I was scrolling through facebook one day when I saw her. My perfect family milk cow. I stopped. I stared. I sat there, wishing I could just go buy her right away instead of waiting like I had planned. Then God hit me in the heart.
What are you waiting for?
Those words came slamming into my mind as I sat there looking at the pictures of my dream cow. She was a big Fleckvieh (fleck-vee) beef doll who looked exactly like what I think a good family milk cow should look like. She was tested for A2A2 milk and had big long milking teats perfect for hand milking. I thought I had to wait for money to buy her.
You see, I had sold my current Jersey milk cow but the buyer asked me to wait for pickup with a deposit to hold her. I agreed because I could do that and it worked well for me too. But I thought I had to wait for my Jersey to be picked up before I could go and get my new Fleckvieh. But the Holy Spirit persisted within me and I felt a very strong sense of urgency.
Do you really have to wait?
So I got up and went to our farm budget. I checked it over, I put in the expense of the new cow and the income later on from selling my Jersey. Everything worked. Easily in fact. So I sat there in my office and thought to myself, "What am I waiting for?"
It's funny how sometimes your brain won't start coming up with solutions until you are looking.
Well, I had to figure out how to go and get her. We have a truck and trailer but I didn't feel comfortable driving it by myself. I am a good driver in my SUV but trucks and trailers are not my cup of tea. My husband however, he could drink a cup of tea while backing up any truck and trailer into any situation anywhere. Yes he's that good. I'm not even exaggerating. Well maybe a tiny bit, but not much. Brenton is like superman when it comes to operating machinery.
There are only two people that Brenton thinks are as talented as he is when it comes to driving trucks and trailers. One is my brother-in-law Devin and the other is my Dad who spent many years on the highway driving semi-trucks and a variety of trailers, including those gigantic big loads that have several pilot trucks warning you that a crazy monster is coming down the highway.
So I knew hubs was crazy busy with cattle at the time but I called him anyway.
It went like this:
Me: Honey I know you're busy so can I just take the truck and trailer and go get this cow I want to buy?
Honey: Nobody drives my truck and trailer except for me!
Me: Not even my Dad!
Honey: Well. . . yeah ok, me and your Dad can drive my truck and trailer.
Me: Thanks Honey!
I don't even know why I asked to drive it myself but it was such the perfect way to ask because his reaction to me driving created the response in me to think of my Dad. When you take action on something you want, you will often find that solutions start to find you in the weirdest ways. Ways you would never have expected.
So I call my Dad. He is super busy too with classes he teaches and he has to drive a few hours back and forth from where he lives, to where he teaches (it was like a contract job in a remote area) and I knew the chances of him having time to drive 5 hours to our farm, then drive 5 hours up and back to get my new cow, then drive another 5 hours back home was a monumental ask and I didn't have total confidence he would say yes but I just knew I had to call and find out. It turns out he had a three day weekend coming up and he said yes. It gets even better.
God knew this trip was going to be epic for me, like a totally awesome memory-making trip. So I talk to my Mom too and I asked her if she could come along because my parents had milk cows when I was a little kid and she has a huge amount of knowledge and experience to know what is a good cow and what is not. I knew she could give me wisdom to know I was getting a good cow. And it turns out she had time off from her work too!
So she came along, we took our kids with us and had a fantastic day together with my parents. It was like a super awesome mini road-trip where we all had fun together and just totally had great bonding time.
And it just gets better. God totally put a few cherries on top that kick-ass weekend sundae because my parents just happened to buy a truck that week and they were able to bring me down some bags of wood chip bedding for my chickens for free because they know a guy and the cherry on top of that cherry is that I had this awesome huge bunk bed set I didn't want anymore but my little sister wanted it for her house and my parents took it back with them. Literally, looking back now, I have no idea how we would have gotten that bunk bed to them otherwise. It's a five hour drive one way and it would never have fit in my SUV.
It was like, God not only brought a dream of mine to reality but also had all of these other little goodies packed along with it. Like, boom, here's your cow. Oh yeah and your mom can come and help you pick a cow, and you can have an awesome day with your parents and you kids hanging out together, and stock up on your chicken bedding for free, oh and free delivery of your old bunk bed set to your sister. Like everything just totally fell into place.
But here is the kicker. I had to push for it. Nobody was there encouraging me to make the phone calls, to do the planning or asking people for what I wanted. I had to get up and check our budget. I had to call my husband and ask about the trailer. I had to call my Dad and ask him to come do the driving and also ask if he could bring the wood shavings. I had to ask my mom to come with me.
If I just sat there, looking the pictures of my dream cow but never asked anyone for help, nothing would have happened and I would probably be moaning to myself about what I wished I had done.
Sometimes you ask for something and you get "No." That's okay too, but don't let that stop you from looking for what you want and trying again another time or another way. It doesn't always work for me like this. This stuff doesn't happen every day (that would be exhausting!) but I'm so excited for the next time I see what I want and I have total courage to get up and go for it.
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