What’s Up

The Farmer and I have not had our camper out for over a year now. I guess it’s been two years this April. We didn’t plan it this way but this is where we are at right now. We are with a group called SOWERS and normally we go twice a year to serve at a location that we select for a month. We did travel to Big Sandy, Texas last April and served at Alert Academy. We did not take our camper there, due to issues with our pickup. Some wonderful SOWER friends allowed us to stay in their very nice rig. It was delightful to be with old friends again and make new ones. It was a blessing to our hearts.

We didn’t go in the fall as the Farmer was hauling corn for a neighbor for four months. This took from September through December. We had our hopes high to serve in Texas again this April but alas, that was not going to happen. The Farmer needs a new knee before he can do much work. We leave this week on Thursday to finally visit with a surgeon and see what, where and when he can get his knee replaced.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” -Saint Augustine.

Our nineteen foot camper sits in our Quonset and hasn’t seen any action except at Christmas and other holidays when all the family comes home. Then it becomes our extra bedroom along with our little Tear Drop camper.

At this time we do not know how long it will be until we can roam again with our Dutch ovens. We have used the Dutch ovens on our farm here and have cooked up some good things for company. The Farmer’s bride even got second place in our church’s Chili Cookoff in one of the Dutch ovens. The Farmer wasn’t much help as he was hauling corn.

“Life is made for good friends and great adventures.” – Anonymous

We have been busy following our grandchildren as they continue to grow up. We go from football, track, cross country, soccer, vocal presentations, piano recitals, wrestling, and volleyball. They do keep us on the road. Because we will be homebound for a moment, I am planting a bit of a garden. We will see how that grows.

Well, that is our sad story. Really we are truly blessed and grateful to our generous Lord that we are in good health and knees and other things can be fixed. However, we are really missing our SOWER friends and our SOWER projects. Just thought I would update you on “Wherethedutchovensroam”. Those Dutch ovens are at home on the prairie right now. Come see us and we will get them out and do some cooking.

God bless you all friends.

“Come Up Higher”

Come Up Higher!

“Beloved! Come up higher! I have more for you.”

Tommy Tenney says that God is calling you to a higher level of commitment. Forget the plans you made for yourself. Die to self. (Jer. 50:14)

Claim your upgrade. Perhaps you have been asked to move from the normal section of the airplane and have been upgraded to First Class. Would you refuse the upgrade? Come and accept a move to the upper level.

Is 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Eagles fly higher than any other creature. As they catch the wind, it carries them even higher. The eagles’ eyes are sharper and keener than any other. Eagles are discerning. Eagles know just how to make the wind currents work for them and they have the highest view of all that is happening below them.

IS 43:18-19 Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

As we embrace the beginnings of a new year, 2025, a powerful message from God resonates: God is urging us to embrace the new beginnings that lie ahead. There are new dreams, new visions, new beginnings and new adventures with the Lord ahead of us. But as Paul says in Phil.3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things with are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There it is “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God!” God is calling us to come up higher. This will require us unloading some of the baggage we have held onto for years. Do we have hurtful words stored in our memory banks, unforgiveness, shame, unrepentant hearts, wounds and other heavy memories? Our Lord says to cast our care on Him. That will certainly lighten our load and set us free to accept the call to come up higher with Him. We can’t take the next step higher if we are loaded down with the burdens of the past.

Accept the upward call of God. Accept the upgrade.

There is an interesting story in the Bible in Judges 1:14 and Joshua 15:15-19. Caleb’s daughter Achsah was offered as a pawn by her father. She was offered in marriage to the man who could attack and capture Kiriath Sepher. Caleb’s nephew Othniel captured Kiriath Sepher and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah in marriage to him. One day she asked her father for a blessing. She asked for the upper and lower springs of water on the field that he gave to them. She knew she had her father’s favor and she did not see herself as a victim but as an heir of her father, a favored heir. She had every reason to have the attitude of a victim. But she had the attitude of an heir. What if she asked only for the lower springs then the upper area would have been dry and unusable. We can’t receive an upper springs inheritance with a lower springs mindset.

Understand who you are in Christ.

