Fresh calves

All things are sacred.  All things are done as unto God.  For they are for him and help us to know him.  This is what we were created for.  Caretaker-Worshipers.  Sin has caused it to be work.  Sin has caused the struggle.  Sin has caused our desire to not care.  Not worship.   
Working animals is a gift.  The gift of working the land.

Bottle in hand.  New calf in arms.
Not an image of motherly love, but a seeming battle has arisen.
The calf needs colostrum.  Quick! The only immune system it has.  Passed through the mother's mammaries.  Passive transfer.  Critical!, or sickness and death will surely stalk the shadows and rear their ugly head.
Bottle in hand.  New calf in arms.  The battle.
Some take easy to their new caregivers.
Others. Well. They would just as soon tear your clothing, and leave you with scars. They see you as wolf.

Some might wonder why calves are removed.
For their health sake. Large amounts of colostrum are critical early.  Many of the mothers care not.

This calf rebelled violently.
Hopeless cause?  Probably, the tube would be needed.  But patience ruled out. We rested. Calf with nipple in mouth.
And waited...
and waited...
the rebellion was continuous but mostly simply resistive.

...for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
-Jeremiah 2:13

Time wore on, as did the persuasion.  And I couldn't help think this is often the reality of our hearts as people.
God has good in store for us.  But we prefer to receive it not from him.
We rail against God.  We lay stone faced.  We know better.  Our way is right.
We are strong.  No one needs to bottle feed us.  We can find our own life giving food.  We for sure will not receive a gift freely given.
Then (unlike this particular moment and feeding) we get a taste of that which is good, He whom brings and is LIFE and we can't get enough.  We have caught the flavor of God.  And He is the good news.  He is the hope we live for.  His is that which fills us till we can hardly stand.  We long to just rest and 
enjoy His presence and follow wherever he leads.  Hoping it is to more of Him!

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water....Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
-John 4:10,13,14

Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
-John 7:37,38

For what?

The amassing of wealth.  Building security.  Creating comfort.  Getting a name. Glory for one's self.  Getting a good return.  Living in comfort.  Creating the world we always wanted.  Spending one's self on behalf of the King.  Creating Jobs. Using the talents we have been given to get a good return.

What is our ambition? With what are we wrapped?  What do we want in this short life?  What to consume our years?

Questions swirl.  Frustrations ebb and flow.  Those lead to a breaking point and once again we are at the cross.  From where does our hope come from.

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever, Amen.
...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect...
I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think... For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ... Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us...
Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil;  hold fast to what is good.  Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.  Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 
Romans 11

At the cross we are equal.  All desperate.  All dead in our transgressions.
Because of the new life in Christ we are all equal.  All with gifts. 
Why do hands and feet and heads and ears squabble?  Why do we strive to exalt ourselves as if we needed no other and were made for no other.
Forgive us Lord.  Forgive me Lord. 
By grace Lord make our love genuine.
Teach us to hate evil with the same hatred you have for it.
Teach us to outdo each other in honor.
Living in harmony with one another.

Be constant in prayer.

Teach us to pursue a holy ambition.  Spurring each other on in good works to you. Spending ourselves for the King and his Kingdom.  There will be our greatest Joy:  Jesus our Risen Saviour!
 Only you!

All only for your Glory!

New Life

The celebration of new life is coming.

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has  been set free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;  death no longer has dominion over him,  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God."

However, first...

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Today was full.
Frustrated/futility , groaning/anger, new birth.
Lunch came late.  What was almost ready was soon to wait.
Two feet for too long.  Only two feet, nothing more. 
And so the need to explore this dilemma.  Two feet for too long. Only two feet, nothing more is not good.
New life comes "easy" to the heifer bred with Jersey.
Only two feet, nothing more should not be.
An anomaly.
Frustration.
Antithesis!
The calving gear gathered.  Chains on dainty legs.
Calf gone backward? Head Back? Leg down? My thoughts whorl.
The heifer lays there waiting, pushing, straining.  Pains of childbirth, but new life has not come.
Hours have passed, but now help has come, hope has come. Seemingly.
The heifer has had enough of this help.  She moves on, on, and on.  Help tries, but only ends up groaning, angry, wrath quickly rising.

"But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."

God is! Today I fail at imitating.  
More help comes.  The one who knows what it is to be in the throws of childbirth.  The one who understands.  The one quick to speak peace to a mother in distress.  My anger persists as my phone disseminates, and I become covered in what is now spewing out of my mouth.

