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My Grandma came to live with us for a year. She was a wonderful Grandma. She could take care of herself and she was very healthy, but her memory was really bad. She would sit with Joshua and tell him stories about when she was little. She could remember that the best. She remembered some of raising her own seven, but mostly she like to talk about the days before she was married. She was one of twelve. Many of them lived to their nineties and one even lived to 102. Grandma was in her 90’s when she lived with us. All twelve of them were very short. Michael and I would go down and visit Grandma when she still lived on her own. She lived in Kentucky. We would go to church with her and then after church we would go out to eat. Her brother and his wife and her sister and her husband would join us. We always felt like we were out with the munchkins. Even though they were short, many of them played on a basketball team. She had a picture of all of them in their uniforms. We had a basketball net set up out in our yard. She went out one night with Michael and Joshua and shot some baskets. She did pretty good for being in her nineties. She loved to look out the windows and watch the dog in the yard. Whenever she saw Star she would say, “Sic em Sowser.” She would sit out back in a lawn chair and watch the chickens. The children next door would come and chat with her. She loved babies and little children. I inherited that from her. She had a lot of little sayings that we still say to this day. I was so glad Joshua got to know her some even if she was not the same Grandma she had been when I grew up.

Star was Joshua’s best friend. Our entire yard was fenced in, including the front yard. We were not sure how she would do if she were to get free, so we made sure the gates were always closed. One day our landlord made a surprise visit to show the property to his new lady friend. He was not happy when we reminded him that the lease agreement said that he had to give us 24 hours notice to come and check out the house. He decided to just walk around the outside with her. He asked if Star was friendly or not and we assured him she was. We did ask him to make sure that he closed all the gates as he went through them. He left one open and she got out and took off. We all had to run and chase her down. She seemed to enjoy her freedom a bit too much. She loved to ride in the car. She would hang her head out the window and just enjoy life. We had to run up to the a store on the corner to get gas in the car. We all went and took Star with us. This convenience store was right on a VERY busy corner. When Michael got out to pump the gas, quick as a wink, Star jumped over the seat and jumped out the door. We all panicked. We jumped out and started calling her and chasing her. She would run around the cars parked outside the store, then head for the street. There must have been angels guarding all the exits to the street. She never did run out in traffic. It was a good five minutes that seemed like an eternity to us before she tried to go in the store when someone opened the door and Joshua caught her. From then on, we always put a leash on her before someone got out.

We had a huge rope swing hanging out of our big oak in the back yard. It had a stick tied near the bottom. This was for children to sit on. There was a long tail of rope hanging down past the stick. You could climb up on the tree platform and swing off or just get on the stick and have someone push you. Star loved playing with that swing. When no one was outside to play with her, we would watch out the window. She would get her 2 front paws over the stick and walk around in circles with it. They would always try to tie her up when they wanted to swing. It did not matter how high they were going, or who was on the swing… if they were swinging, she would grab the big rope tail and put on the brakes. The swing would come to a stop. She loved that game, they did not. There is another story we can tell you about this swing. Michael was pushing Joshua on the swing. He pushed him really high and went to step back out of the way. What he did not know was that the rope tail was around his foot. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back looking skyward. Joshua almost fell off the swing he was laughing so hard. He had seen the whole thing. Michael thought it was funny…. Well at least later on he did… much later on. He got a bad rope burn on his ankle.

Star would play hide and seek with Joshua. He would throw a ball really far away. She would run after it and he would take off in the other direction. When she realized what he was doing, she would turn around and come running. She learned all his best hiding spots and would check them one by one. She would run over behind the wood pile in the corner and look. Then she would look up on the roof. We had a tree in front of the house that made it easy to shinny up and get on the roof. She would run to the other side of the porch and look there, but she always found him. It was fun to watch. For a short while there, she quit playing with him. She found lizards and palmetto bugs to be fascinating. There were little lizards all over the outside of the house. They would dart here and there. You could get really close to them. Star found that she could catch them. You would just see the tail hanging out her mouth. She did not hurt them, but just carried them for awhile and then put them down. The palmetto bugs are basically huge roaches. They are very common in Florida around shrubbery and the palmetto plants. They scurry away when you get near them. Star would catch them as well. Joshua would go out to play with her and she was too busy looking for lizards and palmetto bugs to play. He got very frustrated with her. =)

