a little getaway

last week i received the following e-mail in my inbox:

I’ve come across your blog and wanted to get in touch. I’m involved in PR for Bob Evans and we have a pretty unique proposition for you!

Next weekend, October 8-10 marks the 40th anniversary of Bob Evans Farm Festival, an enormously entertaining celebration of where the Bob Evans legacy all began.  The festival is being held on the original farm where Bob and Jewell Evans once lived.

Would you and your family be interested in a behind the scenes tour and VIP treatment at this year’s farm fest?  The festival runs from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and since you’re an Ohioan we thought you might be interested in a road trip with a lot of goodies waiting for you upon arrival.

If you decide to join us, we can offer you one-on-one sessions with some of the unique demonstrators and exhibitors featured at farm fest such as Master Pumpkin Carving, cow milking with Laurel Valley Creamery, sheep shearing, front row seats to Border Collie demonstrations, stirring the famous bean soup with the bean team, soap making, exclusive walk-throughs with crafters who won at the festival last year, blacksmith demos, front row seats to the timber show or tractor square dancing show, behind-the-scenes at the Mark Wood fun show and even Clogging lessons!

I would love to put together a brief agenda with some of these exclusive activities with some of these demonstrators that also allows for tons of free time to roam about the farm fest with your family!

it was sent from a PR exec at an advertising agency in pittsburgh.  my initial thoughts: this is a joke. seriously?  why would some guy doing PR for bob evans e-mail me about something like this?  i'm a nobody in the blog world. surely there are others who would be much more suited for this.  this must be a scam.  this guy is probably some creep trying to make money off us.

i checked the bob evans website.  i checked his agency's website.  then aaron and i realized that this might just be a legitimate offer. 

so i responded.  and we will be going to the bob evans 40th annual farm festival this weekend.  i mean, how can you say no to a cow milking experience? 

photo source here.

as this whole idea finally started to sink in, a small part of me was still cautious (just so that i don't endup being disappointed), thinking that this was going to end up being some crazy scam.  but i doubt that it is. 

i know that this opportunity is a way of God providing for us.  we had resigned to the fact that we weren't going to be doing any vacations (even a tiny one) after the huge, unexpected (home-related) expenses we had to deal with this past year.  there was just not enough extra cash to allow for even an overnight trip somewhere.  but God is so gracious and faithful, and he provides for us even when we don't ask for it.

this would be our little mini-vacation.  a very short, family getaway.  and it wouldn't cost us anything except for gas.  i cannot ignore the fact that this is God's work.  i know that this weekend opportunity wasn't from something i did, because i didn't do anything special or extraordinary. 

this whole little weekend getaway may seem like a funny way for God provide for us. it's easy to dismiss that this had nothing to do with God. i mean, if the Lord is going to provide, why doesn't he give us money so we can pay off our debt?  but God provides for us in big and small ways so that in all aspects of our lives we can bring glory to him.  if we keep focusing on the "big" things that God has done then we may miss all the wonderful, little details in our lives that he has taken care of for us.

and this farm festival is certainly a wonderful, little detail.

photo source here.

now i wonder exactly what kind of goodies we will be receiving?  a lifetime supply of bob evans sausage gravy?  bacon?  hmmm...