I left home at 6:30 this morning and got home at 7:15 tonight. It was such a long, exhausting day with my mom and dad at the hospital, but when I got home Erin (age 14) had spaghetti with homemade sauce and homemade breadsticks ready for supper. Krissy is working part-time at the elevator with Autumn this fall. Both of them had to work today until the elevator closed, so the girls had both babies all day today. Autumn & Krissy got home about 5 minutes after I did tonight. As soon as they walked in, we loaded up in the van and took Erin's delicious supper down to the field.
As we were all standing around, balancing our plates as we ate and catching up with each other's news from the day, my heart was full. I think it is impossible for someone who isn't a part of a farm family to understand just exactly how we feel about our "job." Farming is our livelihood, but it's not like a typical family where dad and mom go off to work from 9 to 5 and bring home a paycheck for "x" amount of dollars for "x" amount of hours. This is what pays our bills, but it's our lifestyle, not just an occupation. Everything we do is planned around planting, harvest, hay season, calving season, or even disasters like the fire we just had. We don't send Dad off to work. We all go out there and work together. For example, Gary ran the combine today. Meagan ran the grain cart catching corn as Gary dumped it "on the go." Nathan hauled corn to the elevator in the semis all day. Grady rode with his daddy (and Aunt Heather) to the elevator to see his mommy & Aunt Krissy. Ryan rode with Pop in the combine. Erin & Heather watched the boys so their mommies could work. Erin fixed supper so I could be there with my parents. Then we all ended up together in the field at 7:30 at night to gulp down our supper and get back to work. I love this life and wouldn't trade it for the world. Farm families are just a "different breed."
Krissy, Meagan with Ryan, and Autumn with Grady
Ryan is investigating the soybeans.
Meagan and I were talking on Sunday about how we felt about the fire. Have you ever seen the Sarah, Plain and Tall movies or read the books? Could you feel all the emotions that they felt when their barn burned to the ground or when they had the drought? That was the feeling I had on Saturday as I stood in the road watching the firemen try to fight the fire. As they put it out in one place and went to spray another place, the first place would flare back up. I dashed the tears from my eyes three or four times as I stood there watching, fearing that we would lose that whole 80 acres. I was thinking, "The corn prices are already down about $3/bushel from last year, and now we're going to lose 80 acres of corn. How will we ever make it?" 80 acres of corn at 150-200 bushel/acre times $4-$4.50 per bushel. That would be devastating!
Praise the Lord! It looks like we lost a little over 7 acres, not the whole 80. I can choose to focus on the loss and the work it's going to take to clean it up -OR- I can focus on the fact that no one was hurt and all the other blessings God has given us. I will focus on "God is good all the time. All the time, God is good." As the song says, "Thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me."
Dear, dear Karen, you have such a remarkable spirit! Clearly your parents did something good when raising you! It is so wonderful to see that you are now passing it on to your beautiful family. I am not from a farm family, but I certainly know a similar lifestyle when my brother and sister-in-law had their family business. Many days I worked my fulltime job then I went to their business and worked into the early morning hours, or headed to their house to take care of their children so they didn't have to be at the shop all day too. It allowed the children to have a sense of family love and to be raised in the values that rules our family. You are blessed in so many ways and God has shown His mercy. Someone else's carelessness could've ruined all your hard work. Glad no one was hurt and only a little dirty from the fire! I am praying for your parent's comfort and God's healing hand to touch each of them.
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