Now, that's what I call being a parent!

We had a visit from the hooftrimmer yesterday. That is not so very unnusual, as it happens every 6 weeks like clockwork around here. What was really uplifting about the day was the story Chuck told me about our hooftrimmer's family when he came in for supper last night.
Mark and his wife work together to trim cows' feet. Mark's Dad also comes along to some farms-and he is in his 80's.
Chuck has always had wonderful conversations with both of them, but yesterday, something really struck a cord with him, which did with me as well, which is why I find it something that needs to be written about.
Mark's parents had 2 sons biologically. Mark, and his first brother. Mark's brother was born with Downs Syndrome, 40+ years ago. The idea of putting him in a home for special care was never even a thought to these parents. The thing they were concerned with, was, who would he have for friends as he grew up. So, at 40+ years of age, they went seeking to adopt 2 more boys with Downs Syndrome-and now, at 80+, these devoted parents are still "raising" their 3 sons with DS in their home. When Mark and his Dad go hoof-trimming for the day, they always bring one along with them. It is good for everyone involved, and especially Mom, who is left home alone during the day with the remaining 2.
Mark's Dad shared with Chuck that at 40, having those 3 boys in the home was just something they knew they had to do, and loved and raised them as best they could. But, he also added, that at 80+, it is getting to be a challenge, but they would not have it any other way.
Chuck was very humbled by the conversation. How many parents, us included,
complain about our daily jobs, and our roles as parents, and we have "normal" children? We have children that have normal mental capacities, who will eventually grow up and leave the home.
Sometimes, it is really good to be reminded that life is really too short to fill our days with murmuring, grumbling and complaining. The dedication, love and patience that they have shown their special sons all these years is a true test of character. For some reason, I feel I fall far short of that mark they have set, but it is something to strive for none-the-less.

On another note, my dear husband was to the Dr last week. We knew his cough was not good, and with his asthma, I was fearing Walking Pneumonia or something equally ugly. Well, it was nothing like that, but after a cortisone shot to help clear the congestion in his lungs, the Dr also told him, "I THINK we can clear this up without a night in the hospital."
Chuck has never been told anything like that before, and he has had sinus infections all his life-this one was a bad one, and so unlike anything else he has had before. Such a strange year for sinus stuff and breathing problems, but hopefully after a week of antibiotics, and probably another round of them, just to be sure, and a very expensive new inhaler, maybe we can overcome this, and I can get my cheerful, energetic husband back soon. And I think my children need their smiling, playful Daddy again too.

In Him

Chris

The Joys of Gardening

I so love to garden. I love growing our food, I love decorating the yard with beautiful flowers in pots and flowerbeds. I love spring when it is finally time to get seeds into the ground, and wait patiently for the first little signs of life to sprout up out of the ground. I have been especially blessed this year as my 2 oldest children, both 9, have been able to really help this year. Nick learned to run the tiller, which of course, meant Kendell had to learn as well. They did a very good job of it, and as it can be quite a tedious job for Mom to do, it was a wonderful new game for the 2 children this year.

Yesterday, we spent the entire afternoon in the garden planting our sweet corn, potatoes, and a few other things. Today, it is Sunday, and if the rain holds off-although we really do need it, I would like to try and finish everything else this afternoon. It is Memorial Weekend, and last year, I had things coming up already. This year, it has been too cold and wet to plant much earlier, and I have been lamenting the lateness of the gardening season, but I chuckle when I remember other years when I really did plant a garden in July-really, I did-and it still produced well.

We have huge rows of raspberries that have sprung up from the original 30 plants we brought with us from our old farm. The strawberry bed has been revamped this year and doubled in size, and there are many blossoms out there, which means berries aren't far behind. We have enjoyed the early rhubarb in several desserts already, and can't wait for the first strawberry-rhubarb pie.

My children have been beside me through most of the gardening this year. Both Kendell and Nick love being out there. Tyler, on the other hand, is much more into boy things, like making sticks into guns, throwing rocks, and just being 3. And I am so blessed by his being 3, that it only irritates me a little bit when he tromps off into the garden, stomping on my newly planted rows of raspberries that we transplanted this year.

