Take a Trip Back to the Farm with Mandy's New Children's Book!

 

Holly the Holstein: Talks About Milk Cows: Farmer, Mandy: 9798836444990: Amazon.com: Books

Meet Holly the Holstein and learn about the life of a milk cow on a family farm. In this interactive children’s book, Holly will talk about different breeds and how work gets done on the farm. How much milk does a cow produce each day? Holly knows. How much does a cow eat? Holly knows.

Meet Holly and the other cows and farm animals.
Pay attention as you read so you can answer Holly’s questions about the farm and the animals who live there.

Click Here to Purchase

Holly the Holstein: Talks About Milk Cows: Farmer, Mandy: 9798836444990: Amazon.com: Books

I would really appreciate your support. Purchase a book for your children/grandchildren/local library. Then return to Amazon and leave a review. Thanks.

REVIEWS

"I was excited to purchase this first book by one of my favorite bloggers. Mandy has such a way with children,  and this book makes that so evident. My grandson wanted me to read it with him right away. As we were reading it, he asked, "Are you keeping this? It's GOOD!"  Kid-approved and Grandma-recommended." -Bettie G

"It’s so cute!  I’ll have to order a couple more!" - Kandy C.

Order yours at Amazon today and get the kindle version for free! Be sure to go back and leave a review. It helps with the search process to have lots of A+ reviews.

Click Here to Purchase

Holly the Holstein: Talks About Milk Cows: Farmer, Mandy: 9798836444990: Amazon.com: Books

FREE DOWNLOADABLE COLORING BOOK!

Click Here for Coloring Pages

Spice-Applesauce Cake with Caramel Penuche Frosting

 Haven't made this in a while. Daddy really loves this. Also loves the caramel frosting on a chocolate cake, Maybe you would like the recipe as well.

1 Spice Cake 

Follow box directions but replace the vegetable oil with Applesauce. (maybe cinnamon flavored)

Bake as directed.

Caramel Penuche Frosting

 1 stick of butter

1 c. Brown Sugar

1/3c milk

confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1. Bring to boil in a 4 qt glass  (microwave ok, but watch closely)

2. Add milk. Boil again 1 minute in micro

3. Cool Slightly

4. Beat in confectioner's sugar until nice to spread.

5. Spread on cake quickly; it gets firm as it cools.

6. If too stiff add drops of hot water.

7. Enjoy.

The House with Five Gables ~ The House That Built Me

Miranda Lambert has a country song called the House that Built Me. This song recently resonated with me when I learned that our family farmhouse was scheduled to be demolished [2020]. I didn't realize the emotional attachments I still have to the farm which we moved away from in 1975 when I was merely 13 years old.

When I read the text, I let out a gasp. Michael asked me what was going on. As I tried to read the text to him the tears began to flow and I could not speak out the words. This home was not only where I spent my young years but also where my father grew up. On top of that, the house has/had historical value being the first farmhouse west of the Alleghany Mountains with running water and electricity.

I have been meaning to write about the house but never took the time. I guess it's time to get this in black and white. Dad (Gene Dawson) wrote out the things he remembered and my sister, Kandy typed it up and sent it to me.

So here we go on a trip down memory lane. My added notes are in purple.

The House that Built Me or The House with Five Gables.

------

To my daughter, Mandy Farmer, granddaughter of Elwood and Leona Dawson.  I am the son of Elwood.  I thought it might be of interest to fill in some details of Mandy’s report.

We [Elwood, Leona & 4 children] moved from Jefferson County to Stark County in 1942.

We bought the farm from Wayne Yoder, the oldest son of Forest Yoder.  Wayne’s brothers were Blanchard, Joe, Ray, Russell and 2 sisters. I got the details of this report from Russell.  Russell owned an airport in Louisville.  Wayne Yoder was the oldest of the Yoder family.  When he was 12, they were bringing in the hay.  Wayne was driving the team when a thunderstorm came up.  His dad took the reins.  Lightning struck the team, killing the horses and Wayne’s dad.

Wayne Yoder was about the same age as Elwood. When I (Mandy) lived on the farm, he and his wife lived just down the road across the street from Uncle George and Aunt Sandy. I remember going to their home trick or treating. They always gave out large candy bars!