Then the one who knows being a mother prevails.  The unbound is bounded and he who is all too familiar with a desperate need for grace gets to the work of birthing.
The answer. A head back. Dainty as are the legs.
Tired arms push legs back in.  The mother groans like none yet heard from her.  She can not understand.  Only one thought, one object. EXPEL THE CALF!
Yet as Christ knows the painful work that needs to be done,

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

so he with tired arms knows the only way out is by going back in.  This calf will only come through his work.  The harder she tries on her own the worse her situation will be.  As with us we must rely on His wisdom, His ways, His work, not our own.
Soon the legs are back in.  A tired arm finds a head and wrestles it in to place.  It must come with the feet.
Now the real pushing can be done.  Now the work of redemption.  Now comes new life by him of aching body.

" But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."  -Isaiah 53:5

Click below for more thoughts on new life as we prepare to celebrate Easter...

Frost on a Sabbath, on my heart?

Hours roll by and bodies tire. Sleepless nights compound and the sin nature lurks to rule unabated. How often the tongue lies in wait ready to strike. Morning comes early. As milk pours forth the mouth is silent. Mostly. But the mind is churning. Hard freezes bring edgy pasture days. Bloat comes easy to the unsuspecting. Cattle graze not knowing of danger in every bite. The mind keeps churning. Will this year be different than others? Have we learned from mistakes, or like our nature do we keep rehearsing that which we soon regret. Can we repent? Turn away? Do that which we have not always done. Walk a different road? Cattle are restless. Do they know what has changed? Bull menaces. The tongue utters challenge. Reminds of supremacy. Analogies come to mind. How much my heart is in tune with Bull. Demanding attention. Challenging my master. "My way!" "My time!" "My family!" The list is long. I am reminded
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. " Thank you Lord, your kindness leads us to repentance. I should have remembered the verses that predicated both, but I do not.
Moment passes and I am again working. Time is running hard and I am not. Will I be on time for the gathering of the body of believers for Worship? My mind again begins to churn.
I should have continued praising. In that moment the freshly rising Sun was in my stead, doing my delightful duty of praise.
Frozen mud flying, bitter wind biting at my hands I ride to barn. Are the others done? Yes, barely except one, he is already gone. My heart begins to overflow. Phone in hand my tongue becomes a world of evil, salt water flows fast. An ill spoken response catches me. Deed done, heart sick I go on, later than ever. My mind now a hurricane of spite and malice, yet light dawns mirroring the sun.
Self righteousness is seen for its hideous self.

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

I am broken. Lord you are my righteousness, I am a sinner.

Therefor you have no excuse, O man, everyone of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man -you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself - that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:1-4

Lord thank you for your kindness. Forgive me.

2 Coringthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Thank you Lord for enduring such hostility from us, for being so patient.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding you r blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

"My son, do not regard ligtly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

Lord, because you you we have hope. Give me a repentant heart.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great High Priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
my name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heav'n he stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart,
no tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to dispair,
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see Him there,
who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me,
to look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there! the risen Lamb,
my perfect spotless Righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of Glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
my soul is purchased by His blood;
my life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Savior and my God,
with Christ, my Savior and my God.
-Charitie L. Bancroft

Reply to Alan's comment and lots more

It sounds like the perfect plan to stifle economic success/grown/sustainability/anything other than economic exodus. The whole idea of lets tax the "rich" is a most demented idea. And give a tax rebate (entitlement/welfare handout) to those whom are not making money. It is soooo ridiculous! In the last several months I have known MANY people who would not take a job, or weren't looking for jobs even though they were laid off or fired because they had unemployment for like the next 39 years!
"Hey want a job, we are looking for someone that would be a good employee and we think you would fit the bill."
"Well, you know I wouldn't mind a job but really I don't think I will take it now, maybe in a few months when my unemployment runs out, right now I need to make the best use of my time and watch some tv or something while I bleed out the profits of everyone who does work. Call me in a few months."



