And on the ninth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need someone to have a kind heart full of compassion and a spirit as free as a wild mustang and as old as time." So, God made a farmer's daughter.

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Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator

God said I need somebody to sit on the armrest of the tractor while her father runs the disc, get up before school to feed the animals and listen to her teachers' lessons, bring the cattle in from pasture, help her mother cook supper and then go to town to her high school FFA meeting and stay up past midnight working on homework. So, God made a farmer's daughter.

I need somebody with a strong mind and gentle soul. Strong enough to hold a kicking calf to tag, yet gentle enough to calm a heifer delivering her first baby and get it to nurse. Somebody to call in cattle by yelling “boss," lighten the mood between tired farm hands after a long day, come home to hug her mother and help with her siblings and set the table and clean the dishes. So God made a farmer's daughter.

God said "I need somebody who gets knocked down by a horse and stands up, dusts off the dirt from her jeans and the tear from her eye and climbs back in the saddle. Someone to return to the field after school to plant seeds, drive from field to field with only a farmer's driving permit and a phone book to sit on. And who, during harvest season, will sacrifice nights out with friends and days by the pool to help her dad cut crops, sweep out grain bins in triple-digit heat, deliver meals to the field, and finish a forty-hour week by Tuesday noon. So, God made a farmer's daughter.

God had to have somebody patient enough to halter break a new colt and spend countless hours training a show steer for months to prepare for the county show, and still be understanding enough to accept the way of life as she loads him into the buyer's trailer, gives him one last pet, and wipe the tears off her face as she watches the headlights disappear down the road. So, God made a farmer's daughter.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to build a fence, heave bales and yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend to the calf who lost his mother and his foot to that winter's frost…and who will stop the combine for an hour to mend the baby deer hiding in the wheat field despite knowing her father will be yelling on the two-way to keep the machinery running. So, God made a farmer's daughter.

I need someone who won't back away from a challenge and will face her fears head-on and learn from failures and not give up. Somebody unafraid of getting dirty and cleans up well before going to church and volunteer for the town's pancake feed. And who keeps involved in her community and knows her priorities and stays disciplined enough to know her chores must be done before the evening activities. So God made a farmer's daughter.It had to be somebody who'd keep on the straight and narrow, not cut corners, and stay hard-working and determined and restore faith in her generation into the minds of elders. Somebody to speak, share, and advocate for agriculture and farmer's rights …and show the world the truth behind the lies of animal activist groups. Somebody not easily discouraged and mindful of others and who'd bond a community together with the heart of sharing and compassion for thy neighbor, who'd laugh and then sigh…and then tell her dad with bright eyes and a proud smile, she wants to spend her life “supporting what dad does". So, God made a farmer's daughter.