Who is Russell?

 The farm became quite a showplace.  

The barn was built in 1887 (100’ by 80’, largest in the county). The farm had the name, Superior Excelsior Farm.  All the lumber was cut from the farm.  A 16' x 30' silo was built from the clay on the farm. All the buildings had a slate roof.  The slate was shipped in on 3 railway cars. 

The house was built in the early 1900s.  It was the first farmhouse west of the Allegheny Mountains to have running water, electricity and central heat (heated water pipes).  The house had 13 rooms with 3 dumbwaiters, one from the basement to the attic (4 floors).  Water from the house roof was collected and stored in a tank on the 2^nd floor.  This was used for washing. The overflow then was piped to an earthen cistern, resulting in running water for livestock in the barn.  The hog pen had a large heated water tank used to help with butchering. 

Water from the storage tank also supplied water for the house.  Water from a strong spring was pumped to the house and stored in a different tank and used for drinking. This was an ingenious system of using the flow of the water to “pump” the freshwater to a smaller tank on the 2^nd floor of the house, resulting in running water for drinking. 

The house had a belfry with a rope leading to the kitchen to call for dinner. 

The house also had a Delco electric system.  When we moved there, there was one basement wall with shelves filled with acid batteries used to generate the electricity. 

(see this link for more info on this system –note from Kandy:  https://www.farmcollector.com/farm-shows/delco-light-plant-zmlz13janzbea )

Quite a house!

Gene Dawson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The House Fire of '57

Things Elaine told Mandy

There was a house fire in February 1957 which gutted the house. My parents, Gene and Elaine had their wedding gifts stored in the attic. Mom had just visited and taken a few serving items to have a birthday party for Dad. 

The cause of the fire was apparently a bird took a burning ember into the eaves of the house to build a nest. When the firemen arrived. They sprayed their hoses on the roof but the slate tiles kept the water from getting to the fire. Before they could extinguish the fire, the house was gutted. 

Mom's wedding dress was stored in a cedar chest in the attic. It was found sitting on a ledge still up in the eaves. Though they had to knock it down and retrieve it in the basement, they found the cedar chest has sealed shut, her wedding gown and a few other dresses unscathed. 

Read about the wedding dress here.

The house was rebuilt but only two floors.

Not sure who the girl is here. Kandy or a cousin?

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Barn and Other Buildings

Mom, Dad and 4 kids (Gene, Elaine, Doug, Kandy, Mandy, & Alex) at the time moved to the home place about 1966. I (Mandy) was about 5 years old. When we moved to the homeplace, Dad took charge of the farm. Grandma and Grandpa bought a house not far away on Easton Street.

Dad added a milking parlor. Not long after this, there was a barn fire destroying the old barn (1970). We only lost one sick calf and also were able to save the new milking parlor. The neighbors milked our cows. The Amish came in and helped rebuild. They built a free-stall barn, a hay barn, a calf barn, and a machine shed. Dad said it still wasn't as much storage as that one original barn. I wrote about the barn fire HERE.

This is the milkhouse and you can see to the right is the new hay barn.

Our family sold the farm in 1975 and moved to Wisconsin. See my memoirs HERE. I don't believe the farm was ever again a working dairy farm. The barns have been long gone with the exception of the machine shed.

__________________________________________

More to Come

Uncle George and Aunt Sandy still live just down the street. (The Bishop Place purchased by Grandpa at some point. Mom and Dad lived there when I was born.) They and their kids were given an opportunity to walk through the house one last time. 

Susan Dawson Vaughn sent me some pictures which I would like to share in a future post only with memories that come to mind. I welcome friends and family to send me memories/pictures/news articles of their own. Let's get them in black and white.

Mandy

Special Dairy Drinks from the Farm

Dairy Drinks, Hot and Cold

When you are raised on the dairy farm, you drink milk. Of course, fresh cold milk straight from the bulk tank is like nothing you ever tasted. I can't count how long it's been since I've had a tall glass of fresh cold milk. O my goodness!

But for special occasions, maybe you want something a bit more exciting. To keep it dairy, here are two recipes, one hot, one cold. Enjoy!

