StillwatersIowa

Good morning. One week ago this morning we celebrated our Savior's victory over death. This extraordinary act of love toward us inspires us to out of gratitude to love and care about other's joys and struggles.  Kudos to Ashli, the young people of our church, and their leaders, for organizing our sunrise service.   A large church family is a blessing we often take for granted.   Many folks give of their time, talents, and treasures behind the scenes. Thank you to all who give willingly every week, some in the forefront, many in the background. Sometimes it seems we bite off more than we can chew. Little jobs seem to go ok. Bigger jobs can be overwhelming. Can you imagine the positive attitude the beaver in the photo below must have working on that large tree.   What do you do when you dive in to try and help and get stuck?   You don't give up. You go and find more help.  Sometimes we have...

Today is Easter. When the friends of Jesus found an empty tomb and looked in it must have been a little scary. There sat a couple of angels. They asked the ladies why they were looking for the living among the dead.   When we last visited early last Sunday morning it had just started raining. We ended up with close to 5 inches.  Lighting is an example of our Creator's power. It split this tree in half from the very tiny top to the large bottom.   This bird's pride got the best of him. He tried to fight off a decoy and now he is going to be a meal for Mike and his family.   Well late in the week the weather gave us a green light and we were headed back to the field.   This is Pablo bringing the sprayer a load of product that will keep the weeds from taking over this season.   The planters ran on Saturday. Soil conditions are more important to us than soil temps for successful germination and early growth. The calendar ...

Good morning. Today is Sunday. We are thankful for a day of rest. I don't know how folks work 7 days a week. That's not how God set it up when He created the world and us. We are also thankful for the two to four tenths of rain we received so far. We have no gas in the tank when it comes to subsoil moisture. Spring finally arrived. It always does. We had a big week of anhydrous. NH3 is two forms of nitrogen. Nitrogen is a must if you are going to grow corn. Thanks to Alex, Mark, and BJ for keeping the FS bars going. Kurt and Brad with Matt as a fill in  worked as a team hauling their own smoke for Cargill. They applied for a customer where they pulled the fertilizer 50 miles one way. They put over 2000 miles on Kurt's pickup this week.   Speaking of fertilizer one day Zach said, "hey Grandpa come see our cow poop. We are going to put it on our garden." Now that's what I call on the job training. Soil temps started out the week in the l...

So I'm not asking if you have a close friend. What does it take to be a close friend? Being a close friend isn't always easy. It involves selflessness, being dependable, trustworthy, honest, supportive, caring, and a good listener. It's easy to be a close friend to grandkids. At least while they're young enough they can't  crawl off your lap. Young parents walk a fine line between being a close friend and being a parent to their children. They are to be both at the same time. Parenting and friendships sometimes have different job descriptions. Close friendships with grown children are a blessing. You need to be a parent when they need one so they know you care. You also need to be a friend and give them enough room and responsibility to have their own independence. A close friend will put others ahead of themselves. A close friend will be genuinely happy for others accomplishments and successes. A close friend go...