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Rain and Reign
RAIN! In the midst of a drought, we cherish the soft slapping of rain hitting the windows and the smell of the musty, damp earth after the rain. This morning during a rare thunder storm, we watched as Caleb and Josh, bare-headed and coat-less, walked down the drive to check out what has been a dry creek bed all summer. On their way back, they stopped by the house, drenched to the skin. Dramatically pulling off their rain boots and dumping pints of water on the concrete porch, they gave us an extended “creek report.” Yes, there was water running over the bridge and the creek that had been bone-dry…
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It’s the Thought That Counts by Jan Coles
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A House by the Side of the Road
A house on a farm in Kansas? Can actually touch the world? Or is it the world touching the farm? The answer is: Yes . . . both! Today we sat around the old oak dining-room table and ate sandwiches with a family from Ukraine. Earlier in the morning we breakfasted around the same table with overnight guests from Georgia, USA. Meanwhile, grandchildren and our children pass by our dining room window: Dan on his daily prayer walk; Elsie on her bike, off to clean for an elderly woman down Kitten Creek Road; the three younger boys watering all the newly planted trees around our home. Out our kitchen window…
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A Wedding in the Walnut Grove
A wedding! The third grandchild ( third child of Dan and Nancy) is now creating a new limb to our family tree. Lillian and Shiloh’s story goes back ten or eleven years ago when the Brock and Swihart family first met. Even then, it seems, there were sparks. But little did they express that interest until just a few months ago. What joy it was to celebrate their wedding with them. Lillian carried flowers that she had grown in her garden; we shared cherry pie that she and her friends had baked; and the couple drove off in a vehicle that Shiloh and his friends had “constructed.” Creativity abounds in this…
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Re-Collecting in the Pasture
Today I needed to walk the old familiar trail in the pasture again.The thoughts and feelings swirling in my mind and heart were and are disconcerting. Thirty-eight years ago, this pasture was new to me. My body was younger. I was filled with anticipation of what could be, Things in the world were . . . just different. Yes, we were on a down-swing in our culture, but there was hope of changing it. Yesterday we were young, God was with us, we could carry out the vision under God’s direction. We were a community with one heart. Today, we are not so young. Our community living here is of…
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New Updates From the Farm
Woo hoo!!! Three new babies in the Swihart family as of today. In the last nine weeks we have received these little answers to prayer: one grand child and two great-grands! I had to search to find a picture that would illustrate these three, since they have not been together, yet. The black-haired baby is the one we are waiting for at this moment. This is just a guess, but I am SURE he/she will have a head of black hair like her/his momma and daddy did. The other two babies, Sophie (Derrick and Carrie), and Lydia (Jena and EJ) have light brown hair. Thus, the pic. And if that…
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Our Life in the Country
According to the resident expert this is a lavender Australorp (ROOSTER!!!). Sometimes life in the country takes “true grit.” My new replacement hen crowed today. OOps. He was guaranteed to be a hen. Now, my granddaughter, Lillian, tells me the other “hen” is a rooster, also. And why do I have a replacement in the first place? This is the sad part. According to the trail cam we also have a mother fox with three kits. This mom decided she needed to feed her babes, and my wonderful, dear old hens were the dinner. The night before a raccoon had decimated my friendly ducks. I became an “empty nester” in just a…
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I AM . . .
I . . . AM . . . ME!!! Staring out the window, I let the idea slowly sink into my four-year-old brain. This idea was an incredible revelation. I am ME!!! I have been talking to ME my whole life. That voice in my head is ME. The feeling that flowed through my body felt familiar to this little farm girl: precisely like touching the wire of an electric fence. “Well, hello ME.” I am sure everyone comes to that realization at some point in their early lives. The recognition that when we think good thoughts, when we think bad thoughts, all that stuff that comes from inside our…
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Who Am I? #2
“You need to write a song!” These words coming in Messenger from a nephew startled me. “Who? I don’t write songs!” I wrote back. “Yes,” he replied. “You.” He proceeded to give me some of his reasons and suggestions. Both he and his young son have been involved in bands and gigs. They were looking for words that my grand-nephew could put to music for his next gig at The Hard Rock Cafe in their city. Gazing at Steve’s Facebook picture I tried to see the little boy I once knew. Yes, behind the long gray hair and the white beard I still could see a semblance of that little…
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Who Am I?
Let’s begin with someone who we all think WE know, but who wrestled with the same questions we may have at times: Who Am I? by Deitrich Bonhoeffer Who am I? They often tell me I stepped from my cell’s confinement Calmly, cheerfully, firmly, Like a Squire from his country house. Who am I? They often tell me I used to speak to my warders Freely and friendly and clearly, As thought it were mine to command. Who am I? They also tell me I bore the days of misfortune Equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win. Am I then really that which other men tell of? Or…
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It’s the Thought That Counts by Jan Coles
All kinds of thoughts can occur to me when I open a gift How thoughtful! That is so nice of her to think of me. I think I already have one of these. I think I told him I don’t like these. What made him think I’d like this? What was she thinking? Among the gifts my husband and I received as wedding presents was a large, blue glass bowl from his Aunt Ellen. His artistic, eclectic Aunt Ellen. The bowl was, well, um, shall we say, unusual. The depression of the bowl had a diameter of about eight inches and was about four inches deep. The flanges around the…
