Stewarding an empty house & its farm

From the time my mom had her first fall and subsequent stay in a rehab hospital (and through the time of her second fall, surgery, extended stay in a rehab hospital, and eventual move to assisted living) until the time of the auction of the house & farm was more than 18 months. 

Over the course of those 18 months, the responsibility of taking care of the property & the mishaps & the random people who showed up fell to my sisters, who deserve a huge "Thank you!"

There was the crash at 2 AM that resulted in: a call to 9-1-1, a middle-of-the-night call to the neighboring farmer whose cattle could have escaped through the broken fence, and countless interactions with the police, the other driver's insurance, and the fence company before it was all said and done.  Whew!

Then there was the bully (others, even a well-respected civic leader I know, in the area would use the same word) who literally pushed his way into the kitchen when one of my sisters was there, under pretense of being a friend and genuinely interested in my mom's welfare.  That shook us all up!

There was a county vehicle (some sort of heavy-duty machinery) that tipped over and required another fence repair (to protect a different farmer's cattle).  That one could easily have led to loss of life, but by God's mercy, "only" led to a concussion.  Thankfully, the county repaired the fence while still on site. 

There was the day a transformer blew on a wire next to one of the fields.  My sisters were without power & internet.  But then they noticed an excavator in the field and learned that when the transformer blew, it leaked some kind of oil.  An environmental company came & excavated dirt affected by the spill into a large black container. Then they replaced it with top soil and sowed grass seed (?). I’m not sure of all the details.  Thankfully, the farmer who leased that field had just baled the hay from that field.  Whew! 

There were the random people who showed up at the back door or who found me on FB Messenger, asking to buy land, or to take the bee hives off our hands, or to bring their child by to see the cows up close, or to purchase random tools.  

Over time, three four five friends of my dad's became men with whom I communicated frequently; the man who had purchased the pasture just west of the house and whose cattle were affected by the 2 AM crash; the man who leased my dad's pasture land for his cattle (though actually he doesn't text, so his wife became one of my contacts); the man who leased my dad's cornfields; the man who was the auctioneer for the auction; and one of my dad's closest friends & fellow elder for many decades.  

The first man and the last two in that list became my unofficial consultants, and I thank God for them, as well as for His protection over the house, farm, and all of us through the crazy things that happened in those 18+ months.