“Come up higher!” This is a word that has the power to pull you into the more God has for you. We must know that we are heirs in Christ. Rom. 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory

The Big Surprise

First Christmas

The Big Surprise

First Christmas

A 1967 International pickup was our first married Christmas chariot. It carried us on our trip to Blackburn, OK to celebrate Christmas with my Granny. We had a fuel tank in the bed of the pickup and could just pull over and pump in more gas when we needed it. I had to sit in the middle close to the Farmer as we traveled as there was a big Christmas wrapped box against the passenger side door. The Farmer was going to surprise his bride on Christmas Eve with a beautiful sewing machine.

It was sweet for this bride to bring her new husband to share Christmas with her precious extended family and with her dear Granny. Christmas Eve on Granny and Pap-Paw’s ranch was a very treasured tradition. Pap-Paw passed before the Farmer had a chance to get to love him. He passed when I was twelve years old. He made a big difference in my life by leading me to the Lord. Granny was a wonderful hostess and she treated her family like royalty. Her cold stairway in her two story house was filled with sweet treats on each of the steps. They were chilling there after being made by Granny’s own hands.

The family gathered in her kitchen to play hours and hours of pitch with cigarette smoke filling up the room with a cloud. It was a rowdy time of love, competition and cooking all gathered in the same room. That old kitchen was rocking.

The Christmas tree was cut down from many on their ranch and decorated with all the old ornaments made by children and cherished through the years.

On this first married Christmas Eve both the Farmer and his bride were to be surprised. He was surprising her with that sewing machine and she was surprising him because she had found the receipt for a sewing machine in his documents and she knew what was in that box that he had so carefully hauled from Kansas to Granny’s. It was a double surprise!

Fifty-two years later we won’t be traveling to Granny’s except in our memories. Our own children and grandchildren will be traveling home to the farm to celebrate the birth of our King the weekend after Christmas. This old farm will be bursting at the seams! This bride and her Farmer hope to be half of the gracious hostess that Granny was.

We’ve had a full year this 2024. We traveled much to participate in our grandchildren’s lives. We have visited college campuses, new apartments, watched cross country, football, wrestling, basketball, tumbling, vocal concerts and more. Our grandchildren are not children anymore. Only two are in elementary school. All of the rest are in high school, college, and one has a graduated college and has a great job as an engineer.

In April we worked with our SOWER group at Alert Academy in Big Sandy, TX. It was so wonderful to spend time with some of our friends and clean out an old green house and help refurbish some fencing and remodel. June found us at a great nephew’s wedding in Wisconsin. We took a boat ride on Lake Superior around the Apostle Islands and managed to find some quilt shops along the way. Grandparents’ lunch day with our two in elementary school was another highlight of our year and a trip to the Louisburg Cider Mill with the Myers was a hit.

Our Generations Church has moved into our new church building, debt free. The Lord has been kind and so gracious to us and every day we feel blessed and filled with gratitude for His many blessings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Luke 2:15 TPT “Let’s go! Let’s hurry and find this Word who is born in Bethlehem and see for ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us.”

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Over the River and Through the Snow

November 1952 found quite a snowstorm from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and it stretched northward to the Minnesota lake country. It turned the Great Plains region into a frozen wasteland and slowed pre-Thanksgiving holiday travel to a crawl. Winds swept this storm through northeastward on winds reaching 60 mph.

“Moving rapidly out of Oklahoma and Texas, the storm shrieked across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin and spread to the mountain states of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Winds whipped the seven inch snowfall in Nebraska into towering drifts.” –taken from the Madera Tribune, November 1952.

In August of 1951 Alta Mae Brown left her home in Blackburn, Oklahoma and traveled to Eads, Colorado to assist her sister with the birth of her first child. Her sister, Norma Rose and her husband, Leo worked for the Jillie and Cannon Construction Company. This company built telephone lines and electrical lines. They built the lines that would bring electricity to rural communities and farms. They traveled to wherever the company had a contract and went to work. They often moved their families with them in trailer homes or apartments. These linemen were a hearty bunch of men who braved the elements, the mountains, swamps, and etc. to move electricity across this country.

“In the United States, the rural electrification drive during the New Deal led to widespread expansion in the number of jobs in the electric power industry. Many power linemen during that period traveled around the country following jobs as they became available in tower construction, substation construction, and wire stringing. These roving workers or “boomers” as they were called, were known as risk takers but also as hard workers with a strong sense of pride in their work.” –taken from Lowell Corp.com “The Evolution of the Lineman”.

