Moving Forward

     Life gives us so much. Sometimes what we are given is easy, sometimes it's challenging, sometimes it's work.  How we let it affect our lives is our choice. One must make the choice to take what they have been given and move forward with it. To put one foot in front of the other and move ahead, even if it is baby steps.                                                                                                                                                                                      I am amazed at how fast the last month and half has gone. Looking back over this year - the entire year has moved along quickly for us. But the last month and half has been fast. Full of the unexpected and leaving us to digest events after the fact instead of as they come. I think we are still in the process of digesting things but now we have the liberty of quiet, un-scattered thoughts and time for reflection.

     I have found in myself an un-wavering strength and solid core that even surprised me at times. I also found that in my most un-confident times that instead of standing tall the best and only place for me to be was on my knees. Here I found myself renewed in strength and felt a blanket of peace enveloping me that I had not known or felt before. 

We as a family have sailed through rough waters. Currently we are blessed with a safe harbor to rest and heal and reflect. We are all changed and look at things a little differently now. Have we climbed a mountain? Yes, absolutely! But only by making the choice to keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward. When we look back on this mountain we can see that we have climbed a big one, but when we look ahead we can see the peaceful meadow we rest in for now. We have more mountains to climb but with each one we gain more strength, more knowledge, and a stronger faith and relationship with our Jesus. Through Him we can do all things.

The Big City's beauty. Different but still pretty.

     

One Happy Girl

The colors of our oak trees. They were still green a few weeks ago.

     Our family here at 3Beeze has had quite a run of unexpected events through the month of September. These events took us away from the comfort of our little homestead and into the Big City for a few weeks. While away from our country home Fall happened. It was quite a surprise. We left with green leaves on our trees and 80 degree temperatures. The arrival back home was in the dark of night with a gigantic harvest moon to guide our way. Couldn't have asked for a more picturesque welcome back to the country. With only the silver moonlight to see by, everything was bathed in silver and grey, so the change in color of the trees leaves wasn't noticed till morning. As I stood at the kitchen window the next morning with my cuppa joe in hand watching the sun rise on the clucks coup I noticed that our fire pit area was covered in leaves. This brought my eyes to the trees - to my surprise they were painted with bright color. Then the realization set in, while away in the City our Fall season had happened. Another nice welcome home. I tried to appreciate the different beauty that the City had to offer and in it's own "city" way it did offer up some pretty sights. However nothing  holds a candle to the beauty that is offered up by the rolling hills, open spaces, blue clear sky and groves of trees the country has to offer. Not to mention the sounds and smells are much nicer too. Instead of street lights shinning in the window at night it's the moon light. Instead of sirens screaming in the night it is the distant howl of a coyote or the soft hoot of an owl. No exhaust to smell, only clean fresh air and the smell of earth. Yes, I am one happy girl to be back home in the country.             

Our oak tree leaves.

Priceless Treasures

"My Sister's Quilt". The twin to the one I made for my Sister.

Now that fall is in the air it is time to pull out all of the quilts. There are always a few favorites that remain out through the summer. But with the coolness in the air coming on, all of the others get to come out and be used in some place or another around our home. I have a small handful of heirloom quilts that are at least 100 years old. These hang on the wall or stay folded in a nook in our den where they can be seen and appreciated but not used. Many of the quilts I have were made by my Mother-in-law who is an expert quilter and several others were made by my Mom who is an accomplished seamstress. So one could say that the crazy-ness of cutting up perfectly fine fabric and then stitching it back together again runs in my blood. One of my most favorite quilts is one that I made for my dear Sister. Actually it was two quilts that I made at the same time. Twin quilts. One for her and one for me. This quilt, "My Sister's Quilt", is one that is always out and always on the end of the couch or in the chair where I happen to be sitting in the evening. My Sister keeps hers in the same place and uses hers like I use mine. I find comfort in this quilt knowing this and her love for her quilt. Even in the summer I cover up with it. I have made several others as well and sent them to loved ones out of state. I have also made some that have remained here in our home. There is something therapeutic in this crazy-ness of cutting up perfectly fine fabric so it can be stitched back together again. I can't really put my finger on the exact reason why, I just know that it is. Receiving a quilt that has been stitched just for you runs parallel to receiving something priceless.                                 