I have an idea, why don't they stop taxing us so much (I don't consider myself rich, however, with a global perspective I suppose I am fairly wealthy just in that I can't remember the last meal I even thought about not being able to afford to eat) so we can afford to hire the guy who is unemployed, and have money left over to better fund things that CRWRC, or the Foods Recource Bank, or Compassion Evangelical Hospital, or other organizations that meet physical needs are working on, or just plain fund the Great Commission. Then we wouldn't be spending so much money beating terrorists into submission, and would be spending more money funding the advancement of the Gospel into the deep darkness where those terrorists are born and bred and loving people in the name of Jesus by telling them about who He really is. The death toll might rise, but maybe it wouldn't, and if it did, it would be a great non-risk for a GREAT God.
Sure a whole bunch of people that work for the government would have to get real jobs that add to society instead of drain on it, but I suppose that wouldn't be all bad. Then there would be more money for people to fund things like the Bread Basket project in our community that provides food locally for people in economic distress. And then we know who they are and can interact with them instead of some cold gov't program with no connection, no accountability, no anything other than some gov't handout.
We have a poster in our house that reads "JESUS SAVES from the American Dream". It isn't through taxation, but through Christ being a FAR GREATER treasure than money, success, love of the world, a big fancy house, new vehicles, status, 12 tvs (personally I think of saying 2 tvs but that would include a lot of people), good family, safety, access to all of the best amenities, a good neighborhood, financial security,........ none of those things are necessarily evil in themselves but do we treasure them more than Jesus...really? What in our lives would reflect that?
So, anyway, the one thing I do like for sure about McCain is his consistent (over the last many many years) work against pork barrel spending, like "The bridge to Nowhere" or lots of farm subsidy programs that allow lots of farmers like us to be careless and irresponsible with our resources, I could go on for a long time.
I can see how God could free us to give in our poverty like the 1st century Macedonian churches if Obama gets in as president. But the immoral chaos that could accompany it would not be good. However, I don't want to vote for McCain just because Obama is basically Doctor Death, I mean (and I don't really think he means it, it was a miscalculated statement I am sure) from his comment at Saddleback he wouldn't ever know when to entitle a child to human rights. Maybe they could get them when they are Adults?!? I mean really just quit feeding us a line of ______ and tell us what you really think and plan to do other than be the next president regardless of what you need to say to get there. With that said I reiterate I am sick of voting for what I perceive to be the somewhat lesser of two evils. At this point I can see why some Mennonites don't participate in government. It is just plain messy!
I could go on for pages in many different directions from this.
Ok, sorry for the rant, sort of, well not really. Ok, maybe...?

The Saga continues...

Well, today was one of the most bizarre days on our farm. An insane amount of things went awry. I spent over 6.5 hours trying to bale 4 acres of grass (should have taken 20 minutes) for a guy and only got a little over half done before I broke down, then got it going then had the needles go into the bales and get bent over (for those of you who don't know, that is REALLY REALLY BAD! between $1200-1600 bad!!!) One other brother had a cable get caught on the loader and just about rip the cab off, it shattered the window in the top, then several hundred cattle got out and mixed up and tore up a bunch of fences, and had to be sorted. The planter had some major fixing that had to be done, the sprayer was broke down almost all day, and the back end of the spray rig broke off. Also some water got shut off to a bunch of cattle for part of the day, and a water line blew out in the storage room of the milking parlor. And one of the silo unloaders is performing terribly. Needless to say I didn't get to go to my in-laws like we were planning on tonight:(. Lord willing tomorrow will be a much better day.

Semi in the rain

We had a slight issue yesterday in the rain. We had a load of wheat that needed to go in the shed. Well the only place it would fit is in our shed at our house. So I took it home and started backing it in. Well, in an effort to avoid the RATH OF WOMAN :) hehe we tried not to cut the lawn up. Well, we had an air hose pull off, and that automatically locks the brakes. After we finally got that on we got it straightened out thanks to a driveway directly across from our driveway. Well, when I went to back up things started going a little wayward. The lift axle in the middle of the trailer caught on the crown of the road.

So, now we had the entire road blocked off. I was able to go ahead and we tried the 3 times but then the wheels really started slipping.

Those of you that are not very experienced with semi's, let me give you a bit of a heads up. If you ever for some reason are held up by a semi that looks like it is stuck on a banana peal and you are tempted to get angry. Don't, even with all of the weight on the wheels it probably is stuck on a banana peal. So, we were able to get the semi most of the way off the road (Ok, mostly out of one of the lanes) and Hotrod/Big Shot/Big Guy/my brother David, and I left (mind you it is still raining) and went to go get a tractor to pull it. (David had to drive a smaller tractor (open air) back to the farm.)


We got our tow rope and chains to hopefully pull the semi across the road.

Well, we got back and hooked on and Hot Rod started pulling even before I was back in the semi. The John Deere was slowly pulling the semi backwards, but immediately after I climbed up in the semi I heard a clanging sound and the semi stopped moving.


One of the cleaveses that we used had stretched out (Oops!!)

