We Bought a Farm: Tijmen leaves us (again)

Tijmen and Grampa

Tijmen and Jacob

Abigail trying to be like the guys.

With the Kotynski family

Right before I took him to the airport.

We have three "farm people" that have become like family to us. Jacob, Anni, and Tijmen. Jacob is from America and has been with us on and off for three years. Anni lives in Knoxville, and we have adopted her as a surrogate family member for sure! And then Tijmen. 

Tijmen has become a part of our family here at the Bauernhof. He originally came from the Netherlands through workaway, but he's since returned three more times and is a regular fixture here. 

We have mostly decided as a family that our hosting of volunteers will be much more minimal in the future. As our kids get older, and they are wandering the farm more and more, we have to be more careful. When they were little, I knew where they were and could keep a better eye on where the volunteers we had were. However, now, the kids are often doing their own thing, and monitoring their relationships with volunteers is harder. 

We will still be hosting people in the future but will be vetting much closer and probably hosting more females than males. (I hate that it has to be that way, but this is the world we live in.) However, Tijmen and Jacob will be two men that are welcome back on our farm anytime. We trust very few people with our children whole-heartedly, but we genuinely trust Tijmen and Jacob around our kiddos and family. (Oh, and of course, our Anni is also part of the family too!)

Tijmen is returning for his second (of three) years of University in the Netherlands. We are hoping he will be able to come back for the summer of 2020 as well, but we know that at some point, he'll have to be a grown-up and do grown-up things, and we may not see him as often. We stay in touch with him while he is gone, and have so enjoyed watching him come to a relationship with the Lord and with our family over the last three years.

The farm can be hard, but meeting wonderful people like these three guys makes it extra special.