Future Farmers of America

As I was folding laundry this morning, I came across Kyle's Wickes FFA T-shirt. I've seen him wear it a million times but for some reason just glanced upon the front and read the words " Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve". Somehow this motto has slipped my attention but I found the words to be compelling.

I clearly remember sitting several times at FFA functions and hearing the creed being read with a big lump in my throat. The exact words eluded me but I remember the feeling of having a pride in the organization and feeling a very strong affirmation for my own occupation.

So, I've attached it for you to read. I think whether you are involved in agriculture or not, these are captivating words.

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds - achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years.

I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.

I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil.

I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so--for others as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends upon me.

I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.

Keeping Eddie Busy

One notable characteristic about boxers is that they are active and require adequate exercise to prevent boredom. Since Eddie is still a puppy, he does a lot of napping but I'm beginning to see more and more of this boredom coming out in him. Thank goodness we live in a place where I can let him out of the house and he can run around like a maniac. However, he likes me to be with him when he's doing this and well, sometimes I'm on house duty. So, I've been finding little ways to keep him occupied while we are working indoors.

Today, I tossed him my empty bottle of sparkling water (I mix it with cranberry juice...so yummy).

At first he looked at me like I was an idiot. He has such whimsical facial expressions.

Then he dug on into it and really started to enjoy the lovely crunching sound.

Then it got a little more serious...

After about 5 minutes, the label was shredded and being the good mommy I am, I took that away.

I like this whole water bottle thing...he was busy for at least a good half hour

and on it went

then this is when that whole boxer personality really started coming out, I love this part...the jumping, the pouncing, the tossing, the sheer merriment of it all.

oh look...Eddie has actual magical powers!!

Then it's back down to working the bottle over with those jaws.

and now, he is tired of Momma taking his picture

brace yourself Momma

then it's over and now I have to go find something else to occupy his time. I'm sure that I would have been wise to have kept my own self busy while he was occupied instead of taking pictures of the whole thing. Now he's napping and I'm blogging. Laundry and soap-making are awaiting.

Precious Moments

We celebrated Taylor's 17th birthday on Friday evening. As I got out her birthday banner, I was reminiscent of the birthdays that have come before. I think I made this banner for Taylor when she was 8 or 9, so it's been around a while.

There is something even more precious about Taylor's birthday's that has started to become quite a display in my house. Every year, Granna gets Taylor a Precious Moments figurine. Now she has a whopping 17 of them.

This was #1. Seems like such a long time ago, and yet somehow it seems like yesterday. Granna has a knack for capturing the memories of the year with the figure she so carefully chooses. There is a spiritual bond between those chicks, Taylor and her Granna. Who better to choose a gift to be reminiscent of the years gone by.

She even gets her an ornament every Christmas, which I can't bear to put in storage so they sit in with the others all year long in the curio cabinet. I figure they have much to chat about and I would hate to separate them.

As they began to accumulate, I loved the sweet, enchanting pastel light they began to cast. The more that gathered, the prettier the display became.

All of them as a whole is a precious thing, and each individually, special.

Like the one she got the year she played ball.

Or the one when she was Miss Cheerleader.

The one she got after we moved her to the chicken farm (bless her heart).

This one she got the first year her Daddy took her deer hunting. You can't tell me that doesn't make your heart get all mushy and sentimental, or is it just me?

This is the one she got this year. I noticed as I placed her in the cabinet with the rest that she had several with kitties...wonder why??

So, in she goes to be displayed oh so proudly...the current year gets the front row, I'm sure the others don't mind. They've all had their turn.

...and when it is time for Taylor to go out into the world on her own, they will travel with her. I'm sure the assembly will continue to grow as long as Taylor continues to have birthdays. And each year she can look back and not only remember each years uniqueness, but will have something precious and abiding from her Granna.

Popcorn

One of my favorite meals on Sunday evenings is a big bowl of popcorn. Usually Sunday lunch is a fairly big event, and who wants to cook a meal on Sunday evening?? not me.

No microwave popcorn in my house. I enjoy the whole process of popcorn making. As soon as those kernels start to sizzle in the oil something magical happens. A lovely aroma begins to fill the house...and a crowd gathers.

This is the same crowd that gathers when I'm deboning chicken. Basically I have them as an audience any time I'm cooking in the kitchen.

They really like popcorn evenings, because they know Momma likes to share her popcorn.

Incidentally, I had a little white mouse named Popcorn when I was about 8 years old. This is the mouse that I made my mother take to the vet when she was sick. Come to find out the poor dear was menstruating. You can imagine my mother's horror and the discussion among the neighborhood mothers when they found out! Who else besides your mother is gonna do something like that??

Menstruating mice aside, this whole popcorn business is divine. I am easily amused and the fact that I can toss little kernels of corn into hot oil and in about 5 minutes have a big bowl full of yummy salty popcorn is so thrilling...and delicious. Plus I get to haphazardly fling popcorn in the air and let the dogs catch it. Things just can't get much more fun than that.

hay season

I awakened this morning feeling somewhat like I'd been hit by a bus. Rodney and I even will teasingly look at each other after several days of hard labor and say "bus??"

