For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11
I thought I'd take some time and tell you a little bit about what God
has been doing in our lives as far as Caleb's job goes.
When we were in Nicaragua and had made the decision to come back to the
States after our commitment was up, Caleb had said many times that he
wasn't going to farm, he wanted to try something different. He actually
had A LOT of job opportunities when we came back, what a blessing. One
of his friends works for this trash hauling company in Elkhart and he
thought that sounded like a good opportunity for him.
We get back to the States, and even more opportunities came up, but he
didn't feel like that's what God had for him, and was pretty set on
working for this trash hauling company. So, he goes and puts an
application in, he met the owner and some other top dogs (I guess that
doesn’t usually happen) and they loved all his abilities and told him he
was pretty much hired and that he just needed to do the drug test and
background check. They gave him a start date on when to come in and
everything, this all happened on a Monday.
The next day, Tuesday, I went
to Grief Share with my dad and sister. I was so close to not going, but
I knew that it helped my family SO much when they all went after Kody
died, and I figured it would help me with my grief. So I went and during
that time my dad introduced me and said I was the one that was in
Nicaragua with my husband, Caleb, and we recently returned back to the
States. At that point it was only a week that we were back. So after the
video, Stan, the leader for that evening, came up to me and just asked
questions about what we did there in Nicaragua and we talked for a bit.
After the meeting was over, Stan came over to my dad and asked for
Caleb's number, he said he wants to talk to him because he’s going to
hire him…my dad was like umm, you've never met this guy before! So, we
get home, and dad tells Caleb about it, and Caleb's like "oh, he
probably won't call". Well, 7am rolls around the next morning,
Wednesday, and Caleb answers. Stan pretty much just asked if he'd be
willing to come down and see what Stan has to offer and talk to him. So
Caleb get's off the phone and tells me about it, and asks if we had
anything going that day. I said no, so he's like well maybe I'll go,
just to see what he has to offer and I said, ok sounds good. So he calls
Stan back and says he'll be on his way in 10 minutes. Caleb pretty much
spent the whole day talking to Stan, comes back and tells me this CRAZY
idea that they have for Caleb, he would work for 1 year to see if this
is what God has for us, and if so, continue on working for 10 years, and
possibly take over the farm. Stan said that they've been praying for
someone like Caleb for 4 years, WOW!!!! That's just been something that
throughout this whole process has just wowed me. Their faithfulness in
praying for FOUR years. So Caleb said that Stan would like me to come
down the following day and see the house we'd live in and the farms, and
talk and ask questions. So, we both went down Thursday and again,
marveled at how good God is and answering their prayers. They both made
it super clear that they wanted us to be in the center of God's Will and
that if this wasn't going to work out, it was OK. Stan told us that he
had been having some issues with his hand and that they were going the
following week to get it checked out and hopefully they'll know what's
going on. So we visited for a few hours, checked out the farm house we'd
live in and talked more details about what the future could look like.
So we said we'd continue to pray about and we left.
Friday comes around
and Caleb woke up and felt at peace with this farming thing so he called
the trash hauling company and told them that he has another opportunity
that he feels he's suppose to do. Of course they were disappointed but
told him if it didn't work out that he would have a job waiting for him.
So after he gets off the phone with them he calls Stan to tell him
he'll accept the farming job and he was to start work on Wednesday of
the following week. Stan called Caleb over the weekend to see if he
would wait to start until Thursday because Stan had a Doctor appointment
about his hand. So Wednesday rolls around and Caleb and I had just
finished lunch with a friend and her little boy and Stan calls Caleb,
and I could see that something was wrong because Caleb's face totally
changed and so he gets off the phone and tells me that Stan just found
out he has ALS. He said it was a hard phone call and a lot of things are
going to look different now. Which is totally understandable. So, Caleb
goes to work on Thursday, processing things with Stan and what things
might look like now. Stan decided to take his family on a big family
vacation for two weeks…WHO leaves their entire farm to a stranger???
Stan has said many times how it feels like we've known each other for
years, it's amazing how God has worked this all out thus far.
So Stan
and his family left for California on a Friday afternoon, and Caleb
started harvest the following Tuesday. I was so worried that Caleb would
be stressed about everything, and I asked him about it, and he's like
"nope, I'm living in peace"....WOW, God is SO good. God gave Caleb so
much strength and peace during this whole thing, I know I would have
went insane if it was me. But yeah, Caleb did an awesome job. So Stan's
are gone for 2 weeks, they come back, and Stan has been busy spending
time with family and friends, figuring out things to make sure his
family is taken care of when he's gone. I'm amazed every time I see
Stan, he doesn't look like a dying man, he looks like a man full of
peace and wants to make the best of what life he has left. So Caleb has
been working for Stan since September and he loves it. We're excited to
see what all God has for us, and also our hearts are broken at the
circumstances, but we know that God brought us together for a reason,
and He will continue to show Himself strong.
We love Stan & Alvera and are so honored and blessed to be apart of their farm and family, it feels like we've known them for forever. Two of the younger boys have spent a lot of time with Caleb and it's so fun to watch him with them.
Please pray for Stan, Alvera and their children during this difficult
time. Pray that God would wrap His loving arms around them all, and that
God would give them all the strength and peace they need.
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