StillwatersIowa

A weekend ago Jan received a call from our oldest grandson. Gideon called to tell Grandma that the meat she ordered for our family Christmas might get a little pricey. Jan told Gideon that 2024 was a year to remember, and let's go ahead and celebrate. In 2024 our family had an April wedding, a new great-granddaughter in June, a July fair queen, a 70th year old birthday party, a substitute Vo Ag teacher, a new wood fired pizza business, a new grain facility, and a business that continues to help others succeed through custom work, seed, dirt work, tiling, trucking, repairs, and friendships.  We are not exempt from earthly struggles and concerns. Our family experienced a hysterectomy, holes in ear drums, a 3 day hospital stay for a swollen throat, a broken engagement, a diagnosis of junior epilepsy, a chronic sore hip, a 2 year process involving teeth, 2 January snow storms, and help that struggles with health issues. This past Monday evening Mike led our extended family in devotions...

Merry Christmas from our family to you'all this morning. Other than some grandkids in college we live on various places around the Oskaloosa community in southern Iowa. You'all are neighbors, folks we work with, folks we go to church with, classmates of Jan or I, friends from Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, and other states. And friends we hold dear in Africa, Israel, Cayman, and a few other countries. A few of you I don't know. However I consider it a privilege you join us in this weekly visit, and I truly hope to meet more of you someday. Thanks for setting up the picture Becky.                               This past Wednesday evening our crew celebrated Jan's birthday at Georges in Pella. Close to 40 of us enjoyed 16 pizzas. We often have scheduled guests in our office in the farm shop first thing in the morning this time of year. Friday morning Brian and Mark brought breakfast pizza compliments of Bank Iowa. Tha...

Herod the Great accomplished many things during his 40 years as a Roman Jewish king. He became known as a colossal builder. Including a palace, fortresses, and other public buildings. He even rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. He was a close friend to many of the leaders in Rome. These connections helped him gain power. He and his family would later become part of the Christmas story. History will remember the world basically being shut down during the spring of 2020 due to a pandemic. Because of the slowdown in the economy, materials and help were immediately available. We hired a crew of young ex-Amish folks to build a shed across the road. We are still friends with many of those fellows today. Rudy and Toby from that same crew later attended and graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. Today they are both police officers in small southern Iowa towns. We had a last minute conflict and regretted missing Toby's graduation party yesterday. However isn't it amazing what fol...

This past Monday morning at our Becks Christmas get-together in Indianapolis we were introduced to Daman. We listened to his life story. Great athlete from Fort Arthur, TX. Lost his identity after sports. Gave up everything to become an addict. Did high profile crimes. Arrested. Trial and sentenced to 65 yrs. He identified trials and troubles as a boiling pot.   We all deal with trials and troubles to some degree or another. Half the battle is showing up. The other half is getting started. Kudos to these fellows. They made a major combine repair look routine. Mark's combine is ready for next harvest. Speaking of routine, On cold mornings Mike always heats his dozer blade with a flame thrower to keep the frozen dirt from sticking. Thanks for the picture BJ. BJ and Mike are both busy working on the same project for Luke. The four inches of frost in the ground this past week doesn't affect dirtwork much. Thanks for the picture. Karl continues to schedule and haul Becks seed in to ...

In 1994 I wrote an article called "Tips For Success". I found it Thanksgiving morning looking for something else. I was these boys' father's age back then. Kurt, their Dad, was their age. Thanks for spending time with your kids Kurt. Thanks for your favorite view of the day Emily. Success is doing the best you can with the options or assets you're given. Brynn helped Grandpa put up the old Christmas tree we found in an abandoned house Mark was cleaning up last year. We had a tree like this when I was a kid. They were popular in the 1950s and 60s. Be Generous. Back then my article had 10 tips on how to succeed. I'd like to share them with you this morning. The pictures of our work week might have to speak for themselves so this don't get long winded. Thanks for this picture Doug. Mike is volunteering his time and mulcher at Developing Great Relationships future retreat site. Be a Person of Vision. See further than tomorrow. Believe in something. See the bi...