Welcome to Whispering Hollow Farm!!

Hello! So much has changed around here the past year. As I posted a few months ago, we moved from a village into the country. My husband Matt and I have prayed about this for nearly 20 years! We moved into the village in 2011. It was where God wanted us at the time. Moving there allowed our girls to get the services they needed. But our hearts desire was to have a couple of acres with some farm animals and a large garden. We felt as if God just wanted us to be in the village forever. It was at that moment that we became content with where God had us that God began to work BIG time. 

 Over the years I have sent different possible properties to my husband. EACH time he said nah I don't think it is possible at this time. I just continued to pray. Honestly I was so discouraged! But I knew God had a plan for us. If that meant staying put so be it. Doesn't me I was going to like it (HAHA)! I'm kidding...sorta. :-)

I lived on a farm until the age of 10 years old. It was always in my blood though. The desire to be outside, planting, caring for animals and my family. That is probably why I loved going to my grandparents house in the summers and over vacations. They had horses, a large garden, and lived up on a hill in the woods. I just loved being there, so peaceful, especially first thing in the morning. 

2018-2024 were horrible years for our family. We had so many things happen. We had illnesses, loved ones pass away, sickness, the world shut down, job stress, my son involved in a horrible accident, financial stress and so much more I'm probably forgetting. I would walk outside after a snow storm. The air was so crisp, it seemed like everything just stood still, not a sound could be heard except for the snow crunching under my boots. It was February 2024 I just cried out to God. I spilled everything to Him. I was really missing my mom and dad. They go to FL over the winter. So I asked my husband if we could just take the time off and go to FL to visit? I had also not seen my sister, brother in law, niece or nephew in many years! I was shocked when he said YES! On one condition, we had to drive down. I was fine with that. Just getting away from daily stress is what we needed. It was what our marriage needed. We took that time to really pray like we had never prayed before about finding property. Now if you know anything about the real estate market from 2020-today, it is CRAZY!! People are paying thousands over asking prices. Not only that, but WAY over the full market value of property. 

I saw this above house on the list of properties for sale. It wasn't far from our current home, I thought it was going to be another NO. Shockingly my husband said, OK lets go look at it. I was honestly SO surprised he said yes! This was the first step God gave us to obtain our dream home!

We took our daughter Hannah with us to look at it. She has developmental disabilities and autism. So this decision was just as much hers as ours. We were worried about how she would do moving away from our home. 

We pulled up and were SO surprised at how Hannah became so excited. We met with the realtor outside on the front porch. The view from the porch was breath-taking!!! I was sold then and there without even looking inside. 

This was a sunrise this summer. I often sit here and just take in the beauty of this land. Now back to the story of our journey to Whispering Hollow Farm. 

As I mentioned we stood on the porch looking out over the field. I knew deep down this was where God wanted us. I know odd having not seen the inside yet. My husband, Matt thought the same exact thought, but we did not tell each other. 

We walked in the door and saw such a beautiful kitchen. Now I know most people want marble or stone countertops, new cupboards and so on. This was perfect in our eyes. We love the old and vintage looking homes. 

So as we entered the home we were chatting with the realtor about the property. Next thing I know Hannah is nowhere to be found!! I called out to her, all of a sudden we hear this small distant voice saying UP HERE! She had decided to go exploring on her own. She was already in love with the house! The whole upstairs is huge. There is a bedroom, which is hers, a full bathroom, a smaller room, that she calls her living room and a spare room. 

This is the large room upstairs. If you are familiar with old farmhouses, there are what is called tandem rooms. They are pretty much all just connected in a large circle with doors dividing the room. Hannah's living room would be the only room you have to walk through to get to the hallway. 

The spare room / guest room needs to be gutted and walls and ceiling redone. But that is another blog post. 

We spent about an hour at the house the first time we looked at it. We were jumping for joy inside (but remember neither of us let on how excited we were). Besides we were certain we would never be able to afford it in this current real estate market. Homes were selling for thousands over the full market value. 

We left the house and went home. Watched the listing for a couple of weeks. We both prayed, had family pray and our church pray. Hannah kept calling it our house. I was worried she would be totally crushed when we were not able to get it. 

We asked the realtor if we could go back and look at the house again. She gladly allowed us this second opportunity. Matt and I wanted to walk the property and just cry out to God for His will to be clear to us. We would need to sell our house and have this house's offer accepted. BUT we asked God to move a mountain so we would not have to carry a mortgage. I know BIG request.

We walked the whole perimeter, all 2 acres of it!! I think the realtor was getting a little huffy with us for taking this long. But we wanted to be certain before talking numbers with her. 

We got to the front corner of the property. I looked down and saw this above picture. A Chinese lantern. It was another God Wink! My grandparents had these growing all over the side of their driveway. I had seeds from hers but could never get them to grow. Also along the hollow there was a long row of wild black raspberries. I would walk my grandparents driveway to pick these each summer. Another sign from God. Was this our dream property? Was God whispering in our ears that we needed to trust Him?

Everywhere we looked there were signs and whispers from God. Trust Me, I will not let you fall. So on the way home Matt and I decided to place our home on the market and put in an offer. The realtor said there had not been too many offers. The next day at work I did my research, and spoke to my supervisor. See I am a title searcher for real estate. Everything looked great! 

We put in an offer about $40K less than the asking price. I figured that would give us some wiggle room. Now comes the BEST part of the story. The couple that was selling this property had been praying that they would accept the correct offer. They wanted a family here that would love the home and property as much as they do. This was the wife's home for most of her life. 

