StillwatersIowa

 The year was 1848. Reverand H.P. Scholte had recently immigrated from Holland. Elaborate plans were being laid out for a new town to be built near the Des Moines River just about a mile down from the current Red Rock Dam. No, it wasn't Pella. The town was to be called Amsterdam. It was surveyed and platted in May of the same year with 60 blocks and close to 500 lots. This location was picked for the central location as a county seat in Marion County. The planning of this location was also because this is where the Des Moines River was most easily forded and people congregated. Occasional steamboats came up the river from as far south as St Louis. Some years later the Wabash railroad built the current unused bridge with a railroad from Harvey, Iowa to Des Moines along the north side of the river. Along this railroad a depot was built, especially to load livestock. The depot was called Howell Station. Lots were sold. A few homes went up. One of the few businesses in Amsterdam was th...

 A week ago last Friday Jan and I attended Risefest in Sheldon, Iowa. Risefest is a family-friendly musical festival where Christian music groups come for a weekend of outdoor concerts. Thanks to friends we stayed at Dordt University alumni house in Sioux Center for accommodations. One of my favorite groups was Casting Crowns. And one of my favorite songs has the words, "It's time for us to more than just survive. We were made to Thrive". Last week Kurt had backed his sprayer up to the shop after spraying 2nd pass soybeans up north. We were hearing meowing noises deep in the underside of his rig so Kurt lowered the bottom access doors and we found a litter of kittens. Apparently the Momma cat had moved her brood in the sprayer the previous week while it was sitting in the shop. The kittens had been on a three county tour for a number of days. BJ and Cassia's John was raking hay when his IHC 1486 front wheel hit a hole. BJ got it loaded and hauled it home on the tail o...

 Jan was busy in the kitchen being a "Martha" attending to her duties of having company when our guest asked, "Jan, what is your dream?" She stumbled over her answer and finally said she would have to think about it. The year was 2015. We had only been in our new home a few months. Our guests sat around the table and ate pizza. Later we went into our home office and strategized about the future of our country and prayed together about the upcoming elections. Dreams are different than goals. I set goals regularly. A weekly job list. Some self improvement. Timeliness on crops. A dream is an aspiration, an ambition, or an ideal. I would have stumbled over the question as well had I been asked. Churches have mission and purpose statements. Some even occasionally strategize some. Should our churches have a dream, a long term vision? If so, what should it be? Do our dreams always get accomplished? Probably not. However someone told me once that God's plan for us is of...

Good morning friends. My thoughts this morning come from a number of happenings and stories these past days. The purpose of Memorial Day. Folks being paid not to work. Reading a little history. Foster's life remembered. Anthony's emails. Government overrun. A busy productive week. A couple of visits. Self reliance isn't exactly the right word, however I'm not coming up with a better one. Ernie has given Mike permission to use an old farm campsite located along the Des Moines River. Mike keeps it mowed and uses Grandpa Gene's old pickup camper on a homemade trailer. When Ernie, who is 91, was a child his family used to come here by horseback, camp a week, and hoe weeds in their field. You all grew up in a variety of places and live all over so I need to be careful of what I don't know. However I'm a little bias to kids growing up on a farm learning to become self reliant. It's home grown skill. It teaches work ethic and taking responsibility. It's han...