Til the Cows Come Home

It's my birthday.

 I was just sitting here thinking about birthdays on the farm which led me to think about the birthday when I was 9 or 10.

I remember that they made me go out to bring in the cows for milking. I wasn't happy at all about that. I complained and grumbled to myself the whole time because I thought I shouldn't have to do the chores. After all, it WAS my birthday.

Photo credit: Kathy & Yale Dawson
Pictures from my cousin's farm

All in all, bringing in the cattle was not all that bad of a job ...unless it was raining. The cattle don't cooperate too well especially if the wind is blowing. They want to turn their backs to the wind, so if the wind is blowing the opposite direction it is quite a challenge to get them to do anything. (Who can blame them)?

Speaking of driving cattle in the rain

We once had a young man from Germany come to the farm as an agriculture exchange student. Bringing in the cattle was Franz's job every morning. One morning, a great thunderstorm came just at the time for bringing in the cattle for the morning milking. I'm not sure whether Franz had even seen a thunderstorm before since storms in the midwest are not the same as those in Germany.

My father rose to the sound of thunder and went to tell Franz that he should wait to bring in the cattle. But it was already too late. Franz had gone out into the storm to bring in the cattle. My father drove down in the truck to find him. To my recollection, the winds were blowing the wrong direction and had driven the cattle to the far end of the pasture with their back to the rain! Since Franz is still connected to us, maybe he'll be willing to share "the rest of the story".

Back to my cattle driving story

In Ohio, we had this creek bed that would turn into a bed of mud nearly up to your knees.  Crossing that mud bed can be a real challenge for a short kid like me. I remember many times walking right out of my boots! There I would be standing in the middle of this mud with one leg and a socked foot up in the air. In retrospect, I should have just taken off the boots and socks and walked through barefooted. It could be that I did figure that out after a while because I was always the first one to go barefooted in the spring.

When we moved to Wisconsin, I think this job was awarded to the younger kids. Though we did buy a good cow dog when we arrived.  I do recall having to do the job once though, (sadly with the same grumbly attitude). But Jack and I headed off towards the pasture to bring in the cattle. In a few moments, Jack was nowhere to be seen and I started grumbling about the worthless dog. UNTIL, moments later when the cows met me coming. Jack had run on ahead and brought them in. I only had to treck half way down the pasture. That's when I found a new appreciation for dogs. Up until then I really didn't have much use for him.

Back to my birthday story

I'm sure you can figure out how it all turned out. When I got back to the house, the dining area was all set up for a little birthday party. That can make a person feel really guilty.

It reminds me of a little wisdom found in the Bible

  ...and it comes right after we are told to have the same attitude as Christ.

Do Everything Without Grumbling12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

 I'm pretty sure the Christ would not have complained and grumbled about doing a simple chare little bringing in the cattle. Our selfish attitudes can most times get the best of us especially when we find out later that our "trials" were all for our good. There was something good at the end.

And don't we all know that is true? God has something very good at the end for us. Much better than cake and ice cream. Let's persevere with the attitude of Christ.

P.S. Hey, farm friends, and family. Share your story about bringing in the cows in the comments

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm

There once was a young man from Georgia. 

This Story about places will link=up with the Five Minute Friday crew (2017)

He did not know the Lord, but God had a plan. He met a young girl whom he could not live without. He pursued her until she accepted a date, but she gave one stipulation. If he wanted to be with her on Wednesdays or Sundays, he would be with her at church. He accepted the challenge and it did not take long until he loved the Lord dearly. He married the young girl and soon the Lord called him to be a preacher.

Off they went, far off to Mississippi, to pastor a small church. Over the next few years, they served God in several places. Along the way, they adopted a girl and a boy. Of course, the next month, they learned they were expecting a child .. a boy. They were all happy and served the Lord together. Before long, they moved back to Georgia. They were living in a small town south of Atlanta called Barnesville.



Meanwhile, back on a farm in Wisconsin ...

There once was a girl who lived on a dairy farm.

She loved the animals and working in the soil, but the hours were long and the work caused her to be late everywhere she went. She did not want to stay on the farm.

Her father wanted her to marry a neighbor boy so that the families could consolidate the farms and have a great big farm business together. This did NOT sound like a good idea to the girl.

Other people loved how she sang and played the piano. They said, "You would make a great pastor's wife."

"Oh no", said the young girl, "I don't want to be a pastor's wife."

So she went away to college in Kentucky to get a degree. She got a degree in computer science (which is very funny now because she and machines really don't get along. She always has to have help with her computer.)