Hot Cocoa Mix

1 pound of dry milk (enough to make 8 qt)
1 - 6 oz jar of Coffeemate
1 heaping cup of finely powdered milk
1 lb. of Nestle's Quik

Place all this in a large container ( I use a Rubbermaid cereal keeper)
Shake until well mixed.

To serve...
Add 1/3 c. of mix to each 8oz cup of hot or boiling water.

*If it's too hot, add some half-n-half or milk.

Milk Punch

serves 50

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

1/2 gallon milk

1-gallon lime sherbert  (or water flavor/color you want your punch)

16 cups lemon-lime soda

Mix with a beater until light.

Serve immediately.

This may not seem good, but it's delicious!

Marcy & Bob served this at their wedding reception.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

• This coffee cake has always been a favorite with the Dawsons. The recipe originally came from the Louisville, Ohio EUB church.
• CREAM WELL
• 
  
• Shortening - 0.5 cup  - I use Coconut oil1/2 c. coconut oil
• Granulated Sugar, White - 0.75 cup3/4 c. white sugar
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp1 teas. vanilla
• 
  
• ADD:
• 
  
• Egg · whole · fresh · raw - 3 eggs3 whole eggs
• Sour cream - 1 cup1 c. sour cream
• Wheat flours · bread · unenriched - 1.5 cup unsifted, dipped1 1/2 c. bread flour
• baking soda- 1 tsp1 t. baking soda
• baking powder · double-acting - 1 tsp
• 1 t. baking powder
• Salt · table - 0.5 tsp
• 1/2 t. salt
• 
  
• TOPPING
• Butter · salted - 6 tbsp6 T butter
• Sugars · brown - 0.5 cup packed1/2 c. brown sugar
• Sugar - White - granulated - 0.5 cup1/2 c. white sugar
• Spices · cinnamon · ground - 2tsp2 teas. cinnamon
• Chopped Nuts - 1/2 c.  (Optional)
• BAKE 350 degrees 35-45 minutes

Sweet Potato Souffle Crunch

- Mrs. Lena Foskey's recipe found in  "Seasoned with Love" Cookbook by the congregation at Shurlington Church of the Nazarene in Macon, Georgia




3 C. cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1/2c. sugar
1/2 t salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 1/2 T butter, melted
1/2 c. milk
1 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased baking dish. Cover with crunch topping

Crunch Topping

2 1/2 T butter
1 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1 c chopped pecans

Melt butter; add brown sugar, flour, and nuts.
mix well and sprinkle on top of sweet potato mixture
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

Another one of those favorites added after I married a southerner. At times I miss Grandma Dawson's Glazed Sweet Potatoes though. I don't have the recipe.

Fire in the Kitchen

"Tell a story from your childhood that involves fire."

As a young teen, you could often find me in the kitchen doing a little baking. I loved making cookies, cakes and other sweets for the family. And they loved gobbling them up. I remember that my brothers would come in for some cookies on their way out to the fields. They would say something like,

"Hmmm, that's about a ten cookie field." They measured the time it took to finish a task by how many cookies they would eat while doing it!

Well, that really has nothing to do with the memories I want to share today; other than you can usually find me in the kitchen. My friend and blog partner shared a story about catching her kitchen on fire and it reminded me of my own kitchen fire story.

Cinnamon flavored Apple Jelly

photo credit Webstarauntstore.com

My favorite jelly is Cinnamon flavored apple jelly. Schmucker's makes it but usually, you can only find it in those packets on the table at Cracker Barrell or Bob Evan's Restaurant. So we found a recipe for making this delicious condiment from apple juice. One particular Saturday I set my sights on making a batch. And maybe a few other flavors, too.

With jellies, the best way to preserve them is to just pour some paraffin wax on top of the jelly and it will seal the delicacy inside the jar. This would allow you to have jelly for months that never spoiled!

My jelly was made. The jars were all set at one end of the bar to wait for sealing. I began melting down some paraffin in a saucepan on the stove. For some unknown reason, I placed a lid on the saucepan.

Oh wait; It's lunchtime!

At this point, I realized that it was lunchtime. A good BLT sandwich for everyone sounded like the perfect meal on a warm day. I changed gears and began slicing tomatoes, preparing some lettuce, making bacon and toasting bread.