Alta Mae was a beautiful young woman and she happened to meet one of her brother in law’s co-workers. His name was Elvin Jamison and he was from a farm in northwest Kansas. He had been discharged from the US Navy in June of 1946 and was so thankful to get back to the farm in Quinter. All of his letters home to his parents on the farm talked of his longing to return home for harvest. He was on a ship near the equator part of the time and near the Philippines. When he did get home for harvest, he had to wear a coat as he felt cold even in July in Kansas. His uncle was working for the Jillie and Cannon Construction Company and he convinced Elvin and his brothers that there was good income for linemen. They went to work for the company and moved to several different places with the crew.

“Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together.” – Sarah Dessen

There seemed to be some real fireworks go off between the two when they met. Alta Mae thought she had met a rich Kansas farmer and Elvin thought he had met a rich woman of Native American heritage from Oklahoma. They both said later that they were both fooled. They did elope two weeks after meeting. They drove to Raton, New Mexico and were married by the Justice of the Peace on August 18, 1951. All of their belongings fit into the back seat of their car. Norma Rose’s elder sister completely abandoned her before her child was born.

For Thanksgiving 1952, Elvin, Alta Mae, Elvin’s younger brother Bobbie, his wife Loretta, and their seven month old baby boy decided to pile in the car and head back to the farmstead in northwest Kansas for the Thanksgiving holiday. They were currently residing and working in Clovis, New Mexico. The weather was good as they embarked on this journey and the young couples were excited to get home. Elvin and Alta Mae were expecting their first child and they all enjoyed Mike, the adorable baby boy.

As they reached the Oklahoma panhandle the weather began to take an ominous turn. In 1952 there were not many phones available in small towns and certainly there were no cell phones. The weather forecasting was not as technical in that day and many cars did not have radios. The wind began to pick up and the snow was heavy and it was blowing. This greatly reduced their ability to travel. Road closures began to impact their progress and the car heaters in that day were marginal, especially with 60mph winds. As there was really no place to stay the two young brothers continued to fight their way home. They knew if they could reach the farm there would be warmth, food and good times with family.

Some of the way they were not able to stay on the roadways but took to pastures and other ground where the snow was blown off of the fields. They let down some fences to pass the vehicle through and picked their way carefully home.

Their parents were very concerned about them but could get no report on their progress. Imagine their excitement when they finally saw the car coming down the driveway to the farm. Their precious sons, daughter-in-laws and grandbaby had arrived safely at the farm.

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.” –Germany Kent

Baby Mike however became very ill with pneumonia from the treacherous journey and just barely escaped death. With all of the love and warmth of the family his life was spared and this family had a tremendous Thanksgiving, celebrating life, family, gratitude and love. They thanked the Lord for His help on a very difficult trip and for sparing the life of this precious little one.

Fall Fun

Louisburg Cider Mill was a fun destination for this grandma and some of her grandchildren. Our daughter let it slip on a phone call to her mother (this grandma) that they were thinking of going to the Cider Mill on the weekend. After clearing it with the Farmer, who was still hauling semi loads of corn, I decided that all else could wait while I drove to Kansas City for some delightful cider mill donuts and cider slush.

“I can smell autumn dancing in the breeze. The sweet chill of pumpkin, and crisp sunburnt leaves. –Ann Drake

I had just been so sad that I didn’t have small grandkids who wanted to go to the pumpkin patch with me anymore. One autumn I went to five different pumpkin patches. Most were in Kansas but one was in Texas. Grandma and the grands had such a wonderful time. Although one hayrack ride did cause us some difficulties. The next day we had chigger bites all over and were quite uncomfortable for a few days.

One very warm day we were in a corn maze trying to find our way out of it. One of my grandsons was becoming quite anxious about whether we would ever find our way out of this hot maze. I told him to stop and listen. I said, “What do you hear?” He said, “Grandma, I hear a tractor.” I said,” Remember that we saw that tractor being used right at the entrance to this corn maze.” I suggested that if we moved towards the sound of the tractor we would find our way out. When we got out of that maze we had some snacks and some nice cold drinks and all was well with our adventure.

I don’t see how a pumpkin patch could be more sincere than this one. – Charlie Brown

On the way to the Cider Mill I got to visit one grandson at his college apartment and I got to have lunch with a granddaughter at a restaurant in her college town. On another trip I stopped in to see our oldest grandson who is now “adulting” and has a full time job. I also got to meet his girlfriend.

