Planting Progress

Here is an update on Spring planting for this year. Damian always gets a little antsy due to the number of acres he hopes to get in the ground, under perfect conditions, within the perfect time window. However, he is hesitant to complain about rains this time of year because it is always a good feeling to start the hot, dry season off with the ponds and creeks full.

His first day of planting was April 8th...he got rained out. He made sure to point out that he has also been rained out on the 11th, 17th and the 25th. That being said, he has planted a total of 936 acres of corn so far, having help on 390 of those acres from a very good neighbor who sacrificed sleep to help him cover the ground. (Our friend works third shift at Spirit in addition to his own acres of farming and helping us. His lives with his wife and kids about 18 miles south of us, but out here that's considered a neighbor. ;-) )

For those of you who like statistics here is the rundown to date:
150 acres of corn left to plant
1200 acres of soybeans
200 acres of sunflowers, hopefully :-) (Would like to get some good pics in them this year!)
No milo is in the plan, unless it gets to late to plant the above 150 acres to corn
*These are not all our personal acres. Damian and I own 80 acres, about 75 of it is in hay
production. The above mentioned acres are either farmed on shares or custom farmed by
the acre for landlords.

The most acres Damian, personally has covered in one day this year is 200. I believe it was around 280 with Roy's help. You will notice that I didn't mention where the acres that have been planted are or who owns them. I wouldn't want any of our landlords to think Damian is playing favorites! LOL He works really hard to do the best job possible for everyone, while still doing what is practical considering how spread out some of our acres are.

This was Damian coming up the road after being rained out this past week.

You can tell Damian is rained out because it is still light out. If the conditions are right, it's not unusual for him to plant long into the night. This is made easier with the use of GPS and auto-steer, which allows him to plant without having to see his markers.

This is the sunset from our front porch.

Damian's new pride and joy...his John Deere 8130. It was delivered the end of March and he wanted a picture of it while it was still clean!

Brooklyn says...

Out of the blue this morning, Brooklyn began telling us about Jesus. Here is her version of the story...

Jesus had to carry his cross like this. (She pretends to have something over her shoulder and she kind of hunches over and walks a few steps.)

I'm thinking to myself...How cute! She is so smart! So, I ask her, "Where was Jesus carrying His cross? What happened next?"

Brooklyn said simply..."He was on his way to High School."

There you have it! I'm not sure this version is any translation of the Bible I have read, but surely you can agree that Brooklyn has quite an imagination! LOL

...Just To Catch You Up

Easter Sunday at mom's house. Garrett was so proud of his shirt and tie that he kept it on until the rest of our extended family got there to see him.

The whole gang

We finally found some shelves for Garrett's room! I absolutely LOVE Craig's list...thanks Donna for cluing me in!! We were finally able to clean up the mountain of 'stuff' on Garrett's floor.

Michaela is such a sweetie! Not only did she do her chores for the week tonight, but she cleaned off the table for me after dinner! :-)

Before I put the kids to bed, we drove over to the pasture that Damian and his brother were burning. We love to watch, but we couldn't get any closer with out getting the van stuck...BUMMER!!

All-in-all it has been a pretty good Monday!

I'M BACK!!

It's been a very LONG time since I have visited Blogger Land, well besides the occasional lurking on everyone else's sights. While on my break I discovered an incredibly fun way to waste time on the computer...FACEBOOK. I feel sort of like I've been 'cheating' on my blog because I've posted pictures of some pretty important moments so far in 2009...finally finished M&M's bedroom suite, Brooklyn got glasses, we took M&M to Washington DC, Damian went on the John Deere Gold Key Tour at the factory in Waterloo, Iowa...lots of really good stuff! I won't even attempt to catch you all up in one post because it would take way too long, but I will try to add pictures soon.

One of my goals for 2009 is to go through the entire house and CLEAN OUT!! Progress has been slow, but I have started to make a dent in the mountain of stuff we have accumulated. I'm not sure where it all comes from...maybe it has learned to reproduce on its own? Now that would be scary!

Free time will continue to be in short supply this Spring as Garrett has started baseball, Montana is playing softball and it is time for Spring planting. The weather hasn't been very cooperative, which makes it difficult for Damian to get the corn and the beans in before hay season takes over our lives until sometime in the Fall.

As we struggle with the dilemma of never having enough hours in the day, God has been reminding me over-and-over that the amount of time that we have is out of our control. In the sermon today our pastor was speaking on true joy and one of his points was that we need to reevaluate our activities, including religious ones, to be sure our priorities are in the right order because we don't know how much time we have here in this life. I know that God wants us to make the most of each moment we are given and, if we will let Him take the lead, the fullness of our lives will be beyond our comprehension.

So as I try to get organized and 'keep up' with all that life throws my way, I'm trying to listen to God and do the things that matter most...hug Garrett as much as I can before he decides it's not cool to be seen hugging his mom, read to Brooklyn - even if it means reading the same story a hundred times, talk to Michaela and Montana and more importantly really listen as they tell me the joys and sorrows (drama :-> ) of their life, and do what I can to ease Damian's burden as he works long hours this summer...simply to be a loving, supportive wife and mother. But it's not always so simple, is it? I know that God has a purpose for my life that goes beyond these roles...someday...but for now I must fulfill my calling in this moment and pray for the dreams that the future holds.