It has been five years to the day since we moved to the farm. It is the longest we have ever lived in one home. That may sound insane, considering we are in our late 30s, but that was youth ministry life. Scott and I have lived in eight different homes/apartments in our sixteen years of marriage.
Five years ago, we moved into this 150+ year old home. There was nothing else on our section of the property except a shed and a lot of grass with this beautiful home. We converted that shed into a make-shift chicken coup and put in a 4X12 foot raised bed for our garden during our first year. Now, we have over a thousand square feet of garden space and a coop we built from the ground up. We also have a mobile chicken tractor that Scott and the girls built for our younger birds to live in until they are big enough to live with the big hens. There have been three fruit trees planted and many berry bushes. We have preserved so much food. We have had so many heart aches and setbacks, but have seen so many victories and learned so many lessons.
To say that this place has been life-changing would be an understatement. We have healed here. Our children are so much happier here. Goodness, our entire family is happier here. We’ve hosted so many meals under this roof and had sweet times of fellowship. We’ve hosted several parties from small to insanely large. We’ve had silly dance parties and played endless board games. We’ve had fights and shed a lot of tears. I have spent a lot of time with God while working or just relaxing in the garden. This place is a visual testimony of God’s goodness in our lives. I hope that HE is what people see when they look at all of this.
