5.17.22 Farm Life

I never got back to this post so I'm adding it today. 

We have been very blessed this year to graze our cows on neighbors corns of their pivot fields or empty pastures. Bruce is laying in the lush weeds waiting for consumption. He gets to go with the big kids whenever they can catch him. 

Building fences. The rains were such a blessing and provided feed for several months. This saved us thousands of dollars in feed. 

He was also instructed to help level the pig pen. One thing about kids the busier they are the better they behave. 

Amazon boxes make fun forts. 

Andrea becoming more alert and attentive to what the kids are doing around her. 

To my dismay the new flip phones also have youtube capabilities thus a portion of each work session is watching movies or clips. I'm not thrilled with this addition. 

Addie trying out her play outfit. 

My two sweeties. He's always touching her. 

We have amazing sunsets. 

Addie removing some trees. As I have noted before she loves to burn. Tree removal is a great way to have a big big fire. Thankfully the elm trees are prolific producers and provide plenty of extra work all year round. 

Mark getting his cow tied up ready to move to our house. She did not follow like a fair cow but came without too much trouble. Just in time two she dropped her calf much to the kids delight right after they got home from school a few days later. It is so good to see life beginning. Additionally it delights Mark to see his cow and calf grow right here by our house. 

Bruce helping heard the cow. This was not mom condoned but happened none the less. 

Almost to the new green pasture. They sure wouldn't fight so much if they new how much better life was going to get. 

Uncle Jay visited and worked to establish a relationship with the boys. They enjoy his willingness to play.

I came home from an activity to find a birthday cake ready for Addie who was sure we had forgotten. Never! We sang and ate with her. Thanks to Aliza for saving the day. 

After a long day of working my two stubborn oxes enjoy a movie break. The kids are growing and becoming more and more capable. I'm thankful to have real things for them to do each day. I'm thankful to be a family. Maybe we are more like the cows than we realize fighting so hard against change when there is so much better ahead. We work to trust God, when these pictures were taken we were just starting to see Him providing water for this year. I'm thankful for His Grace and mindfulness we had a normal end of school which we missed for the last two years, we had time as we weren't fighting so hard to water crops. We had feed for cows which lessened the chore of shoveling hay to them day and night. Life is good. 
 

7.13.22 4th of July Rodeo

The kids school sings at the rodeo, sells tickets at the entry booths, sells programs, and sold sno-cones. Additionally they clean up the grounds and gather and dispose of the garbage when the even is done every night. It is a busy 4 days. A picture taken with my sweet Addie. She is a busy willing worker. She does jobs completely and likes to earn money.

Of course a big part of the rodeo is snacks. The younger kids clamoring for GReg to take them to get food. 

Because we are all there we chose to clean the grounds the first night. I was busy helping and holding Andrea but we did the entire job ourselves. It wasn't as magical as before we missed our happy workers HArold and ANna but got the job done with the still learning younger set. 

The kids singing the national anthem. Livy was excited to sing but was absolutely captivated by the horses. 

The next morning was the annual church breakfast. We were delighted to meet the new sisters serving in our area. They were energetic and glowing. I remembered to snap a picture to send to their families. Those mean so much to me as a missionary mom. 

These two are pretty good at bouncing from one activity to the next. 

The two workers at the rodeo taking tickets and selling programs. I will miss Aliza mentoring and watching out for Addie. 

 That has been a unique new chapter to our family to have John, Mark, and Addie doing things along instead of in clusters like years past. John went to football camp solo. Mark went to FFA leadership camp solo, Addie girls camp alone. That's good to be an individual and yet there is something for sharing things with your siblings. Namely I got better reports of what happened to have two kids in the mix. New chapter even in the same story. Life is good!

4th of July continued

This fourth was abnormally cool. A full cloud cover along with temperatures in the mid 80's made for a very pleasant day. The kids were excited to get off the farm, and tired from an already full day. 

Usually we go boating but the boat people were sick so we headed north to a private pond. We got to try out paddle boards and kayaks. The nice things about these toys are no expensive gas to power them, take them at your own leisure, all can participate. Dogs included. 

We ate well of course. I mostly stayed under the shade with Andrea.

Megan went fishing with her dog in tow. The kids are out past hte raft paddling around. 

The smaller kayaks were easy to manipulate and just right for the younger girls. Besides getting muddy all had a great time. Greg rested as per usual I watched and took pictures. We left at our cut off time to make it for the next event. 

 We stopped for fresh fruit on the way home. We met a man from a family of 17. He was surprised we had 14. We made it home in time for the younger kids to go to the parade with Greg's parents. The boys went out to fix the pivot that had broken just as we were leaving in the morning. Letting it wait was part of the heated exchange. 

Oddly enough there were no sunburns which was really nice. Aliza and Addie headed to the rodeo to work in the 4-h booth selling sno-cones. I rested at home enjoying a dinner I had made the day before but put in the fridge so we could enjoy the annual fried foods at my mother in-laws. It was so nice to have real food for dinner and to have it ready to warm up. 

