Crops

This is how my garden looked as of Monday morning. The warm weather the past 10 days has really helped things along, and things are finally starting to grow. We have been enjoying fresh spinach, lettuce and asparagus already and are waiting for the peas. One variety is already blooming. We have had some unwelcome visitors in the garden as well, the cutworms I can deal with but I am not very ready to share my hard work with the deer who came in and grazed on lettuce, and peas and cabbage, and the odd sunflower or corn plant.

A view of the oat field around our yard.

A soybean field just down the road.

We finally finished seeding and Kerry was right into spraying. The warm weather has been good for the crops as well and they are really growing. You can see the difference daily, and same with the weeds, and so Kerry has sprayed many acres already.

Birthday Party

Mom turned 80 last week and to celebrate her and let her know we love and appreciate her, we planned a birthday party ! It happened on Monday and I think Mom was pleased and excited about the event and the way it turned out. A real highlight for Mom was seeing a bunch of her paintings come back home. We set up a display of many of the paintings she has done over the years and that now grace our homes, and others as well. She really did some great work. After we finished the set up and decorating. Thanks to Diane and Kim the room looked lovely with the paintings and the blue and white color scheme. The table centerpieces were pots of blue lobelia and white dianthus. Supper was perogies and cream gravy, fried onions, sausage, corn, coleslaw and bread. Dessert was ice cream cake and also birthday cake. I think the meal was enjoyed by all as was the evening of visiting as well as some reminiscing and tributes to mom from some of her children and grandchildren.

Mom is a special lady and has been through much in her life, but has weathered it all with faith and love and perseverance. She has modelled the gift of hospitality and love for people. She is an inspiration to us as we age, may we do so as gracefully as she is.

Mom with her birthday cake. It had a photo on it of when she was in Palm Springs this winter.

The room full of guests, visiting and enjoying.

Hailey

Hailey is a big 4 now and she seems more like 7 or 8 sometimes. At least she says thats how old she feels some days. She is growing up way too fast. She ie very loving and giving, and my fridge usually has a picture that she has made for me. We can carry on intelligent conversations, and she still likes to read, and loves to do crafts and these days the activity of choice is coloring, and Grammy is a willing participant most of the time. she is also a willing and good little helper. She is very good with holding babies and entertaining them and , and the little ones look smile and laugh and would love to follow after her. This day she decided that she would help me clean the kitchen.

Here she is helping papa and learning how to plant peas. She also loves to water my flowers, whether they need it or not.

sometimes we spend time watching movies, looks like this was a good one.

Jayda

Jayda is now a big 2 years old and her personality is really showing. She has a bit of a tease in her eyes a lot of the time, and she still has a great smile. She is learning to talk and so communicating is getting easier. She loves to play and run and scream, and she and Hailey are quite a team at times. She loves to play hide and seek and is pretty good at finding hiding places. This time though, she didn't want to go home so she decided to hide behind the chair and be very quiet and maybe they wouldn't notice her and take her home.

Posing for Papa and giving hinm one of her nice smiles.

Usually when she is supposed to smile for the camera, this is what we get.

She loves animals and one evening we took her to the neighbours to see some kittens and she had a great time chasing after them and trying to catch them. Finally Papa caught one of them and she could come up close for a good look.

Norah

Norah is growing up really fast too, and at 15 months is a busy little girl. She is walking and climbing stairs, starting to talk and her character developing. she likes to be a goof sometimes, and here she is wearing Jayda's cap and cheesing for the camera.

Or she likes to walk around with something on her head. The little blanket was for her little doll but she rather wanted it on her head and she was very proud of her hat.

Another little girl with big blue eyes.

Hanging out with Papa! Look at the cute little ponytail.

Sweet Maddie

Maddie is growing up so fast, and is 6 1/2 months old already. She has a deep voice and laugh that reminds me of Erik when he was little. She is sitting and loves to play with things and chew on toys, and is even starting to crawl already, but I don't have a picture of that.

she would really love to get in on the action with her sisters at times, and as you can see, her hand is blurry because she was just so excited about what was happening around her.

A couple of other cute pictures that Papa Kerry took of her. She was very obliging with posing for him.

I love her fuzzy hair on top of her head and her big blue eyes.

the many faces of Nolan

Nolan will be 2 months old on Wednesday and is just growing every day. He is a good eater and it seems that every time we see him he has grown again, even if it is only a couple of days. He is smiling and cooing and making eye contact, but still enjoys his naps. He was over yesterday afternoon and with the camera ready, I was able to catch some of his different expressions. Relaxing on the couch in his big boy overalls and feeling pretty pleased with himself.

could it be gas? or is he just thinking that grammy is acting pretty silly.

This is his 'Don't mess with me' face, even has the fists to back him up.

Daddy and Nolan just chilling together, he seems pretty relaxed and secure in those big arms.

God's Creation

For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the Love which from our birth, Over and around us lies, Lord of all to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise! I have been enjoying the beauty of God's creation on our yard this spring. The beautiful lilacs with their delicate scent.

The apple trees in full bloom,

some beautiful late blooming tulips in one of my favorite colors

And last night, after an evening shower, a gorgeous, brilliant rainbow arching across the sky. I always stand in amazement at this beautiful reminder of God's promises and provision for us.

Seeding

Want to develop perseverance and character? Or strengthen your faith? Start farming! Every year presents many and varied challenges. This year is no different, in fact it seems like there are more obstacles than usual to overcome. It all started with the flood and having to wait......till the water was off the land and till the land was dry enough, and till things started warming up. (We're still waiting for the warm up, and haven't been able to put away those parkas and touques). We have some land inside the Rosenort dike and so we got that seeded early in May to canola, and then we waited again. It was almost dry and then it rained, and so we waited again, and crop insurance deadlines were approaching. We finally got going again on the 29th of May but it still wasn't very dry, so that presented more challenges, but Kerry and Erik persevered and things got done.

Another one of the challenges was getting used to a new seeder. They purchased a new twin disc seeder, and a used air cart and so much time was spent setting it up, while we were still surrounded by flood waters. Once we got it out onto the field there were more adjustments to be made. It works great in dry conditions, but can get really plugged if driving through mud. Kerry and
Erik have spent a lot of time underneath it, working to unplug things, ( I have washed MANY dirty jackets and pairs of jeans) and make adjustments so that it works in these less than ideal conditions. But we have been making progress and land is getting seeded. Some days and some fields haven't had so much down time, and there are a LOT of hours in a day.

Some fields were dry enough that there was dust raised behind the seeder.

My Farmer!

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And so, the work continues and as of today, we are nearing the finish line. Only about 250 acres to do and Erik says that can get done today. The canola that we seeded early is well up and last night we got frost, and so there may be some re-seeding in the future.
We have seeded wheat, and soybeans, and not sure what seed will be put into the seeder today.

The challenges are many and some days it is hard to be optimistic and hopefull for a good crop. Some days there is hardly enough energy to face another problem. Other days, when the sun shines, the air is warm and things are working well, it is not so hard, life is good and we feel we will make it through once again. We have to trust in the One who is faithful and who has seen us through many other tough times. We still have so many blessings. I am drawn back to the verses that I claimed in '05 when times in farming were also tough.

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strenth:

Habakkuk 3:17-19a