Ways to Cook Bacon

Now you can fry bacon in a skillet which I hate especially if you are frying more than 2 or 3 pieces. The grease splatters everywhere and it's just messy. With a family as large as ours, this was not the preferred way. I recently learned that you can easily bake bacon on a cookie sheet. For some reason, it doesn't splatter everywhere and you don't have to stand over a hot stove so long. I wish I had known this back then!

Bacon in the Microwave

I choose to bake the bacon in the microwave. This process includes layering the bacon between sheets of paper towels and placing it in the microwave.  In just a minute or so, you can have nice crispy bacon. Yum!

Down from the jelly jars, I had all the ingredients for BLTs I pulled out the bacon and bacon separating the paper towels from the stack of bacon. At this point, I remembered the paraffin melting on the stove, covered by a lid.

Side Note: Define Paraffin

a flammable, whitish, translucent, waxy solid consisting of a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons, obtained by distillation from petroleum or shale and used in candles, cosmetics, polishes, and sealing and waterproofing compounds.

Instant Combustion

I quickly grabbed the pan with the lid still on and carried it to the working bar. You know the one with bacon and greasy paper towels all over it. I lifted the lid allowing air to reach the now very hot paraffin. This created an instant fire which spread quickly across the bar. Now I had a large fire, flames stretching upward higher than my head.

Kitchen Fire Demonstration by the Fire Department
free photo image by Jorgelman at Pixabay

Mom Saves the Day

Thank heavens for level-headed mothers. She came quickly and knew just what to do to extinguish a grease fire. 

Cover the fire to stop it from spreading. When oxygen can no longer reach the flammable object, the fire will extinguish.

Thank heavens! We kept the fire from spreading beyond the bar. I had a good burn on my hand but we were all safe. At that point, my knees began to buckle from realizing what I had just done. It's a tough way to learn a lesson but I certainly do know how to deal with a grease fire now.

 A Few Tips About Cooking with Grease or Oil

1. Remember Benjamin Franklin's Proverb. "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 
2. Don't cook distracted and keep ways to stop a fire nearby.
3. Keep grease at the recommended temperature.
4. Keep a metal lid handy in case of fire.
5. No children in the kitchen while cooking with grease.
6. Don't extinguish with water. Water will carry the grease along with the fire to other areas.

Do you have an experience with fire you would share? Maybe you have another helpful tip. Please leave it in the comments below.

https://mandysheritage.blogspot.com/p/the-farmers-wifes-cookbook.html

A Few Hairy, Scary Stories From the Farm

So what is it about hair that gets people all stirred up? 

On a bad hair day, my hair went straight into a ponytail. Yes, the scriptures say that a "woman's hair is her crown and glory". I'm not even sure I know what that means.

I do know that men seem to love women with long flowing hair. And I know women spend 1,000s of dollars a year making their hair "just right".

My Own Hair Trials

Me 1961

 I was born with 2 inches of dark hair. Unlike most babies, mine never fell out and by the time I was 6, I had long dark curls that draped down past my waist.
I never wanted to bleach my hair. I was sure to cover it well so that it wouldn't bleach out while I worked in the fields. I also recall that my biggest fear in life back then was getting a head injury and the doctors cutting off all my hair. Kind of funny, when you think about it because hair grows back. And I didn't seem to be worried about the actual head injury and what that might involve.

Long hair is a lot of trouble too. 

Mandy at 6 years

Saturday nights were dreaded at the farm, at least by the girls. Three girls with long hair prepping for Sunday. What a tangled mess my hair could get into and what a pain combing it all out, not to mention those pink foam curlers with hard plastic clips that I had to sleep on every Saturday night. I swore I would never curl my hair again as an adult. And I'm pretty sure I haven't.  :)

And then there was the annual permanent. I never could figure why someone with curly hair needed a permanent but we got one anyway. My hair took to curls like a mouse to cheese. Talk about frizz. Every time I was a nervous wreck, especially after the time the well pumped blew up just about the time mom finished putting all the gunk in my hair. We had to run to the neighbors to rinse out my hair. (Actually, I think this was my only great perm because we got the rinse out earlier than usual.)

But women aren't the only ones obsessed with their hair. 