Joshua made a toy sword out of wood. He loved to play Civil War. He put a rope on it and a piece of cloth hanging down. Star loved that thing and would snatch it and carry it everywhere. He gave it to her. You could tell her to go get her sword and she would come running with it. She had to hold her head up very high when she carried it because it was so long. We have a picture somewhere of her carrying it. I will have to find it and put it on here.

We knew that we were moving soon. We had a garage sale to downsize our junk. We had a large carport and set up under it the night berfore, so that we would be ready come morning. A couple of friends brought some things to put in it as well. Star would not stay out of the boxes. She kept taking a pair of gloves that had been my Grandma’s and a stuffed Shamu whale that belonged to one of my friend's children. We put the gloves up high, but she ended up tearing Shamu to shreds. There were items that I agonized over getting rid of, but in the pile they would go. We had way too much stuff. The garage sale was a huge success. I felt really good about getting rid of things. Then in a couple of months, I looked around again and saw more stuff I could get rid of. God was doing a work in me. Things that I would not even think of getting rid of the first time came under that agonizing scrutiny and in the pile they would go. We ended up having about four garage sales at different people’s homes. Even though I literally cried over some items, there were only two that I truly regret getting rid of. One was a lap size loom and the other was a gum ball machine and stand that Michael had given to me. It felt really good to be free of some of that stuff. It seems to be creeping back in though.

The man who owned the house we lived in was going to sell it. We had to move out and our move date to Ohio was not yet known. We had tried for years to move to the mountains of Virginia. God had other plans and was going to move us back to Ohio. We had very gracious friends (the Pastor family) that let us move in with them. They lived on a 10 acre farm. Mr. Pastor’s Dad also lived on the property. He had an extra bedroom that Michael and I slept in, but other than sleeping we spent most of our time over with the Pastors. We were thinking it would only be a matter of weeks, but we ended up being there for 3 1/2 months. They were very gracious and we tried to help them all we could. Not once did they ever make us feel like we were in the way or a burden. In fact, they tried to talk us into staying. They had animals on their farm and told us to bring our animals along. We had to set up some new pens, but with all the children helping it did not take long.

Their goats had horns and ours did not. Their goats knew how to use their horns as a weapon. Our 2 big goats held their own with them, but poor little Shiloh was getting battered around. So, we put up a separate little pen right on the outside of the big goat pen. That way, they could not get to her, but she was with other goats. However, this really made her bond to humans as well. Joshua wanted to sell her and she was the first goat with our herd name so I wanted to keep her. We bought Shiloh from Joshua. She would always follow me around. If I sat on the ground she would try to get on my shoulders. If the children were out, she did what she could to get out and be with them. She would rather be with humans than goats. She would also get into the garden, so she was not out unsupervised, or at least knowingly unsupervised. =).

While we were there, we had another miracle incident with Ellie. One side of the goat pen was fenced with barbed wire. Out goats not being used to barbed wire, were getting nicked all the time. One of the children were always coming in to say that Minx or Ellie were bleeding. I would make my way out there eventually, but it was usually, just a little scrape on their bag somewhere that had already stopped bleeding and would be OK. They came in one day and told us that Ellie was bleeding. As they went back out, they mentioned that there was both blood and milk. I went out right away. She had ripped a piece of skin about the length of a little finger, all the way down her teat. It went clear into the milk canal. We immediately called the vet and set to work to clean up what we could. We put the strip back in place and held it there after cleaning her until the vet arrived. Now with Minx, she was so finicky that if you even looked at her wrong, she went off feed. Not so with Ellie. While the vet was stitching her she was munching away on a bowl of food. She was something else. He had to clip off the strip that had come loose. He sewed the milk canal closed first so that it was a canal again, and then he sewed the outside shut. He told us to keep her milked out, so that pressure would not break the stitches or the healing. Joshua milked her every three hours around the clock for over a week. We were so proud of him. He would set his alarm and get up through the night to take care of her. After he would milk her, he would apply an herbal solution of Self Heal and Lavender infused in apple cider vinegar. She healed so well, you had to reach around and feel the teats to see which one had been injured. She went on to milk fine on that side. Eventually you could not tell which side had been stitched. She truly was a miracle goat.

