Imagine being a teenage boy who loves hunting, fishing, trapping and mountain biking, but he lives in a suburban neighborhood. Then imagine his happiness on a 61-acre farm with wild turkey and deer, ponds for fishing and woods for trapping and camping out.
This is the life that the Medley boys – Isaac, 15, and Luke, 13 – now live, thanks to their parents' hard work and sacrifice.
Lalah Medley, 44, an art teacher at Lone Oak Middle School, dreamed of moving to a house at the end of a cul-de-sac with an in-ground pool and a Jacuzzi. She and her husband, Kelly, 47, believe that in the end, God had a different plan for them.
"It's a miracle we're here." says Lalah, reflecting on the last few years and how fortunate they are to have such a special home for their boys.
Lalah is a Paducah native. Kelly, who works at Troutman Signs, a three-generation business of Lalah's family in Paducah, came from Metropolis, Illinois, just across the river from Paducah. In 2013, they purchased the farm in Boaz. It was plagued with neglect and would require a lot of work to fix up, but the couple could envision a stretch of land on which to raise their active, outdoor-loving boys. Lately they added grass-fed cattle as a possible income producer.
Isaac and Luke do many things together. The land and the animals on it offer them endless possibilities. They're learning about the world, interacting with nature and the wild, side by side. They may do it differently, and they may argue along the way, but in the end, they're doing it together.
