Yoder Tradition

On my mother's side of the family when an individual had their 13th birthday they were honored by everyone else. This honoring included a short discourse on the individuals life. This discourse was given by the Patriarch himself, Grandaddy. All the uncles and aunts would put money together and purchase a special gift for the new teenager. This was a very special thing for all the grandchildren. It made us feel grand. Here is the speach that Grandaddy gave on my special day.
Aug. 29 1986
Glendon Eugene Zehr. Who is that?
Born Aug. 25 1973 This day joins the elite circle of teenagers. Glen is an unusual boy. He does things differently from most. When I first saw him I felt he had an interesting life ahead. He has had trouble with his ears since he was 5-6 years old. Most folk arn't favored this way. When he was eight he had staph infection in his hip joint. No one knows how that got inside as there was no opening. He was in the hospital with this for awhile. (Editor's note: two weeks) The Drs. at Brookenal were dumbfounded.
Two years later he had Cat Scratch Disease. Jon Alan plays with the cats and Glen gets the disease. Again the Drs. are scratching there heads.
Last year Glen had Pura Para (Editors note: I am not sure this is the correct spelling and I can't quite read the Patriarchs hand writing.) a severe alergic reaction which could cause hemoraging internaly. He was not hospitalized for this. Again Drs. were puzzled and about decided when Glen comes they just as well send him to Lynchburg. This year again, true to form, he contracted something that was aboce the Brookneal Drs. head. They all but crawled under the chairs and out the windows when they saw him coming. They knew he had something they knew nothing about. They sent him on to Lynchburg where the Drs. decided he had Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever.
Now Glen had never been to the Rockys but that didn't stop him. He spent about a week in the hospital for this. Two tests were sent off, both coming back negative. Maybe the Lynchburg Drs. are dumbfounded now. For according to that test no one knows what Glen had.
Glen has always loved children. He is very outgoing something we should all cultivate. Glen as you continue through life put your best foot forward. Give God the glory and no one will be able to stop you.
Ernest Yoder.
Did your grandparents honor you in anyway in a public setting?

Dry Weather

About three weeks ago we recieved about an inch of rain. I hustled onto my tractor and planted 52 acers of corn. After this brief frenzy of activity the raindrops went away. They stayed away until Sunday the 7th of May. The heavens opened up and dropped another inch of rain. Once more I made haste to my planter and dropped seed on another 30 acers. This leaves me with 45 acers unplanted. I now need to finish para plowing and make hay. I am afraid the ground is still to hard to plow. The weather man is calling for rain. This would cause my hay making to suffer. This is a farmers worst nightmare.... If I cut my hay, it would rain sure enough......

Aleya

Aleya rode with me while hauling silage with a two ton dump truck this evening. I have been calling her tootlebug just because it seems to fit. She told me I not tootlebug very emphatically. I said oh really!! Trying to sound very surprised. After thinking for several seconds I said Okay muffincake. Are you a muffincake? Her reponse I muffincake. She seems to have an abhorrence of bugs I don't know if that is why she isn't a tootlebug or not.
She informed me at one point that I smell dirt, daddy, it tisgusting. (do you know what that is?)
She just informed me that she wants to go bye bye with a drunk. What she was really saying is I want to go bye bye with the truck......
Kids are something else......

King's Singers

This will be a poll question.
Have You heard of the King's Singers?
Have you heard them in concert?
Do you own any of their albums?

Bobcat

My 863 Bobcat has had a hydraulic oil leak for a long time. Since I got it running again I was hoping we had fixed it somehow, unfortunately, we hadn't. Every now and then it would really bother me and I would proceed to lift the cab and peer into all the deep, dark corners trying to locate the leak. I would always pull the cab back down in frustration and disgust. All the hydraulic hoses and motors are buried deep in the belly pan and you can see nothing. This morning I needed to add oil again and this feeling of desperation surfaced. I began my peering process and much to my delight I was able to find the problem. The reason I was able to diagnose the exact location was due to the amount of leakage. With the engine running it was leaking like a sieve. I took the hose off, which was like trying to mow grass under a tree that has branches 6 inches off the ground. It was an hour of knuckle scraping torture. What is really bad is that I decided the hose must not have been tight because I could not see a problem with the hose. So, like a dummy, I put it back on and started the machine only to find I still had a sieve. So I need to take the thing off again and make a new hose. Such is life....
How often do you do things twice, just for fun......

Hired Man

After much heart/ soul searching I have my hired man. I am amazed with God and His ways. This man is a man that I have known for years and has helped me out of many scrapes. We have worked together many times on various projects. He has the ability to be a do it right mechanic or to be a quick-fix mechanic. A quick-fix occurs when you are in the middle of a project and you do not have the time to fix it right. You fix it well enough to get the job done. He is also excellent with the cows. Then there are the other subtle things that will make the working enviroment very nice. He will be easy to talk to and fun to work with on a daily basis. I had talked to him in passing when I first started my search and was told that he would probably stay where he was. He later came back to me and said that he would be interested in talking. He wanted to make room for his oldest son to be on the farm he is currently working on. This is when the discussions began. Last night we sealed the deal and I am very pleased to announce that starting July the 1st Sonny Yoder will be on my pay roll.

Well Hydrated

Okay, I have been fighting a cold and my wife keeps telling me I do not drink enough water. She says people are supposed to drink half there body weight in ounces. So, if you weigh 200 lbs you should be drinking 100 ounces of water. I keep telling her I drink lots of water at the barn. However, I am discovering that I really am not very hydrated at all. In fact, I think I would classify as the Sahara desert. Now, what really made me wonder was the fact that she is the only one in our little clan who has not gotten the flu/cold this time around. In fact, my wife rarely gets a cold or any other virus that hits the market. So I decided to do a little test with a a 1qt jar. I am suppose to drink, roughly, one gallon of water a day. This morning I drank one quart, at lunch I drank roughly a quart and a half and I drank a few ounces at the barn before milking this evening. So it appears like I still need another quart of water or so. Now she is informing me that it really is not doing as much good as it would if I would drink twelve ounces every hour. I am begining to wonder if she thinks I should drag a water house around with me every where I go. At the rate were going the well be dry and we will be drinking out of the creek. How much water do you drink a day and how does it relate to the number of colds you attract?

Toothache

Sierra has had five cavities for quite awhile. She is very timid about people working on her. (I don't know if this is a result of all the vaccinations she had or not. One time she had to get three shots and this about put her over the edge. I told her I didn't care if she cried but she didn't need to scream and kick.) Anyway, I took her to Dentist in Lynchburg and she wouldn't let them look in her mouth without hollering. I was very unimpressed with everyone involved; Doctor, Nurse, and child. So, we picked a different dentist who does much better with children. Rachel took her in for a prefilling visit and it went fairly well. However, we were fairly certain that they would be unsuccesful in their endeavour to fill the offending tooth. This afternoon was the big ordeal. Rachel said that Sierra was really brave and started out very well. As the ordeal proceeded she got fairly wimpery but nothing like we were expecting. Needless to say we are very proud of the progress she has made in the bravery department. We are hoping this trend continues as we get the others filled. I think children/people need to be able to cry but they don't need to throw tantrums and have screaming fits. What is your opinion?
How do you find a balance between crying and CRYING???

