StillwatersIowa

 One of the things I enjoy is when the older grandkids come over and work on their vehicles. And it seems like their trucks need worked on quite often. I seldom see them unhappy or frustrated and they often tackle repairs that would scare me. Most of all they enjoy each others and their friends company. The younger cousins equally like to be together. We have all been made and instilled with an appreciation for relationships. This past week seemed to have an extra blessing of folks as we went about our business. Our nephew Ryan has been living in our basement the past few months. He recently moved from Sanborn, Iowa and is working for a building contractor in Pella. Ryan just closed on a house purchace in New Sharon. Below he is leveling off some rock Mark delivered him in his new driveway. Thanks for the picture Ryan.   Pablo is always a joy to be around. He works at Cargill/Eddyville and helps us on his days off. He has an amazing ability to clean up equipment. He also enjoy...

Every week is another chapter in the story of each of our lives. Yesterday Ryan's friends from Orange City came down to southern Iowa to go shed hunting. A shed is a set of antlers that a deer loses every spring. It was good to get to know Trevor and Seth.   Phil Wickham's latest song is called Battle Belongs. It comes from a story in the Bible that happened 850BC. The chorus talks about fighting our troubles on our knees with our hands lifted up.                                                             King Jehoshaphat was terrified. Four countries with vast armies were marching up to defeat Israel. He told his country to fast. He got on his knees and reached up to God for help. You can read about this story in 2 Chronicles 20. God heard him and caused the a...

Some time ago Natalie's father BJ went to check his cows. He found a newborn calf lying in the snow and mud. He and Joe loaded up the near dead calf and carried it to his families home. It was cold inside and out. After tubing the calf with colostrum they put him in the warm garage. After a couple of days the calf miraculously came around surprising BJ. 3rd grader Natalie told her Dad she told God about the calf and prayed and prayed he would live. It now follows Natalie around the yard like a pet. She named him Joe. Although it's easier in this day and age to ignore news and information, it's also our job to be prepared for what may be ahead. Big tech (social media) (Amazon) is changing the way we live both good and bad. Along with the media big tech is controlling what we hear and read making it our responsibility to discern truth from propaganda. Below we are learning how to use information compiled by precision ag such as planting date, seed maturity, heat units, rainfa...

 A clan is a group of close-knit folks with a strong common interest. With or without being related they are united by a kinship and a caring attitude toward one another. Thanks for the picture of Allison and her baby goat Stacy. On our trip Jan and I spent a warm afternoon enjoying this body of water north of Yuma in the desert. I snap-chatted home and said I didn't realize there was a lake in the desert. Mike snapped back and said, "That's probably where the Sacketts watered their horses during the wild west Dad".😊  The Sacketts were a family clan that grew up in the Tennessee mountains and then traveled west in the late 1800s. Louis L'Amour used these fictional characters like Tell, Tyrel, and Orrin to depict early frontier life in his western novels. Usually someone would get in a jamb and the clan would risk and sacrifice to get their family member out of a bind. The bad guys get shot or run off. And the main character ends up with the girl. They build a cab...