Even though I did lose my patience a time or 2 with the older children yesterday, I know we all had an enjoyable time in the garden. Making memories, discussing memories from last year's harvest time and canning season, planning summer fun, learning how the corn planter works-a borrowed treasure from a friend that is now on my MUST-BUY list as it is also great for marking the rows before you plant the other crops-watching Tyler explore his world, petting a persistent kitty that insisted on sitting in the bucket of cut potatoes, or better yet, on top of the ones just put in the ground but not covered up yet. It is a joy to be home and be a Momma, and be in the garden.

Many blessings to all

In Him

Chris

Blessings to Fred!!

I wanted to take a few minutes and tell everyone about a special friend of ours. Fred Amstutz is a 20 year old young man who is leaving on Thursday, May 22 for a year-long missions trip to Papau, New Guinea. He has been a friend of ours for about 5 years, and for most of 2007, he was also an employee and a housemate of ours.

Fred came to our farm a very green farm hand, and when he left, he was a very valued, handy employee/friend, and was able to do most anything on the farm except mix feed. He and Chuck spent quite a bit of time discussing cow-stuff throughout his days here, and he became a very handy vet's assistant.

One of their jobs that the 2 of them really had down to a science was treating fresh cows with a 10 gallon drench-

Fred was and is a valued friend, but we really enjoyed our time together as co-workers as well. My only regret about his time here was that we were ALWAYS SOOOO BUSY!

The children enjoyed working with Fred, and Fred enjoyed them-he also enjoyed the baby calves. He was the most patient calf-feeder we have had-if we had a big enough dairy to need a full-time nursery man, Fred would have had the job!
One of the many jobs he learned to handle was scraping the manure 2x a day while the cows were being milked
A rare down moment-Nick and Fred putting a global puzzle together-it was a wonderful time of learning more about world-geography, as well as sharing laughs
again, feeding calves together-always smiles and laughter too!!
Fred is a wonderful young man, with a true heart for the Lord. He is gentle and kind and very compassionate, and will make a wonderful missionary. We will be praying diligently for you and your family Fred, over the next year, and especially the next 24 hours, when you will be flying for 16 hours into the tropics-it is bound to be hot there!! May God richly bless you, and hold you in the palm of His hand until your return next year.

Many Blessings Dear Friend

In Him

The Waughtals

Family Photos

We have been pretty silent in the blogging world lately-farm stuff/yard/garden/homeschool-it all makes for a tired momma and very little time to write anything down.

However, I have some family photos that were taken at my Grandma's funeral that are too nice, and I need to share them with everyone.

Here is my Dad with his 2 surviving children, and their families-the only one missing is my widowed sister-in-law, who is busy trying to milk goats and take care of over 70 baby kids by herself-We miss you Cathy, but understand the desire to farm and make a go of it!! We have not had a picture with Dad of all of us for a long time, so I really wanted to make sure and get this one done.

Here is my Uncle Butch's family-I love my crazy uncle, his wife is just the sweetest-always remembers our children at Christmas time, and their kids are great cousins, and it is unfortunate we don't get to see each other more often- 2 1/2 hours is a long ways away when farming!

Here is our first family photo since being home with Tyler

Here is my Mom and her husband Lee and all of us

And here are all of us-minus my Aunt and Uncle and c ousin from Colorado who didn't make it back for the funeral.

But we will ALL be together this weekend as we gather back in Greenwood on Friday for a Memorial Service for Grandma when Aunty Marlie and Uncle Dick make it back home this week-and cousin Val and his wife Brenda will be here too-it is always good to visit with family-I will update then with another family picture as we need to include Marlie, Dick and Val too! Here is a picture of my dear aunt and uncle from one of their visits back to Wisconsin a few years ago.

I really look forward to visiting and sharing about life with them-they usually stay for a couple weeks, and we get together a couple times at different homes and enjoy a meal and fellowship together.

I think my next post will be on our new blog-I am excited about the new look, and can't wait for it to go public.