Earache

I am sorry to report that even folks who are over thirty get ear aches. This ache occurred at 2:00 AM this morning. It was one of those aches were you feel an uncontrollable desire to toss and turn. I got up and stumbled to the kitchen. Once their I popped 4 Tylenol and went back to bed. I don't know how long I was awake but it had to be quite awhile. My alarm rang at 4 so drug out to milk. Once I was milking it was semi-endurable. I was busy enough I didn't think about it as much I guess. I got back in the house about 7 and popped two more pills before laying down to take a nap. I fell asleep briefly before I was awakened by the same pain. I rolled around in bed for awhile before deciding I would be better off getting up and going to work. So that is what I did. At some point in the day the offending ear began to drain and this has alleviated some of the pain. I hope tonight is not a repeat of last night....
Have you ever experienced an earache? I would much rather have a fever than an earache.

Peace

What is peace? We, our church, had council meeting yesterday, which I missed due to scheduling conflicts. I always wonder how honest people really are. Everyone has peace with God and their fellowmen. So, I am wondering what is peace. Is peace a love relationship with God? A sappy kind of love? I get the feeling sometimes that some people never get upset with God. Is this what peace is? Or is peace admitting that what life is sending your way is really annoying and you wonder what God is doing. In fact you really are mad at God sometimes. You work through the frustration. You ask God WHY???? God doesn't answer or doesn't appear to answer and you come to grips with the situation and find peace. I believe peace is trusting God even though you don't understand. You know God is in control and you trust him. Peace is accepting what you are facing and admitting you are in pain.
Is it possible to have peace with God and not have peace with your fellowmen? Does everyone really have peace with their fellowmen?
What a vicious circle....

Grand Quotes

Sierra: I wish I had doors on my nose so I could close them when it gets windy.

VOP had a program this morning in which ben made a very interesting comment. I didn't catch it but the other guys did. If I would have caught I am fairly certain I would have not been able to control my laughter.
VOP has been setting aside funds for the last several years to help needy causes. At the present time it is Ben's job to tell the audience about the need we are supporting. Today Ben told the audience that: "We are supporting an english speaking stool in Poland." He then went on to talk about the school and how they are using the school to reach the community.
What is your grandest, biggest public speaking blunder?

Garbage Sale Complete

Well, that is over. Everyone did very well I think. I brought home a lot less stuff then what I took up there which is always a plus.
Maybe we will do another one in the fall.
Tomorrow we, VOP, have a program in the morning and then another one in the evening. So, tomorrow will be another very full day.
Well, I am very weary so I shall close this short epistle. So long, farewell, etc......

Garbage Sale

Tommrow we are planning on having a garbage sale. Okay, it is really a yard sale full of things we no longer want. My siblings and their familys will be partcipating as well. This will be one of those Large 3 Family Yard Sales and will be located between Browns Mill Road and Rt. 24 on Wisecarver Rd. Please drop in and see what kind of things we now consider junk. You may find a grand treasure, but I doubt it. There will be hotdogs and sodas available for your munching and sipping enjoyment. There will also be some baked goods and and lots of 0ther things to purchase....

French Muffins

I have no idea why this has turned into the Greatest Foods Of All Time blog lately but here is one more grand food that needs to be made. I don't know where my mother found this one but it is very good. When I was growing up she made this quite alot. When she was to busy to do muffins she made it like a cake. However, they are not as good when made that way because the butter and sugar coating doesn't soak in as much. Here is the recipe.

One third C. shortning
Half C. sugar
One egg
Half C. milk
One and one half C. flour
One and one half tsp baking powder
Half tsp of salt
One fourth tsp of nutmeg
Mis first three ingredients add the rest. Mix only until blended. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 min.
Topping =
Half C. sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon (This may vary depending on how much cinnamon you want.)
Immedietly after baking dip the muffin (roll) in melted butter (half C.) Then roll the muffin in your sugar cinnamon mixture.
Excellent choice for any meal......

Baked Potato Topper

1 C. shredded Cheddar cheese
One fourth C. soft butter
One half C. sour cream
Onion chopped (optional)
Whip cheese and butter until fluffy. Add sour cream and whip together. Add onion if desired. Serve on baked potato.
There it is folks. Copied directly from The Basics and More cookbook.

Have you ever wondered were these recipes come from? Who would think to add half a teaspoon of something? Who would think that adding half a teaspoon of something would make a world of difference in the taste? These people must be geeks/nerds or something of that nature.

Chess Pie

Here is the recipe for the one and only pie.....
Fourth cup of margerine.
Half cup of sugar.
One cup of brown sugar.
One eighth teaspoon of salt. (This is to offset all that sugar.)
Three eggs.
One teaspoon of Vanilla.
One tablespoon of flour.
One half cup of milk.
You place all of these ingredients in the blender and then blend it.
Bake it at 375 degrees until the knife comes out clean which is 40-50 minutes.

Lynchburg Livestock Market

Korwin, my nephew, Sierra and I took three cows to the Lynchburg Livestock Market this evening. 27 was rather frail and gaunt and brought a mere 25 cents a lb. She weighed in around 1200 lbs. The second cow of mine that went through the ring was Patricia. She topped off around 1400 and some odd lbs and brought 48.5 cents per lb. The final cow of mine was rather large. She weighed in at 1665 lbs. That is very close to a ton. Gin brought a very fine 53 cents a lb. I enjoy going to the market because the auctioneers are extremely good. They don’t mess around trying to get that one more cent they just sell it. Of course when you have several thousand head to sell you would want to keep the show on the road. Have you ever been to a livestock auction? By the way, you may want to check your hamburger the next time you go to McDonalds. You may be eating hamburger from Airy Mont Farm. Oh, wait, they don’t stamp that on the meat do they……

Lunch

Due to sickness I stayed home from church this morning with three children. I can enjoy cooking when I have the time/energy. Plus I enjoy surprising the lady when she gets home. So this is what I did. I was browsing through the Basic's Cookbook when I noticed a recipe for Baked Potato Topping. I thought baked potatoes sounded really good so I took five nice red potatoes and wrapped them in tin foil. I then fired up the gas grill and placed them in there for about an hour. While these red orbs were baking I pulled the left over cube steak out of the fridge and placed it in the oven to warm. At the last minute I decided we really needed some green beans so I made a mad dash down to the basement and returned with a quart of green beans. I threw together the afore mentioned Baked Potato Topping. This was capped off by a lovely Peanut Butter Pie that my wife told me to make. Peanut Butter Pie is really a very simple thing to make. (It helps when the wife has a pie crust in the freezer.) She was very impressed with my culinary skills and is threatening to give me one meal a week. What really surprised me was the oldest daughter telling me You make really good food Daddy!

