(NOTE: If you haven't read all the previous parts of this 5 part tale,
you'll want to begin at the beginning, in Part 1 .)
Our thunderstorms have passed, for now, so on with the story. We left off as we got out of the car and walked up to the Amish Farmhouse...
We weren't quite sure of what to do...where to go; but within just a few seconds, a lovely girl, came out of the barn and greeted us. She was Willis and Kathy's 16 year old daughter, Diane, and she would show us our room and show us how things worked in there. (I learned later in our stay that English was her second language...I had NO idea as we conversed!) The door in the photo above, with the chair and the shrubs by it, was ours. She brought us into a lovely room that had functioned, for years, as the family's "grandparents apartment." When it was no longer needed as such, they chose to turn it into a B&B.
In the photos below, notice the gas-lamps on the walls...no electricity, here! Also the homemade Amish cinnamon rolls in the cake platter on the stove (I took this pic later in our stay, so there's only one left!) Beyond the calendar wall, you enter a tiny little kitchen...complete with sink, gas stove, and gas refrigerator. And gas lights (they make the room hot!). The kitchen, when you head through the opening there, is on the right...the half-open door you see goes to a full bath.
So, why were we here? This is an Amish Dairy Farm!!! What more could Bryan want? Hadn't it all pretty much started here, in Ohio's Amish country, on a farm, surrounded by dairy farmers and their holsteins??? Bryan should be in dairy-farm-heaven...
Earlier in the summer, when I had spoken with Kathy Miller on the phone to book the reservation (turns out that they ARE, indeed, Amish...they got permission to have a cell phone to take calls for reserving the B&B), we spoke of Bryan's desire to be a dairy farmer. She said that a number or their guests wanted to experience helping milk the cows, and that we would be welcome to do all the farm work and chores we wanted! (Smart family!) So I made sure Bryan packed some jeans and his work boots from Kline Creek Farm. That first day, we wandered around the place, but didn't do any chores. Next day, though, Diane had told us we could help milk, and I sent Bryan out to the barn. He wasn't too enthusiastic...I just couldn't figure it out! But he went.
A half hour later, he was back at the door to our little place.
"Mom...Mom!"
"It's open, Bryan...come on in."
"No, Mom...can you bring me a clean shirt, quick?"
Uh-oh...what in the world had happened?
I went to the door, and there he was, shirt off, the offending garment in a wad on the ground.
"I think I'm going to be sick...can you give me something to get this smell out of my nose?"
I picked up the shirt...and dropped it again. Yep, that's a bad smell... I grabbed the platter of homemade Amish cinnamon rolls, and stuck one under Bryan's nose. He inhaled deeply.
"Good?"
"Yeah, better..."
By this time he had kicked off his work boots, and came inside. The smelly jeans were immediately stripped off, right there just inside the door, and tossed outside, to join the t-shirt. Another whiff of the cinnamon rolls, and he was off to the shower, where the smells of soap and shampoo quelled the nausea. When he was dressed in fresh everything, we sat down with some cold drinks and started to talk.
"So, Bryan...what happened out there?"
"I don't want to be a dairy farmer. I can't. That was the worst smell in the world, I thought I was going to vomit the whole time."
~~THUD~~ Was that my jaw, my visions of my son's future, or my dreams of retiring in a "granny cabin" on a farm, hitting the floor? I must admit, when I smelled that shirt, I was pretty disgusted, too. (Coming from a well-seasoned R.N., that's a lot.) It wasn't a manure-smell. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe one cow had peed on herself, or a neighbor cow had peed on her, and it had lingered and "festered" on her, or something...I really don't know. We know manure...we know it well! We know the ammonia-smell of pee-soaked straw bedding in a sheep barn and in our cow shed at Kline Creek Farm. This was different. It didn't bother Diane or her little brother, and--I have to say--she certainly didn't smell of it at all! But somehow, something disgusting got on Bryan as he milked, and he was stuck in it for 20 minutes, and it ended ALL desire to be a dairy farmer. Boom...just like that.
I put the jeans and t-shirt in a plastic grocery bag, tied it shut, and stored it under the shrub outside the door until I could go to a laundrymat the next day with a bottle of bleach. Bryan was a happy camper...the worst was behind him! I, on the other hand, felt shell-shocked. "Lord, why? What now? All this time, all this effort, all these hours we've spent on farms, our volunteer hours at Kline Creek...was it all for nought?"
I haven't yet mentioned that one of the main reasons for our trip was that it was my younger son, Nathan's, 15th birthday. His dad had to be away in Europe, and I wanted to give Nathan something special. Going to Cleveland and coming home wasn't so exciting (when you live in Chicago, visiting Cleveland doesn't hold any attraction...museums, zoos, arboreta...we have all these here and they're awesome). So I extended the trip into Amish Ohio...and then tried to find a place that would be interesting for us all.
So, here we were, and it was the day before Nathan's birthday. I found Diane outside, and asked her if she could recommend a nice Amish bakery nearby where I could find a little cake for Nathan's day tomorrow.