Buttermilk, the calf did not like staying in her pen off by herself. It was on the back of their horse barn. There was a window (just a cut out hole) in the back of the barn. She would hear people and try to look out through the window at them. She was not quite tall enough. You would see these ears and the top of her head and her nose pushing up over the bottom of the window. It is amazing how high a calf can jump. She would jump up and through that window. She would head out to the pasture to find some company. She would go in with Buttercup or even in with the horses. We were so afraid she would get out and go in their garden. We had to work hard to keep her in.

We knew that we would be moving, so we started looking for a stock trailer. The Jeeters that we used to visit in south Florida had moved to Virginia. We had seen their trailer and really liked it. We called and they told us where they got it. We went over to check them out. The prices were much better than anywhere else we had looked. We ordered a 16’ one, in blue of course. We were glad that it came in before we had to move. It had a front section and a back section. We now had to figure out what we were going to do.

Well moving day finally came. The Mountain family had taken our chicken coop and our chickens all except 4. Our friends had given Joshua a hen for his birthday and he bought a rooster with his own money. We knew this move was going to be hard on him (on all of us actually), so we decided we would take those 2 with us. Then we figured we would go ahead and throw in 2 more layers. We had 4 chickens, 3 goats, 2 cows, and one dog. Sounds like a song doesn’t it? We had gotten health papers on all of them except the dog. We were told that we would need them at the agricultural stops on the freeways. Our vet called to see what we would need. He said we had to get what Ohio required as that was where we were moving to. That included a blood test on the chickens. Our vet was in disbelief that a blood test on chickens was required. He was not even sure on how to do it. He finally got some, but they did not bleed very well. Now remember, the only reason we were taking these chickens along was for our son’s sake. The vet had no idea how much the test would be, but the other tests were fairly cheap. We got the bill and it was $10 PER chicken!!!!! Our son looked at us and said, "Why did we even bring them if it costs that much?" Sigh... Then, to add insult to injury, the ONLY place that checked our paper work was Florida and it was on the way OUT of the state. Go figure!!!

We had our time of worship and fellowship with our homechurch that Sunday morning and we were going to leave after the meal. We said our goodbyes with lots of tears and hugs. It was so hard to pull out of that driveway. Our dream had been to move to Virginia and here we were going back to Ohio. We truly felt like we were leaving family. The whole morning had a sort of cloud hanging over it. We took a picture of everyone gathered around our loaded vehicles and stock trailer. We put Buttercup and Buttermilk in the back part of the trailer. The 4 chickens went in a dog crate in the front part along with the goats and some of the supplies. More of the supplies were in the back of the truck under the cap. I would be driving the car and Michael would drive the truck. Joshua would take turns with each of us.

