Though our homestead has been saved with a loan from members of our local church, we are facing different difficulties.  Because of that the focus of this site has changed to the smooth running, upkeep of our homestead while still seeking the funds to pay the loan back to our Christian friends soon.  Without Barry it is going to be a challenge as he had so much knowledge in his brain and his experience was so vast, that there is no one and nothing that can replace him.  That is not even counting the love he showered on us and his unselfish example of a true godly man.  We are trusting God and His faithfulness while at a loss of how this all fits into His perfect plan.  We don't need to know.  We trust Jesus.  We offer a place here for those who want to use this site to help us financially in our struggles ahead.  Thank you.

Because of a loan from wonderful Christian friends we were able to pay off the mortgage on our homestead. If you would like to help us pay off our loan to them sooner or help us with our farm expenses, comment your preference with your gift.

We are praising God for the help He has given us in resolving the issue of our homestead.  Our thanks go out to all of those who have helped in this and will help in this.  Below is our story.  The updates will fill you in on how God resolved this.  I will keep updating as long as God gives me something to write here.  It may not be as often as it was at the start or it may be.  I just don't know.

Our story and updates:

A friend asked us to tell our story here, so anyone wanting to help had this outlet. Another friend is still working on other fund raisers for us and we are so thankful for her efforts. But our time is running out to resolve this, so here goes…By the way you can also help by sending a check made out to The Rock Mission Center and put Nettrour in the memo line or in a cover letter.  The address is:

The Rock Mission Center

P.O Box 158 

Eagle River, WI 54521

08-07-15 Update:  Because of a loan from wonderful Christian friends we were able to pay off the mortgage on our homestead. If you would like to help us pay off our loan to them sooner or help us with our farm expenses, comment your preference with your gift.

7-24-15 Update: Because we had the successful bid to redeem our property at the sheriff's sale we know what we still need. Since we have been helped outside of the fundraisers through our church, and many Christians—members of the one church all Christians belong to—we now only need $20,000. But our time is limited to raise this so we pray that if you want to help that you do not delay. God will work but for any of us to receive the blessings we need to be a part of that work. I will be glad when we can be beyond needing this help and can start helping others again. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive, but right now God is putting us on the receiving end. We have really learned that there are many people who actually listen to God's voice and do as He bids because we have had many miracles God has used His people to perform. Thank you all. Most of you are only known by God, but He is the one Who gives the blessings that matter so that is good enough for us!

We will keep the update for 30,000 though in case we go over what is needed.  If we do that will help with the running and expanding of our farm.

Many have liked my breakdown of what it would take to raise this money, but now it is lost in my updates so I am posting it ahead of telling our story.  Here it is:

People keep saying it is too impossible for us to raise $30,000 in the next two weeks. I know God can do it, but how hard would it be for people to be a part of it?
Actually it is only a matter of numbers. It would change if someone gave different amounts but here is a breakdown of one way it could work:
All we need is 3 people who believe in us enough to give us $10,000
Or 6 people who believe in us enough to give us $5,000
Or 12 people who believe in us enough to give us $2,500
Or 24 people who believe in us enough to give us $1,250
Or 30 people who believe in us enough to give us $1000.
Or 60 people who believe in us enough to give us $500.
Or 120 people who believe in us enough to give us $250.
Or 240 people who believe in us enough to give us $125.
Or 480 people who believe in us enough to give us $62.50.
Or 960 people who believe in us enough to give us $31.25
Or 1920 people who believe in us enough to give us $15.63 (which will actually give us an extra $9.60 as it is actually $15.625 needed for 1920 people but if I drop the .005 it is only 29,990.40 and not 30,000)
That is if we still only need $30,000 more than we have already raised and they have not added too much more from the bank and lawyers for legal fees, interest etc. I am still waiting on the actual payoff from the bank which should be coming to us any day now. But no one has to wait on that!

We are the Nettrours. Barry is my husband. I am Nelani and since I am the writer, I am writing this. We have five adult children Joshua, Jasmine, Samuel, Heather and Autumn. Then there is our farm. Our farm is such a blessing. When we threw out names only one stuck, “Fruit of the Spirit Farm”. It is from Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 In 1976 with our four month old son Joshua, we joined my family in Eagle River. We bought land from my parents and had a home build on it 37 years ago. Our children have grown up in this home and our two youngest daughters were even born in this house, on purpose. Everywhere across our land I see my husband’s handiwork. It is a blessed and amazing homestead filled to overflowing with love and God’s miracles. Anniversaries were not spent with vacations but another addition to our homestead like the gazebo for our 25th anniversary, swings, a pavilion and sun deck and of course our farm. Words would not do our farm justice so I am going to post as many pictures as I can get up and add to them as I can. We put this fundraiser up prayerfully, knowing that God moves in mysterious ways and most often He moves through people. No matter what happens we know that Jesus will never abandon us and that we will be victorious. Since God’s ways are not always our ways, what that victory looks like only He knows. I have also finished the 2 volume book set I wrote during these struggles, "Living Naturally in the Northwoods : The Gist of It". You can find it at: http://3mpub.com/nettrour. Purchasing these books or the download is another way to help us save our homestead and expand our farm. So, what could turn this blessed existence into a state of upheaval and peril? As you can see from our description our homestead is scheduled to be sold on the courthouse steps at a sheriff’s sale on July 16, 2015. But how did this happen to us? With the bad economy and health issues we have been fighting battle after battle to keep our home/farm. We thought our hardest battle was over after getting back on track with the bank from a 2012 foreclosure. But when the bank put all of our back property taxes onto our mortgage—but would not add them to the principle—our monthly payment went from about $711 to $2583 a month. It didn't take long for the bank to foreclosure. Though we had held and paid a mortgage with our bank for over 30 years and had paid well over $200,000 on a $99,000 note, this had no impact on the bank's dealings with us when we fell on hard times. They had gone from being Eagle River State Bank, the local bank we started out with, to M &I Bank a corporate bank and then that bank was taken over by the bank we are dealing with now, BMO Harris. They told us they would not renegotiate the loan. Earlier this year the bank had already taken another piece of our property, a piece we thought was free and clear, before the foreclosure notice informed us of a banking mistake that we were also told was too late to rectify, as it was just our word for it. What happened was that we had taken out a second mortgage on our lake and 17 acre property to build a shop on our homestead land. Then we paid off the second mortgage. When we got the release we assumed it was again free and clear. But in some copying mistake the property was put back onto our original mortgage when it was renewed and no one caught it. We just signed where we were told to sign and thought nothing of it. We went on making our payments until we ran into hard times. In foreclosure court we fought to separate the two pieces of property we hadn’t even known were still tied together, and they were released to be sold separately. The lake and 17 acre property would be sold first and if that did not fetch enough money to satisfy the loan our homestead would be sold once that sale was confirmed. So when that property went up for sheriff’s sale we were ordered by the court to get an appraisal. Though it was the middle of winter and not a good time at all to appraise property, we had to get the appraisal done then. Our lake property, with a tax appraised value of around $140,000 was valued at $70,000. That in itself testifies to the state of the economy, but I won’t go there. During the foreclosure proceedings our mortgage had grown to almost $100,000 with interest, penalties and the bank's legal fees. So when they took our 17 acres with 150 ft of lake frontage we still owed them approximately $30,000. They are coming after our homestead for that additional money. So we seek to pay the debt off before the sheriff’s sale. If we raise more money we will build up our farm. We could not grow the crops we had planned on growing for our animals winter feed as they took our 17 acres where our farming land is. We are also praying and fighting to get back that land taken from us, but keeping our homestead has top priority.