For Encouragement

Ready or not it's here!  It seems as though it was just last week that I was driving and looking at the corn and beans and they were lush and green and then I remember it was! In just a few short days my bean fields are turning yellow and my corn stalks are browning up. Ready or not, fall is here and harvest is just around the corner! It is at moments of realization like these that I have to be careful and not allow myself to become overwhelmed. The list of things to do is always full, but...

Season for Everything A little more than a couple weeks ago my brother and I were ready to start harvesting soybeans. We had several fields that were ready. It was a Friday afternoon and somewhat overcast. We were able to shell the beans out of the pods, but the beans were too wet to harvest. We needed one more day of sun and drying for the soybeans to be just right for harvest. The next day it rained. The day after that it rained. The day after that it rained too. In fact, throughout the course of the next 7-10...

Delighted! I know that many people do not like the time change, but I am delighted. I am a person with several strange quirks and one of them is waking up early. It is before 5 a.m. that I am writing this note to you. The house is quiet and still; the kids and the pigs are still sleeping, and now it gets lighter earlier! (yeah!) I am not sure why I enjoy getting up early. I was that way when I was little. I remember always getting up before dark and tip toeing down to the basement to play...

Hope It is December and harvest is over. We had a great Thanksgiving, and we have been spared nasty winter weather so far. I spent the last couple of weeks getting our new bakery and coffee shop open for business. Thanks to so many of you who have stopped in so far. Please feel free to offer any suggestions you can think of to help us make it a great place to be blessed and refreshed. When you stop in, give all the ladies a thumb up for their hard work; they all do such a good job. December for...

Joy Greetings, Happy New Year has been said by me and to me a bunch lately. As I think about that statement, I would have to say that it could be viewed as a completely unrealistic statement. It is so easy to get caught up in the “American Dream” and the pursuit of happiness. The desire to be happy is a powerful fuel that motivates us to do and try more and more things. It can become the goal or standard we all attempt to achieve. I see it in myself and in my kids. Our “wants” tend to dictate...