The Bad Kind of Family

I have been getting a lot of flack from my non-farming friends about missing out on things, not making it to places on time, always smelling, being on the phone etc etc.  I have gotten used to it but lately I have noticed how my family is the bad kind.  We are all the things my non-farming friends and family label us as.  The bad kind of family:

•  Rarely shows up on time

  I also have a bad habit of during finals helping a lot on the farm so I am usually late to at least one final because I can't leave in the middle of working.  We as a family are late because cows are unpredictable, oh so very unpredictable.  Graduation? they just wanna be fed. church? they just want fresh clean water. final? they hay needs to be baled. 

• Work clothes double as church clothes --or church clothes double as work clothes

There is nothing a little stain remover and Momma's special concoction can't get rid of.  On the other hand cows don't care if you are on your way out the driveway to a special function dressed all nice!

• Are closer to God on a tractor than in the pew

I am guilty of sitting in church thinking of all the things I could be doing if I wasn't in church.

• Work on Sundays 

Just like this Easter we barely made it to church because we lost a cow.  There aren't enough hours in the day to get a days work done so many time we use our Sundays.  But, I don't think God cares because "God made a Farmer" and His animals need to be tended to everyday of the week 24/7

• Schedule reflects the amount of chores for the day

Many farming families go till 1 am during harvest or hay season or get up multiple times a night during calving season.  We have missed a lot of family functions because 5 pm is a prime time on our family farm.  We schedule (if we can even go) our vacations around the farm and most times someone can't go. 

• Believe in hard work (child labor!!)

I learned to get up at 5 am at an early age because the cows don't know I stayed up too late they just know they are hungry.  I was a really strong kid because picking (or whatever it took to get them moved) up feed sacks was an everyday thing.  

I would not change my bad family for anything.  We get bad looks when we haven't been to church in month,