Men can get worried about their hair too. My brothers were quite worried about becoming bald-headed. Dad, my uncles, and my grandfather all were bald from before the day I met them. They seemed to think it was just fine. It was definitely easy to care for. And in my mind, baldness stood for wisdom.

back row - Gene (my dad), George, Myron
front row - Eileen, Grandma Grandpa

But my brothers looked at it differently. 

We were growing up in the 70's and it was quite important for guys to wear their hair longer than my dad and grandfather thought it needed to be.

I recall one summer my cousins were up from Georgia. And all the boys were there in the kitchen with Dad and Grandpa. Grandpa said something about getting the clippers and giving them all a haircut. One of the teens, I think it was Mark high tailed it out the front door.

Now, our front door was a screen door with glass louvered slats about a dozen of them. When the door slammed shut, all those glass slats jumped out of their nest and came crashing to the floor! This problem was easily remedied, but..

Long Hair Can Mean Danger, too

We always had young teens around helping with the summer work. I've spoken

Ours looked something like this
Photo credit The Hickdady from OR

before about Pedro. His story was a bit scarier. We had a hay elevator which was used to load hay bales and carry them up to the barn loft. It had a motor at the bottom which turn an axel to moved the hay up the elevator. On one particular occasion, Pedro was loading hay onto the elevator. I'm not sure why he leaned down so closer but that axel grabbed ahold of his hair a began winding it onto the axel, pulling his head closer and closer. By the grace of God, my brother was nearby and pulled the plug to stop the elevator. Just in the nick of time. I believe it wasn't long after that when Pedro decided to cut his hair shorter!

Oh, One More Story

I mentioned earlier that men love that long flowing hair. Well, one day my mother went to town and decided to buy a wig. Now Mom had that long thick hair like mine. She spent quite some time choosing the wig and having it styled and she wore it home. Now mind you, she had not told anyone she was going to purchase a wig. 

When she arrived home she was met with some of the girls and we talked about how it looked. It was definitely a shock but we were getting used to it. About that time my younger brother, Alex (about 5 or 6 at the time) came from is playing because he heard his mother's voice.

"Momma!" he cried as he ran toward her.

But suddenly the brakes were applied. That wasn't Momma.. but maybe it was. 

Tears began to fall as he said, "Momma, you aren't beautiful anymore!

Laughter ensued, but Mom never wore that wig again.

Well, there you have it. Some hairy, scary stories from the farm. 

Do you have a hairy story? Please share it!

P.S. As you may have heard Google Plus is going away,

 if you are following me there, you might want to follow by email here (go to top right) so you will continue to get my stories.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I awoke this morning here in the deep south and my husband said, "It's 32 degrees outside." My mind went immediately to, "We've got to get up and check all the water lines to be sure nothing has frozen up." :)

I've been away from the farm since 1980 and living in the south just as long. So I have no idea why this came to mind today other than to write a memoir.
I don't recall much of cold weather when we lived in Ohio but then, I was fairly young. But Wisconsin, that is a different story.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/wisconsin-wi-united-states-usa.html

Welcome to Wisconsin

The first time I arrived at the farm in Wisconsin was November 1974. I road with my dad to take some equipment up to the new farm we had recently purchased. You can read that story here. What I remember is that the ground was already to frozen to plant any flower bulbs that Mom had sent along in hopes to have some pretty flowers in the spring when we arrived. Those bulbs remained in a bag in a cabinet until the next April. But they had sprouted we found them.

One memory of those cold winter days was trying to keep the water lines from freezing up. The body warmth from the cows usually keep the water flowing but occasionally a pipe would bust and send water everywhere.

Another thing I remember about Wisconsin cold was there always seemed to be an ice storm in March. Even if the weather had warmed up you could guarantee one more bad storm before spring came in full bloom. Since we moved to Wisconsin in the spring of '75, we didn't really "get" to experience winter until the next year.

In 1976, Wisconsin had the worst storm in recorded history. 

Photo Credit: Wisconsin Sentinel

Ice was recorded to have collected on trees and poles as thick as 5 inches. Utility poles came down like dominoes for many miles( I think someone said 100 miles. Don't quote me on that). And several counties were declared to be in a state of emergency, including our own, Columbia County. Schools were closed for about two weeks since there was no electricity.

