StillwatersIowa

This past Friday evening during the PC football game I was thinking back on goals made and accomplished on and off the field over the last couple of years. "Make it your goal to lead a quiet life, to work with your hands, and to mind your own business. So that your daily life will win the respect of outsiders and you will not be dependant on anyone." 1Thes. 4:11-12 God wants us to have goals in life. The Bible verse also talks about hands on when accomplishing those goals. During grading and excavating of the PC football field we moved dirt from the playing area up to the spectator sidelines so everyone would have a good view and folks wouldn't have to climb up into their seating. In this picture son Mike is leveling off the visitor sidelines while grandson Cody is packing the playing field area. This is Mike and Cody two and a half years later using the finished field. Mike is a volunteer coach when he's not dozing or farming and Cody has a goal to play someday on...

It's still dark on a Sunday morning as I reflect back on our past week. It was a good week and it made me thankful for family. I'm also looking forward to attending the baptism of Brian and Becky's third son Zachary in Sully this morning. Zachary will be baptized by his own father since Brian is the pastor there and be welcomed into Sully's church family. " When the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children." -Genesis 47:24 In this verse Joseph is telling the Israelites, pay your rent, plan for next year, and provide for your family with the proceeds of your harvest. We harvested Brian and Becky's families corn crop this past week. This is Becky driving the combine with Elliott as co-pilot. Elliott's look is saying, "we're doing just fine without you grandpa." Here Mark and Mik...

How many times as a kid or later as a spouse do you remember being asked, "Are you listening"? We don't intentionally not listen. It's just that occasionally we are preoccupied with other things and get our priorities mixed up. Sometimes God uses more than expected weather or less than expected crops to get our attention and ask us, are we listening? We don't intentionally shut God off. In fact we see things all the time in nature and life that remind us of Him and His help. But just like with family we don't take the time to tell Him. Our responsibilities vary but quite often we get wrapped up in what we feel are the big things in life and overlook the little things that were intended to be big blessings for us. God wants us to stop once in a while and think about what He might be telling us. Quite often the less thought of things in our busy seasons like faith, family, and friends are actually the big things and the focus on our occupations,...

We started corn harvest this past week. Below Mark is getting an early start one morning unloading a load of new crop corn The early start is due in part to early planting, plenty of heat units, the crop maturing funny due to our unique growing season, and genetics that have fast dry down after black layer. This load of corn is headed for the semi while Becky and her friend and their kids watch. John is getting an early start learning how to unload the grain cart while Uncle Kurt keeps a watchful eye on him. It's always fun having the girls help. This is Mark's wife Stacy with Elijah watching things happen and Anton watching Elijah. This is a monitor in the combine that keeps tract of yeild, moisture, acres, and productivity. It also makes a map with the green areas of the field being a high yielding and the red areas being low yielding. It looks like we might neeed to get an early start with the crop insurance folks since yields are quite disappointing.