Glory to God in the Highest!

Some of the words used to tell of our 2023 are: graduations, cousins, prayer journeys, reunions, loss, kids, grandkids and praises.

Texas and Iowa were the places we served in church camps with our SOWER ministry. New friends, old friends and ministries that are making a difference in the Kingdom of God were found in both of these places. We take our camper and go to work in these camps for a month in March and in September. Painting, remodeling, office work, kitchen duties and other responsibilities are some of the projects we are involved in. It is such a treat to be able to be a blessing to these facilities.

Conrad lost his last brother, Jim, this March. Three brothers have now advanced to their heavenly home. The youngest brother is now left alone to try to keep three sisters in line. That thought has now terrified the little brother. His oldest sister, Dorothy has informed him that he will not succeed in trying to keep her in line.

Two grandsons graduated from high school in May and one grandson graduated from KSU last weekend and has accepted a new job. He has now joined the adult lifestyle of work and more work. We are very proud of all of Jordan’s accomplishments. Anna is a Junior at KU and Joshua and Roman are Freshmen at UNW and KSU. We are very proud of all of our grands.

Hosting a reunion of cousins here at the home place for the Jamison’s made for a fun June. All but four of my cousins were able to come. Then in August we were able to have Cousin Camp also here at the farm. This is a special time for this grandma and I cherish every moment. Grandpa and I also traveled to some of our children’s homes and spent time with grandchildren for various reasons.

Our little teardrop camper headed out on a journey in early July to travel the border of Kansas. We decided to answer the call to pray the border of our state and to stop and pray in every border county. We traveled 1550 miles, we met beautiful Kansans, camped in special places and prayed and anointed the borders with oil. We spent a little time at the geographic enter of the continental US. We couldn’t have picked a more beautiful time to travel our state. The Lord blessed this trip tremendously.

Pam completed the book of her childhood memories for her grandchildren. The Lord put it on my heart to write my story for my future generations. This is not really a story of my life but more of the story of what my Savior has done in my life. I also completed a king size quilt for Haley. This was my fourth king size quilt to be finished.

Conrad has been busy making 75 wood boxes for Operation Christmas Child boxes, being creative with the wood lathe, and driving semi in harvest season for some neighbors.
May you all be blessed with the greatest gifts of God and may this Christmas season find you all well.
Merry Christmas from the farmer and I.

Cousin Camp 2023

In June the Farmer and I hosted my grandparents’ family here at the homestead on the prairie. All but four of my cousins were able to attend. It was just a special time of remembering stories about our grandparents and our parents. One of my grandsons and his dad made the trip to spend part of the day with us. As my grandson listened to all our crazy stories, I told him, “Do you see why I have Cousin Camp at my house for you and your cousins? I had such a great time with my cousins that I want you to know and enjoy your cousins!” I think he understood. We even reenacted an old picture that I found of my cousins and I on the lawn tractor pulling a wagon load of cousins. We spent hours doing that!

“Cousins are different beautiful flowers in the same garden.”

-Anonymous

The first of August this grandma traveled to Olathe to gather the four cousins that could come to cousin camp. We were short eight cousins this summer and we acutely felt their absence. Four had to adult with jobs and internships, three were on a family vacation in Mexico, and one was involved in Cross Country practice already. Grandma still can’t believe that three chose the family vacation in Mexico over some great fun on the prairie!

On our way home from Olathe, we stopped at a Russell Stover shop and indulged in some chocolate! Nothing starts off cousin camp better than chocolate. The two youngest ones got caramel apples which they really enjoyed at the next stop, the zoo. The afternoon was warm, but all agreed it was a fun time. We got wet wherever we could find water. It was nice and cool in one area, but the two girls could not take the smell! They desired the heat over the stench! PU! The boys were undeterred by the smell.

“Cousins are people that are ready-made friends, you have laughs with them and remember good times from a young age, you have fights with them, but you always know you love each other, they are a better thing than brothers and sisters and friends ‘cause they are all pieced together as one.”

-Courtney Cox

Highs, lows, and buffaloes is one thing our daughter’s family does every evening at the dinner table. This makes for some great sharing and discussion of each family members’ day. It was such a great idea that the Farmer and I incorporated it into our evening meal. Each member of the family shares their “high” of the day. This is something that was the best part of their day. Then they go around the table again and share their low of the day, and then their funny, silly, or weird thing of the day (this is called a buffalo). Grandma was delighted to hear what the kids enjoyed every day about cousin camp.

Our youngest grandchild thrilled us when she wanted to pray at each meal after grandpa prayed. She threw her arm up in the air and sing songed, “Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Thank you for our food and all the things you do. Thank you, God!” I know the Lord was so pleased with her enthusiasm!

We always try to make a trip to the local soda fountain in town for some extreme ice cream treats. This year a gentleman from Ohio was there and he paid for our ice cream. I don’t know his name but would like to send thanks. We also went swimming at our local pool and tried out all the slides. It was decided that the purple slide can be pretty painful so should be avoided but the green and blue one are so much fun.

“God made us cousins because he knew our mothers could not handle us as siblings.”

-Anonymous

The farmer had a woodworking project for the cousins. They made a wooden tablet/phone stand. They had fun staining, sanding, and finishing this project. They used the router to make some nice edges. Grandma had them tie dye pillowcases and hair scrunchies. We also did other crafts. A scavenger hunt around the farm is always a must and using the lawn tractor to pull a wagon load of cousins is, well its tradition!!

That’s a wrap! Cousin Camp 2023 is in the books and the pictures and hopefully in the memories!

Slip and Slide Farmer Style

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants–from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 59:21

Having grandchildren is the greatest treasure available to people our age. Oh how we cherish them and delight in their lives and spending time with them. A few years ago, I recalled all of the fun I had with my cousins at my granny and pap-paws ranch in Oklahoma. I thought it was a good idea to try to get all of the grandkids to come to our farm in the summer for a Cousin Camp. Since then I have wondered about my sanity a few times. It is so much fun and totally and completely exhausting for all of us but worth every minute planning, plotting and preparing.

We always love to go to Castle Rock and climb rocks and get dirty. We have all kinds of fun projects and some science experiments to do while everyone is here. We have age ranges from 19 to 4 so it is sometimes a stretch to find ideas that work for most. Our older grands are a huge help and encouragement to our younger grands.

Grandpa worked hard ahead of camp to make 13 frames from scrap lumber from our old barn and other pieces. These frames were then painted or decoupaged by the kids and a backing was placed in them with cork on top. This has made some really nice bulletin boards for them to put up in their rooms to put their special things on. One of these will be going to college with our oldest grandson. He painted it with purple for his college.

We Tie dyed shirts and swam in the pool in our small community. We have a slip and slide that grandpa made from tarps and PVC pipe sprinkler overhead that is a lot of fun. Soap helps make it slick and inner tubes add even more fun.

No healthy food is allowed and sugar is good for all. This year four of our grands were not able to come due to exposure to covid. We missed them terribly but hope they are coming soon to see us. This year we were blessed with some help from our youngest son and our oldest son and his wife. They were such a help and had some great ideas to add to the festivities.

Thank you grands for loving this time together and taking off of work and giving up other things to come and play with me and grandpa for a few days. Oh we love the memories!