Now, the ice is quite pretty on the trees but that is about as far as it goes. Ice is heavy and it tends to beak tree limbs or whatever it has frozen onto. Somehow, (I think the Lord's care because we didn't even have a generator at the time) we were one of the few farms that still had electricity. Farms all around us had no electricity. You could hear the cows bawling. They were hungry and thirsty since the wells need electricity to pump water and silos of grain need electricity to unload the grain. It was quite an experience.

We invited the neighbors to bring milk cans and get water for the animals.

Can you guess how much water a cow needs in a day?  

According to Dairy Herd Management,

A milking dairy cow drinks about 30 to 50 gallons of water each day...Water weighs 8.35 lbs/gal, so a milking dairy cow may consume as much as 420 (or more) pounds of water daily.

Our farm had 100 milking cows, plus young and dry stock. So you do the math. Then multiply that by every farm in the county. Yikes!

Now, I haven't even mentioned that you need electricity to milk the cows. So most farmers were back to milking cows by hand. And allowing it to go straight down the drain in most cases. That's a lot of loss.

We were blessed.

We were very thankful that the Lord took care of us. And we used that blessing to open our doors not only to the cows on the neighboring farms but also to friends who came to our home for a shower or a hot meal.

We endured many blizzards over the next few years. Neighbors were always saying, "It isn't usually this bad." But year after year, we could depend on getting a "good" blizzard or two.

Schools in the Winter Cold

No, we didn't have to walk 6 miles uphill both ways to get to school. One thing I do know is that the schools seemed to usually find a way to stay open. Many times school opened two hours late. Other times the buses didn't run but the town kids still had to show up for school. ha, ha!

The most memorable time was when the storm came on the day of the conference basketball championship. Every school around was closed. But not ours. We weren't going to miss playing that conference championship. The local radio announced that they would air the game so that other schools wouldn't be tempted to try to drive out in the weather to see the game. What a day! I'm pretty sure we won the game because in those days we were rated number one and many times played in the state finals.

Well, that's some of my memories of growing up in the cold winters of Wisconsin.

Red Velvet Cake

photo credit: Trisha Yearwood (I didn't have my own pic)

After I married a southerner, a few items were added to our meals at Thanksgiving including this Red Velvet Cake. This recipe is adjusted to my liking from the Barnesville Church of the Nazarene Cookbook - Barnesville, Georgia

Sift Together. Set Aside.

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 TBS cocoa powder

Cream together

1 1/2cups white sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 cup vegetable oil  (i use 1/2c coconut oil & 1 1/4c peanut oil)
2 eggs

Fold in dry ingredients

Mix in

1 tsp. vinegar
2oz red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla


Turn into 3 greased and floured 8-inch circle pans.

Bake at 350degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Frosting
8 0z cream cheese
1/2c. softened butter
3 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Garnish with pecans or to your own taste.

Enjoy!

God's Plan A for Regina

  Not long after I shared Pedro and Miguel's stories, I was contacted by their sister, Regina. She also wanted to share her story about how our one simple act of love (welcoming Pedro into our home) made a huge difference in her life. Finally, the other day, I had the privilege of speaking with Regina on the phone. 

  I was in tears and then full of joy as she shared the story of God's Providence and care throughout her life. I was so humbled to see how one simple gift of opening our home to a wayward teenager blossomed into bringing most of a family to know Christ intimately. 

  Her words are more beautiful than I could ever write, so I asked her to write them down and send to me. You will be touched by this story of God, I am sure of it.

Regina's Story

I believe God has had me in His hands from the very start. He knew I would have very low self-esteem so He gave me two very special dreams to help me, to convince me that he was there for me, to show me that I would eventually make my way to Him and become His child.

I also believe that Satan made his very best plans to keep me from God. Revelations 12:11 says, they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony; well I have applied the blood of the lamb and it is high time I give my testimony.

My name is Regina Milano. I was born Regina De Los Santos. I am number five of seven siblings born in Mexico. I was a twin. My mother told me that my twin brother was born in pieces. Her doctor told her had I not pushed my way out first I may not have made it as they were not expecting twins.