Equipment Part II

I am sure you are all dying to know what happened today. I arose this morning and headed off to my trusty NAPA store to pick up some parts and some oil that was compatible with a hydrostatic system. I found what I needed and upon arriving back on the farm I proceeded to put oil in the Bobcat. I was hoping this would fix the problem. The problem consisted of the lift booms and tilt cylinder not lifting. Also the brake would not release. I perched on the seat and started the machine. Nothing had changed. I had a Bobcat that runs well but won't move. I bypassed the emergency brake feature and tried again. This time I can move the skid loader but am unable to move the booms. After much headache and tribulation I come to the conclusion that it is a safety feature problem somewhere else. Their are so many safety features and I dread trying to trouble shoot to locate the problem. I think it maybe the switch in the seat but I am not positive. Monday I will try again. Does any one have experience with this kind of situation?

Equipment

Two years ago my 863 Bobcat blew a head gasket. Hired man changed the head gasket and boss has head machined. Hired man puts pieces back together and we use Bobcat. Six months later Bobcat is using oil like a sieve. We park worthless machine in shop. Boss goes to PA and buys a Thomas Skid loader. Boss plans to sell worthless Bobcat after he gets it fixed. Boss runs Thomas and Bobcat sits in shop for a long time. This winter hired man finally gets the engine back into Bobcat. Bobcat still not run but looks nice with new engine. Boss and hired man baffled. (The engine needed to be overhauled due to massive engine problems. Big gap in the rings, sleeves were shot, etc.) In Feb. Thomas starts to feel overworked and gets a little hot under the collar. We keep giving him water but he continues to steam. After trying several remedies, none of which work, the boss notices today that water pump is losing water like a well. Boss listens to Thomas grumble and steam and decides Thomas needs some time out. Boss realizes Bobcat must run. Boss had tried to crank Bobcat earlier but it would not run. It sounded flooded. Boss is a mechanical numb skull.... Boss gets neighbor who is good mechanic. Mechanic get Bobcat to run. Now Thomas can sit in shop for long time like his buddy Bobcat. Boss not happy with his equipment. Tomorrow boss will try again.....

Cell Phone

Yesterday I lost my phone and this is the secod one I have lost this year. I hate it.... For starters my wife and I are under contract with All Tell so we cannot cancel the phone without paying a $200 disconnect fee. I also did not want to go through the headache of filing an insurance claim. So we decided to switch my phone # to my wife's phone. My wife's contract ends in June mine ends in November. This, hopefully is the cheapest thing to do at the moment. We are planning to cancel her phone when the contract expires. I must say that these phones have not been lost. They have fallen out of their puny, worthless, and frail holders. If you think I laid the phone down and could not remember where I had been laid, you are wrong. I need a phone holder that would hold a phone in the proper place through a tornado. Where can I find one? You would think people who are smart enough to get man to the moon would aslo be smart enough to make a phone holder that would hold a phone securely.

Mower

About four years ago I decided I was finished playing around with junky mowers. I was sick and tired of Murray and Dynamark mowers. They are junk. So, I went down to Good's Lawn and Garden and purchased 0 degree turning radius, hydrostatic Great Dane commercial lawn mower. This machine is an incredible machine. I have had very little trouble with it and it mows great. Today I took it down to their repair shop and had it serviced. The blades were shot so we put new blades on it and adjusted a few things. I have one complaint, I think this is becoming more of a problem with all makes, there are too many safety features. We were having trouble with the machine starting with the key and were jumping it at the starter. I discovered their is a button under each steering lever. If these buttons are not depressed the machine thinks it is not in neutral. One of these was out of adjustment. The mechanic, Jerril Good, took his expensive adjustment tool, a pry bar, and fixed the problem. I could have done that at home. I have lots of pry bars......
Anyway, if you are searching for an excellent mower give Jerril a call, he would love to sell you a mower.

The Beginning

In the last 6 months my wife and I have decided that we wanted to move across the street to the house located on the farm. The big problem with doing this is the condition, teeny tiny, of the house. My dear brother-in-law drew up some plans for remodeling and adding on a very nice addition. Today they dug the footers. So, we are beginning a journey of remodeling and building. I will gladly keep you updated on the progress. Maybe I will even post some pictures......

Hiccup

I am currently having a rather acute attack of the hiccups. I hate hiccups. I am one of those who will have a monstrous hiccup and then they will be gone. Tonight, however, appears to be a different story. I have had them for several minuets now and it is growing rather old. One night I had a really bad case of them and my wife finally told me to "Go eat a tablespoon of brown sugar." (I really like brown sugar!) I, being the skeptic I am, responded with much scorn and doubt. Because I like the taste of brown sugar I decided it was a good excuse to splurge. I hiccuped my way to the cupboard and took a rather large spoonful of the malty sugar. I was much surprised when my case of the hiccups immediately ceased. I have no idea why but they did. I am now going for the brown sugar with a large spoon.....

Easter Message

I had the privilige of listening to my father preach this morning. He had four main points out of which really only remember one. The point that struck me was this: Jesus did not promise to take away our troubles when we come to Him. He only promises to go through the trouble with us. He faced trouble the most obvious of which is the cross. He understands hopelessness and the feeling of being forsaken. Why God chose to make life a life full of trouble I do not know or understand. I am thankful that Jesus promises to be there as we face the troubles in our lives.

Easter Beliefs

Another interesting easter belief is really unbelieveable. It is the belief that the hours between Christ's death and the resurection their is no God. He is dead, therefore there is no God. In fact the people that believe this stay in the house these hours. Buisness shuts down. How absurd! I wonder where such myths are born? How many of you knew that some people believe these sorts of lies? How many of you knew there was such a lie?

Good Friday

I don't know how many of you are aquainted with Haven Today, a thirty minute radio program. The other day they were talking about being Easter people instead of Good Friday people. The host, Charles Morris, proceeded to inform his listeners that in the Phillippines their were ten people, one of them was a lady, that were going to be CRUCIFIED on good friday. He went on to say these people were doing so they would be more acceptable to God. They would hang their for 15-20 min. It is hard believe some of the things people will do in order to be in God's good grace so to speak. How do people come up with such odd and, I think you could say, heretical beliefs? Why are they so misled? We try to do things to gain Salvation. There is nothing I can do that will make me holy or help me get to heaven. It is crying out to the one whose death and resurection we are remembering this easter season. Cry out Be merciful to me, a sinner....

Full Moon

This was taken off of the deck in the back of the house. We literally watched the moon rise. It seemed to rise within two-three minuets. It was really amazing. I was very pleased with how well the picture turned out.

 

Stephen

Acts 7:54-60
This is the account of Stephen's murder. Just before he "fell asleep" Stephen said "Lord lay not this sin to their charge." My question is this. Will God honor Stephen's statement? Will he not lay this sin to their charge? The same question can be asked concerning Jesus and his crucifixion. He made the same request.

