June has been nothing short of crazy. I was out of town two to three days each week. Usually I’m almost always home so it definitely felt different and busy.
We first went to Iowa as a family to celebrate the life of a dear friend. It was a really good time but really emotional and hard too. We loved her so much and I’ll tell you more about her in another post. She was someone to emulate.
The next week I took my twins on a little getaway to Duluth. We talked boys and college and hopes and dreams and had a great time. It was a blessing to me to spend that time with them. They are the most amazing young ladies.
Then we were only home for two days and we left again. This time we went with our dear friends, Mandy and Tyler, to Wisconsin. We’ve been doing a co-op together for years now and finished this last spring. Next year they are all moving to full time PSEO so we thought it fitting to celebrate.
We visited the strangest house I’ve ever seen, The House on the Rock. All I can say is by the time we got out of that maze, we felt disturbed. It’s unfortunate what too much money and no God does to a person!
One thing I’ve really been thinking about over this past month is habits. I think because so many of my habits have been broken because of the busy nature of my schedule.
My workouts have gotten set aside, my Bible reading has suffered, my garden isn’t getting the attention it deserves, even my house isn’t in order as it should be. All of the order in my life comes from little daily habits which add up to great things.
There’s nothing wrong with straying from our routine at times. A vacation, an unexpected schedule shift, a new job, seasons of the year, can all throw our habits off. And that’s ok. And sometimes it feels good to shake it up a bit.
For me, getting back into those habits is comforting. I know that working out and reading my Bible daily don’t just help my body and mind, they help me order everything else in my day and be diligent in other ways as well. Habits bring order and for me that brings peace.
Enjoy summer and all the schedule shifting it brings, but think about habits and those you can focus on this summer to bring more order and diligence to your life. It really does expand to areas you wouldn’t expect.
Well, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been on here. It’s been a summer for the books! I think I just needed to process all the things and couldn’t quite put them into words.
First, we decided to start a CSA. Well, to be honest God decided we should. And that came with a while host of troubles. We had to prepare the area by ruling and discing, which a farmer friend was so kind to do for us. Then we had to lay cardboard with mulch and paper with soil. We spent days and days on it. And then we still had to plant! Meanwhile we got hit by a nasty storm that we think included a tornado. So our house needed new siding and roofing. And, we decided since we were doing all that we might as well replace windows. And since larger windows were going in the two living rooms, we decided to gut those two rooms and remodel them the way we have always wanted to. Sounds like if you give a mouse a cookie, right?
That wasn’t all for the spring. One of our oldest was getting married in May so there was wedding prep happening too. And our other oldest was preparing to leave for the Marines. Just a few things going on.
One thing that just takes the cake in the midst of all this, was the fact that the day of the rehearsal for the wedding, a local Ag sprayed the field adjacent to our property. It was an extremely windy day and the wind was blowing right at us. Everything on our property got hit by Round Up and another weed killer called Vector. We didn’t know it that morning but the days later when the weeds in the field were turning brown, everything on our farm was turning brown and crispy. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Our orchard, the CSA garden, our herb garden, my flowers by the house, my elderberry bushes on the opposite side of the property, my raspberries behind the garage, everything. It was devastating and I spent a lot of time and money starting things over in the garden and praying over the rest of the property. Things have slowly recovered but we don’t have apples or pears this year because of it. And someone who runs an orchard said it could be the years before our trees fully recover. It still hasn’t been resolved by the Ag, so pray they make it right.
So, now, suddenly the summer has flown by. I’ve spent countless hours in the garden tending to everything. We’ve had squash vine borers, cucumber beetles, squash bugs, grasshoppers, cabbage worms, blossom end rot, powdery mildew, fungus, lack of water, flooding… you name it. Sometimes I can’t even bring myself to walk to the garden and see what’s happening next!
And, the garden is now going crazy! It can take us two to three hours as a family to harvest everything. And then we have to separate and get things ready for pick up evenings. It’s more than a full time job! And I’m still bringing plenty in the house to can and freeze so we have good food all winter. There’s always a bin of veggies sitting in the kitchen waiting to be processed.
And, let’s not forget that the house needed to be fixed. So, we’ve been siding and installing new windows for the last month and aren’t even half way! You never really know how huge your house is until you have to side every square inch of it. The last few days the roofers have been here. They are hard workers and I’m thankful they are doing it and not us! That roof is a long way up there and it’s steep!
While all the tasks are happening, there’s relationships to be worked on, so to be planned for, and food to make (these people in my house eat A LOT).
Let’s add that my grandma passed away recently and we’ve been getting ready to celebrate her life. Have you ever had to decide whether to tell your son his great grandma died and deciding it’s best to wait until he’s done with boot camp? There’s other things too, I can’t even list them all.
At this point, I’m exhausted just listing all these things. I have no idea why God has handed us this cup this year.
But I do know He can be trusted. I do know He is good. I do know He is faithful and will NEVER leave us nor forsake us.
Often, we simply can’t understand what’s happening, even when we sit and analyze it. Even when we ask God why? In those moments we have a choice. We can be frustrated, complain, and grow bitter. We can choose to get angry at God or the situation around us.
Or we can choose faith. Isn’t that what faith is? Trusting our good and loving Father even when we don’t understand? It isn’t easy, but we can make the choice.
A friend of mine said to me recently, “you’re handling all this really well”. It got me thinking as to why? I think it’s this very thing. I’m making choices daily to be thankful and focus on the good. Because there has been so much good this summer too!
God moved in some mysterious ways this summer and yet when I look at it I can see His abundant grace and blessings in it! For instance, before it all went down, a dear friend called and said, “so I think the Lord is telling me to move in with you for June and July. Can I?” It’s now mid August and the Lord hasn’t told her to move so she’s still blessing us. I didn’t know I’d need her, she didn’t know she’d need us, but here we are thoroughly enjoying each other’s company and working alongside each other!
Pulling siding off, we found plenty of rot and windows installed incorrectly so water was just leaking behind them for 30 years! Thank the Lord we had to do this project and could find those issues before they became really huge problems! Even the roof had gaps and holes so they redecked the whole thing. By the time we’re done, we’re going to have what feels like a very snug new house!
Even though it’s been hard to process two kids growing up and launching, it’s been such a blessing to watch them find their path in life and really walk with the Lord in the way He wants them to. I can see His grace and mercy on their lives over and over and it’s heart warming.
We watched prayer heal our property too! We had so many people praying and plants we thought were completely dead are flourishing and producing! Many have said none of those plants should have survived and yet they are doing great!
So, in the midst of trials I’ll choose praise…
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Isaiah 25:1
In the midst of uncertainty I’ll choose trust…
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3
Desired Haven Farm 