Chapter 5 of 20 Dying Beautiful While working on getting the water on it was discovered the pipes above the kitchen were broke. The pump didnt work and there was a leak in the water tank. All unexpected fixes. The financial stress was overwhelming. We were now well into our down payment funds and the profit sharing check had not been issued yet, when out from nowhere, there was a buyer for the boat. God is good. July 23, 2012 we had a new shower, pressure tank, water pump and pipes. All electric required was very close to being in place. We were 8 days away from the extension running out and ready to call the bank again to order the appraisal that would lead us to closing. Constant calls with no response. For days. Dan had run out of vacation time from work and had to return. He was up every morning at 3:30 AM to get ready for work, home at 4PM and then off to the farm he went until well past dark. He was getting sick. Very sick. We both had so much on our plates. Dan had been working long days at his job and at the farm and my business had hit its busy season. My Daughter announced shed be leaving our home to live with her boyfriend. My baby, my last to leave, was going to fly. In the mix were the two community projects I had started the previous year. Buying the farm, my business, the community events I was in charge of. It just all felt so overwhelming. There was always one place I could go to feel grounded. My Moms home. Mom always made everything feel better. I made sure to visit her at least every other day. She listened to and enjoyed the stories of the Amish and what they were up to this time. My Brother John brought her to the farm one day while we were there working. What a nice surprise. She hadnt been feeling well and her leg was hurting but she had a small tour of the house none the less. As John went off with Dan to check out more of the farm, Mom sat in his car with the door open. It was a hot mid-July day and as she sipped from a bottle of water I sat in the grass at her feet. Youre going to have a lot of happy memories here Lori Smiling at the thought I replied I think so too, Mom Not long after that day I got a call. Mom is in the hospital. Its cancer As I headed there I felt numb inside. I couldnt think. I didnt want to think. NO. This couldnt be happening. I wanted more time with her, it wasnt time for her to go yet! The pain of the thought of losing her was so intense and at the same time it just didnt feel real. My mind shut down but somehow I still heard the word that struck pain in my heart. Hospice. In a fog of emotional disbelief and in almost robotic like fashion, too familiar from the previous year with our Fathers passing, my Brothers, Sisters and I banded together to form a schedule to care or our beloved Mother. As soon as we were no longer at the farm during the day, we noticed things coming up missing. A lot of things. First it was the gate to the fence that enclosed the property. Then it was the fence in front of the house that ran the entire length of the residential area of the property. T posts where torn out of the ground and the fence had been stripped from it and rolled up with two of the rolls prominently displayed at the Bishops house where all could see it. We knew the annual Amish auction was coming up. We were afraid more would come up missing, including the shelving in the store. We contacted the real estate company. I explained to them the situation with my Mom and that she was dying. We couldnt take the added stress of seeing everything we thought we were buying, disappear. Lori, “Do you think you could post a couple no tress passing signs on the buildings? Get the ones that say if you are caught removing, damaging or destructing anything on premises you will be prosecuted to the fullest. If you cant find them buy the ones that allow you to write on the bottom. Shelves are fixtures that are attached and may not be removed, what so ever. I think we might have to get some authority involved here whether the Amish like it or not. Im going to work on this. Ill let you know how I make out. We were talking about it today, I think we are going to take some drastic measures including but not limited to stopping the upcoming auction, due to the fact that the stuff being sold is what we consider stolen. We are going to work this out I promise. Lori I personally have 140 plus pictures from a couple days prior to you and Dan looking at it. Detailed pics. We will take action here of some kind. And then, silence. I called to ask what had happened with their efforts. The response from the real estate company’s owner was Youll have to sort this out with the Bishop Needless to say we were pretty unhappy about that. Talk to the Bishop? He wasnt even the one selling the Farm! His son in law was selling it. Talk to the Bishop? He is the one responsible for all the taking! Wasnt the real estate company here to protect the contract? We didnt understand. That is when it felt like the real estate company started working more for the Amish than for us. There was an excuse for everything that was taken. In a shaky voice my answer to him was I think that since we are not getting what we put an offer on, the purchase price should come down. My plea to the real estate company’s owner was cast aside. The realtor’s response was Well, I dont know about that. Dear Real Estate Company, Theres not much left of anything for them to take, everything we hoped wed get is gone. The shelving in the store that is bolted to the walls and the wood stove on the front porch is next. The Bishop offered to sell that stuff to us, so we know he will take it. We cant put a lock on the store because all of the house items/personal belongings are in there. We are stuck and can do nothing because we dont want to risk losing the house. Lori, “That stuff in the store is the sellers’ personal stuff, however has he said when he will be getting it? If