They're tucked in bed and sleeping...

I spent this whole day with "My" little girls.  :)  Their dad is out combining still and their mom is away from home tonight...  I talked to my mom a bit ago and she said my dad is combining yet too.  I'm glad the crops are finally drying down!

I took the girls outside for quite a while this morning.  The sun was shining and it was BEAUTIFUL outside.  We also spent a lot of time reading books today.  It's so nice that they're finally at the age where they enjoy listening to the words of the stories instead of just looking at the pictures and flipping the page mid-sentence! They're growing up SO quickly!

Tomorrow I'll be babysitting for our 3 neighbor children.  It's been a while again since I was there last, so it will be fun to spend some time with them.

I've been staring at this computer screen too long.  I think I'll go read a book...

God be with you all.~

Jacob's birthday pictures!

Jacob's birthday was busy, as everybody was working away from home, but last night we had a special supper and gave him some presents...  :)

 

 Andrew got out his fancy camera...

 My mom and Jacob went for a drive yesterday and one of the things they did was to buy him a new winter coat.  I think he looks SO nice in it--quite grown up!

 Me and my "little" brother:

 Reading a birthday card from a friend...

 I asked Jacob what his favorite meal would be and he requested home-made hamburger/cheese pizza; noodles-peas-and cheese salad; and lemon cake for dessert, so that's what we made him!

 The flowers in this picture are from my aunt LV's funeral...

It was a fun evening of just being together as a family! 

I learned just now that my childhood friend, Kjersti just gave birth to a little boy today and they named him "Jacob Joseph"! 

Sunrise, sunset...

...Sunrise, sunset, swiftly go the days.  Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, blossoming even as we gaze...."

 

 

It hardly seems possible that my "Little" brother is now 18 years old!  I still remember the day that he was born and how EXCITED we all were to have a new baby in the house. 

 

I'm glad that you are a part of our lives, Jacob Austin!   I remember a friend sharing this poem with Andrew when he was about your age and thought I'd share it with you too, Jacob (and with anybody else who'd like to read it):

 

 

"If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
 And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

 

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Last haircut!

I just gave Jacob the last haircut he'll EVER have---as a minor, that is! 

 

Before:

 

 After:

It was a busy day on the farm once again.  My dad worked on the combine again, then hauled grain for a farmer.  My mom went to Bismarck and is not back yet.  Andrew went combining for Stan all day and is not back yet.  Jacob helped my dad get another bin ready and unloaded corn-trucks this morning, then worked on other projects for my dad this afternoon.  I cleaned out some cupboards and reorganized them; cooked; washed dishes; froze eggs; cleaned up the dead turkey mess the dogs had lying all over the front lawn; washed my car; and yes, gave Jacob his birthday haircut.  :)  You can visit his blog ( http://underhiswings-jacob.blogspot.com/) tomorrow to wish him a happy 18th birthday! 

"Happy early birthday, brother mine!!!  May God bless your day and make it especially special!  (and may you live to receive many more haircuts!)"

They're home!

My parents arrived home just in time to eat a quick supper and head for a meeting.  My brothers worked on the combine today and it sounds like they should have it running correctly tomorrow, after they get a part that's needed. 

I cooked up a soup-kettle full of tomato sauce to put in the freezer with the last of our tomatoes, then baked up a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  There was work to do for the meeting too, so I did that.  Next came some general tidying up the place again before Dad and Mom came home.  ;) 

I'll close with a thought for the day:

"The simplest and commonest truth seems new and wonderful when we experience it the first time in our own life." 
~Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Montana...

I talked to my mom a couple of hours ago and she said that the funeral service was very special.  About 60 people were there to show support for my uncle.  (Andrew and I decided to stay home.)  My parents are spending another night in Montana at my uncle's place to help him write thank you notes tonight and plan to return home in the morning...

My brothers and I watched this very good message today.  I think everybody would be blessed and perhaps challenged by this message!  It's not just on dating, courtship and marriage, by the way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP6cc2aBecE

Aunt LV's obituary...

My parents left for Montana after the noon meal.  My dad had to go to Bismarck for combine parts first thing this morning so that the combine can be fixed on Sunday. 

Here is a link to my aunt LV's obituary:  http://fulkersons.com/ObituariesDisplay.aspx?ID=2042 .  Please continue to pray for my uncle Russell, especially tomorrow.  Thank you!  Andrew and I may still be heading out in the morning to make it to the funeral too---not sure yet.  Andrew combined all day for farmer Stan again and is still on his way home now, so we haven't decided what we're doing tomorrow yet...