I was sick most of my childhood up until I was about 11. I was nothing but skin and bones. I don't know what all was wrong with me but I could not seem to stay well for very long. One of my nicknames was "Flaca" (Skinny) for obvious reasons and another was "Rapida" (Speedy) that was sarcastic. I did everything very slowly because of my sickness. I didn't develop or learn as fast as most kids so people didn't bother to waste their time trying to teach me anything


My mother was convinced that I was retarded and often told me so. She told me the only thing I had going for me was my looks and that I would never amount to much. I believed her and my highest goal in life was to become a prostitute.


I often thank God that we finally moved to the United States of America when I was 11 years old. In the US, slowly but surely I became healthy. But I had been branded as incapable of learning. I was painfully shy and pretty much a loner. I spent most of my waking hours daydreaming as my mother often would yell at me to not listen to adult conversations. I quickly learned to block everybody out and so, lived in my own little world in my mind where I was smart, strong, and capable and in control.


My Siblings

I have two younger brothers. Chuy was the baby. I helped to take care of him as much as I could. It wasn't much but I actually enjoyed what little I did. Miguel is #6. He was just a couple years younger than me. I stuck up for him on the playground at times – – he gave me no trouble either. I am #5 and Pedro is #4.

Pedro is two years older than me. He terrorized me for what seemed to be an eternity– – I both feared and hated him. I felt so alone and unprotected because, as far as I knew, my parents did nothing but talk to him about his bad behavior a couple of times. I was never as happy as the day I realized Pedro didn't seem to be around anymore. I did not know when or where he had gone but I sure was relieved and happy he was gone. I didn't care if he ever came back! (I learned years later that he had gone to work on a farm just for the summer)


Pedro Returns, Different


Once again, it seemed like an eternity past since Pedro had left – – and now the dreaded day of his return was here. I braced myself to be tormented once again. But no torment came – – – Pedro had changed! I didn't understand how, I couldn't put it into words – but he changed from someone I feared and hated to someone I wanted to emulate – I admired him--he had something I wanted – – I couldn't put my finger on it but from that day on, my nightly prayer was "God, please, I want to be like my brother, will you help me be like him?" The change was so drastic God had to have had something to do with it.


With this baby step, I began my journey to God-it was a very slow start as there was nobody to show me how to get what I wanted or at least tell me what "it" was I wanted because Pedro graduated and left for college.


You see, we had never really talked about what happened to change him – – I really didn't talk about much to anybody – I didn't know how to have a meaningful conversation.

Teen Years

I was approaching my teen years and Satan stepped up his game through my rebellion to keep me for himself. I will share just a few details of my sinful life. For some reason, I was permitted to drink beer when I was 15 years old. I was often taken to an inn where they served alcohol by family members to dance. I drank a lot and fought a lot mostly with my mom.

Regina at 14

I met a guy who wanted to marry me and I jumped at the chance to leave home. However, I was only 15 and legally had to wait until I was 16 years old to get married. It seemed to take forever for me to turn 16 so I ran away from home instead.

That didn't work out so well for me so I returned home only to have my problems multiplied-I was broken, lost and without hope or so I thought. I marched into our bathroom where we had a gas water heater. I blew out the flame, turned up the gas and laid in the bathtub to die. After a while, I could hear a voice in the distance and a knock on the door. I was unable to respond but soon my poor father figured out what was happening. He busted the door and pulled me out just in time. Rescued from Satan's grip!


Big Mistakes

I ended up getting married as soon as I turned 16. Biggest mistake ever!
We were only married for eight months. They were the longest and worse eight months of my life! We hurt each other in every way conceivable including, emotionally physically and verbally. We broke so many laws that if we had gotten caught we would have ended in jail if not prison. He eventually did end up in prison. I left him after he tried to kill our unborn baby.

By the time I was 17 years old I had attempted suicide, been married, divorced and had a baby. With no means of support, I was forced to return to my parent's house to live again. Getting drunk was no longer enough to deaden my pain. I started smoking marijuana along with my drinking. I got high and drunk every weekend until one night really in the wee hours of the morning. I stumbled drunk into my parent's house.

I had broken up with my boyfriend and felt I had hit bottom again. Pedro "happened" to be home on break from school and I ended up at his door. I woke him up and told him I hated my life. I had broken up with my boyfriend for no other reason than I wanted to hurt him like I was hurting. I felt evil, dirty, mean and hopeless. I just wanted to die, to end it all.