hes going to do all paperwork from down there, whos getting his stuff? The wood stove? Is it the one that was in the kitchen? I havent heard about that. Shelves fixed and attached to the building become fixtures are part of contract. Are the gates/panels still there? Did Dan and the Bishop ever get together? I havent heard anything about that. Dear Real Estate Company, Yes, Dan talked to the Bishop and yes it is the wood stove that was in the house. I was hoping to use it for my store down the road. The shelves are bolted to the walls of the store but the Bishop said they are his daughters, he will be taking them. He said we can buy the stove and shelves from him if we want them. The panels are still there and the Bishop said we can keep them and that the seller will have to figure things out on his own as far as that goes. He also told Dan that they would bring in a trailer and clean up all the junk we dont want. That pisses me off because they left an awful mess behind when they were scavenging and they SHOULD clean it up. The gate and fencing is gone that was in front of the house. I was going to use that for a dog fence. The Bishop took that and said it is his. It was bad enough we had to put so much money into this place to get a loan but then to know our purchase offer was for things we thought we were going to have and not for what were really going to get really sucks. The Bishop and crew are taking the personal possessions from the store, not sure when but Im positive the shelves and store counter will go out the door too. The sheep are still there. They broke a stall in the barn and the barn still has 3 of manure on one end. Dan looked bad. He was exhausted as he laid on the couch. He had been to the doctor and had an acute case of strep throat. The phone rang. It was the Bishop. Dan, our auction is coming up and we were wondering if we could borrow those fence panels. Frustrated Dan put his hand over the phone and told me what the Bishop wanted. Absolutely not! I said. Well never see them again! With the phone again to his ear and the Bishop promising to bring them back, Dan agreed he could borrow them and barked at me that he WOULD bring them back. Dan was tired and sick and I had too much weighing on my mind to argue. What was done was done. Dear Real Estate Company, Oh yeah, when Dan and the Bishop discussed the fence panels the Bishop said that would have to be worked out between the seller and the real estate company owner. He asked to borrow them for the upcoming auction. Dan told him he could. Dan thinks they will be returned, I do not. Lori and Dan, They will not bring those panels back. You and Dan need to lock them up in the barn you also need to put locks on all barn, store, and house entrances. You have an interest in that property and they may no longer enter without permission from you. Put the wood stove back in the house and whatever else you see fit. No more discussions with them. Lock it & Post it. Also lock the store, when the seller wants his stuff he will have to contact you and Dan so you can be there to ensure nothing is taken that isnt personal. When it comes to settlement we will put an amount of days for retrieving their personal belongings (an addendum.) We all agree that you have the right to lock and post. They will have to contact you to enter premises period. Im serious about this. Lori I have to be honest with you about the two rolls and two gates out front of house, they were not there when the property was listed, they werent there when I showed three times prior to you and Dan, The English locals made a to do out of the sheep being in the road so someone put those up temporarily. Please lock and post. Dear Real Estate Company, “Dan made the decision about the panels without me. He is very trusting and believes the panels will come back. Ive been trying to avoid marriage problems through this whole thing so I bite my tongue a lot. The gate and the fencing in front of the house was there when we looked at the house and when we made our offer and it was in the main listing photo online. Someone should have told us it didnt come with the farm and wasnt part of the contract that includes all fencing and it should have been listed as an exclusion. Everyone else may have known about the fencing but when we made our offer, we did not know. As far as locking things up. We dont feel its our responsibility to do that. We feel the contract should be protected by the real estate office and if you cant work with the seller (not us, we did nothing wrong) to make things right, at least you could protect the sale and whats left to be taken by locking and posting to prevent more being taken I just didnt understand what was happening. Why were stories changing? When we first looked at the farm I cracked a joke about the property being fenced in and that we could let all of our animals live with us. The agents’ response was it was fenced in to keep the children safe from the road. Now the story is that the fence was due to English complaints about sheep in the road? Sure, there were sheep, but they were confined to the barn and pasture. This new story didnt make any sense. We needed someone, anyone to help us. We felt abandoned and completely helpless. Our constant calls to the bank went unanswered. Our calls to the real estate company asking for an extension to the contract yielded only excuses for no extension. The sheep had broken more boards in the barn. Once again I requested the assistance of the realty to help us. Knowing the annual Amish auction was only a week away we were in fear more would be taken from the farm. Instead of posting property that wasnt ours yet, I asked for their help. No response. We were just barley moving through life, feeling the stress of the past few months weigh heavier and heavier on us. We were ready for an appraisal, why wasnt the bank returning our calls? With no contract what did