Dan Lucarini

I was given a book to read by one of my good friends. This book was written by Dan Lucarini and is titled Why I Left The Contemporary Music Movement. First I want to give a few historical facts. Mr. Lucarini started his music career in the Rock and Roll industry. He was a song writer/musician/vocalist. When he became a Christian when he was 23. After his conversion he found it hard to give up his rock music. However, he was able to fill this void with CCM. He became heavily involved in praise & worship and became a worship leader in the church he was attending. He says in this book that CCM and P&W music is divisive and the cause of many church splits. He was a part of three or four splits and blames CCM and the worship team’s lack of communication for all of them. He based this on the fact that CCM caused a huge rift because they wanted to quit singing traditional songs and leading a traditional service. He talks about the basis of CCM and the culture it is born out of. He claims that CCM P&W is based on immorality and selfishness. He is currently not involved in the music ministry of his church because he unintentionally brings this style to the music and he doesn’t believe this is the kind of worship God wants. In fact, he pretty much says that CCM P&W is not worship. Here is a man who was a part of this music culture and is now condemning it. I have not listened to CCM for a long time and have never enjoyed P&W. The main reason I didn't listen to these/this style had nothing to do with religion. It was more I just didn't like it anymore. In conclusion, I highly recommend the book. It has given me a different perspective on music in general.

What A Woman

What I found when I got home for lunch =
1. Fresh granola
2. Whole Wheat Bread (Warm/Fresh)
3. Laundry on the line
4. Happy girls
I told her, my wife, that it looked like she had gotten a lot done this morning.
Guess what I had for lunch.
Granola and toasted cheese sandwich. Very good.

Hopeless

This morning our Sunday School lesson was taken from Job. We had an excellent discussion on hopelessness. Is it okay to feel hopeless? Is their a difference between hopelessness and discouragement or depression? Is it okay to tell God you feel alone and forsaken?
Thoughts anyone?

Pies

Tonight we decided to make some pies. So I dug out my faithful Farm Journal Best Ever Pies: Over Four Hundred Tried and True Recipes. This book came along with a subscription to Farm Journal. This subscription was made in 2000 and we were going to make one pie a week and then write a short note about the pie. If the pie was good we wrote that down. If the pie was delicious we wrote that down. This way, when a pie did not set well with the taste buds we would not torment them a second time. Well, tonight we made two pies. The first was a fairly standard Apple Crunch Pie. The only thing about the pie that crunched was the crumb topping which did little crunching. We should have added more brown sugar and less flour. The second pie is really good. It is an Apple Blackberry Pie. For some reason this pie has a budding relationship with my tasting buds. It will be interesting to see how this relationship develops. My favorite pie is Chess Pie which is the king of all pies. The combination of Chess Pie and a cup of coffee has far surpassed the developing stages of a relationship with the palette. They have been married for 25 years or so.....
What is your favorite pie?

Date Night

We are scheduled for a date tonight. This scheduled date revolves around getting the chores done in time. We don't want to get left to late. We have been taking turns with my sister and her husband. (Bools Blog) They go one month and we go the next. We baby sit their children and then they baby sit ours. This has worked really well and we look forward to these once a month periods of aloneness. Where to go is always a problem. I would like to try Panera Bread. Any thoughts concerning this restaurant?

The Good

This is the best cow in my herd. She milked a 121 lbs on her first test. She is in her 2nd lactation. She has an excellent udder. If I was able to milk a herd full of cows like her I would probably have a problem with pride.....
For those of you who want to know she is a Jazzy daughter.

 

The Bad

This ole girl would also be known as an Alley Rat. She is a little wide in the udder and would not score very well if a classifier saw her. She is milking really well....

 

The Ugly

This has to be the ugliest cow/camel I have ever milked.

 

Para Plow

I have been trying to Para plow this week. A Para plow is a plow that does not turn the soil over. It does not make a furrow. I am pulling my five bottom Para plow with 150 horse power four wheel drive White. It is aptly called a 4-150. Now, I was told that March of 2006 was the driest in 100 years. I don't know if this is true or not but I do know the ground is very hard and it is very dry. In fact I was a little surprised the plow even went in the ground. The first day I made one round in the field. The first pass down the field went really well and I thought hmm this won't be to bad! When I got to the other end I made a big loop and headed back across the field. Before I had covered 100 feet I discovered it wasn’t going to be as nice as I hoped. The tractor bucked, snorted and used other forms of movement to let me know this was quite a challenge. I spent most of my spare time today bouncing around the field. This plow is a cross between a V Ripper and am old fashioned plow. IT is designed too crack the subsoil and not disturb the top soil. IT shatters the soil about 15 inches in the ground and allows the rain to be soaked in and because the surface is not affected much there is very little erosion. This is an excellent piece of equipment. If I can keep it moving forward......

Amish Transportation

The cousins got a ride last week at grandpa's.

 

Tim Rumsey

I know some of you, you may be few, but some of you none the less are interested in the recital we attended yesterday. As you know VOP has asked Mr. Rumsey to arrange several songs for us to use on our last two albums. We asked him to do one arrangement for our Reunion album also. Because we have recorded/sung his arrangements he asked us if we would be willing to sing a couple of them at a composition recital he was putting together. The recital began at 3:00 and lasted until 4:30 or so. The recital consisted solely of works he has written or arranged. They concert started with a couple pieces composed for the organ before moving to two chorale pieces. The chorale pieces were sung by the high school choir. The title of the first piece was Worthy Is The Lamb and the second was the Traveler's Prayer. The choir did a fantastic job and these pieces were not easy. This was followed by 12 short pianoe pieces. I love the pianoe so I enjoyed this as well. After intermission there were two instrumental pieces. The second of these used "Glass". The glass consisted of 20 or so glass goblets which were filled with water. The level of the water determined the pitch. There 5-6 people that played the glass along with a soundtrack and some other instruments. (I do not know what they were.) After this a handbell choir played Angels We Have Heard On High. If you have never seen a handbell choir play you should go hear one sometime. It is amazing.....
We were last on the program and sang two songs. Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessings, and Oh For A Thousand Tounges.
Tim Rumsey is a very talented man. He is only 28 years old and has written quite a bit of music. I recommend his two cd's to you. One is a band playing hymns. It is very nice. The other is a Christmas work called Emanuel. Just use the link on the side bar called Tim Rumsey for more information.

Random Thoughts

First, I will post more on Rumsey's recital at later date. We did survive....
Second, I am home again.
Third, so is my family.
Fourth, those of you who have never been separated from your spouse, are missing out on something that will add a new dimension to your marriage. It is good, I think, for time apart. I am very thankful for my wife and our children. It is grand to have them home again. Tomorrow when I return from the barn the house will not be empty. What more can I say.....
Till next time

Practice

We met at Alive Studios and are using the conference room for our practice room. We started singing this morning at 10:30 and have been singing ever since. My voice is almost gone and I feel rather hoarse. The two Rumsye pieces are beging to sound like songs, thank goodness. Hopefully we won't make complete fools of ourselves tommorow. Once again I sighn off as the
Random Pitch Maestro
Because I feel like that is what I have been doing all day. Hitting pitches at random......

Off To The Races

Well, I was planning on leaving about ten minutes ago but that didn't happen. I had to clean the house before my wife comes home. We, VOP, has a big day of practice tomorrow with most of the former members present. We are working on a Reunion album for our 20th anniversary which is in 2007. I will talk more about that later. So, we practice tomorrow and sing in the morning for about 30 minutes. In the afternoon we are singing at Tim Rumsey's composition recital. This is a first for us and we are afraid we don't know the music...... I am afraid I will hit far to many Random Pitches......
Till next time
The Random Pitch Maestro

Katrina

I learned something this evening. Do you know what Katrina means? Katrina means to purify. Did you know that the Wed. after Katrina hit New Orleans our nations biggest gay and lesbian bash was to begin, in New Orleans? New Orleans is admittedly the nations most wicked city, or so I am told. So was hurricane Katrina a random act of mother nature? Or did daddy God tell mother nature to purify New Orleans?

