Checking the Corn

Amazing news I should have told you sooner! We had well over an inch of rain last weekend. It was incredibly exciting. On Wednesday, when Brad suggested we go look at the corn, I didn’t have to be scared of what I would see.

Our quick trip to check on corn turned into quite the excursion, but for today I’ll just show you all the different pictures of Brad checking corn with Elliana inquisitively at his side. Most of the time he was digging to see why corn wasn’t coming up in the place it was supposed to be.

The first two pictures are dry land. I can only tell because of the wheat stubble. The rest of the pictures are at the pivot.

The ground was still damp! Woo Hoo!

I made sure to get that house in the picture, so I could show the home of someone who actually reads this blog.

This one was planted to close to another, so it provided extra learning opportunity.

It’s growing!

Wyatt was more into shooting the stalks and running around than in checking how good of a job Brad did at planting.

4W

Someone in our house had a birthday this week!

Still

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. – Psalm 91:1

Be Still, My Soul
by Katharina von Schlegel b. 1697

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul: thy best, they heav’nly Friend
Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

3 Ag Links

A college friend wrote a very nice piece about their Nebraska branding. I like her pictures too!

My cousin brought this Ann Voskamp article about her planting season experiences to my attention.  I like it for several reasons. 1. It makes me glad Brad’s planting hours are more 6ish-8:30ish, since he doesn’t like to plant in the dark. 2. She describes her husband and son digging in the ground to check for the seed. Brad and Elliana did that together once this year. I didn’t get to witness it, but Voskamp’s description makes me feel like I did. 3. The post has several great points. Here’s one… “Be still and know He is God. And once you know He is God… how can you not let other people know? Experience Him? Know. Him? There’s simplicity for a soul: Stilling. Knowing. Then Going.”

Here’s an informative post that tells you the average cost of corn planting! Yikes!

Side note: I went by the irrigated corn Brad planted and it’s up!

Farming on the 5′s

It’s planting season. Brad’s on his third full week of planting and is about 3/4 done. He has already finished with his irrigated and dry land corn and planted some for another farmer. Today he started planting for another farmer. He should be done planting in less than a week, unless God answers our prayers for more rain.

I was in the “big city” today, so I did my version of bringing food to the field. It was hot and ready when I bought it, and I think he still enjoyed it by the time we got it to the field an hour and a half later.

Thankfully he was in a rush to get back to planting. The bucket of ice cream I bought over an hour and a half ago needed to find a freezer.

I did snap one quick picture of the dead coyote in the field before I left. I took the howling of his living relatives I heard just one minute ago as a sign I needed to show it to you. For all the ranchers who read this blog:

You think Brad will just plant right over that? I’m not sure how his trash whippers are going to handle those bones.

Memories of Our Mom

My mom continues to be a great mom, but Mother’s Day made me start trying to remember what I remember of her from my childhood. I’ve decided I have a pathetic memory, but I do have a few fond memories and I enlisted the help of my siblings.

Here’s what we remember about our mom from when we were kids…

She could cut up a whole chicken and make chicken and rice with great crunchies around the edges of the pan.

We went on many walks around the block together and bike rides around the neighborhood.

She read the Readers Digest or Guidepost aloud while I sat right next to her on the couch.

She had to figure out what to do with her screaming son in the Wal-Mart check out line. Even back then it was terrible place to be.

She canned beans and tomatoes and dilly beans.

She would braid my hair during church when I’d put my head in her lap.

She was never crabby.

She left us a list of things to do on the summer days when we were home and she was working.

She taught us all to cook. It was amazing how much better she could mix cake batter or cookie dough than us and she didn’t even have to follow the recipe exactly.

She patiently taught her girls to sew.

She always could whip up a wacky cake when company was coming at last minute notice.

She played flute and we’d sing around the piano.

She helped with AWANA.

She didn’t complain as far as we can remember.

She modeled by her actions more than her words.

Never whined about or bad mouthed Dad.

She did have moments of sadness, one of which was at the funeral of her infant son, Jay. At his funeral we sang Great is Thy Faithfulness.  Looking back we see it as such a testament to trusting in God despite the pain.

I remember making her cry because I was such a rude teenager to her.

We all will never let her forget when she yelled “Whoop Whoop!” at one of Luke’s basketball games for everyone to hear.

We have great reason to rise up and call her blessed.

Keep an eye on the comments because we may think of more memories to add. I’d love to hear memories you have of your mom and/or some you have of mine!

Bathroom Remodel

Before (and before I could take a panoramic shot)

For counter and storage space, we made do with lovely green stacking crates and once we had our cabinets in we used one of them too. The toilet is to the left of green crates.

Huge bathtub and a tall, unattached to anything cabinet

During

Plumping parts spewed all over the basement

Shower, wall, tub removed

After
This picture doesn’t show you the can lights Brad added in shower and above the washer and dryer. It is no surprise that our bathroom/laundry room is well lit and well “outletted”.  Since this picture Brad put shelves for laundry baskets above the washer and dryer. Does anyone else sort their laundry over six different ways? We still need trim, but our basement has needed that for over a year and a half. Considering that, you should be shocked I’m able to show you after pictures within a year of showing you before pictures!

I should also say my main contributions to this bathroom were buying the shelves and catching as much dust as possible with the shop vac hose when Brad was messing with drywall. We had a contractor come work for a couple of days, Brad’s mom did some drywall mudding and sanding, and other than that it was all Brad. He’s seriously amazing.