"Oh, I'll bake him a cake! What flavor does he like? What kind of decoration would please him?"
Wow! What a sweetheart she is...I told her, "white cake, vanilla or lemon frosting, no chocolate, and he loves the north woods, or the tropics...your pick!"
The next morning, Kathy Miller (the mom) stopped by.
"I hear it's Nathan's birthday today!" "Yes, it is! What a lovely place to be for his birthday!"
"We'd like to have a cookout for him tonight, to celebrate! Would that work? We'll have a little birthday party!"
WOW...what a treat! We agreed to meet at the campfire pit (in the house side-yard) at 4pm. Willis grilled hamburgers and hot dogs while we all sat, chatted, and got to know one another better. Then, surprise of all surprises, they said, "food's ready...come on in!" They invited us into their spacious kitchen (we thought we'd be eating outside), where Kathy had a lovely array of condiments, salads, and chips set out. We enjoyed our meal together, along with a time of mutual questions and answers about each other's lives.
Afterward, Diane unveiled her creation...and what a creation it was! The lightest, fluffiest white cake I think I've ever had, decorated with a deep, forest green frosting complete with evergreen trees, rivers, boulders...it was gorgeous! We all admired it, and then greedily cut it to pieces and gobbled it up. I figured it would be time to say goodbye afterward...and I was sad to see this unique moment, a private meal shared with an Amish family, come to an end. But instead, we had yet another "blessing from God" in store.
"Would you like to join us for coffee in the living room?" Willis invited. Bryan and Nathan and I shot a delighted glance each other's way.
"Why, yes! We'd love to!"
We stayed for another hour, sharing about our lives, sharing the blessings of homeschooling, sharing our love for Jesus, and learning more about their lives on the dairy farm. (We did not mention the "crisis" of that morning, which remained tied up in the plastic bag, underneath a shrub.) Willis talked about his dairy business (he's named it "NorthHope Holsteins),
and then asked Bryan about his asparations as a farmer. Bryan was pretty general in his answers. I held my breath.
"I work with sheep at Kline Creek Farm."
"Willis has a twin brother," Kathy piped up. "Yeah," said Willis, "he's a sheep farmer out here. Say, I have a magazine I'd like to give you. I think you'll enjoy it." He handed Bryan what has now become one of our family favorites...an issue of Farming . Yes, it's just called Farming. Like the Amish...simple.
At the close of our evening together, we listened to an Amish father pray with his family, and read to the two younger children, who were all scrubbed and in their jammies. It was a truly special time.
The next evening, we were invited to join the Miller's and their church for volleyball. We were allowed to take this one photo...before the more conservative families arrived...of my sons, Diane (going for the ball), and an Amish boy and his sister, so we could have a memory; within about 20 minutes, there must have been 50+ kids there, playing volleyball on 2 courts:
By the time the sun had gone down, an old Amish grandpa had started a fire under his big, cast-iron kettle, in which he made fresh, sweet, Kettle-corn, and hot dogs were roasted along the sides. At the beginning of this time, the conversation between myself and the Amish women was cautious, and reserved. By the end of the evening, we were freely sharing about my role as a homeschooling mother, protecting our children's hearts from worldliness, about the difficulties Nathan faces as a diabetic, and the difficulties that many of their children deal with...basically, we discovered that we're all just folks! We enjoyed that evening of food and fellowship and volleyball so much! Often they would be speaking to one another in their German dialect, especially the volleyball players...but now and then, they'd look over at Bryan and Nathan and say something like, "Ja, dat was a goot shot! You play well!" At the end of the evening, darkness upon us, the Amish began to walk, bike, and horse-and-buggy home. We climbed in the car and drove back to the B&B.
Back in our apartment room, we lay in our beds (the boys were still small enough to share one bed, so I got the other all to myself!) and chatted, the gas lamp as low as we could get it due to the heat.
"Mom?"
"Yes, Bryan..."
"I can't wait to get back to the sheep at Kline Creek."
"The sheep?"
"Yeah...the sheep. You know what I think? I really want to have a farm. But not a dairy farm. It's the sheep. I love working with the sheep."
You see, my friends, God is faithful. What He begins, He will finish. We may get in the way, slow things down, cut off our own noses to spite our own faces, as we try to rush His plan outside of His timing. But He WILL finish what he starts. All the years of volunteering at Kline Creek Farm, and my questioning God about why we were here "with all the sheep" when Bryan wanted to be a dairy farmer; the times we were around dairy farmers and Bryan wasn't going out of his skin with excitement, and I asked God what was up with that; He knew...I was supposed to pray, wait, listen, and obey. And this is where I begin to weep, even now, as I recollect the things that have happened since then.