that mean? Could the buyer change his mind? Could he back out and sell the farm at a much higher price after all of the work we did? I scoured the Internet for information on contract law. If, after a reasonable amount of time the buyer doesnt come up with the money, yes, the seller can back out. I kept the news from Dan. I could hardly digest it myself. Dear Real Estate Company, “Any news about anything at all? We are very nervous as the contract date is almost up and when I talked to your other agent there was still no return mail from the seller with the extension.” Lori, “Im not sure if they even checked the mail Friday as we had no power at the office and went home to work that day. Dont worry about extension, they are not the quickest at doing stuff. He would be a fool not to sign it. He has had no other buyers come forward. Including true Amish, if they had wanted the farm they would have bought it before he left, they know when one of their community is leaving well in advance. They would have done it long ago.” Dont worry about the extension? How could we not worry about a contract extension? That seemed important. Very important. I would continue to request a signed extension until I got one and every return email would come a new excuse. We were the last to know that the holdup for an appraisal was because there were no public utilities at the farm. Sure there were. The electric service was on and was in our name. When that was finally resolved we had a date for the appraisal. August 10st. Even though two weeks had lapsed since we were ready for an appraisal, at least now it was finally here. A little flicker of light in what felt like such a dark world. Closing would be soon and we could end this nightmare and just live.” The appraisal went well with only two strikes against us. Heat and smoke detectors. Remembering the bank told us we could close if we were within $5,000 of any work that needed to be completed, we felt we were FINALLY there. We could close and put the heat in before winter set in. Now it was only a matter of waiting for the appraiser to send the report to the bank. My Mom started to rapidly decline and my time with her became more precious with each day I spent with her. The farm started not to matter to me, she was the only one in my world and my world was crashing. I was able to say all I had to say to her and she asked me to promise her something Ill never reveal but will hold onto, until I see her again. She took my hand as I thanked her for bringing religion into my life. With each moment at her side I listened to all she had to say and etched her words and the sound of her voice into my mind. Each time I held her hand or kissed her forehead I soaked in the feeling so Id never forget the softness of her skin and how it felt to touch her. To hug her. With every glance at her I drank in the grace and beauty she held within. Nancy Jane Emerson May 8th, 1927- August 16, 2012. Within a few minutes of her passing, the sound of an alarm clock rang clear amongst the sobbing. As Dan walked to the room in which my Father had passed away 17 months earlier, he found the clock plugged into the wall next to my Fathers favorite couch. As he reached for it to turn it off he discovered it was already set to the off position. Through our tears came smiles. Dad had let us know Mom was with him now. On the way home from my Mother’s funeral a thought came to my mind. She Died Beautiful If you would have asked me what dying beautiful was, 20 years ago, my thoughts probably would have turned to a visual beauty. There was no question my Mom was beautiful, even at 85, she remained a very pretty woman. But when those 3 words came to me out of the blue they were followed by so many more words. Dying Beautiful Dying beautiful means dying knowing your family will be ok Dying beautiful means dying while loving enough to let go Dying beautiful means dying with peace inside for leading a life of compassion and patience Dying beautiful means dying and knowing you may not have always understood things but you learned to accept the things you couldnt change. Dying Beautiful means dying with many adoring family and friends at your side. Dying Beautiful means dying knowing youve been responsible for some smiles, laughter and cherished memories. Dying beautiful means dying with a strong Christian heart. My Mother Died Beautiful and I learned my last lesson from her. To die Beautiful, you have to live beautiful. I will, Mom. Chapter 6 of 20 The Auction Emotionally drained and exhausted from crying, Dan and I left my Mother’s home and made our way to our rented farm. It was dusk and as I looked at a beautiful orange pink sky I remembered a favorite song of hers. A song that reminded her of my Father. Beyond the Sunset. Just a year earlier I had painted a rock for my Father’s grave with a verse from that song. Memories are a gift from God that death cannot destroy.” Once in the door of our rented farm I went to my art room and sat in my chair. Quiet. In disbelief that she went away in such a short time. What was I going to do without her? Who would I talk to? Who would hug me and make everything feel all better? We were going to have coffee at the farm. We had church to go to and stories to tell each other. That couldnt be all gone. It just couldnt. I laid my head on my desk and sobbed uncontrollably as I prayed for strength. I replayed the past year in my mind. The lost look she had, the broken woman she had become. I remembered a time before we knew she was sick, when I had paid a late visit to her. She was getting ready for bed. I told her I would come back the next day. Lori, will you come turn off the bedroom light for me? I walked into her room to see her laying diagonal on the bed, with Dads pillow tightly clutched in her arms. It broke my heart. In remembrance of that day I realized I could take all the love her children had for her and it