Lost and Finding Joy

We are here. I am in our little camper sitting on the farm and living the dream. Nothing glamorous. The steps we take on our journey to our “big dreams” rarely are very glamorous. They are simply steps. But let me tell you, I am really enjoying this non-glamorous adventure. Some days I wonder how did I get so lucky? And to be completely honest, there are some days, I’m just ready to pack up and go back home for awhile. I’m reminded of other big goals we’ve reached, like opening our own HVAC business, or becoming real estate investors. It was the same process. Some days were fun and some were not. And then there were days we just asked ourselves, “Why are we doing this again?”

Right now as I type, the winds are blowing so hard around us. This little camper is just rocking. I wonder if I’m going to be blown away any second. My husband is over in the metal building/barn teaching HVAC classes. That was something that seemed to come from “out of the blue,” that we are sincerely grateful for.

Are you wondering why I always type “out of the blue” in quotation marks? It’s because nothing really ever comes from “out of the blue.” We attract it, or things just align in such a way that you can’t deny a higher power brought it to you. You can call it Divine Connection or whatever you choose. Some who are skeptical just call it coincidence. I call it “God Incidents” because it never ceases to amaze me. I’ve learned that when we decide for something, if we stay focused on it long enough and take steps in that direction; always, and without fail, someone or something will show up to help you along the way.

In this case, we were trying to decide what we were going to do about this farm. We even thought about selling it so that we could purchase land closer to where we live. We thought about a lot of things. We decided last October that BY MARCH we would know the answer. In the meanwhile we kept advancing confidently in the direction of our dream, doing what we could, where we were, with what we had. Once winter set in, we went home for a few months. When March came along (18 days ag0), we both agreed that it was time for an answer. We decided to go to Pickwick for a few days and faithfully pray for clarity on our next steps.

Before heading to Pickwick, we were clicking through YouTube looking for a meditation video when we stumbled on a guy planting corn for his corn maze. I played the video, just out of curiosity, and thought it looked simple enough. He had his two-row planter and made it look pretty cool if you ask me. It was just a 5-10 minute video. I didn’t think much about it and carried on with our meditation video.

The day we arrived at Pickwick, we headed to Savannah to go to the store. Kevin pulled into his favorite used tractor supply place. I asked him what the heck was he doing, because we hadn’t gotten an answer on whether we were moving forward or selling the farm. He just said that he needed his “fix” and was just looking. I was prepared to say, “No way!” on anything he might have his eye on to purchase. We’ve been on that lot many times, and I pretty much knew what they’d have. He rounded the corner, and I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was a two-row planter! I’d never seen one there before, and as if “out of the blue” there it was sitting there. We had to buy it. There was no questioning it. It was ours. I still wasn’t sure why we were buying it. I figured if we did decide to sell the farm, maybe it was for the guy buying it. Or maybe we’d take it with us to our next farm. I didn’t know why, but we bought it.

The very next day “out of the blue” we received a phone call from a previous student of Kevin’s HVAC classes. He orchestrated several students coming through our school a couple of years ago while teaching in the area we currently live. He asked if we were still thinking of teaching HVAC classes in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where our farm is. He told us he knew several men that would like to learn HVAC for different Housing Authorities surrounding that location. Without hesitation, we scheduled a day/time to meet on the farm a few days following that phone call. That day Kevin’s high school buddy showed up “out of the blue” as well. All three men went to lunch, then to the supply store to get electrical supplies and without hesitation they began running electricity to the metal building/barn on the farm. Within three days, the electrical was almost complete.

We left to go home to handle our business there, and came back to the farm 3-4 days later. During those few days, Kevin called a guy to insulate the metal building and he purchased an HVAC mini-split system to install in the building. We packed up a Uhaul truck full of his HVAC lab stations, and other equipment and supplies for the class. Our son-in-law, James “just so happened” to be here with us to do his taxes, and he helped Kevin install the mini-split. By Saturday, the electrical work was done, the HVAC was installed, and the building was well insulated, By the end of the week we had the entire classroom set up and ready to go. By Monday Kevin was teaching class.

So, here we are. We didn’t know we’d be here right now, doing what we’re doing. We feel like we have been just “riding the wave” getting to this point.

Oh and by the way, you may notice that I always say the phrase, “we are going the next 500 feet.” That’s because I’ve heard it described this way: When you are trying to reach a goal or a destination, you won’t know all the details of how to get there. It’s like driving a car in the dark with your headlights on. You can travel from Tennessee to California with those headlights, by just seeing the next 500 ft, then the next…

Steve Jobs describes it like this: He says, “You can never connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you must trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

What we know? We aren’t selling the farm.

What are our next steps? Well, yesterday after Kevin’s class we started cleaning out the corral where our dream is to have animals for the petting farm. We cut down trees, removed them, and bush-hogged. We also started tearing down and removing some old fencing. We’ve started cleaning up areas we hadn’t gotten to last year.

Our vision remains the same. It evolves a little as we move in the direction of our dream of a corn maze. We will continue to go the next 500 feet and we will continue to pray our way through the process. We know that we are not doing this alone. I’m grateful for that knowledge.

Whether we arrive at our destination or not, I can honestly say that I am enjoying this chapter of our lives so much. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember…live out in the country, on a farm, with the love of my life.

Although I know that we have something to do with co-creating our lives, I am always AMAZED at the people, things, and circumstances that show up along the way to help us.

Today my heart is full and I humbly say to God, “Thank you, and how did I get so lucky?”