Down on the Farm

In the summer of 1995 we moved from a small apartment in Bellevue TN to a kid friendly neighborhood in Dickson TN, to my long awaited big white house where I dreamed of a white picket fence to go with it. After settling into suburbia life, we were content to watch our daughter grow up with a friend next door, celebrating birthdays together, sleepovers, ballgames, bike wrecks, karate, first dates, school dances and her first car and to watch our son romp the neighborhood with all the other little boys, competing in video games, enjoying camping trips, skate boarding, bumps and bruises and the joys of all the things little boys are made of, while we became workaholics, burning the candle at both ends.

Early in 2004, we got restless to make a change in our lives.... as the kids grew, so did the need to find out what else was out there. Our daughter was graduating and our son was getting ready for middle school and work was becoming more stressful for me, so I knew the time had come.......

My journal reflected my thoughts at this time in and on February 2, 2004 I wrote;

"the year is ticking by and like a wisp of smoke, January is a distant memory. My plans to journal daily have not taken off, but maybe this month will offer me a new start. The week ahead promises to be a busy one at work as well as preparing for Crystal's graduation and looking at the new property that may just be the change we are looking for. We have a lot of praying ahead of us about this one and then waiting for God to open the door".....

Well God opened the door and later the next year on May 10, 2005, my journal entry went like this.....

Philippians 4:6, "never worry about anything, but in every situation let God know your needs in prayers and requests while giving thanks".

"It has been awhile since I put anything on paper, but that does not mean there has been nothing to write about. The last year has taken us from suburbia to down on the farm! "back to our roots" you might say. Who would have guessed we would wind up here at a time when most couples our age would be looking at down-sizing to a place with less physical labor......we find ourselves on a farm where the days are never long enough to complete all there is to do! Sometimes I cautiously allow myself to think of all we have gotten ourselves into, with no end to the repairs and maintenance of our piece of paradise.

During these times I'd feel an overwhelming fear start to surface and then I'd  remember our prayers in asking God to open the doors for us, if this was his plan. So, here we are and if this is were He wants us to be, then I am sure he will provide us with the strength to maintain it".

Life on the farm has been an adventure and some of my future posts will recount those adventures with our children and our grandchildren. Though we have survived,  6 years later, we feel that restlessness stirring again. Our daughter has married, our son is getting ready to graduate in the spring and the wander dust is starting to swirl......where will it take us? Only as we turn the page in our book of life will we find what God has in store for us.

Jeremiah 29:11   For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to to give you hope and a future.