We had planned out our trip. The Jeeters had told us of a bed and breakfast on the way that catered to horse people. We called them and they said we could put our animals out in the pasture. So we had made reservations for that night. Buttercup, Ellie and Minx were all in milk, so we had to milk twice a day as well. When we started out. Joshua was in the truck with his Dad leading the way. I was in the car following. We had walkie talkies so that we could keep in contact with each other. We got out in the middle of nowhere in Georgia at about 6PM that Sunday evening and a tire blew on the truck. It was LOUD and it blew up!! It was no flat, but an explosion. It even dented the side of the truck. The spare didn't have enough air. Michael took off in the car to find the nearest exit and get some fix-a-flat for the spare to help us limp into somewhere to get it fixed. Joshua and I stayed in the truck with the animals. Michael got back and put the fix-a-flat in and it just poured out in different spots. The spare wouldn't hold air. So, he called a tow truck company. Michael told us that the man would tow the trailer first to this well lit gas station at the next exit. It had a big grassy area that we could probably get the animals out to milk them. I was to follow in the car and stay with the animals until he got there on the next trip with the tow truck. So, I followed this guy to the exit. He pulled off and drove right past the well lit gas station with the nice grassy area. He took us to this really dark and secluded parking lot behind a bunch of businesses that were closed. I made Joshua stay in the car and went to talk to him explaining we were in the wrong place. He told us that the gas station would make us move. He said he knew the people who had the business we were behind and that we could stay there overnight until we could get a new tire the next day. It was getting dark and starting to drizzle. I pulled the car behind the stock trailer so no one could get in the back door of the trailer and we could watch the side door. We locked our doors and sat there and prayed. Once Michael got there, we got the animal out and tied to the sides of the trailer. We fed, watered and milked them out. Then put them back. Michael drove Joshua and I to a small hotel to spend the night and he went back and slept in the car by the animals. We called the Pastor family and our family in Ohio to pray, then called the bed and breakfast and told them we would not be there. It poured all night. The next morning, he came to get us and we got the animals out again in the thick mucky mud and fed, watered and milked them again. Then after they were back in the trailer, Joshua and I sat in the truck, while Michael went to get a tire. The company he bought it from came and put it on for us. We called and gave an update then headed out. When we got to a city of some size we stopped and bought more new tires for the truck to be prepared and kept one of the old ones as a spare.

Since we got such a late start we had to stop and spend another night on the road. We found a hotel with a huge parking lot that extended into gravel and then a sort of grassy area. Semi trucks parked there. There were several bars, just over beyond the grassy area and down a little incline. We got in fairly late as we were trying to make time. We got all the animals out and tied them around the trailer and started taking care of them. One of the hotel's other customers came stumbling (literally... he was very drunk) from the bar towards the hotel. He got near us and the cow bellowed and there were lots of other animal noises. He stopped... stared... shook his head as if to clear it... stared again and then staggered off to the hotel. I think he must have figured he had a few more than usual. =) I was hoping he would swear off the stuff.

We finally made it to my brother's house. We got the animals in the barn and all squared away. Our new home for the time being was my brother's pop-up camper. All or at least most of our stuff was stored away in a storage unit. We had the bare necessities and that was it. It was still quite hot in Florida when we left. Ohio was warm, but we knew that those cooler Autumn temperatures were not long in coming. We had to find a house and get settled in before it grew too cold for the pop-up.

My brother and his wife had just had their 5th child. She was still a baby and her brother was only 17 months. I love babies and was thrilled to be able to hold and cuddle them often. I had not been around their youngest three as much as their older three. There was a good time of getting to know one another. We wanted to be a help and not a burden. There was one bathroom in their house. We had to make sure we did not wait until the last minute if we had to go. =) On Sunday mornings, it was quite a song and dance letting everyone have their turn in the bathroom. Our church started later than theirs, so other than just going to the bathroom, we would try and wait for the bathroom until after they left. We ate our meals in the house with them. I would take my turns at cooking. We had lots of fun while we stayed there. They had horses and Joshua and his cousin Carli would ride in the neighbors field. Joshua had only ridden a little bit, but he would fly on that horse. He enjoyed the time of having some siblings. Being an only child is not always fun.