She prayed for each person who stepped onto the property. WELL our offer was accepted! I could not believe it! I still cannot believe it!! She said she knew we were the ones God wanted here. She use to work with people with developmental disabilities. Another God wink. Our house sold within days of having it listed. It went for over the asking price. So we broke even and we do not have a mortgage!! 

We officially closed on this property on June 14, 2024!! 

So how did we come up with the name? Remember all the times I said we heard God Whisper? The picture above is the property just south of our home. It is a deep hollow. So that is where we have: Whispering Hollow Farm! 

We already have a flock of 9 Sapphire Gem chickens, with 1 being an unexpected rooster. The first project we did was renovate a shed that was already on the property.

You can see it there in the distance. You know priorities! HA! 

Starting to paint the outside. Next we added a dog kennel we found for pretty cheap. Then it was moving in day for our babies. 

They are the most beautiful chickens!! I am amazed at how they have different personalities! A friend of mine is working on a logo for our farm. We will be adding sheep this spring! AHHH! Another dream come true! More on that later!

So there you have it! The story of how we were given our dream by God. We still wake up and cannot believe we live here. 

September 11, 2001

 For America in my lifetime this is a day forever etched into my memory. Often I cannot remember what I was doing an hour ago, but 23 years ago today, I remember every detail. 

The sky was blue as could be, not a cloud in the sky. It was a crisp fall day, much like it is here today. Birds were singing about, we were doing our daily morning routine. Getting my coffee, getting my kids ready for the day, feeding them breakfast, and waiting for the bus. 

At 8:30 am I put my daughter on the school bus, unaware of the events about to happen. At 8:46 am a plane struck the North Tower. I was watching the news when it occurred.  I remember thinking that's odd, how does something hit the building that big? I thought at first it was a sightseeing helicopter. 

I had to leave to take my other daughter to preschool just up the road from me. I dropped her off with such an uneasy feeling. Waiting in the doorway everyone was talking about the event. But when another mom mentioned that a second plane had hit the South Tower at 9:03 am.  I wanted to gather my kids up and go home. But I left them, as I wanted them to not know what was happening. Mainly because I still was not aware of the vastness of the crashes. 

A knock at the door from a delivery man, a man that I think about all the time but especially on this day. He came in with my delivery and we stood in the kitchen glued to the TV. This man (I regret never asking his name) was a veteran Marine who had just finished up his time. We just stood there watching the TV in unbelief.  I felt so sick. But the worst was yet to come. As a first responder I knew that many brother's and sister's were running towards and into those buildings as everyone was running out. That's what we do. 

I look at this photo and wonder what exactly was going through his mind? I'm sure it was unbelief, but also how are we going to attack this fire? Can we get above the fire? Was he also praying? Concerned I'm sure for his men and women inside the towers. 

Little did we know that in just under an hour after the second tower was hit it would come down very quickly. No one could ever be prepared for that. I am not sure they even had that scenario in their training.

 At 9:37 am a plane struck the pentagon. What on earth was happening?? It was clear that our beloved nation was under attack. It was just my 1, almost 2  year old son at home. I was unsure what I was to do. I really wanted to go pick up my girls from school!!

At 9:59 am the South tower started to collapse. Watching this on TV I was physically sick thinking about all the people in the building and outside the building. Never in my life did I think 343 brothers and sister would perish. Read the names, pray for their families and fellow first responders. So many continue to pass away due to the exposure they received that day.

The rest of the photos I will share are from the FDNY Memorial Wall 

Every anniversary I read through these names. If you have never gone to the 9/11 memorial, and museum you really should. 

10:07 am Flight 93 crashed in a field in PA. The passengers on that flight saved lives that day. They too are heroes! 

10:00 am is my son's usual nap time. He was playing quietly next to me so I allowed him to stay up. I needed him to be near me. I knew my girls were safe at their schools. Andrew and I played and read books. Just like any other day. He was unaware of what was happening to our country. I started to worry about the world I was bringing my children up in. 

I still had the TV on but turned way down. I remember my son pointing to the screen every time they showed a firefighter or fire truck. He was destine to become a fire fighter. 

10:28 am North Tower collapses. The images of people running as the cloud of smoke, debris and dust follows them.  

My girls finally arrived home! I hugged them tighter than I ever had before. I wanted to keep watching the news, but knew I wanted to shelter my girls from this horrible day. We went outside to play, I wanted them to just be kids. I needed them to just be kids. 

I made sure they knew they were safe. It was impossible to shelter them from this for long. I made their favorite dinner of macaroni and cheese, Kraft of course, with ground beef in it. We sat at the table just talking, mostly silly talk. But like I said I needed it. I would have had my EMT training that evening, which of course was cancelled. I went anyway, because as a team / brothers and sisters, we needed to be together this day. 

I went to class and we just sat around talking for hours. We talked about what happened. If something could have been done differently. We were angry and wanted to hop into the trucks to head down to NYC. 

The days and weeks to follow showed how strong America really is. Watching people dig through the rubble in hopes of finding just one more person alive. But days went by and all we saw was bodies being pulled out. Churches were once again full!! People were hanging out flags at their homes. Military men and women were being recognized for their service. Even first responders were being recognized. There were signs all over saying thank you! People were stopping by the fire hall with food, cookies and donations like we had never seen before. 

Fast forward to 2024. Churches sit empty. Police are often attacked on a daily basis. Even fire and EMS have been attacked. WHY? This country has gone so far backwards. I remember hearing "we will NEVER forget!" Well seems like many have forgotten the events of 9-11-2001. 

When all these names are thought of as actual people who were living their life to serve others it really puts it into perspective. There were SO many who lost their lives that day. So many more continue to lose their lives due to cancer. 

What were you doing on 09/11/2001? Let us not forget this day. Let us not allow evil to win.