Fund Raising

Some of you know that we have adopted three children. Because adoptions are rather expensive we have been trying to raise money to help with the cost. For two summers we grilled and sold chicken at a location up in town. Church ladies were very thoughtful and donated baked goods and we were able to make some headway in the financial arena. (My sister and her husband have also adopted and we did this together, splitting the proceeds.) Last summer we discovered the health department had some restrictions we would need to follow so we were unable to grill anymore chicken. We have been trying to figure out a good way to raise money. Do you have any ideas? We have started another blog, Adopted Treasures, that will be used as our website. We will be focusing on fundraising, adoption stories, and pictures. To visit that site check out my links on the sidebar.
What fundraisers are you aware of that have worked for others?

Ravaged

What is that annoying sound, I wondered, Oh man, time to get up already. I drug myself out of bed, dressed and stumbled for the door. After slipping on my boots I stepped out into the blackness of night. The first thing to penetrate my feeble brain was the insistent howling of dogs. I was instantly wide awake. Those dogs are after my calves. I began to run for the barn when I decide I better take the truck. I had no desire to be dog food. As I am pulling into the farm drive I see nasty, half grown, black dog heading for the back 40 at top speed. A split second later a white half grown cur came flying across the lane right in front of the truck. I jacked the steering wheel hard to the right and floored the truck chasing the dog across the lawn. I didn't want to alarm those who were sleeping in the house so I let the dog go and went back to check on the calf. At first glance I thought she was dead but after further inspection I noticed her ribs were moving. I could see a spot on the right hip were a chunk of flesh was missing. Her eyes were wide with fright as I knelt down beside her. My mind and heart were full of intense and, I think, righteous anger. I laid my hand on the calf's abdomen and she started bawling. I knew she was in incredible pain. She would not move a muscle. I decided to leave her till daylight so I could see what was actually going on. As soon as I was done milking I went and checked on her. The spot on her hip was much worse than I anticipated. I could see the ball socket were the hip bone attaches to the pin bone. She had multiple lacerations to the ribs and abdominal area. Her ears had been gnawed on and were bleeding. I knew there was nothing to do but end her misery. I headed for the neighbors to see if he would take care of the grisly task. She succumbed to her injuries before we got back with the gun. Those dogs will be looking at the small end of rifle next time we see them. They usually do not stop with one. Once they start they continue……

DHIA

Tonight is our annual DHIA meeting. For those of you who are unaware of this organization let me fill you in. DHIA stands for Dairy Herd Improvement Association. (I think) An individual, Diane, comes once a month, if i'm lucky, and tests the cows. This consists of putting meters in the parlour that are attached to the milking system. As each cow is milked it measures the milk. These numbers are then pumped into Diane's lap top which calculates my milking times and spits out the bottom line numbers. For instance, if Jehu milks 50 lbs at one milking the computer will calculate the previous milking time and somehow come to the conclusion that Jehu milked 121lbs that day intead of 100lbs. Also they will give out awards to people who own cows that make lots and lots of milk. I do not expect to recieve any awards. Uncle Delvin usually gets them all:)
So tonight I go to the meeting, which is being held at Golden Corral in Lynchburg. This means free food. (goody) This meeting is being held in conjunction with Select Sire Power an AI company. They come around once every 6 weeks and try to sell me semen. (I DO NOT HAVE A HERD BULL) Anyway, there is a new fangled thing they are trying called sexed semen. This means they try to separate the males from the females. If they could get this perfected and all my heifers were carrying heifer calves.....
Why did I tell you that? They are having an individual, David Whitlock, expound on the subject tonight. Should be very interesting......
Gotta run, don't want miss any free food.......

Making A Fool Of Myself....

As you know VOP was on a very short tour this weekend. This afternoon I was waxing eloquent over the song Am I A Soldier Of The Cross. I was telling the audienece about the famous picture of Dirk Williams rescuing his pursuer. (He fell through the ice in a lake and was freezing/drowning.) Knowing he would be killed afterward because he was a christian. The problem was I could not remember Mr. Willams name and thought it was William Tell, of all things. I was sure I was wrong but I was having a very good dose of brain lock. After the service I was informed by my fellow singers that I was very much off base.....
I must say I had a very enjoyable time visiting with my fellow bloggers.
We also had a very grand trip home. Three guys, my brother, brother-in-law, and myself. Great discussions on the way home. Gotta love it.
Well, my wife is gone and the house is very empty and lonely. I am very tired and worn out so I am off to sleep.
Good Night

Weekend Plans

We will be leaving here in a few minuets. My wife will be going out to Ohio for the week. I will be dropped off in Breezewood or SMBI. VOP has service there Sunday AM at 10:00. We will then be traveling to Goshen Mennonite church in Laytonsville MD for a 3:00 service. I believe I will have the privilege of meeting some fellow bloggers. Mr. ITF is planning on being at SMBI and Cretora's Journey Through Life will be there Sunday afternoon. (It is to much trouble for my feeble mind to take the time to put the links in the post. If you are one of the few that have not visited these blogs then please click the link on my side bar.) Now, where was I? We will be heading home Sunday evening after the service. Your prayers concerning our safety would be appreciated. Till next time.....
GZ

Cemetery

This morning Dr. J. Vernon McGee was preaching on Revelations. He made the comment that "This world is really only a big cemetery." He said he asked an engineer one time where it was the hardest to build a road. Over mountains, through the valley, or over the river? The engineer told him the hardest thing was missing all the cemeterys.

Bull Calves

Last Fri. evening my post concerned a cow in labor. The calf on the left was the result. The head on this animal is very interesting. Aside from being rather large, the coloring is also very unique. It is unusual for the head to be this white. The calf on the right was pulled around 4:30 Sat. AM. These calves less than 12 hours apart but the size difference is immense.

Honest Opinion

I will now finish this offspring debate. I am going to give my feelings on the issue and leave it at that. I am very aware that not all of you, maybe none of you, will agree with me.
I don't believe God opens and closes the womb and here is why. Things that God has put into motion he won't stop, as a general rule. Nature takes it course. It always has and it always will. Now I am not saying that he cannot close the womb. For example, there is the account in scripture where a Godly man, I cannot remember the mans name, was in battle and asked God to not let the sun set. As you know the sun stopped its course through the sky. So what I am saying is that God can open and close the womb but I do not think He chooses to do this as a general rule.
As far as how many children to have? This one is a puzzle. I think there are things that need to be taken into consideration.
1. The mother's health. Is she able to endure the pregnancy, not to mention delivery.
2. The mother's emotional health.
3. Other children in the family.
4. How much is the father at home during the day?
5. Are the parents able to meet the emotional, material, and medical needs?
I am becoming more and more convinced that having lots of children is not always a good thing. In fact, I would say it usually is a bad thing. I have heard and am aware of far to many situations where the parents basically hate each other and they have 10-15 children. Now, I am fully aware this can happen with one child. It happened to my wife and I. If we would have had 5-10 children it would have been very difficult to put the pieces back together. It was bad enough the way it was. So, I am saying these are the things I believe should be considered and if they are not you may/are doing your children a disservice. I believe each couple needs to decide where this limit is. May God give you wisdom as you lead your family into Christ like living.