It is hay season on the farm. God grows the grass and we must harvest it and bale it to sustain our cattle through the winter. I have never been too crazy about "have to" stuff, but this is one chore that I really do enjoy. Probably because it is here for a brief season, and then it is done.

Rodney called me yesterday around 3:30, and told me to stop raking...I didn't even ask why, I was just so happy to have been freed from my rugged and bouncing prison that I turned the tractor around and headed home. I do love raking hay, but after three days of riding a tractor, your body starts to overrule your brain.

He later called to let me know that the belts on the baler broke. And, like I've spoken of before of our small town life, a friend is on his way this morning... baler in tow, to finish up the process.

As I was sleepily and sorely walking past the big glass door in the kitchen this morning, I couldn't help but stop and admire the un-baled wind-rows. There is just something about all that grass being neatly arranged over hills and valleys that makes my heart happy.

I am always very diligent to give credit where credit is due. See, I may have driven the machinery that so expertly sorted the hay, but that is about all I did. God grew the grass, He made the sunshine and the rain to fall upon the earth. He gave me a mind and body to be able to work and toil. Thus, I am merely a servant to the greater good of the earth. Farm life keeps one very closely in-tuned with nature, with the ways of the earth and her Creator.

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord 1 Cor 1:31.

I may be the only person on this planet that finds this scene satisfying and heartwarming, but it is the very thing that God needed to show me this morning. It reminds me clearly of whom I serve, and gives me a joy for the life I lead.

Remembering

Taylor was only 18 months old when Kyle made his big entrance. I remember, at the time, thinking that having another baby right away was a good idea.

"They will be close when they get older" I told myself. "I'll still be young enough to enjoy my life when they grow up and leave", I reasoned.

Well, today Taylor started school as a junior and Kyle as a sophomore. The past 17 years of my life have shown me what love is all about. You just don't get the true picture until you have your own children. The day that this picture was taken is etched in my memory eternally, not because of bliss but because of sheer terror.

When I was left alone for the first time with Taylor and Kyle, my heart was overwhelmed with anxiety. "How in the world am I gonna do this? What have I gotten myself into? What in heaven's name was God thinking entrusting these souls to me?"

And now, now that they have become the glorious people that they are, I look back and miss them. I would NEVER go back and do it again, raising toddlers almost killed me...literally! But look how sweet they were.

Loving them now is as easy as ever. They are both incredible people and sometimes I glance over at them and wonder who these grown people are living in my house. I miss them when they're gone. There hasn't been a first-day-of-school, from pre-k until this very morning, when I haven't had that homesick, heart-wrenching feeling. I have to just sit and cry for a minute and look forward to them coming home.

They are close, like I predicted. They love each other and are great friends (although they fight like any teenage siblings). Whether or not I'll be able to enjoy my life when they leave, is a chapter yet to be written. For now, I'm going to enjoy every little minute that God grants me and try to live with no regrets. Giving my children their wings will be one of my most precious accomplishments of all.

Knowledge

I've always loved books, even though I'm not a big reader...there is just something so alluring and charming about a book. Last week, I went with Mom to Rich Mountain Community College in Mena so she could register for a class she's been wanting to take for years. Oral Communication. (That is a different blog entirely).

While we were on campus, Taylor and I popped into the college book store while Mom was finishing up her registration process. College book stores are one of my favorite places.

This book store is small, I mean it's Mena Arkansas people, but still offered enough pens, pencils, paper and other office supplies to lure me in.

Then low-and-behold, there before me was a whole table full of college books on sale for a DOLLAR a piece!! My heart nearly stopped.

I love a bargain almost as much as I love a good book.

This is what I made it out of there with. Taylor was convinced that I had lost my mind, especially when I started drooling and quivering with excitement. As I piled one book after another into my arms, she kept inching further and further away from me, pretending not to know me.

But, just look what I scored!

How could I NOT buy this book?

or this one? I was thinking to myself...I'll learn EVERY name of EVERY plant, and how to use them beneficially. My knowledge will be unsurpassed in my small circle and people will look to me for advice about how to care for their plants. (yeah right)

Words, words, words. How I love them so. Sometimes I randomly flip through my i pod dictionary and absorb a few definitions. It is always thrilling when one of my kids asks me what a specific word means. OHHH...I'll look it up and we can discuss this at length. They don't ask me this question nearly as much as they used to.

The Examined Life? You mean like, why am I here? Philosophy? Yes, I need this book. Did I mention that they were only a dollar??

I'm not really sure what this book is used to teach, but it had the words life and development upon the cover and it was also very pretty. I judge books by there cover even though I know I'm not supposed to.

Now this one, I wish I could hire somebody else to read for me and then take care of my personal finances for me. I figured that I could apply some of the financial theories and expertise in this book to my farm finances and now my soap business.

I really wish I could lay on the floor, put these books atop my head and absorb them into my brain. Along with my recent interest in aromatherapy, soap making, and attempting to memorize scripture...my brain is on overload. I'm just one of those people that always thinks I can do everything, then find myself exhausted and completely drained. The good thing about it is that, so far, I haven't given up trying.