This fall has found us following one grandson through his final high school football season. We have had some interesting weather in the stands. One game it poured rain on us and another was really cold. We are experienced in this as we used to follow three sons and one daughter in their sports activities and it was not always ideal weather. Our grandson had a great season of football and is now starting wrestling. More bleacher time ahead!

Fall and fun at the Cider Mill with four of my grandchildren was the highlight to my favorite season. I’m so thankful I didn’t miss this time with them as they grow up so quickly. Of course the donuts were worth the drive also. YUM!

Epipipto

I am reading a book by Tim sheets on “Come Home.” It is about the prodigals coming home. And in Luke 15:20 Jesus says that when the father saw his lost child coming, he ran to him and fell on his neck, kissing him. He fell on him, he fell on his neck. This is the Greek word EPIPIPTO. And then when they talk about the Holy Spirit falling on them during Pentecost, it is the same word in (Acts 2:3) And then when the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, it’s the same word. (Acts 10:44) That is so beautiful that the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to come and fall on our neck in such a wonderful embrace.

“ As I read Phil. 4:6-7 I learned that worship and worry cannot live in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive.” Ruth Graham Bell

Saturday I saw my 17 year old grandson after a very difficult race fall into his dad‘s arms and fell against his neck. He was so sad and worn out after that race and needed his dad. Oh my we need our dad right now our wonderful Heavenly Father to wrap us in his warm and wonderful embrace. Just the thought warms my heart. That’s how much He loves us and desires to give us the same gifts of the Spirit He gave them at Pentecost.

I prayed with a lady on the phone the other day that is 77 and she is so lonely. She has church but she has no one to love her. Her husband has passed her son has passed and she has no family and she has no one to love her. She knows the Lord loves her, but she sure would like to have someone with skin on to give her a hug.

We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father that gives us such love and support.

Grandma’s Quilt Block

The fabric scraps she cut with care.
All sorts of shapes placed here and there
to form a block, then two, then three…
Put them together- a quilt for me.
Unknown

Our community’s historical society has some quilts that women in the years gone by have made. They brought them to the quilt club that I attend. Some were made at the turn of the century and some in the early 1900’s. Some were family quilts that were made by several different members of that family. Some were made with feed sacks as that is what they had and some were made by churches and clubs in the community. Women would gather together to stitch and chatter and make something useful for someone in need.

“Behind every quilter is a big pile of fabric.” So true

I was delighted to see on one of the quilts the handiwork of my grandmother Mable. She moved to the community as a young bride and her applique skills were evident. The women embroidered their names on the block that they completed and then all the blocks were sewn together and quilted. This grandmother was well known for her knitting skills. I still have the vests that she knitted for my children when they were young. As a young girl she tried her best to teach me to knit and I did learn the process well. However, I started making a sweater that quickly turned into a dog sweater and then a kitty sweater and then it was never completed. I was a bit of a disappointment to her in that regard.

I have quilts in my home that were made by the hands of my Granny, my dear mother-in-law, a niece and by me. I found when I retired from working that quilting was intriguing to me, unlike the knitting. I have made a king sized quilt for all four of my children and am now working on a quilt for our bed. Some of the quilts at my house are machine quilted and some are tied.

“When you are quilting up a life, you sometimes got to start with any piece you can get your hands on.”

Jonathan Odel

I live in the house that my grandmother, Mable lived in. She and my grandfather had this house moved onto our farm in the 1940’s. I love to think of her sitting in her chair and knitting a sweater or preparing my grandpop a delicious meal of fried chicken. She had a huge garden and raised four children here on this place. It was so sweet to see that block in the quilt she made so many years ago and to think of the very special friends that gathered to chatter and create with their hands.

“Our lives are like quilts – bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love.”

Grandparent’s Day

The Farmer and I took a couple of days off from hauling corn to drive 4.5 hours for lunch at school on a Friday. Our two youngest grandchildren were having a grandparent’s for lunch day at their elementary school. We were so thankful to be able to be there. The excitement of the children was contagious and the grandparents were just as excited. Some grandparents brought lunches and others stopped to get meals from fast food places. Many of us though just ate the choices the school lunchroom workers produced. It was a nice meal of cheeseburgers and all the fixings.