I'm thankful for the freedom to have a large family. I'm thankful for safety and opportunity to work and learn. I'm thankful for the ability to worship God as I desire. I'm thankful for having enough. I'm not happy with the discourse, total lying and corruption in society today. I'm sickened by the evilness that is in full display. Yet I know the only way to change things is to learn, teach, and live the principles our country was founded on. The pursuit of life liberty and happiness, underpinned by an acknowledgement and faith in God and His ways and laws. Love him, serve him, love others and serve them. We are blessed but have to do better and be better for the democracy to hold on. 

7.12.22 4th of July festivities

The kids were up very early to put the silo on top of the silo. New this year are all the internet dishes but thankfully there was still room for the flag to show we love America.

A birds eye view of the farm. Looking mostly good. 

The sky is light at 6 they were up there before this. I love the energy and drive they exhibit when they want to do things. 

This was the motivator the fun run fundraiser for Addie's upcoming cross country adventure. The boys were at the rodeo grounds cleaning up the garbage and empty beverage containers which are worth a whopping .10 cents a piece to be recycled. That adds up fast and is a favorite fundraiser in this town. 

Getting ready to go and the race! Alivia, Millie, Afton, Bruce, Lia all raced. Mom had Andrea in the pack and Merle in the stroller. We went the 1 mile distance. 

I had invited others to participate as this is a fundraiser and with a $5 entry fee that was a pretty good deal. Although I was tired and would rather have stayed home we drug it out and hurried to town arriving just as the race was about to start. I found my friend and we began chatting. At first we walked very fast remember I was carrying a lot extra and do not as a rule do that ever when exercising. Thankfully we slwoed down a bit.

 The kids did very well. The local sports reporter captured their finishes. I was far behind but I think moving at least 50 extra pounds calls for some grace. 

This little lady took off with all the other racers. I could see her eventually as the crowd thinned but she was a good block or two ahead of me. I was fretting who let's their 3 year old run alone? At the turning point for the one mile a dog came out of no where barking at all in the race. Lia true to form was scared to death. Two people helped her manage the situation and from them on she stayed with them. I wondered who her new friends were. I could hear them asking her if she was ready to run again or to stop. She did well keeping up with them. 

After the race I introduced myself to find I knew the older lady she's a kindergarten teacher and so is use to watching out and interacting with younger children. Oh I am thankful for kind people who look out for my independent children.  As we were heading back to the car to load up some more vintage cars showed up for the car show. This was a want to do on Johns list for the day. The roadrunner is one of Greg's favorite classic cars. We took a picture and smiled at the driver. 

We hurried home to get ready for the rest of the day. Greg had headed into town for the activities. He and the older kids, Reed included who had stayed home to help Greg with chores, attended the car show and pancake breakfast. At home we waited and waited. Greg came ready to work some more I told the kids to hurry and get in the car after a brief heated exchange we all loaded up and headed to our next adventure for the day. 

7.13.22 3rd of July rest and Come Follow Me

I love the day of Sunday because we rest and spend it together as a family. Bruce has an energetic innovative teacher. HE is showing me the chalk drawings they did to decorate the church sidewalks for the parade the next day.

Greg watching come follow me podcasts with the kiddos. 

As we listened to the podcast the host shared the story about Elijah and the angel bringing him cake when he was tired. I heard this story last year and just loved it! I love that when we are down the Lord doesn't say buck up or well that's too bad.  But he sends and angel with cake and instructions to take a nap and then seconds! How compassionate and loving. She said wouldn't it be great if everyone could have a little cake today. I had read the day before about strengthening and teaching our children to keep their covenants. With these two things in mind I realized Millie could make cupcakes and we could share them after church. The kids brought them to church ready to share. After church Greg, Mark and I went to a few places then we called home and had the other kids brought to town so we could go to other places and share a bit of cake. 

 I'm always surprised by how lonely people are and how many hard times there are. Likewise its sometimes easy to lift the burden. That's the promise to mourn with those who mourn, to lift their burden, to love others. We shared the story of Elijah, we shared some cake, and we shared some time. We eventually got our naps, we eventually ate. We were lifted too! I love serving with my children and helping them to see they can make people happy just by spending some time with them. We are blessed as we reach out. I love studying the gospels through come follow me. We don't do it everyday I try to study it 5 days a week. Sometimes I share, I play the podcasts and the kids get parts when they are around. Greg plays it before church on Sunday they get more there. I heard a story about mothers in Hungry that worked to protect their children from the indoctrination of Communism. Every night they would go to their basement and cellars and sing, pray and teach their children the true history of their country. They said they were washing away the evil of the day and they actually rose up stronger because of their intentional practice of teaching truth and light in their home. I too can do that in my home. It takes a log of time, it takes, patience and repentance, it takes trying again and again. Life is good and God is with us!