Welcome to another week!
I hope you had a good Independence Day weekend. I praise God for the freedom Americans have.
Vacation Bible School (VBS) at Fallowfield United Methodist Church wrapped up on Friday, June 27. We averaged 70 children per night.
This year’s VBS charity was Smile Train. The children emptied their piggy banks and raised enough money to buy cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for eight children.
Smile Train had a matching gift program that gave three surgeries the price of one. The children raised enough money to give eight children cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries. Through the generosity of this matching gift, 24 children will get their cleft lips and palates repaired.
I didn’t realize the way children in developing countries suffer when they’re born with cleft lips and palates. It’s basically a life sentence of isolation and ridicule. They can’t smile, can’t go to school, have no friends, can’t get jobs, and usually don’t marry.
One 45-minute surgery changes their lives and their faces forever. It’s amazing.
I hope you will join me in praying for the Glenn Cooper family. Glenn passed away on June 30. He lived in Adamsville and raised gorgeous Percheron Draft Horses.
I heard a sad report on Family Life Radio today. It said Northeastern Pennsylvania has lost 210 dairy farms in the past decade. Most farms ceased operation because children didn’t work alongside their parents. Once the parents retired they sold their farms.
I know three families in the Atlantic community who run dairy farms. They work very hard to provide consumers with the best quality milk.
We have many Amish farmers in our community, too. Many milk their own cows.
I’ve heard that dairy farming is very hard work. My dad milked for the late Wendell Andrews. Dad grew up in Adamsville where Mr. Andrews farmed.
The last generation of farmers in my family was my Dad’s grandparents. Their farms failed during the Great Depression. No one in my family has farmed since then.
I write this as someone who has never touched an udder. I do imagine what farming is like. I’ve read books with characters who are farmers and seen movies and TV shows about farmers. I admire them. Sometimes I beat myself up for knowing so little about this self-sufficient lifestyle.
The Atlantic community is dotted with barns. Some set on properties with thriving farms; some are falling apart on farms that no longer operate.
Our region was originally settled by farmers. The Erie Extension Canal and railroads brought jobs and commerce to our area, but both are things of the past.
I would love to see farming revive in our community. So what can we do? I’m not sure there’s an easy answer, but I believe we should start by praying. God has anointed our community. We have many Christians here, and God promises to bless faithful followers.
Psalm 103:17 reads, “But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!” (NLT)
I am grateful that the three dairy farmers I mentioned have grown children who have taken up their parents’ - See Dairy page 15
Dairy - from page 12
mantles and farm alongside their parents.
It makes me smile and lifts my spirits when I see people living off the land.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!