Grandpa ate with Luke in the fifth grade and I had the privilege to eat with Addie in the third grade. They ate at different times, of course. We had a nice visit with some of their friends and their grandparents. We were so thankful that we were able to go and enjoy this precious time. Grandpa also got to ride with Jake who is 15 and learning to drive.

“Some of our greatest blessings call us grandma and grandpa.”

After lunch we jumped in the car to drive across the state again, to attend the Friday evening football game of our senior grandson in the western part of the state. This is kind of on our way home. Unfortunately, they lost the game but Asa played a good game.

“Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet.”

The following weekend we drove back to the eastern part of the state as the all three of Esther’s boys were running in the Twilight Cross Country meet. Luke in the fifth grade ran in the warmer part of the day. Jake who is 15 ran later in the evening and Judah’s group took the last run. All three did a great job and sister, Addie was happy as she was invited to a birthday party with a friend and got to miss most of it.

“Love is the greatest gift that one generation can leave to another.”

-Richard Garnett

I have to add to this quote that leading your grandchild to have a relationship with Jesus is the greatest gift!

Wow, grand parenting can be exhausting. We remind ourselves though that it’s not very long and they are off to college and adult-ing. We have three in college now and one with a job. We have two that are seniors this year. We are very blessed to have twelve wonderful grands.

Mornin’ Glory

Morning Glories have graced the gate of this yard for many years. They climb up the trellis and cling to the frame to cover the gate and welcome visitors or turn them away. Our new UPS delivery man was hesitant to come in the gate as the Morning Glories had completely covered the gate. The Glories love the morning and bloom at that time of day, closing up in the afternoons. Morning glory vines bring old fashioned charm and a quaint cottage feeling to this yard.

“Where flowers bloom so does hope.”

Lady Bird Johnson

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

Francis Hodgson Burnett

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”

Laurie Jean Sennott

When I hear the word glory, I always think of my Savior. Glory and honor is what I desire to bring to His name. His glory is what we need in our world. It’s so like Him to create all the beautiful colors we enjoy with the Morning Glory and all the other flowers around us. As we head in Autumn I think of how He is so creative. He could have made our world just in hues of gray. But He couldn’t as He loves beauty, too. His love for us caused Him to create such colorful things for us to enjoy.

Psalms 50:14-15 Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

Glory in Hebrew is kabowd or kavod. There is more than one meaning. God may have designed this beautiful language of Hebrew to give dimension to our understanding of Him and His love for us. It is from the root word for weight. It can mean glory, honor, respect, distinction and importance. It is abounding in honor and reverence. Exodus 24:17 is a prime example of this.

“Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”

Our God is so worthy of reverence and praise. His glory should activate in us a response of praise and worship so full of the recognition of His mighty strength and the honor that is due Him. When we encounter the majesty of God, we must respond with reverential worship, awe and devotion.

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Exodus 40:34-35

We must embrace His glory and let this fill our lives and our world. Only then can we understand fully the difference the glory of God brings to us individually and corporately

Keep on Truckin’

The first of August the Farmer got a call from a neighbor needing someone to haul some corn out of his bins to the ethanol plant. The Farmer answered that call and has hauled 50 some semi loads of corn to the plant. Due to some truck issues and some contract issues with the plant he just finished this project the end of September.

Western Plains Energy is the plant twenty miles from our farm. I took this information from their website. It was started in 2004 to improve the value of local grain. This company has become a leader in the ethanol industry and has enjoyed many successes along the way. Today this plant produces approximately 50,000,000 gallons of denatured ethanol annually. The products from this plant are put to use in the very best way. A way that feeds and fuels. The grain brought into this ethanol plant is transformed into livestock feed in the form of distiller’s grain and into high-octane fuel in the form of ethanol.

Many local farmer’s sell their grain to Western Plains Energy. The Farmer got on a first name basis with some of the scale helpers over there.

“Have you ever noticed that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?”

-George Carlin

Truck driving is addictive. There was a time years ago when the farmer did some longer hauls with a semi, that I thought he might love truck driving more than his bride. But I was wrong. He was able to break free for his family. So now it’s just kind of fun for him to hit the road again on a short haul and run that truck through the gears.

“Find solace in the symphony of the engine and tires on the open road.”