The Great Trampoline Story

Yesterday was an amazing day for my 14 year old son.  Ever since he became more serious about trampolines and flipping he quickly wanted bigger and better trampolines.  They typically go for around $3000.  That wasn't going to happen and we made that clear.  Even if we could afford one we weren't about to spend that kind of money on a trampoline.  

He was very serious about it though and wouldn't stop looking online.  These very rarely came up for sale and if they did they were always far away or across the border.  He wanted a job so badly and he's not quite old enough for a regular out of the house job and we weren't ready for him to be out of the house yet either, so as he looked for a trampoline we told him that he could buy one if he raised the money himself.  HOW in the world was he supposed to do that he wondered.  Sell stuff, we said.  We have had some crazy things lying around the farm that we either don't use, don't need or don't want anymore.  We just told him if he listed it and it sold, he could have the money.

So off he went around the farm, the storage room, the shop.  He listed all sorts of things and got a little bit here and there.  And each time, he put it in a jar.  But he was so discouraged.  It seemed like it would never happen.

Around this same time I started to notice a huge change in him.  HUGE.  He had started to become the most helpful kid around the house.  He started to try to get along better with his brother who he typically is at war with.  He started to become super diligent at school.  He started to show an interest in spiritual things and wanted to get baptized.  He became more sensitive to sin and longed to live a righteous life.  How I wished I could bless him for all his work he did around the farm.  I wanted to be able to go out and buy him a gift or something to show him how pleased we were with him, but there just wasn't the extra cash.  So I did the one thing I could do.  I prayed and I prayed very specifically.  I asked God to bless him in his language, just how God blesses me in my language.  I prayed God would pour out His blessing in a way that only God could and that only my son would understand.  

And one day God did.  It was the coolest thing.  My son had listed two saddles for weeks if not months.  Out of the blue this guy called and asked if he could come by and look at one of them.  He came by and told us this long life story about why he needed the saddle and we told him why our son was selling them and that he was getting all the money.  Suddenly the guy asked if he had any others for sale (who does that?).  I quickly said yes and told my son to run and get the other one.  The guy said, "I'll take them both".  My son's eyes nearly popped out of his head as that was going to get him 400 more dollars.  He was getting really close to his goal even though a trampoline hadn't come up online yet for sale.   He was preparing for rain.  We are convinced that guy was an angel and wasn't even a real person.  We are sure his life story wasn't even real and that he just got in his truck and went back to heaven.  It was the kind of thing where it was such a specific answer to prayer in my son's language that I couldn't have made it up if I tried.  The guy didn't know we had two for sale and he just happened to have hundreds of dollars in cash?  This crazy blessing/miracle happened on the day when I had started to spiral in fear about the garden, the day when one of my garden experts told me I was up the creek.  This answer to prayer for my son was also an answer to prayer by God for me as it was such a great reminder to me how God was once again in control.  He showed me, "I care for your son.  I'm speaking in his language.  That should show you I care for you.  I care for your garden."  

We watched the saddle angel drive away (back to heaven) and we all just stood there in awe shaking our heads because it was so neat.  Again, to anyone else, it was just a sale on kijiji that was successful.  But that's not what it was.  It was an answer to my prayers for my son that God would bless him and God did that.

He then listed a few more things like an old trampoline that he wasn't using anymore.  I never thought it would sell.  It did.  On and on it went.  Finally he was just a little bit short because he contributed to a couple gifts for family birthdays, etc.  So we told him we would chip in the rest as he was so close.  Just before this, the EXACT trampoline came up online that he wanted for half the price of new.  He got them down in price to even less than half for a virtually new trampoline.  It was far away, but not too far.  My husband agreed to go get it with him as he was also picking up something for the winery which he also got a HUGE deal on (that's another story).  So off they went.

It was apparently the sweetest thing to watch my son.  My husband had prepped him on how to count out the money and make sure the bills were all together, etc, but that's not what happened.  My son got out of the car and handed the lady his jar of money.  She nearly died by the sweetness of the moment.  How endearing is that?!  She was so happy that it was going to a "good home"!  She could clearly tell how excited he was.  

Last night was a night of full circle rejoicing.  We wanted to make sure he didn't miss the teaching moment.  He had a goal - buy a trampoline.  He had the process - raise the money on his own.  He had faith - he knew only God could bless his efforts.  He had results - he was faithful and diligent to do what we said and God blessed him.  AMAZING.

What a great story.  Now we have 3 trampolines again and I have to say I'm not thrilled about the danger aspect, but I pray and pray over these kids and for their safety.  I know it is dangerous so I don't love that, but I do love how it keeps them so active and so fit and outside.  So I'm willing to have it for now.  I love the lessons that we all learned by watching this process and I love how God spoke to my son in his language.  

Best Day Ever!

Yesterday was our first harvest box pickup.  Three weeks ago I was in a mild panic as there was no way we were going to have anything to give our customers, or so I thought.  I met with 2 separate experts and they both said we were in over our heads.  One of them literally put his hand over his mouth when he found out how many customers we had and just shook his head in dismay.  A that moment all my fears were confirmed.  I knew it was a bad idea.  I knew we couldn't do it.  I knew I would fail.  But then....God.

The irony is I thought even if my vegetables didn't grow, I had those two farmers as back up.  Turns out, the first farmer's produce failed badly.  She got a bug infestation and her lettuce all bolted due to too much heat.  The other farmer grew vegetables, but not for sale, just for himself.  So, if I needed vegetables, I was up the creek.  So, I did what you can only do in that situation and I called on every single person I could think of to pray and did they ever pray.  I also did what you can only do in that situation and I spent hours in that garden with every person who was willing to come.  And we weeded and I replanted and we weeded some more and replanted some more.  I just pretended and acted with very little faith that God would work.  And work He did.