One day, while sitting in the chapel balcony. This girl looked across the hundreds of students. She thought, "I wonder if my husband is sitting here in the chapel somewhere."

As clear as a bell, she heard the Lord speak to her, "You will marry a widowed man with children." "Hmmm..." she thought.

Well, the idea was so crazy that she just tucked it away, but did not tell a soul about it.

After college, she moved to the south (Columbia, SC to be exact) to write computer programs. She enjoyed the work, but what really tugged at her heart was teaching the children at church.

Back in Georgia about this time...

 a sad, sad thing happened. The preacher's family was on their way to school. As they made the left hand turn, their car was struck by a log truck. It was so sad because the mother and daughter could not survive their injuries. The older boy remained in a coma for nearly a month.

The younger boy, who was 8 at the time, had already been dropped to his school. This tragedy made him and his dad very sad. It was so hard to go to school. Every day, he wondered, "Will this be the last time I see my dad?"

Back in Columbia, SC

On Wednesday night, the computer girl went to Bible Study. The pastor shared a prayer request. He shared about a terrible car accident involving the pastor's family in their home church over in Georgia. This girl's heart was saddened. She wondered, how will this family manage without their mother and daughter? She prayed for them diligently.

It wasn't long before the pastor's wife began to talk to the computer girl about going to meet this broken-hearted pastor and his sons. She had the idea that the computer girl would be a good wife for the sad preacher. The girl thought this was a crazy idea. "This pastor must be much older than her", she thought, and it didn't seem like a feasible plot. But after much pressing and urging, the young girl decided to go to Georgia with her pastor's wife ... just to make her stop bothering her about it.

She went to Georgia and sang a special at the church that Sunday. Everyone there knew why the girl was really there. Everyone but the preacher, that is. He didn't have a clue ... until people began to tell him he should call the computer girl.

Well, that was a little scary for the preacher. He had not called a girl in over 15 years. And he didn't think that this young girl would be interested in a preacher with two boys.

But the girl remembered what God had told her years before,

 "You will marry a widowed man with children." 

This eased any fear when the young preacher called her and asked to see her. So she said, "Yes he could come to call on her."

Well, that was in 1989 and the beginning of a great and wonderful romance that continues today. The computer girl was me and the preacher was my husband, Michael Farmer.

We have raised his two boys and another boy and a girl. What a beautiful family God has given us. They have joined in our ministry and made our lives complete.

This Sunday, August 13,1989 is the day we met, over 30 years ago. We celebrate how God used my pastor's wife to bring two people together that would never have met each other any other way.

Here is an interesting side note

The girl who would NOT marry a farmer, and NOT marry a pastor, married Pastor Farmer!

Doesn't God have a sense of humor?

Happy anniversary of the day we met, Michael Farmer.

I love that you are a preacher! 

I love that you are a Farmer.

 I just plain love you!

I Don't Want to Play Anymore

"I Don't Want to Play the Piano Anymore!"



Did you ever watch someone doing what you are trying to learn and it just made you want to give up? That is how I felt whenever we went to family campmeeting every summer.

The Sing-a-long

I don't remember the gal's name, but she could outright play the piano. I recall being in a youth meeting one time where she was there to play the piano for us. We were having a sing-a-long. People were shouting out choruses and we would sing them.

Two girls suggested a song but the pianist had never heard the song before. So the girls got up from the chairs and began to sing the song acapella.

The girls didn't even get through the first verse before the pianist was picking out the notes on the piano. By the end of the second time through, she was playing the song like she knew it all her life.

Playing by Ear

She played by ear. I talent I have never had. I truly do wish I could do it. I have picked a tune out in my living room but I have never played a song in public by ear. I just never had the confidence to try to do it.

As a teenager, I would tell mom how amazing this lady was. Then I would say, it just makes me want to quit playing the piano.

Thankfully, my mother would not let me do that. I kept taking lessons and practicing every day. I would sit at the piano for hours playing through entire books of music. My siblings got pretty tired of hearing me play.

But it was worth it. 

Now, I can play just about anything you put in front of me.

It's been a great blessing to our ministry. 'Cause pretty much every church wants to know if the preacher's wife can play the piano.

Plus, I've been able to teach a few kids to play the piano along the way.

I still wish I could play by ear though.




This post was inspired by the gals at Five Minute Friday. Where we are given a prompt and asked to write fo 5 minutes with no editing. This was my attempt to write on the prompt: 

So, do you play an instrument? Were you ever tempted to quit playing? Let me know in the comments below.