still wouldnt be as much love as she had for him. She wanted to go to heaven. She wanted to be with my Father. It was a love story that never ended. I reached for the phone to check messages. Message one. August 16th, 2012. Hello, this is Jonathon. We always parked the buggies at the seller’s house during the annual Auctions and were wondering if that would be okay with you? Message two. August 16th, 2012. It was the Bishop. Dan, we need to go through the farm so I can get things to sell at the auction. I dont know, maybe that wont work though. The Amish auction was the next day. I had a bad feeling. The following week we went to check on the farm. It looked like it had been used as a fair ground. Trash everywhere. Pop cans, paper cups, children’s trinkets. Now we knew why the Amish kids cleaned some of the barn. To provide room for the horses that would need to be tied during the auction. Horse manure through out the clean part of the barn as well as outside. The sheep still on the farm had broken part of the inside of the barn. A trip to the hay mow and we saw that much of what was once there, had been taken. Most of the items the Bishop said were staying with the farm, were gone. When we walked into the garage we felt sick. Once clean, it was strewn with sawdust and pieces of wood, metal and broken and rusty machinery from one end to the other. Dented shelving and old tin signs were tossed outside along with broken glass, plastic buckets and broken cables and wire. It was no longer the saw mill and garage we had put an offer in on. It was a nightmarish collage of refuse. The contract had expired. As much as I begged in previous weeks, the real estate company wouldnt provide us with an extension. One excuse after another. Every day the excuse was different. The seller is faxing an extension today. You shouldnt worry about an extension, there is no one in line to buy the farm. We are waiting to see how long of an extension we should get. I knew for an extension to be valid it had to be signed by both parties. It became apparent why excuses were being made. If we backed out and tried to sue for breach they would be able to say what contract, theres no contract. We couldnt sue the real estate company. We couldnt sue the Amish seller. We were as exposed as deer caught in headlights. Nowhere to turn. Dear Real Estate Company, “Thought Id fill you in. Dan let them borrow the panels and they did bring them back. They took more stuff. They left a mess on the property...garbage scattered around...looks like from auction goers. The part of the barn they cleaned wasnt for us...it was so the Amish auction goers could stall their horses. Horse poop everywhere. We ran the sheep out of the barn. They got most of the personal items from the store but the shelves and counter are still there. No word from the bank since early August...appraisal was August 10th. No one will return our many calls and emails.” How could they do this to us? They were aware my Mother was on Hospice and her days were growing shorter. How could they not care? Where was the compassion? Where was the humanity? Why was no one helping us? Was our pain, suffering and absence from the farm an excuse for a free for all? All we could do is hang on tight with constant reminders to myself and Dan that this was all in God’s hands. But what about after the sale? Legally, what could we do? It was time to get some legal advice. I went to a lawyer armed with several emails between the realtor and myself. The mails told the whole story. I had the contract and had highlighted the part that included fencing and other items that were taken. I highlighted the blank space where exclusions should have been written in. I began to tell him our story and he very bluntly and rudely said Just give me the papers I sat quietly as he leafed through them for 10 minutes. When he was done he sat back in his chair and laughed. Do you really think you are going to close on this farm? Cant you see whats happening? They are trying to suck your husbands and your money up so you CANT close and then they are going to sell the house at a higher price. Hey, tell your husband he can come do work at my house if he wants to work for free I tried to answer him by telling him we HAD to put utilities in to get the loan. The banks wont give ANYONE a loan unless the utilities are in. His response was I wish I lived in your world. I think its probably a really happy place I was on the verge of tears. Mom had passed away just days ago. Our dream farm was being robbed right in front of our eyes and now the person I went to seek help from had his foot on my back and was grinding me into the ground. What about contracts? Dont they mean anything? Another laugh. Let me tell you something about life you dont seem to know and listen carefully to me. There are GOOD people and there are BAD people in the world, the bad people do not abide by contracts...oh, I would SO love to live in your world The lump in my throat was huge but there was NO WAY I was going to let this guy see me cry. You have a lot of money into the place. Too much to walk away from. I hope you do close but I dont see that happening. IF you are lucky enough to close, after the dust settles, we can sue everyone. Real estate lawyers write real estate contracts. You wont win against them. The Amish? Maybe...but in the end itll cost you much more to sue than what youll end up with.” My advice is for you to keep yourselves quiet, dont stir up trouble with complaints about them stealing things, try to close, forget about it and live happily ever after. I paid the $50 for legal advice, went to my truck and cried all the way home. This is our true story. Names have been changed. Emails to and from the realtor are actual emails with spelling errors corrected. Amish Above the Law books 1 & 2 are available on Amazon.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 04:55:53 +0000