Thankful Heart

Book: Thanks to Blogging for Books, I was able to receive a free copy of God Gave Us Thankful Hearts to review. Of all the “God Gave Us…” books by Lisa Tawn Bergren that I’ve read, this one is my favorite so far. It teaches children the important truth of finding ways to be thankful even when something isn’t exactly how you like it to be, and it does so in a way children will easily understand.

Where the other stories I’ve read by Lisa Tawn Bergren have been with Polar Bears, this story is a conversation between a wolf pup and his mama and papa. It has pictures children will like to look at with a variety of other forest animals to look at too. God Gave Us Thankful Hearts has a copyright date of 2016, so if you’re looking for a good children’s book to give as a gift they might not have this one yet!

Farming and My Family:
Liza had a busy week last week. She got to ride in the combine, sprayer and the tractor. She was quite happy about it too as you can see. She rode along with Brad to take the combine to the field and they “filled it up with corn” one time to see how wet it was.
After they got done with that they rode the sprayer home since it was at the field.

Then a few days later, she rode along to take the tractor to a field to drill some wheat. I could’ve brought her home before they got started, but she wanted to keep riding, which also turned into napping. When I went to pick her up later, Brad trusted me with hauling this fertilizer trailer back into town to get it filled at the co-op.
I asked him if he had any words of wisdom for me before I left. All he said was to not go too slow over the weeds so they wouldn’t catch on fire. (We’re a little dry out here.)  Nothing started on fire, and we completed the task without complication. Phew!

It’s a tough time of year to be a farm kid in school, but Wyatt was glad to get some tractor time with Brad this weekend. He also made it so Brad didn’t spend most of his birthday alone in the tractor.   What I’ve Been Thinking:
Anyone else fear that pain and suffering might be in your future or you’re tired of the pain and suffering you’re dealing with right now? I’m constantly having to remember to not worry about tomorrow. I listened to this message by Bryan Clark this week and it put my worries into such perspective. It always comes down to the question of “Do I trust God?”

Below is an excerpt from the message, but I would recommend at least downloading the transcript and reading the last few pages or listening to the whole thing if you’d rather.

“There’s nowhere where the Scriptures say, “Let’s make a deal! You be a good preacher and everything will work out. No pain and suffering, everything will make sense.” There has to be an understanding when that’s my theology, I’m not really pursuing God; I’m pursuing the best deal. That’s a very selfish pursuit. We set ourselves up for pain and disappointment when we think I’m being really good; I’m following the rules; I’m doing what I’m supposed to; now God betrayed me; God let me down. We are saying, “God, You didn’t keep Your end of the deal.” And God says, “What deal? I didn’t make that deal.”

Really trusting God is a choice of your will. You decide: I’m going to choose to trust God. I’m going to choose to believe God is who He says He is.“

Drilling Time

Brad finally joined the smart phone world this year. Now my man of few words can send me a picture of what he is doing without having to use any words.

The recommended time for drilling wheat in our area is closer to the end of September. The taller wheat gets before winter, the greater chance you have for winter kill. Brad takes that risk because the ground he is farming is sand, so the risk of his soil blowing away is more of a concern to him.

Husker Harvest Days

I can now say I have been to Husker Harvest Days. It’s a three day farm show near Grand Island, Nebraska. We were there with thousands of other farmers and their pickups. Wouldn’t want to show up to a farm show in your minivan or Civic.

We scoped out as many freebies as we could get without being obnoxious, and Brad learned some more about how his sprayer trailer works and how to make it work better.  Liza and I got tired of waiting for him to get done learning and found two tires to play it. It was a blast and even more fun when a cousin came to play too! 

I got to see lots of my favorite people along with a lot of other interesting people, so it was a great experience. My only regret is that I didn’t get a picture of me and my friends by some nice piece of farm machinery.

Sunday at the Nebraska State Fair

Playing some catch up here. I didn’t think I should leave out Sunday at the Nebraska State Fair, since it was just as much fun as Saturday.

A lot of great kid activities –

Wyatt learning about what you can fish for in Nebraska.

The big map of Nebraska was a big hit, so was getting to be with friends.

We learned that the elevation change from eastern Nebraska to western Nebraska is greater than the elevation change from Omaha to the East coast.

I thought this was a big hit too.
This event may have been my favorite. We accidentally ran across it, but I’ll make a point to go watch it next time we go. I believe it was called team sorting. Three people on horses had to get 10 calves into the next pin as fast as they could. The catch is the cattle were numbered 0-9, and the cowboys had to get them in order starting with a random number they were given right before their time started.  It was intense, but those horses and riders were skilled and fun to watch.

I’d recommend you check it out at the fair next year.

Nebraska State Fair

A cell phone picture look at our Saturday at the Nebraska State Fair…

Sheep Showmanship

Wyatt’s photography skills displayed.

It’s not just the city kids…

Cattle Showmanship

 

Today

My Family on a Small Town Nebraska Saturday:
(after they got over their morning fighting and grumpiness)

Dad to the rescue! A 2 block drive in the back of the pickup, and then going to check the pivot are usually always a win for the kids.

Lunch at the town convenience store helped matters too, especially when friends showed up and joined us.

Brad was glad to haul one of his treasures into town so he could put it under cover. Being out in the weather has already caused it some difficulty.

Get this – I happily when to the nearest grocery store to get some groceries. I read about the benefits to the community of shopping locally, and I’m trying to do my part a little more. One step at a time. Plus we were completely out of milk and that will only make for more kid grumpiness, which I cannot handle.

Liza got to play at “Daddy’s shop,” which is a highlight for her. Check out her cute dirty face after the fun. (The fat lip is from a yesterday incident, and she’s taking a momentary break from shucking corn to see who happened to be driving by.) She takes her corn shucking seriously.

What I’ve Been Thinking and Learning:
Mark 4:18-20
¹⁸ And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

And a here is a good read for all farm moms and wives as harvest is approaching.

 

Fair – 5 years later

I didn’t think I had anything worthy of posting this week, then this happened – Wyatt and I were on the other side of the Ferris wheel seat but didn’t get our picture taken.😦You have to check the post from 5 years ago and you’ll know more about what we were up to and see how much we’ve aged. If me saying you have to doesn’t convince you then maybe this screenshot of the post will.

Five years later, I didn’t even think once about whether we should drive an hour for fun or not.