Pedro said, "Regina, what you need is Jesus."

That was it! What he had that I wanted so badly but I didn't know what it was! I recognized it even in the horrible shape I was in – – "I want Jesus then" was my simple but heartfelt response. Pedro asked me if I would go to church with him later that morning. I said "Yes" then went to bed.

Pedro woke me up a few hours later. He hesitantly asked me if I still wanted to go to church with him. I got up and went to church, hang-over and all. I honestly don't remember but I probably slept through the service. But afterward, Pedro took me to the pastor’s office and told him I wanted Jesus in my life. The pastor asked me a few questions then led me through the sinner's prayer and I became a child of God!


Some things changed immediately. Others took longer but at least I was on the right path now. Satan's plan to destroy me, to take my life or at least degrade me by planting seeds of prostitution in my head and heart didn't quite work for him.

God had a plan to make me a pastor's wife instead, glory to God!

Regina with her late husband
and their 7 of 8 grandchildren

I don't know what God's plan B would have been. I'm just glad that the Dawson family's plan A worked so well. I'm grateful that the Dawson’s were willing to be used by Him to reach not only my brother Pedro and me, but most if not all of my family. And who knows how many other people must have been touched by Pedro so closely following Jesus.



My Two Dreams

I have given you but the tip of the iceberg of my story – – – but I also want to share with you the two dreams I mentioned at the beginning of my testimony. The first dream I had when I was about seven or eight. Both dreams were unlike any other dreams I had before. They started abruptly and ended likewise. They did not evolve from a previous dream or continue into another dream.

Before I go into my first dream let me tell you that as a child in Mexico we were very, very poor. What toys I had, I had found in the dump near our house. My toy box was a shoebox. I called it my treasure box. It contained broken necklace chains, rubber bands, a bouncing ball and 1-2" babies like the kind they put on cakes for baby showers.


The First Dream

In my dream, I found myself at a dump much like the one I frequented. There were the same old nasty smells. It was night time but there was some kind of eerie glow or light coming from somewhere – – I saw a figure coming towards me. Somehow I knew it was Satan. He had goat legs with hooves. He was not bright red but did have horns and he was coming after me. I was terrified and didn't know what to do. I was frozen to the ground and couldn't run or anything.

Suddenly another figure came into view. I recognized it as my brother, Pedro. He came in between me and Satan. My brother picked me up and put me on top of an old tree stump. It was not particularly high, wide or extraordinary in any way. But I knew I would be safe sitting there. The dream stopped. I never thought about that dream even once after it was over.

I had honestly, completely forgotten it until one day years after I had become a Christian. Pedro asked me if I had ever had a dream about Satan and that dream came back to my memory as though I had just had it.

My interpretation: God was telling me that he has been with me for a very long time waiting for me to come to him. That Satan has come after me and that Pedro would be the one to stand in the gap – – that old tree stump was nothing but the old rugged Cross – – praise God!


Second Dream

The second dream came to me when I was 12 to 14 years old. I think it happened about the time I was in earnest prayer, pleading God to help me become like Pedro. The dream started with Pedro and I walking at the foot of a big hill. It was night time, dark and very windy and cold. We couldn't see where we were going. Suddenly there was a huge brilliant light right at the top of the big hill. I recognized Jesus standing in the light holding a little lamb in his arms. I couldn't take my eyes off of Him-- I just leaned towards Pedro and whispered, "Pedro, what should we do?" He took my hand, as to assist me to my knees and said "let's just kneel before him" and we did! The dream stopped. Once again I completely forgot that dream until Pedro again asked me if I had ever had a dream about God.


These two dreams have kept me in the knowledge that..

I am "His",
He is able,
He has a plan for my life
and He loves me.

Thanks be to God.

Regina Milano

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I only have one memory of meeting Regina as a child. I remember her visiting the farm with her small child. I'm thinking it must have been the day Pedro took Regina to church. Later in life, when we connected again with Pedro, I was told that Regina had been saved, visited Pedro at Asbury College and met a seminary student who became her husband.


What a joy to hear this testimony of how God took this lost and destitute girl and turned her life into something beautiful.

   

P.S. God can make a change in your life as well. You only have to come to Him and ask. Click here to learn more about knowing Jesus.