My parents were up in Ohio at that time. They used to spend their summers up here. They came out the next day to see us. My Dad had been saving real estate magazines for us to look at. The first one I looked in had this house in a town called Big Prairie. It said Amish made house, 6 bedrooms, all oak kitchen, walk in pantry, barn on 5 acres. It was a really good price compared to other properties. However, when we looked on the map where Big Prairie was compared to Michael's work, we said NO WAY!!! It would be about a 2 hour drive. That house kept coming up. We started looking for property. We had a set amount we did not want to go above. The prices anywhere within one hour of his job were way out of sight. We wanted no less than 3 acres, but would like more. We wanted some sort of barn or shed already there. Our animals had come from Florida and this was mid September. They needed a shelter. We would also have liked some fencing, but were willing to put that up. Joshua and I would drive around through the day and look at the properties. Anything that was worth looking at, we made note of and would go back with Michael. We had a great real estate agent. We had tried a couple of different ones and they all basically told us to go fish when we told them what we wanted and the price we wanted to pay. She was the first to say she could help us. She gave me quite a print out of properties to look at. We looked and looked. Nothing seemed quite right. We were really not being picky or at least we weren't trying to be. So many of the houses needed a lot of work before winter and we were not sure we could get it done in time. Or there would be a 35 year old mobile on a bare 5 acres without a shed or anything on it and the price would be out of sight. We did find one house. I loved that house. It was a big old home with brick walls at least a foot thick. It was 175 years old. Johnny Appleseed had actually stopped there many times and had Bible study with the first owner. There were still a couple of apple trees up on a hill that he had planted. It had a spring house and a running spring. Both are things I had dreamed of for my homestead. The price was right and it came with 20 acres. The original property that was for sale was about an acre the house was on and then the other 19 acres were across the road and had been sewn in crops, so there was no pasture. They were selling the whole huge farm though. We asked if we could get 20 acres around the house and include one of the old barns that was there. The man was a pastor and was very sweet. The farm was his wife's family farm. They agreed to that and we wrote up an offer. We found out by including the acreage around the house, that it also had to be approved by her sister. She did not like our first offer, so we countered and again she said no. We asked them what we could have and the pastor and his wife outlined an area that we agreed to. We wrote another offer. This time they told us that the sister was digging in her heels as she did not want her sister to sell the house they had grew up in. She wanted to still be able to go there for Thanksgiving, etc. So, they withdrew the property from the market. This had wasted about 6 weeks of our time. We were very discouraged. All of our stuff was still in storage. It had gotten too cold to stay in the pop-up, so were staying at my other brother's house. He had a little apartment on his big barn/garage. We would have to drive twice a day to go and take care of our animals. It was not that close either. I just wanted a home. I wanted to be able to make my bread and grind my wheat and all the other things I loved to do. I kept telling God, that I needed a home. I was so discouraged and just wanted a place that I could call my own. We were trying so hard to keep everything as nice as possible at my brothers. The carpet was lighter colored and there was no porch or overhang. There was a very small square of linoleum when you walked in the door. You had to take your shoes off before you could even shut the door. It seemed like there was lots of mud. I was so stressed we would mess something up. My attitude just went down and down.

My husband told me that Michael Card was coming to town and that he wanted us to go. We love his music, but I do not like big crowds and really did not want to go. He kept trying to talk me into it and I said no. He did something very unlike him. He bought tickets anyway. I could not believe it. I really didn’t want to go. Then the night of the concert came and I really didn't feel too hot. My stomach was unsettled and I had a headache. Michael, again very unlike himself, told me that I was going. It was a divine appointment. If you ever get to see Michael Card in concert, GO, it is great. It is like he is sitting across the coffee table talking to you and every once in awhile, he sings a song. There is no showiness at all. Everything he said that night or sang spoke to my heart. I started crying from the very beginning. He brought up things that ministered to old hurts. Some of the things he said were things I wanted to share with Cordelia Rose. I was crying for her and for me. Then it came to the last song of the concert. He looked out at the audience and said, “There is someone here tonight that is saying they need a home. God wants you to know that He will be your home.” He then sang that song...

"I Will Bring You Home"

Though you are homeless
Though you're alone
I will be your home

Whatever's the matter
Whatever's been done
I will be your home

I will be your home
I will be your home
In this fearful fallen place
I will be your home

When time reaches fullness
When I move my hand
I will bring you home

Home to your own place
In a beautiful land
I will bring you home

I will bring you home
I will bring you home
From this fearful fallen place
I will bring you home
I will bring you home

I sat there and just sobbed. That was a direct word to me from my Lord. I made a new commitment to just wait and trust Him in looking for a home. He would be my home until He brought me an earthly one.

All writing and photography on Amazing Graze Farm is Copyright © 2005-2008 by Marci Blubaugh All rights reserved.