So we reattached, double looped the chain and tried again.



And it worked!!!
So we went to check out our handiwork across the road.


Too bad we mow that too:(
Well we got it backed in the shed without any more real excitement,
and didn't even mess the lawn up too bad thanks to good guidance, and left for the next great adventure; How to load up 2 cattle for the meat packer and haul them there in 30 minutes, when it takes 40 minutes just to drive there!!!

Chimney Sweeps

When last we saw Bic I had the privilege of working with him, his dad, and his brother Sando (One of the Jedi council). Beings we were in a strange planet named Wisconsin we thought it advisable to wear these HIGHLY effective gas masks!





This is me ready to fly my X-Wing to fight off the Evil Empire of Wisconsin!!!



While we were there we went incognito as chimney demolishers. We destroyed a chimney that was 3 stories high and had to carry it all out of the house after the top story. The bottom story was in the basement.




This is what we looked like after cleaning up. Blake looked like a jaundiced Badger fan even after cleaning up!! The last 8ft of the chimney was full of soot. We couldn't figure out how their furnace still worked!!! Must be some sort of Jedi mind trick.

A dark dank hole

You would think that I would learn. Don't start a job in the dark. HA! I don't think that I will learn from this, but I hope so. Anyway, I was milking our Jersey cows last night and my dad asked me if I was going to fix that tile I busted while putting in a waterline at my house a couple of weeks ago with my father-in-law. I thought about it and after moving some of our heifers onto fresh oats and turnips (for grazing) I said, "Heck, its not dark yet I might as well go and fix that tile, shouldn't be too much of a job. All's I have to do is dig a bit of a hole and put a tile or two down and bam I'm done. That was at about 5 o'clock last night. Well, I got the back-hoe started and headed on down the road (slowly because the little gasser is gutless, effective but gutless). By the time I got to my place it was getting dark. The sun was setting somewhere behind the near continual MI cloud cover and I had to try to find some lighting (the back-hoe has no working lights, as in no lights that work let alone working lights:) but I digress) After finding a flashlight I got to work.

Things were going fairly well and in short order I was down to the cement tile (used for soil drainage). I managed to get the hole dug without tearing up the new water line that was there but found that two tile were broke and that I needed a wider hole. Well I started shoveling cause I couldn't see very well and didn't want to tear up more than I needed to. This worked rather poorly as the soil at our place is really really sticky clay when it is wet and the tile were still running so there was plenty of wet clay. After about 30 minutes of trying to dig while holding a flashlight I thought "this is ridiculous, I am standing next to a back-hoe and I am digging by hand. So I hopped back on the back hoe, maneuvered it around so that I would be digging in line with the tile and proceeded to dig a much bigger hole so I could get at the tile better

I finished digging the hole and then thought, "Hmm I wonder if I reach out real far if I can dig on the other side and reach the back side of the southern most broken tile, then I won't have to dig hardly at all." Action follow thought and in the process I tore the new water line in two!! ARGH!! not good! By now it was 6:45 and starting to sprinkle. Thankfully we have lots of 1inch water line and couplers and all that stuff from our pasturing but it is not as high psi as the water line I ripped up.
So I called Joe (fella that works for us) to see when he would be done feeding cows. Thankfully he was and came over right away. In the next 45 minutes we got the couplers and hose clamps and all that jazz and were back in the hole. Then we figured out that the line wouldn't reach so Joe had to go back and find a 90 degree coupler and some water line to get it connected. Thankfully He brought a long chuck.



Because, after getting the 90 connected in very cold water, in the rain, in the boot deep mud, in the dark (at least now I had someone to hold a light!) and having the tile in place, the line kinked while connecting it to the other end!!!!!! So, I pulled it off and we cut another piece. Joe was breathing death threats if I kinked this one off but thanks to God and some boiling hot water fixed up by the lovely Angela (she got home from work in the middle of all of this) we got the water line connected!


Then we got the tile in place.



And started filling the hole (at this point Joe pretended to do some work while I got to take a couple of pictures:).



And hey we got to have some fun and were done slightly before 10 o'clock at night.



Just a quick little easy job to do before Angela got home from work. HA! At least it was fun:).

Hard Workin Man

Here's a little taste of what my husband does on a cold blustery day...he builds fence!:) With Jonathan is another one of the hard workin men at the farm...Joe!


No wonder he enjoys a shoulder rub!


The cattle were pretty intrigued by what the guys were doing. They were also thirsty and Joe's pickup must have tasted good...he got a free carwash!