In April, we attended "Family Week " Camp with Tommy and Sherri Waller, who were featured in the Franklin Springs film documentary, "A Journey Home." (I blogged about it here. ) During Family Week, we were blessed with teaching by Colin and Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies . The Campbells are Kiwi's...New Zealanders...so they have that delightful accent, and it is so much fun just to listen to them! My three men, Kevin, Bryan, and Nathan, sat in on a Men's class with Colin, where he shared that Nancy's father (who has gone to be with the Lord) was once the World Champion Sheep Shearer! Turns out that Nancy grew up on a New Zealand sheep farm.
When I heard this, I began to pray. You see, we are actively looking for an apprenticeship opportunity for Bryan, who is now 17. Father in Heaven, You have laid out a path for Bryan. You have plans for him. If you want us to speak to Colin and Nancy, you'll need to make a way...there are several hundred people here, and they're always surrounded. Show us.
That evening, Saturday, was our "Shabbat" dinner (you'll have to read that post about Family Week for the details on what was happening). All of us in attendance were gathered in the large building for a delicious taco-salad bar meal, and Colin and Nancy shared their family's traditions for the Sabbath. It was a beautiful time of blessing the members of our families, and praying over one another. Afterwards, it was time to eat the taco salads!
There was one long buffet table set up with all the food on it, and the Wallers asked everyone to form 2 lines, and to serve themselves from both sides of the table, to get everyone through faster. The 200+ people did so, and we waited. As we inched closer to the serving table, I spotted Colin and Nancy in the other line. Everyone near them was straining to lean in close and converse with them. Lord, if You want us to talk with them about Bryan, You have to make the way. Make it clear to us.
Closer and closer to the buffet table we came, and I eyed Colin and Nancy as they also moved in. After a 5 or 10 minute wait, it happened. We merged together near the head of the table, ended up...you guessed it...face to face with Colin and Nancy. "Hello there, I'm Colin Campbell!" he said, reaching out to shake hands with Bryan and Nathan. After a brief moment of introductions and "we've enjoyed your teachings this week," I told Nancy how much Bryan had enjoyed hearing of her father's World Championship status...and that they were looking at an aspiring sheep farmer!
Smiles and laughter and rapid-fire conversation were ours with the Campbell's as we made our way down the buffet table, filling our plates. Boldly, I told her that we desired an apprenticeship for Bryan , but only with a family who dearly love the Lord. "Oh, I'm sure we must know someone back home...would you be willing to let him go to New Zealand?" "If it is what God wants and has for him, of course!" We agreed to stay in touch via their Above Rubies website, and, when and if the time came, they would check their New Zealand connnections for us, and we could go from there.
Fast forward to May 17th...we had a guest speaker giving the message at church. He is an old and dear friend of 2 of our teaching elders. As he began to speak, he began to share about his ministry over the years, and how he was led to buy a farm, and continue his speaking and teaching ministry there, using "agritourism" to bring people in, and the many scriptural analogies to farm-type living in his teaching, which has always used "word pictures" as the mainstay. Bryan and I smiled when we heard that. He then went on to share about how they also really work their farm, providing organic, grass-fed, grass-finished meat, marketed directly to the consumer (just what Bryan wants to do!). We smiled again, nodding in agreement. The final bit of information was a true joy...
Guess what? They raise sheep!!! Our pastor, Gary, had told us that we would like what his friend, Dr. Larry Guthrie, had to say. It gave me goosebumps when we realized what had just walked into our church! We plan to visit their Wisconsin farm, Harvest Home Farm, very soon. Our pastor said that he would put in a good word for Bryan with Dr. Guthrie if Bryan felt the Lord directing him to spend some time there, learning about sheep farming, and all the other things that they could teach him.
So there you have it. It began in the heart of an 8 year old boy who felt a longing to go to a "real farm." Little did I know that over the next 9...almost 10 years, I would learn how faithfully God would lay out a path for my son. Now and then, I wonder...how in the world will a kid from the uber-suburbs of Chicago ever end up with a farm? How can he buy land? How will he afford it? I have friends...well-meaning...who ask the same things, though not in so many words. And if they don't ask, I'm sure they think it! Who wouldn't? They are valid questions. But then, I come back to the first 4 words of the question: "how in the world...," and I have my answer. Bryan's life isn't in the hands of "the world." It's in the hands of God. We'll put our hope and trust in Him...for we know that He is faithful and true. After all, I didn't know any farmers. But God does. God knows LOTS of farmers!
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5,6)
"My son, preserve sound judgement and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble." (Proverbs 3:21-23)
"The LORD will guide you always." (Isaiah 58:11)
Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for staying with me until I was finally able to finish Bryan's story! I'll continue to post about him as things progress, of course! But the next story will be his younger brother's, Nathan's. He's a bit more perplexing, at least at this stage of life, since he really doesn't know what it is he wants to do. I know he's just 15 (he'll be 16 in a few weeks), but I know all too well how quickly these years go by, so my mind is beginning to train onto him, the things he says, the things that I see which "light a gleam" in his eyes. I'm gearing up for the next "ride" that God has for us to take!
Let me know you were here...thanks, and God Bless you!
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