Work Hard, Play Hard

We had lots of fun experiences while our friends (Frank and Verona are the parents, Francine (18) and Brandon (16) the children) from Orlando were visiting. They wanted to experience life on a Missouri farm, which includes both work and play. We enjoyed both as well as the opportunity to trade information and experiences.

One of the funnest things the boys enjoyed was riding the dirt bike. Destry showed Brandon how to ride it, and he rode it every chance he got!
The girls (and even dad!) rode too, but Brandon logged the most time on it!I think driving in general was fun for the teens. In addition to the dirt bike, they enjoyed driving the tractor and the pickup with a manual transmission.Each day began, of course, with chores which included feeding the bottle lambs and milking our cow, Ruby.
This was a new experience for the whole family. Most of the time they milked with the milker, but the last day everyone tried milking by hand. Francine was quite proud of herself earlier in the week to have touched the udder, let alone to harvest milk by hand!
Frank and Verona both grew up in Jamaica, so it was a treat to have Verona cook a Jamaican meal, Brown Stew Chicken over rice, for our family. Her son Brandon also made "wash" for us several times, which my kids thoroughly enjoyed. It's a lot like lemonade, although very sweet and made using brown sugar.
In return, we shared with them the experiences of making butter and cheese and making and eating homemade ice cream and apple dumplings.
We also had lots of fun doing silly things like arm wrestling (Destry was a little afraid he would lose to Francine, who lifts weights competitively, but his years of farm work have rewarded him with strength), playing instruments, and playing games. They introduced us to the fun game of Bible Scattergories and I introduced Verona to The Kite Runner (which she devoured, even though she didn't like the main character--hey, that's a sign of good writing when the characterization is so rich you simply stay mad at a character! smile). We introduced them to the outstanding series "Into the West" in the evenings and they introduced us to comedian Brian Reagan.

The kids were especially excited to see it snow as they had never seen snow before. When we awakened one morning to snow on the ground, they were so excited they ran out in their pajamas to get some and throw it at one another (and their dad!).We were a little disappointed to have such a cool week in March for their visit, but I guess it was worth all their shivering since they got to experience the snow.I think their least favorite job on the farm was scooping manure. They're right, it's a tough and smelly job, but it's part of it! The barns need cleaned out after sheltering animals, and the corn field needs manure to produce a better crop.I told them the manure scooping was good for them and would build their muscles so maybe they could beat Destry next time they arm wrestled! :) (Destry is a strong and wiry kid--he scoops a lot of poop!)The redeeming aspect of scooping manure was driving the tractor in order to spread the fertilizer on the field.Precious relationships were formed through their stay. I'm a little frustrated with myself that I didn't do a better job getting pictures of them, but Briana and Francine found a lot in common, not the least of which were their comfortable silences and servant's hearts.Destry and Brandon enjoyed talking and goofing off together as well, and I told Verona I was going to check her suitcase before she left to make sure she hadn't snuck Tyrell in there! :)And I saved the best part of the trip, at least in Brandon and Francine's view, for last! They discovered a real affinity for sharpshooting.After working for a few hours, they would head out to the pasture with bottles, jars, and cans and learn how to shoot guns. They loved this target practice and did very well with it.We were all especially impressed when Brandon hit the lid of a nail polish bottle. It was a very full week and gave them a good taste of the rural life.