7.23.24 John farewell

It has been a pleasure, relief, and struggle to go weekly to the temple with John. When we finally just do it I'm always surprised how easy it is to fit in. But when we finally get home 8 hours later (because of all the errands we run on that side of the valley) I'm exhausted. We listened to his assigned conference talk a few times, read the foot notes and discussed distractions. We had a good experience in the temple and came home with the obligatory stops. I ended up waiting in Ontario for a car and took a nap in a dealership waiting room while waiting and waiting. He is a fine young man who is enjoyable to be with and a huge tease. 

Sunday morning I insisted he settle in and write a talk. He wandered and worried till finally I sat down next to him and we started hashing out what stood out to him and what he wanted to say. His "mom I need you to stay focused with me" spoke to my heart and realizing this was the last we spent 2 hours getting his talk ready to go. Mark wrote his talk, sharing his experiences with new farming methods and learning from failures. Mark looks like a little brother but he is in face a sizeable man too. John's curly hair is showing up again as its longer. I'm never sure how to cut the hair for mission life as it's a different look. I think his plan is to get a hair cut in the MTC? 

After a luncheon and clean-up we retired to our home then grandmas to play with cousins for a while. These two are a few months apart but have a good time when they see each other. 

Eloise, Evander, Merle, Bruce, Trenton. 

The older girls were playing card games in another room.

After family left we took dinner to a family who have been battling wildfires all week. The manager suggested we take a look and we were of course in awe of their farming operation. These are cull dairy heifers from California. We were shocked to see how well filled out they are and how uniform. 

 This is NOT the result of antibiotics or hormone feeding. Those things cost money. Farming is always based on slim margins between cost and profit. Thus, the fattening of cull cattle. They cost less, grow well, and have large frames. This is a picture of scientific feed rationing. Just like the famous people are so skinny because of all the franken food and supplements they eat- no regular meat and potatoes for them. These cows are fed specially prepared meals that are easy to digest just the right nutrients to be sweet and salty and make them want to eat and eat. They have little reason to roam the pens thus they mostly just grow muscled marbled meat which is prime grade and reliable for each of us wanting a nice restaurant meal. We came home smelling like manure and fire. The devastation is real. People are loosing all their feed and some stock. It's hard to imagine the amount of money and family history of farming that is burning up. Thankfully the ranchers and farmers work together to make fire lines and stop the flames. We are not alone in our daily grind of long hours and hard work. We are blessed by good family and friends who support and encourage and enliven our years with the shared journeys of life. God is good even in hard times.