A Very Deep Question

If an individual is seriously seeking God's face or is diligently longing for God's will and wants to do what is right: Can this person make the wrong choice?

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

Here are a couple of quotes from my oldest daughter.
While eating cold cereal yesterday morning she had the sudden urge to use the restroom. As she jumped of the chair she told me to "Watch her cereal so it doesn't get soggy."

This morning Sierra was playing with the lincoln logs and asked Rachel to "Please help me build this blog house." Instead of "log house".

Farm Part II

Same scene
I take no credit for these pictures. My cousin, I was told to withhold his name, took them.

 

Farm

This picture was taken from behind Sonny's house. (For those of you who know where that is.) Sorry it is so small. I had to scan it into my computer.

 

Young Help

Gotta start 'em young and on the right color......

 

Family Picture

Here you can see her cast a tad.....

 

Karey

One year ago today this little lass was placed in our home by social services. She had been physically abused and her thigh had been broken. She is in a full body cast from the waste down however, you can't tell that by looking at this picture. We were told we would have a very good chance of adopting her. She lived with us for three months before being placed with a distant relative. We wonder about her and how she is doing. She was a very sweet little girl and I think about her off and on and wonder what her life is like, would't you? Do you ever wonder if God really does know what He is doing? I do......

Will The Day Ever End?

I noticed a cow, Shaq, appeared to be in the process of droping a calf about lunch time. Due to the fact that no feet or other body parts had made their appearance I decided to have a feel inside. I found nothing..... Now I wait.
After milking this evening I had another feel. Everything is where it is suppose to be, however, the feet seem to be rather large. I will be going over in 30 min. or so to see if the calf has dropped. If not I may be in for quite a game of tug of war. I am only glad I will not be in the middle......


Here is a poll question for you.
How many of you purchase your milk and what are paying per gallon?

Grandpa

Aleya and Grandpa Zehr

 

Pondering

I now ponder the fact that perhaps I have totally enraged people. I hope this isn't the case.....
Maybe folks are contemplating retalitory statements.

Offspring Part III

First I want to thank each off you who commented on the previous post concerning offspring. I realize this is a rather controversial issue to say the least.
I do have a few more ideas that I would like you to consider and comment on if you wish. Once again I want to make it clear these are my opionions only and that I believe every situation is different.
I will begin by responding to some of the comments that were made. I did not feel attacked in any way for the thoughts I had and I thank you for your kind disagreement. The subject of God closing the womb I found interesting and I have several questions on the issue. The suggestion was made that for couples to make a decision to wait to have children is a sin. (I realize I may be paraphrasing this but that is the way it sounded.) The reason given was for us to tell God when we can or cannot have children is wrong. God has no reason to let us conceive when we decide we are ready to have children. How then do we explain teenage pregnancy or pregancy that is a result of rape or sexual abuse? Certainly this would not be in God's plan, would it? If we are going to say God opens and closes the womb how do we deal with the realm of infertility? Is adoption a sin? You know of our infertility struggle. You also know that one of our children is biological. We decided not to try to get pregnant for several years before we ever began trying. So is our infertility a result of that decision? If we are going to say that God will open and close the womb don't we also have to say that adoption is wrong? This has gotten to long as well and there is one more issue I want to discuss. That issue will need to wait.
Once again I am only asking questions and I am not upset with anyone.
God Bless

On The Board Walk

A trip to Manatee Park outside of Fort Myers FL.

 

Offspring Part II

I have noticed that people are not commenting on my previous post. I shall now stick my neck out give my opinion. The views that are stated here are my thoughts only and if you disagree with them that is fine. I am not attacking anyone who has proceeded differently than we have.
There is one thing I feel very strongly about. This concerns the speed with which some couples decide to have children. I believe it is better for couples to make a decision stating we will not get pregnant or try to get pregnant until we have been married for at least a year. Now, some of you are seriously considering deleting this blog from your computer favorites. Let me explain why I feel this way before you decide to make such a move.
I believe it is better for a couple to live together as a couple without all of the interesting emotional and physical changes a pregnancy will bring to the marriage. I believe that it is best if you can live together solidifying the marriage with out the aforementioned additional stress. There are enough things that couples need to adjust to without adding a pregnancy or a child into the mix in that first crucial year.
This is getting to long so I will not take more of your valuable time today. I will continue to give my view in my next post.
Also, let me say once again that this is only my personal opinion and if you and your spouse have a different opinion than God bless you. (Maybe God has given you more grace than He has given us.)I would love your comments but I am not going to get into a fight with anyone on the issue.

Bath Time

Do your children loathe, love, enjoy, look forward to, despise, or like their baths?

Chicken Litter

I was spreading chicken litter this morning. While I was occupying my time with this lovely task the wind was blowing. Actually, I would say it was very forceful gale. So, depending which direction across the field I was going the wind would blow the litter back across the tractor and its driver. This was a very annoying to say the least. I have also discovered that yelling at the wind doesn't help. It continues to blow.
Why isn't cow manure called cow litter? Or why isn't chicken litter called chicken manure?

Apple Pie & Lambs

We were eating apple pie for dessert tonight and suddenly Aleya said there was a lamb in her pie! She wanted to pet it. We told her to eat the lamb and that she couldn't pet it because her fingers would get all sticky. I don't know if one of the apples resembled a lamb or what she was seeing but it sure made us laugh.

Offspring: How Many?

How many children is the right amount of children? Does the Bible have anything to say about how many children couples have? He, God, said to replenish and multiply this would bring the total to four children. Of course maybe God doesn't care. What is your opinion?

The Candle Burns @ Both Ends

I had mentioned several months ago that my hired hand had found another means of employing his time. He began to take his time up with construction on March the 1st. I have talked to several different people in the hopes of filling this void and have not been succesful. I have now been managing the farm by myself for one week and I have been worn to a frazzle. I am hoping my body will adjust to this schedule and I will begin to not feel so frazzled. I think I have averaged 13-14 hours a day this past week. I must admit that I find myself wondering why God has put this bump in the road. What is His purpose for this turn of events? Why have I not found a replacement? What does God have in store for our future? So, at times I am frustrated with God and His plan and yet deep down in my heart I want what He wants.

Question

I thought of this question during a sermon several weeks ago.
Will God allow an individual to understand a scripture that he/she is unwilling to embrace or believe?

