StillwatersIowa

This past week I attended Diane's funeral. I mentioned to you last week that her family and ours were friends. Her husband is our lawyer. I think I also mentioned Diane's father Howard and I were friends before he died. Well during the funeral a couple of folks were asked to speak about memories and in one of those talks Jolene talked about the Mottet 40, a small farm east of town that she and her husband Mark, and Diane and her husband Mike, had partnered together, bought from Diane's parents, and developed. Both couples built homes there. Jan and I farmed the Mottet 40 for 28 years for Diane's dad prior to it being turned into a neighborhood. So when Jolene mentioned the farm it brought back several of my own memories. I'd like to share four of those memories with you this week. This week's pictures were captured from the sprayer cab as I sprayed crop ground all week in a three to four county area. Although they are probably boring to most of you, the...

Last weekend I mentioned we had a storm come through. We had a fair amount of hail that stripped the leaves off the trees, left nothing but stems on the rhubarb, and beat the asparagus clear into the ground. Right after this blog was finished last week BJ stopped and said we had some church friends that had a tornado go through and lost house windows, a farrowing house, a machine shed, and a corn bin. So we took our semis over and a number of neighbors and friends loaded ten semi loads of corn with an auger and a grain vac. We lost a major portion of our treehouse tree close to our house and had to finish cutting it down. This is Jan bringing out warm cookies during the cleanup. I had a landlord tell me he received well over two inches of rain in just 15 minutes south of town. You can imagine what that amount of water in that little time did to soft, pretty planted fields. We will have to replant the worst washed fields. Our terraces and waterways did their best but it was just too...

It's very early and I'm listening to it rain after a bumpy, stormy night. As I think back on our field work progress over the last two weeks I'm reminded of this day 29 years ago. It was a Friday and we had not been to the field yet that spring. I took Jan to the hospital and we had a 10 lb. 15 oz. little girl. Happy Birthday Becky.   Last week we visited about the little spot in time we live down here on earth and why we are here. This spring I'm putting in my 38th crop. Other than the character building years of droughts or floods I can't remember much about those crops but I certainly remember the folks in my life during those years. I"ll share with you a few pictures of those folks and their responsibilities this spring.       Generally the folks that get the ground ready also seed waterways, run seed, parts, and fuel, and help customers. Since the dozers were caught up this spring due to working all winter we had enough help to run three plan...

Today we celebrate Christ's ressurection, a pretty amazing happening if you really think about it. Have you ever wondered about those friends of Jesus who got up while it was still dark, after a horrible weekend, to walk to a grave site to give their friend a proper burial, and find an empty grave? Most of us will go to church this morning and sing, Up From The Grave He Arose, and listen and be thankful that Christ came to earth as a man, suffered for sins he didn't commit, went to the cross to pay for those sins which are actually ours, and defied death three days later. We call this the plan of salvation and it's ours for the asking. So we accept that plan and are assurred of the gift of heaven with Christ when we die because our parents always told us hell was not a very fun place, now what? So we've got our eternity covered but we're still traveling through life down here on earth.What's our purpose here on earth until Christ returns or until our life is ove...

Good morning. The previous four blogs from our trip involved activities and facts from my head. This last blog about our trip involves friends and family from my heart. First, Jan and I had a wonderful time together. Next, it was fun getting to know Ken and Russ better, our traveling partners. Finally, it was such a blessing to meet Nancy, Jayne, Kangwany, Harrison, and others who work with CRWRC and PWW in Africa.    I had not seen my sister and her family for over two years. Beth and Dan, I saw God using you through the relationships and friendships you have with others in Malawi. I consider it a priveledge to be family. I pray God continues to bless you as continue in your teaching and accounting professions. Moses and Maria live in a village next to a river close to Lilongwe with their two children. I was impressed with their maize crop and the bridge they built out of logs that crosses the river. I was inspired by their love for and...