Agreed, it's very much like homework. Are we gluttons for punishment or what??

I hope you don't mind but I read through all your exercises so far just to get a feel for your characters and your conflict. I like your premise. It seems to me that your main character, Ruth, has two different conflicts that she's battling through your story: 1. The lack of financial means, represented by almost losing the house, and 2. Her grief at the loss of her husband. The first is an external conflict, and the second is an internal conflict. I think you're pretty close as far as your climax, but you're focusing on the internal conflict, whereas the climax for the external conflict happened prior to that moment, whenever the house was saved. You can have a more powerful and fulfilling ending if you can align those to climaxes. What if Ruth has a crisis of faith that continues to grow as everything around her seems to be falling apart? And what if, whatever it is that saves the house is something that renews her faith? In that moment, she not only gets to keep her house, but whatever it is that allows her to keep the house is something that also helps her deal with her grief?

For example, what if something that Ruth's husband did years ago, some altruistic act, gets rewarded and paid forward at just the right moment? What if some young person he helped years ago is now very financially well off and decides to find the man who helped them, tracks him down and learns that he's passed away, and then not only helps Ruth save her house, but starts a fund in the husband's name to save the houses of widows without financial means? Then check out your climax - the external conflict gets resolved because the house is saved, and the internal conflict is also resolved because not only is Ruth's faith renewed, but she also is comforted by the special memory of her husband which is forever preserved in a fund in his name, which is designed to help people, which is what she loves.

Sorry, just brainstorming LOL. Use or discard any ideas as you see fit. I do challenge you to see if you can resolve her internal conflict at the same time as her external conflict or very close to it if possible.

And if you are not having fun doing the homework, you won't hurt our feelings.

Cheers,
Michelle