Help Rebuild Our Burned-Down Barn

This is really hard to do, but here we go.

I am Andrew Bishko, proud husband to Rachael and father to Honor, Joyous, and Shepherd. We are a rural homeschool family from rural southwest Missouri, near Buffalo, Missouri

On March 14 our 100-year-old barn was engulfed in a 40 ft. wall of flame in a matter of minutes. Due to the heroic efforts of our family, and neighbors, a second building that we had recently restored was saved, though damaged. A part of our home also caught fire and was put out quickly. The fire was contained but still very dangerous when the rural volunteer fire department arrived and helped quell the flames.

The worst part was that our 10-year-old son Shepherd lost his two beloved ewes (mother sheep), three lambs, and the unborn lambs.

Bronwyn was Shepherd's first ewe, and has been with him half his life. She had recently given birth to three lambs (Dean, Dalton, and Diana).

These pictures are from the day the fire took our sheep:

Bronwyn was an excellent mother, who gave birth to 14 lambs in her life, but Shepherd is a great mother's helper, and makes sure that all the lambs are well fed.

Behind him is Twinkle, Bronwyn's daughter who Shepherd had saved after a tornado-strength storm tore the roof off their shed and she was terribly chilled. Shepherd tucked her into his sleeping bag and cuddled and nursed her back to life. She was about to become a mother herself.

The other barn residents were our 7 adult dairy goats. Our 12-year-old son Joyous was able to rescue them all before he teamed up with our neighbors to rescue the second building.

While we can never replace Bronwyn and Twinkle, and the special relationship Shepherd had with them, or their lambs, we have been working together as a family to rebuild.

The funds we raise will help us to . . .

Thank you so very much for your kindness!

Love and Light,

Andrew, Rachael, Honor, Joyous, and Shepherd