about being a rancher?
I love calving season and to see the little babies running around together. I love how we as humans over think things, but cattle teach you to quit doing that. They just live a simple life and know we will take care of them. Its such hard work but the love for the land and for providing food for others is a rewarding thing.
Do you have a favorite recipe? Care to share it with us?
I hate cooking. I am a terrible housewife. It’s usually something very simple. A protein and veggie. My husband doesn’t really like soups, casseroles or things all mixed so it limits what I make.
What is the name of your all-time favorite horse?
BO. He was a palomino horse. He was my mom’s barrel horse, my dad could also rope off of him and I used him at playdays. He was such a cool horse and the type of horse that my mom could ride at the pro rodeos and then I could get on him and he was trot the barrel pattern. My favorite story about him was when I was little, I was leading him back to the trailer and I tripped and fell down right in front of him. My parents said it was the neatest thing. He was about to take another step, which would have been on me, but instead he left his foot in the air and held it until I stood back up. He had the neatest soul. He was the only horse I’ve ever cried over.
Who is one woman who has inspired you?
The women I want to be proud of when I’m 90. That’s the women that inspires me. The women that doesn’t want to live in any regret. I want to live with memories and not just dreams.
What is your favorite bible verse?
I trust in, rely on and am confident in you Lord. You are my God. My times are in your hands
-Psalms 31:14-15
I didn’t just lose my best friend once, but I lost a best friend twice. My friend, Meagan McCain, that I met as a sophomore in high school, thru high school rodeo, was killed by a drunk driver our sophomore year of college. That was really my first death that wasn’t expected and from someone close to me. That changed me. I truly grasped that life isn’t in our hands and we have no control and that life here is short and that life in eternity is way more important. I had talked to her the night before her death. She was headed out to go dancing with some new friends at the college she attended. I was at a rodeo, in route to the college I attended. My mom and her mother were friends. My mom woke me up at 6:30 when Meagan’s mom called and told my mother the news. She never made it to the dancehall. Her last words to me were “good luck tonight, let me know how you do!” I sure miss that red headed firecracker.
I met this guy, Cody Miles, senior year of high school at a rodeo meeting for the college we were both attending in the fall. He became my best friend for the next 4 years of college. He was there for a lending ear and a shoulder to cry on when my college boyfriend cheated on me and we broke up. He was there to help me with so many life lessons. Truth be told, I really am a lot of the way I am because of him. He would let me cry and vent and just get it all out and then when I was done, he would say “well... sounds like life got ya down but you better eat some concrete and toughen up cause life isn’t going to be easy but it’s going to be worth it.” The day we graduated college he was moving back to Colorado, 16 hours away from my hometown. I knew we wouldn’t see each other as much but I truly had no idea I wouldn’t ever see him again. We stayed in contact via text and Christmas cards. He became a hunting guard in Colorado, a husband, and a dad. He had an underlying heart condition that no one knew about and it took his life one day unexpectedly.
I woke up to calls and texts from several rodeo team members and some of our dear friends from college that I hadn’t talked to in years. My heart knew something happened to Cody Miles right when I saw my phone. Tyler Willis, a bull rider, I hadn’t spoken to since college was the one to deliver the news to me. It broke my heart. I still to this day want to text him when some exciting big news happens or to catch up about life. We didn’t talk as much after college, but we knew the big things happening in each other’s lives. He truly was my best friend.
I feel like life has thrown me so many curve balls but God always sees the big picture and he didn’t promise that we wouldn’t have trials on this earth, but he did promise it would all be worth it to accept him and trust him for the homestead called Heaven.
I got chills so many times reading Sierra’s story. She has faced some really tough challenges and each time has come out stronger in her faith. When she writes that God’s promise will be worth it in the homestead called Heaven, I got chills! And the part about her 90 year old self being her inspiration is great! I had never considered my future that way, but I am on board with that. I love that Sierra’s inspiration is her future self, I need to take that more to heart myself.
Sierra is a wise woman and I am thankful for her to be a part of The Wandering Homesteader’s Women of the West! Be sure to check her out on Instagram or visit her at The Hair Saloon in Marble Falls if you are ever in the area.
As always, thank you for supporting The Wandering Homesteader! If you need prayers or want to get in touch, please let me know!
xo,
Sara
Here are a few more photos of Sierra!
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