As we harvested on Friday, my hand was over my mouth this time.  We had such big leafy greens coming out of the garden that we were all in absolute awe.  We had WAY more than we needed for one week.  How could I have been in such doubt?  The rain sprinkled down that night as we tried to harvest, but it didn't stop us.  We somehow got it all in and packaged.  It looked amazing.  I did have to clear out my entire fridge to hold it all as we needed to keep the veggies crisp, but that wasn't a problem.  We'll buy a fridge probably this week for next week's harvest.  In the back of my mind I want to say something like, "IF we get vegetables this week..." but how can I say that when I saw what I saw this week?  I need to say something like, "I can't wait to see what vegetables we will get each week" instead or "What is God going to do this week?".

As each customer came - we had it staggered all throughout the day - I just found myself having THE BEST TIME EVER.  One of my favourite things to do with new families or old friends is to just talk and walk around the farm.  So many wanted a quick tour and that is always fun for me.  Old friends from high school that I hadn't seen in 100 years were one of the first ones to come.  That had to be the highlight of my day.  I could have chatted with them all day.  RM even pulled out a quick wine tasting which was the most fun ever as well.  By the end of the day, 15 customers later, I was sitting on the couch with RM and we were just so thrilled, so happy, so exhausted, but all in a good way.  As we reflected on the day and all the hard work...we felt so incredibly fulfilled.  We were feeding families!  We were providing not just food, but organically grown food, that will fill people's stomachs, that will help heal them, provide nutritious meals in their homes, give a destination for their young families to visit and see animals, jump on trampolines, walk around the property....it was an amazing feeling that only comes from God.  We felt His blessing on our farm and all our prayers.  We kept praying throughout the Spring that God would use our farm, our family, for His glory.  Well, we have 13 weeks left and we are still praying that and wondering how God will continue to use us this Summer.  A few weeks ago I was dreading the 14 weeks, but now I'm wondering what God will do and I'm trying to anticipate it.  Truly the Christian life is an exciting one.

Gardening Isn't Teaching Me Just About Vegetables

I am so grateful for the amazing people God brings into my life, some in real life, some via books and my newest best friend and life coach is Charlotte Smith in her podcasts.  She is a farming coach.  Yup, they exist.  She has changed my life.  I already wrote about one of her podcasts on the River of Misery.  I just listened to another one on how to deal with farming catastrophes and interruptions.  Game changing stuff, I tell you.  I'll explain.

Basically 100 years ago we all had the amazing gift of fear or anxiety.  It moved our forefathers to make serious decisions to save our lives.  For example, the potato famine in Ireland had fathers uproot entire families to the New World in the name of saving their lives.  Or, 100 years ago, you would run for your life from the bear in the woods while you were building your new farmhouse in the pioneering days.  Fear for your life caused you to act fast and seriously.  Nowadays, we have this same gift of fear, but it comes from the cell phone, a text or email that freaks us out.  However, the difference is.....we aren't going to die.  But we get the same level of fear and anxiety, but it just isn't life or death.  This is ridiculous she says.  We cannot survive and live happy lives with all that fear and anxiety when no one is dying!  So what to do.  In one little podcast, she explained it.  It's so simple.  

It came down to this.  The anxiety will come.  It always does.  We get texts and emails all day long.  Sometimes they have bad news.  So when it comes, don't deny it.  Just acknowledge it, accept it and then stop.  The next set of feelings that come are our choice.  For example, I recently discovered certain things aren't growing the best in the garden.  This moves me to fear and dare I say, panic.  The next set of thoughts are my choice.  I can choose to spiral out of control which helps no one OR I source out more vegetables from somewhere else if necessary because, unlike our forefathers, if I don't grow vegetables, I'm not going to die.  I just have to find another place to get them to fill the boxes, but that isn't a life-threatening situation.  So, that's what I chose to do - I chose to not panic, though at first I was filled with anxiety, but then once we assessed the situation, we came up with a plan and then the anxiety was gone.  Reality doesn't change.  I change.  Super helpful in not just gardening but life.

One of the amazing things that happened when I realized maybe my garden wasn't going to produce all that I needed was I started to realize how I was surrounded by experts, I just needed to ask them.  So I have called on two vegetable experts in my area, both just down the street, and I asked them both for help.  I met with one of them for just a few minutes and toured her farm.  She gave me lots of great tips.  Then I reached out to another guy and he actually came to my farm this week and walked through every row giving me more good ideas and that was also helpful.  I don't think all is lost, I just have a lot of work to do.

I had this lofty idea that I'd be making a killing on this garden.  That is not the way things are going to go I don't think.  Instead, I think what has happened is that we have invested in a garden that is teaching me lots about gardening and it keeps us all very busy.  Most people are tired just listening to all that is going on.

On Tuesday we celebrated my husband's birthday and one of the things I prayed for was that he would be blessed in some way, but specifically, I prayed about the last license he needs to start selling wine. The next day he got a call from the inspector who comes to inspect the facility and he said he would come today!  Yikes, we had a lot of work to do.  We all got on board and cleaned up like crazy.  I don't know if it was enough but we are praying for a successful day!  Deadlines always make us move.  If we pass the inspection then we are bottling, corking, labelling and then selling.  

So these are our days - often in the garden, mostly weeding and always planting more plants as the idea is succession planting all the time.  That was something I hadn't bargained on, so I'm busy.

I'm still going to the clinic every single day for my back, but it's my little routine and I kind of enjoy it and hanging out with the nurses each day.  They give me pep talks all the time.