Dear Amanda- A Letter to the Stranger That Changed Our Lives

Dear Amanda,

How can I ever repay you for your generosity? How can I even put into words what you have done for my family?

I remember receiving your email like it was yesterday…

As a matter of fact, I remember every moment down to the last detail. I had prayed before bed, as I always do, to please help us find some sort of source for raw milk. See, as you now know, out littlest homesteader, Nanette Lorraine, has to have raw milk. She has allergies and eczema like it is no body’s business- unless she has raw milk. When she has raw milk her allergies are non-existent. As a mom, I was stuck in a hard place.

We had just moved from South Carolina, where I could walk into a store and buy a gallon of raw milk to Virginia- where it is illegal to sell raw milk except from a herd share or for pets use.

As a family that lives on one income, a herd share over one hour away, was not in our budget. It wasn’t even a consideration.

Buying a milk animal also wasn’t in the budget right now. After all, we had just moved and had to spend our savings to get our house into shape to be able to run a homestead- 10 acres had to be fenced in with posts and electric fencing (and that ain’t cheap). We also just spent hundreds of dollars on chickens- to provide our family with meat and another source of income (eventually) eggs. So, I kept praying. Asking God to please help us find a reasonable source of raw milk for our little girl. I didn’t remember how bad her allergies were until one month after she stopped the raw milk when they reappeared. And it was after we purchased the chickens and fencing supplies, or the milk animal would’ve come first.

Beau and I had just decided, the night before your email, to start a savings fund for a milk animal (whether it be a cow or goat). We knew that saving for it would be a slow process, but all in due time, right?

Well, we woke up that morning and Nanette Lorraine’s eczema was out. of. this. world. During her nap time I cried. Like a baby. On my husband’s shoulder. I felt helpless.

All she needed was raw milk and we didn’t have access to it any longer, nor the money to buy an animal in milk and the supplies, nor did we have the time to wait for the twin girls (goats) we have now to be bred, then carry to full-term and deliver, then wean at 9 weeks from their babies.

The time and money were just not there.

That day, I sat down to check my email. I erased all the fluff that usually comes to my email, as I was pressing the trash can time-after-time I saw an email with the subject line ‘I want to help.’

It was yours.

I read it.

My jaw dropped. I started crying. Asking myself if this was real (I’m still expecting to wake up!). 

I called for Beau to come into the living room, where our computer is. He looked at me in shock. See, I am not one of those ladies that cries. Like ever. And there I was staring at my computer screen. Crying.

He immediately hugged me and asked me what was wrong.

I was speechless- which never happens either. I just pointed to the computer screen as I silently wept.

We had been praying every night for a source for raw milk, begging God to please direct us in the right direction to get raw milk for our baby.

And there it was. In an email. On MY computer screen. It was you. The answer to our prayer.

After Beau read it he just sat there in silence too. We both just stared at each other. After a long silence from us both (we were in shock) I said “God answers prayers. There’s still good people in this world. Is this real?”

My mind was scattered and I had become overwhelmed with emotion.

We couldn’t believe that a stranger just stumbled upon our giving up post on pinterest, read it, and sent an email saying they wanted to buy us a milk animal- a cow or goat- our choice.

I emailed you back. I was concerned about taking a “hand-out” considering we have always worked for every thing that we have. You assured me that it was NOT a hand-out, that it was a donation to the cause. That you understood what it was like to be up all night with a child that suffers from allergies, and the feelings of helplessness that comes from that. You said that in the post I said that budget was an issue for us since we homestead on one income. You said that you had never thought about it like that but that budget wasn’t an issue for you. That it is easy to make money living in Las Vegas and you wanted to help us.

US. Yes, I am still in disbelief. This was happening to us.

You chose to help people who you have never met. People that you don’t know.

You told us to look around for an animal in our area. Seeing that this is going to be our raw milk source, we wanted to make sure that our animal came from a place that knew how to care for animals and had an excellent track record for doing so. We found one. I contacted the owner and after going to visit we decided on Silk Stockings ‘aka Silkie.’ She is a LaMancha and just had twins on March 6th, so she is in milk.

After us exchanging emails we found out that you sent the deposit for Silkie. Then, the next day the remainder of the money was in my paypal account.

This was real. This is happening. We will have a source for raw milk on our farm. Nanette Lorraine’s allergies will once again be like a thing of the past.

We are really excited and getting ready to bring Silkie onto our farm the second week of May. We have purchased all the necessary supplies and non GMO feed (for milking time). We are building her milk stanchion from supplies we already have on hand. But, even with all of this excitement, I still want you to know that there is not a day that has gone by that I do not think of you.

See, you didn’t just provide our family with our own personal raw milk- you restored our faith in humanity, drastically reduced our grocery budget since we will be making: cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, soap, and raw milk, have helped Nanette Lorraine not suffer from allergies anymore, have helped me not have that feeling of helplessness that a mother of a kid with allergies has, and finally have taught our children, and us, one of the most valuable life lessons- to help out others in need when you can. The world needs more people like you.

How in the world can I ever repay you for what you have done? You truly are a blessing. You are the answer to our prayer. You literally have changed our lives in numerous ways. Your kindness. Your generosity.

So, thank you to the stranger that we call an angel.

And that we only know as Amanda in Vegas…