Summer

My goodness how time flies! Where did our summer go? Over the last few weeks we have gone from blistering temps to the comfortable low to mid 80's. Fall is in the air. You can feel it with the cooling in the evening as the sun sets and in the moist dewy mornings when the sun rises. The sun is setting sooner and rising later. Of course the wheat harvest is rapidly coming to a close as well. Fitting I suppose with the easing of the temperatures and shortening of the days. Although I will miss the long summer days and the warmth summer offers, I look forward to what the fall season will bring. The plants will be able to rest from the long scorching dry summer days, the evenings are full of a moist earthy scent, fireplace smoke drifts in the air adding it's spicy smell to the soft earthy scent and the dust goes away. Everything around seems to take a long deep breath and embrace the ease that fall brings with it. Soon the leaves will change and the cool refreshing evening breeze of summer will change to the crisp subtle wind of fall and bring with it the giant bright white cotton ball clouds that gallop and chase each other across the sky. We still have some warm summer days left and I intend to savor these days and save up all the warmth that I can. I will most certainly miss the warm summer sun and long lazy days of summer.

Harvest

One of he big guys. It is not uncommon to see 3 or 4 of these big guys  cutting in a row.

       Harvest. It is a way of life here. It is what our small town revolves around. The ground is tilled and prepared for seeds. The seeds are planted and then they grow. Then the wait. The wait for the wheat to be just right to cut. Then it happens.The wheat turns and becomes ready for harvest. There is nothing but harvest. That is it. Nothing else happens until all the wheat is harvested. Hundreds of thousands of acres of wheat. There are some peas and garbonzo beans to harvest too but the majority is wheat. As far as the eye can see 360 degrees. The big combines come out of their resting places and set to work cutting the wheat. Fine white chaff dust sparkles in the air and floats on the breeze. Settling on everything. Not a surface is left untouched. Only good part about this is I don't dust anything until after harvest is done. Usually about 3 weeks. I learned my lesson early. If you dust in the morning, by late afternoon things look as if you never touched them. So we just wait. Hay fever sets in too. Traffic jams occur often. When it's time to move the equipment to the next field that needs cutting the roads are how these big monsters get to where they are going. Sometimes they get a ride on a big trailer but are so wide they hang way over the bed of the trailer and there is only one speed, slow. These traffic jams make me smile. Grain trucks are on the roads pounding gears to get their heavy loads to the elevators and then back to the fields again for another load. This is hot, sweaty and dirty work. For some, harvest may be a time of hanging fall decorations and trees leaves changing color. Here harvest is 3 or so weeks of hard work. 3 or so weeks of combines, tractors, grain trucks and farmers working non stop to get the wheat into the safe clutches of the grain elevators. Then and only then is there rest and celebration. What a celebration there is when it is an end of harvest celebration. Just as the urgency to get things harvested is a viable "feeling" in the air of daily activity, so is there a tangible "feeling" of relief and celebration in the air when the harvest is complete. In a word, HARVEST. It sums it all up.                                                                        

The First Egg

I will let this sweet egg be the words for this post.

Our first egg from our girls. Can't wait to see what we find tomorrow.

A Good Visit

     Mid July. More guests to arrive. This time our guests were my Sister and her family. It was so good to see all of them again. Too much time had passed since our last visit. My Sister did most of the cooking while she was here so I got a much needed break and lots of great food. We had so much food we ended up putting some of it away in the freezer. My Sister and Brother-in-law got a much needed break away from their day to day routine and were able to rest and relax. We had great conversations and good quality time together. The cousins sunk into life with each other with out missing a beat and acted more like siblings then cousins. My Sister and I spent as much time as was possible by each others side trying to get as much of the other as we possibly could. Knowing that our next visit with each other wouldn't be soon enough. We are so alike, we know what each others thought is before it is said but then again so completely different from each other that we can provide each other with a different outlook on a situation. We are lucky to have each other. I was lucky to have them visit.