It's A Crazy Life

I got home from the barn at 9:15 this morning. (Church starts at 10:00.) I am home with three sick children this morning while my wife goes to church. This afternoon I will race over and feed the cows. VOP has a program about two hours from home this evening. I need to be ready to leave my house by 2:45. Rachel will be home with all the children the rest of the day. You can pray for her if you think about it. Sick children can be very taxing. It will be after 11:00 till I get home tonight and tomorrow will be upon me very quickly. One thing I learned this week. Staying awake till 10:30 while sitting in an easy chair reading a book is not the same as staying awake till 10:30 and milking/working.

Jayden's Birth Family

L-R
Jennifer, Cherly, and Jayden

 

Aleya

Playing on the shores of the ocean...

 

Publix

While we were in Florida, Sierra and I went to a Publix supermarket one morning to purchase some doughnuts. While I was paying I noticed complimentary coffee. I was very impressed. I have never been in a grocery store that made coffee available to their customers for nothing! I decided this was a very cool store. Several days later I took both girls along and as we were checking out the fellow bagging the goodies gave the girls some coloring books. Just before we left he told us to wait a minute and he would run see if he could find us some crayons. He was unable to locate any but I was very impressed. The grocery stores I frequent don’t seem to care if shop there or not. If there was a Publix in Lynchburg I would shop there. Do you have a really nice and friendly supermarket or are you stuck shopping at the Wal-Mart super center?

Trucking Stories

A fellow brought a load of hominy today. He began telling me some stories of his trucking life. One story that I found very interesting concerned the government. He said he picked up a load of plastic in New Jersey. He got to the plant after dark and backed up to the dock. They told him not to get out of the truck. They loaded the trailer, shut the doors, and sealed it. (I believe the seal is a plastic band. If this band is broken or cut you have to have a very good reason.) The load was suppose to be in DC at an air force base before dawn. He told me that when he to the base he backed up to the dock and once again was told to stay in the truck. The air force personnel broke the seal, unloaded the truck, and shut the doors. He never did know what was in the trailer. He also believes that someone followed him to make sure he did what he was supposed to do. He also mentioned that he was not suppose to stop on this trip. He was told to have the truck full of fuel before he loaded in New Jersey. This sounds very interesting to me. I wonder what was actually in the trailer..... Don't You?

Headaches

My wife currently has a very severe headache. What steps do you take to relieve yourself of a headache? Do you swallow pills, lie on your bed, or drink a cup of coffee? What is the cause of your headache? Are most headaches related to stress, lack of sleep, or lack of food?

Home Again

Well, we rolled in our drive about 4:00 this afternoon. I must say the trip went fairly well. Some of you are wondering how we managed to keep the children occupied and happy. They were happy because we have done such a grand job of parenting. The children did very well..... part of the time. My wife knew it was going to be a struggle so she put together this Treasure Chest. This chest was full of interesting things to do along the way. Books to read, games to play, pictures to color and other assorted activities. Every three or four hours she would pull another treasure out of the chest. I would say this worked fairly well for the girls. The boys were mostly entertained by sleeping and eating. What a life.....
They did get sick of sitting in the car seat so much........
I must say it is very good to be home......

Vanity Tags

I have seen several interesting vanity tags in my time. Here are some samples.
1. UOIBL8
2. O2BTHR
3. URABLR
What is the funniest or best vanity tag you have seen?

Life On The Road

Where to start??? Let's see, the highlights of the trip so far in chronological order.
1. Jayden running a fever on Monday of 104.9.
2. Waking up at 11:30 Monday night and my body told me it was at least 4 or 5 in the morning. It was then I realized I was facing a very long night.
3. Tues. we had lunch with Jayden's birth mother. Had a lovely visit.
4. On the way to Great Grandpa Zooks the luggage carrier on the roof of the van came loose and went bouncing down the road into the ditch. We stopped and put the whole thing into the van. This made for a very crowded van. I am sure I looked like a little old woman peering over the steering wheel. My seat was so far forward. I was very uncomfortable, UGH....
5. I have fought sleep many times while driving and have usually resorted to smacking myself in the face to wake myself back up. I am sure there are plenty of people who would like take on this job. Well, I fell asleep and ran out of the road. The van was completely off of the road. This woke me up rather quickly and I eased back onto the road. I told Rachel I was just taking a very short detour.....
6. Arrived at the great grandpa's place.
7. Slept very good last night.
8. Jayden has not had a fever since Monday.
9. Today we are heading to Fort Myers to see Aleya's Grandma Dorothy.
10. Then we are going down to Naples to see the lady who has helped us with all three of our adopted children.
In closing I am slowly realizing that adopting can be alot of fun. I hope these little bits of time spent with blood relatives will be of value to our children in later years. I also hope/pray that these times will help the blood relatives know they made the correct choice......
God Bless

And We're Off

I am one of a strange breed, I assume. I woke up at 2:22 AM this morning feeling wide awake. So I slipped out of bed, if that's possible, and went wandering around the house. I looked out the living room window and what do I see? Snow. Beautiful white fluffy flakes falling gently out of the night sky. I slide back in bed wondering what it will be like this morning. Well, at 5:39 it was still snowing.
Oh man, I got side tracked. Do you get so excited you find it very hard to sleep the night before you leave? (I always have trouble sleeping the night before we go record.) What excites you so much you find it hard to sleep?
Well, snow or no, we will be leaving within the hour for the land of balmy sunshine!!!!

News & Notes

First, for those of you who remember, our ordination is tonight. My first thought on this is Thank you Jesus! It's not me...... I have total confidence in the two men who are in the lot. I look forward to seeing the Lord work.
Second, we, my family, are leaving for FL for 8 days. We will be visiting Rachel's Grandparents and an Aunt and Uncle as well as several of our children's birth mothers. We are looking forward to this trip. We are praying that the children will be able to survive the trip down without to much fussing in the van. I will try to update as I have access to a computer.

Pockets

I am slowly beginning to realize that in my line of work a man needs to make lists. In the last month I have begun to carry slips of paper in my pockets. These are no ordinary slips. These pieces of paper are recycled. They are my old NAPA receipts. I make a trip to the local NAPA store for parts and these yellow bits of paper are stuffed into my pockets. I have also begun to carry a knife. This is a knife that I purchased at my friendly NAPA store. This knife is very sharp and has two unique features. It has a lock blade, fairly common, but it is really a razor blade. So when the blade gets to dull to cut you can swap ends. When the blade is shot you throw it away and put in another. One other thing I try to carry in my pockets is a big crayon. This crayon is used to mark the tail head of a cow after breeding her. We do this to try to keep track of who has been bred and who hasn't and it is also a tool for catching cows in heat. By the end of the day I will probably have a pair pliars, two-three wrenches, and an assortment of bolts, nuts, and washers all residing in my pockets. This can be hazardous to ones health. It makes it difficult to walk with such heavy pants. They may fall off..... Sometimes my pants get home an hour or so later then I do........
Do you carry things in your pockets?

In My Defense

Okay, so I had not mentioned the fact that our (VOP) latest cd is now available. The reason for this is quite simple. VOP's website has not been updated yet and I did not want to mention it without a simple way for you to order this album. The simplest thing to do is go to our website and print off the order form. Write in somewhere that you want to order the album Deliverance and mail to VOP. Or you can email the webmaster and he will send the order to me. It is my duty to fill these orders as they come in. If you email please include your mailing address so we know where to send it. We will send you a nice bill along with the product. So, Mr. ITF, this is the best way for you to get your hands on an album and this is also the reason I had not mentioned that it is available. Let the orders roll in.....

