Farm Update – Space to Love and Be Loved
How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved! — Brennan Manning
The barn wall – all reclaimed wood.
The room is 10 x 14′ perhaps. In it, we will have two sets of bunk beds, a desk, and a chair. Gentle lighting. Quilts. Books. Coasters for the sweat of iced tea and the steam of hot.
Next door, the bathroom will have a shower with the most fun curtain I can find, a sink with great lighting, and all the necessaries and Philip’s special Jeep outhouse picture. (You’ll need to see it for yourself.)
Beyond the wall, a rustic kitchen will have all that’s necessary to make a meal, grab a late-night snack, boil that tea water.
Soon, you will be able to come stay here at the farm, in a space built with you in mind, a space designed to give you rest and room. A space created to remind you that you are loved every minute of every day.
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This week, Dad finished the wall of reclaimed wood that separates the public space of the barn from the private rooms. We still have doors to hang and a sliding door to build between Philip’s shop and the meeting room, but we are making fast progress.
We also set up that kitchen – stove, freezer, mini-fridge (in case you wanted to relive residence hall days or pretend you’re in a fancy hotel. I’ll get a few tiny bottles of liquor and pickles.), and the world’s oldest (and heaviest) microwave. Everything from appliances to cabinets is recycled, and right now, two antique doors make the countertop. Soon, we’ll add a sink and connect the electricity, and we’ll have a full kitchen in the space.
In the bathroom, we have the sink – moved from the guest bathroom that was in my office – and we’ll get a shower stall with a really nice shower head. We promise we’ll get the best composting toilet we can.
Then, when it’s all done, you can come – with your family, with a friend, on your own. You can come to write or simply get away. Or spend the night after the concerts and readings that will soon fill the front of the barn. Plan a historic Virginia tour and crash here. Whatever reason you need a safe, comfortable, cozy place to stay – our barn will be here for you.
The rate for staying over will be minimal, and we will do our very best to accommodate budgets and schedules.
Think of our bunk room as a rustic airbnb.
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Our goal in this space is not to create a 4-star hotel experience for you (except for the tiny liquor bottles, of course.) No, here, we want you to feel like you came to a little bit of home, a place where you feel safe and relaxed, where you can hear bleating goats and wake to the crow of a rooster.
Here, our only goal is that you get rest and that you know – as deeply as possible – that you are loved for all of you are, all of who you were, and all of who you will ever be. Every minute of every day.
If we do that, well, Whisperers, God’s Whisper Farm will be more than we ever hoped and dreamed.
If you were going to come have a rustic, restful experience, what would you need? Or what might you NOT want to have at hand?
This coming Saturday, the amazing Shawn Smucker will be here on the farm to read from his book The Day the Angels Fell and to talk about writing and living. I hope you’ll join us for a potluck supper at 5pm and then stay for Shawn’s talk at 7pm. Wilma, the fainting goat, let me know this morning that he’s very much looking forward to seeing you, so please come. The event is free, open to the public, and appropriate for all ages.