Until next time

Chris

STRESS

I thought I would leave all the stress behind when we got our son home from Taiwan-wrong!! I have come to the conclusion that life is just not life without a lot of stress going on in it! I have stressed myself out over a blog redo-I am sure I have spent over 24 hours looking at scrapbook kits, trying to find just the right something, only to have my family totally change my thinking and decide it needs to have a farm feel to it-ok, back to the drawing board. Poor Sarah is probably pulling her hair out with me as I am not an easy customer-I always thought I was easy to please, but it seems this has turned into a bit of a difficulty for us-


then, there is always the too much to do scenario-farm, kids, garden, house, yard, homeschool, laundry, meals, friends??, family???, who has time to clean an office, much less file paperwork away, and keep up with the email groups, and actually mail letters and notes to friends I haven't seen for ages-UGH!!


I did spend a delightful time in the garden today-both my 9 yr olds learned to run the tiller today, and boy do they think they are smart. Of course, I had a 3 1/2 yr old who thought he should be out there too, but he settled for a 1/2 hour ride on the lawn mower while I tried to knock down some of the grass in our 5 acres of lawn-double UGH!!


I need to load a few photos to get caught up from the last few weeks, then maybe we can start fresh with some sunshiney, bright pictures of Spring in Wisconsin!!


I also can't believe the stress over having a blog that I just don't take the time to write in as much as I planned-for some reason, I envisioned wonderful posts, filled with family updates, homeschool updates, etc-and all I end up with is -where do I fit this in???


Something has to give, somewhere-and yes, I am praying about it

I am not sure I ever mentioned this, but my 2 oldest LOVE to read, and I loved reading to them when we first got them home-they spend hours a week reading anything and everything. The first few times we tried reading with Tyler, yikes, disaster-he would not, could not, sit still. I though, OH NO, this one is never going to like books.

Well, how very wrong I was-the first trip to the library, Kendell and I brought home a bunch of board books, and he proceeded to pile them in BaBa's chair, climb up into it, and "read" his books-and guess what, after 2 months, he LOVES being read to, and loves to get his own books and "read" in bed like big brother and sis do before nap time!

God is SOOO GOOD!

Blessings

Chris

Happy Mother's Day!!

It is a wonderful day to be a mother!! Mother's Day is truly a blessed day in our home, although it didn't always have such a luster as it does now. As I was contemplating a post for Mother's Day, I was remembering the years of my life when being a mommy was only a huge, vacant hole in my soul. I longed with all my heart to be a mommy, and spent (wasted) a great deal of my adult life obsessing over having/making/children. I remember the pain of it all like it was yesterday.

That is why I have dedicated this blog post to all mommys-in-waiting on my wonderful email groups. Whether you are in the waiting for referral stage, or waiting for court hearing stage, or waiting to bring them home stage, know this-all of us who have spent a great deal of our life waiting for that first glimpse of our first child-we know exactly how you feel today-and it is OK to feel that way.

I have shed many tears on Mothers' Days in the past-tears of pain, frustration, anger, and uncertainty. I have sat in church services where mothers were honored with flowers, gifts, and all manner of special meals, messages, and beautiful cards and notes. I have ached with an inner ache that I thought would tear my world apart. I have obsessed and focused on children so much that I lost sight of the wonderful life I had-a perfect gift from God, that I was not appreciating or living fully. I grew angry and resentful with my wonderful husband, and I grew to really detest baby showers and reading the newspaper accounts of the week's births, with mostly unwed mothers listed, and no fathers, angered me and shortened my already frayed and frazzled nerves.

That is why today, I want to tell you all-it is ok to feel this way-but it is also ok to just let go and let God!! Let go and WAIT some more-let go and just enjoy the day, and being with your mom, or grandma, aunts, sisters, and just wait for your time to come. Because IT WILL COME!! It does happen, and it is no less a miracle than if you had created that precious little body inside your own body.

Waiting on God, for the PERFECT timing, the PERFECT day, the PERFECT, according to HIS WILL, time that HE has predestined for your child to join your family.

Being a mommy is the second-best thing in this physical world-being a wife is the first-so take the day, enjoy your husband and your plans for the future, and just keep holding on to those dreams, because, they will come true!

Be Blessed, Dear Friends

In Him

Chris