Farm Life

The vet was here this morning for the monthly herd check. I had noticed one dry cow with some swelling just in front of the udder. So we got her in the parlor to check it out. It was an abcess. The vet was standing down in the pit were we stand to milk and I was up with the cow. He wanted me to look at something so I got down on my knees beside the cow and inched up towards her head trying to see. Suddenly she jerked around and tried to kick me. When her hoof came down it was smack on my head/neck. In the process of trying to get out of the way I twisted my knee or something because I could hardly stand up and it sure hurt to walk. Sometimes it is hard to treat animals in a christian manner. Oh, I wanted to beat her with a stick and use other forms and instruments to prove my displeasure. I also wanted to release a stream of epithets but I held my toungue, not to mention my head and my knee......

Chiropractors

1. Do you use them?
2. Why not?
3. Why?
Do you think they are quacks?

Valentine's Day

Well the day has come. The day in which people in general say sappy things to eachother. I love valentine's day. It is fun to surprise my wife with different things. This year I found a card, hooray for me, that said this. True love is willing to share the rain while waiting for the sun to shine. Our marriage was on the rocks several years ago. Funny how this happens and you don't realize it is happening until it's over. Maybe this isn't totally true.....
Anyway, the statement above is very accurate. I hope your true love is willing to wait for the sunshine with you.
On a different note Adrian Rogers noted last night that every man needs to have 4 things that he has dates with.
1. With God
2. With his children
3. With himself
4. With his wife.
I like this list.....

Discipline

Okay......
No one wants to stick out the skinny neck?
I know people have a view of discipline. Does your view include spanking or do you use timeout only? Maybe you use both. If so, how do you decide which one to use?

Raising Children

It appears that one of our boys has a very intense anger problem. How do you deal with this? I realize he is very young yet something needs to happen. He went into a rage this afternoon because we could not hold him when he wanted to be held. I know it sounds terrible and maybe I am all wrong. No, I did not give him a spanking/smack or anything of that nature. However, I wonder if that was what was needed. How do you decide what sort of discipline to use? I know that in todays world spanking can be viewed as abuse. I am also afraid that in a lot of cases it is abuse. What are your thoughts?

Snowy Weather

I will now show my extreme wickedness to those of you read my random thoughts. It is snowing. It has been snowing all day. The amount of accumulation has been adequate. The amount that has landed and stayed on the road has been very small. I am hoping this changes overnight. I would love to skip church tomorrow morning......
Am I the only one who feels this way?

Cotton Candy Enterprise

Here they are learning how to make cotton candy for the school sale. Sierra is in the process of helping herslef to the rejected samples.
How many of you like cotton candy?

 

Golf

Lowell is in/up/home from the south for a few days. I think he has been here almost a week, give or take a few days/weeks/months. He told me soon after he arrived that he wanted to see if we could improve our technique of swatting little white balls into the woods. So, today we went. We guaged our success on whether we found more balls in the woods then we hit into the woods. Today was an exceptionally good day for me. I pulled two balls out of the murky pond and only put one in its belly. My round started very poorly and I was expecting I would hit my normal round of 70 on nine holes played. (I know, I know, that is really pathetic) When it was all said and done I was in the clubhouse with 60. Not bad for a chap who had not hit a golf ball since the end of June. How often do you get to play a round of golf and what is your average score?

Davy Crockett

I am finishing a book on Davy Crocket. He was an interesting man. What do you know about him? How did he die? Was he involved in politics? How many wives did he have? You do know he existed, don't you? Maybe he is only a figment of American History's imagination......

Moans Groans and Sighs

Chronologically this is how my day/night went.
3:00 AM I hear a wail from the girls bedroom.
3:05 AM Still wailing: Papa trudges across house....
3:06 AM Sierra says "My back hurts"
Papa says "I can't help your back, I'm sorry..... try to sleep.....
3:10 AM She appears to be asleep..... Thank you Jesus and help her sleep all night
6:30 AM Alarm rings......
7:00 AM Devotions had and coffee brewing
7:30 AM I go to milk.
8:30 AM Cell phone vibrates
"Hello"
"Hello, Honey, Sierra is still running a high fever and won't come down her back still aches..... what do we do????
8:31 AM Cell phone cuts off.....
8:32 AM I call her at the house and tell her to call the Dr.
8:45 AM I tell Lyndon I have to take Sierra to the Dr. I also get into a theological discussion with the neighbor.
8:55 AM While in this discussion I notice calves are out..... We chase calves......
9:15 AM Go to the Dr.
11:00 AM Go to Social Services to get the boys SS #'s
11:30 AM Stop at the accountant's office.....
12:00 PM Stop at wal-mart for Amoxicillion
12:45 PM Stop at Mcdonalds
1:30 PM arrive at home
1:35 PM go to work
6:00 PM Come home
So there it is......
I knew you were wondering what I do all day.......

Prayer Part II

John McArthur has this to say about praying in Jesus name....
1. It means the believer's prayer should be for His purposes and kingdom and not selfish reasons.
2. The believer's prayer should be on the basis of His merits and not any personal merit or worthiness.
3. The believer's prayer should be in pursuit of His glory alone.

Do you agree?

Snacks

What do you consider the perfect snack?

Relating

How do you relate to people when you are in the middle of a heated discussion? Is their a proper way to have a heated discussion? Is it okay to fight?

Prayer

What does it mean to pray in Jesus name? I have tacked this on my prayers for years and I am wondering why we do it. Is it a nice tidy way to finish our prayers off? We pray these tattered prayers and then wrap them neatly in bow using the afore mentioned phrase. Is there significance in the phrase? What is it?

Obstetrics

This afternoon I noticed an older cow was in the early stages of calving. She was losing some fluid. However, I could not see any hooves. (In case you are a novice, calves are born front feet first with the head lying neatly between the front legs.) I decided to let her alone for an hour and then check on her. I put her in the calving pen and went to do some other things. When I returned the calves feet were still absent. I decided to have an exploratory feel. I shoved my sleeve up over my elbow and inserted my hand into the cow. At first I was a little bewildered. I could feel the calves head but could not find any feet. I thought I had a leg but it turned out to be the calves lower jaw. Where were the feet? Groaning I forced my arm gently further into the murky darkness of the cows uterus. Finally, with my arm in the cow to the shoulder, I found leg #1. I wrapped my fingers around the knee joint and was able to bring it around to the proper position. Now back for leg #2. This leg seemed to be a little further away and I could barely get my fingers around it. When I did I was able to bring this one around also. Knowing everything was at the right spot I left her alone. About an hour or so later I checked on her again. I saw the calf was out except for its hips. Before I could get there mamma cow stood up and began to walk in a circle. Thus the calf fell in a heap in the sawdust. A lovely heifer calf. She should be a good one. By the way, when a calf isn't lying correctly the cow will not dilate right. This causes a lot of stress for the cow and the farmer......

Aleya Nicole Zehr

Very Studious.....