The wind howls. It's vet check. Robinson's come to fill the tenant house with fuel.. This winter won't quit. Separating cows to be dried off seems like such an ominous task when the wind steals your breath and your fingers feel numb. . . at the end of March. How do you maintain any kind of a positive attitude when the sun doesn't shine and the icy gusts chill to the bone? Many leave. They leave Vermont for warmer weather. They head out on vacation. If our hired help situation was different, we too would join the throngs headed to a tropical ... View Post
Why Do We Hold Our Burdens Tight?
We celebrate my farmer's birthday. The first without Elijah. It is so hard and feels so wrong. We leave the farm. We head to meet Chelsea, Adam and Lilah. We spend time together in a mall. I watch my farmer. What makes my farmer so depressed? Why won't the medicine take effect? It there something metabolically wrong? Something like electrolytes; a quick fix. We go to the doctors. She looks at us. My farmers blood work is good. His body is doing what it should. She tells us what we already know; but forget. We've been through a lot. Grieving ... View Post
Even When I Feel Alone. . . He Is There
They came to the farm. We knew little of what was happening. Never had any idea of the magnitude of the gift. They were there to serve. Quietly. And today. When there is still snow on the ground, when depression's clutches dig deep; when the wind blows causing temperatures to plunge to freezing, we are reminded of the gift. Reminded that the farmer does not have to go each day to forage for wood. It is there. Piled high. It is grace. All wrapped in a beautiful package. When those pieces of love were cut and stacked, there was no diagnosis of cancer. There was just deep heartache and ... View Post
Falling In Love With My Farmer
About 23 years ago I fell in love with my farmer. His banjo playing, quiet ways, love for God and deep voice, was enough to make this city girl take a look at all she had thought would make her soul sing.The glitz and glam, nice cars, dinners out, fancy diamond studded jewelry (just kidding -but my birthstone is a diamond -lucky me) soon faded to what was real and what really mattered in this world. A look deep into God's word and the Truth that rests there is what makes a girl really want to take notice. Wedding bells gave way to the rhythm of farming and teaching. The loss ... View Post
When The Snow Piles High And The Drifts Impassable
Pushing through the dark. Looking for the light. Holding tight the truth. Letting go the fear. Wondering how this new life works. Digging deep for strength. Resting in the One. Reaching for Hope. This journey continues to stretch me to the fullest. Each day, I seek to rest not in the what if's, but in the what I knows. When all is shaking around me, there is a calm. An assurance so sweet. The snow piles high and the drifts impassable. The wind howls. But yet the farmer presses on. The cows are milked. The rhythm of the day continues. It is that rhythm ... View Post
Chin Up, Shoulders Straight. . .Advice From My Dad
Chin up Shoulders straight Fly right My father's advice through the years. There were many other colorful pieces of advice he would share that I won't mention here. But these. These have stayed with me. I don't know where he got this. His father died when he was 12. So I am not thinking it was fatherly wisdom. My dad is a man of few words. (not always appropriate either, insert wink) Now he is a man who has the memory thief as a constant companion. But he spoke these words to me often enough that they have stuck. This morning ... View Post
