When the Wedding is Over and Tires Start to Blow

After the wedding was over,  and several of us families had gotten a tour of the farm,

we enjoyed this scene of the farmers, young and old, talking together.

The new bride talks with others who are standing by a pickup full of folding chairs.

Carrie dares to climb to the top of the high silo along with her dad

and views the farm from a high point.

And the bride and groom rather inconspicuously climb into his old truck and drive away,

cans clanking behind!

God bless them!

 And we go on our way toward my relatives with whom we are to spend the weekend

when troubles begin.

We heard a clonk, and something started to bang around 

so we pulled over to check our tires.

However, it was just a front light that had fallen out somehow and was hanging by a cord!

We stopped at a store to buy tape to tape it back in place, and were on our way again.

But that was not the end. Oh that was not the end!

On our way back to Craig and Joella's Sunday afternoon,our front tire blew.

When we got out, it was smoking!

And when tires blow like that, it was a great chance to count our blessings.

My mom immediately thought how thankful we could be that we were near this driveway where we could pull off the narrow road.

We were thankful Jonathan was driving a back road at a slower speed than he would drive an interstate, and that it was not Carrie driving.

And that we were only a couple miles from Craig's home so he could come back to fetch the lady folk and bring needed tools.
Thank You, Lord! There is so much to thank You for!

Jonathan, Craig and Sam could not get the spare to unlatch from underneath the van, and we had to leave the van overnight.

The next morning they got a new tire and then took the van to the shop to get some help with getting the spare to release.

And so when the wedding is done and special occasions are over,

and lights fall out and tires blow

and you are finding it hard to unlatch the spare tire,

or the spare energy,

or the spare patience,

that is just the time to stand beside your van and take a moment to give thanks--

for safety,

for friends,

for tools,

for each other,

and for a Father in heaven Who is watching over all. 

 

Devil's Well in the Ozarks

While we were in Missouri, we went on an excursion with Craig and Joella's family and my mom 

to a couple scenic places nearby, 

including an underground lake nearby called "Devil's Well."

We descended a few sets of wooden stairs to see this interesting sight.

Looking down toward where the children and Craig and Jonathan are gathered by the grating that protects people from falling the hundred feet down into the underground lake!

 Looking back up from that point.

This is the best I could get of  a bit of the underground lake, with a sort of stream running underground there.

Under a bit of tunnel.

Grandma Morley didn't try to climb down the stairs, but she enjoyed watching the rest of us.

When cousins get together, it doesn't take anything to come up with a game.

This game was called "Jump Over the Picnic Table!"

What a lot of energy!

 The girls all came in our van while the younger boys went with Craig.

Missouri flowers!

The same spring that fed the underground lake came out from under the rock a few hundred feet away.

I can't remember the name of this spring, but it just came gushing out from under that rock in the background.

We had a half mile hike to get back to it.

Grandma and Susanna

 The children wading

What fun!

The children are never happier than when playing in the water, it seems!

Are our lives like the Devil's Well running dangerously with secret or open sins,
or are they like this beautiful, gushing spring,
with strength and grace flowing powerfully from a hidden source,
Christ Jesus?

At Craig and Joella's

After Tonya's wedding, we had a wonderful weekend  with my sister Joella's family in Missouri.

Craig enjoys playing hymn arrangements on Sunday morning as we prepare breakfast and get ready for church.

We passed through this little town of Tightwad in Missouri!

Hannah loved being friends with Laura.
Laura has the most amazing curly head I have ever seen!

These gladioli had been grown in their own garden.

They had gotten so many cucumbers (canning over 100 quarts of pickles)  that they were tired of them and said I could have all I could find!

Loved having dear little Laura along.

They've done a LOT of work remodeling the house inside and out. 

This front porch is beautiful, and new siding is soon to be on the front of the house.

Here we've gathered for family worship Monday morning. 

I appreciate Craig being a godly leader, and very proactive about unashamedly teaching from God's Word regardless who is around.
He is a real encouragement to live a godly life. 

We enjoyed picking from the garden's bounty.
Look how long this cucumber is!

 Then we walked up the road to my mom and dad's place.

Here is a Rose-of-Sharon bush at the end of their lane.

After helping with stacking kindling wood for winter, weeding and mulching the flower bed, etc.,

Susanna and our Carrie try out some music together on Mom's piano.

 Meanwhile, I am working with my mom, Crystal and Charity, cleaning and organizing their laundry room and pantry as there were still some boxes and bins needing stowed or unpacked after their move.

It's a struggle for my mom to do any heavy work, and she was coughing with any exertion.

I wished we could have stayed longer to help. 

Her laundry was out on the line, and she still bakes their bread and granola. 

Here Joella has brought all the fixings for a taco salad picnic and we are eating outdoors in the perfect weather. It had been very hot before we came, and became hot again after we left,

but thank God for beautiful weather while we were there.

Jonathan and Sam worked to put a door in the end of the sun room where a door used to be but had been covered over.

They needed a door there so they could more easily get to the winter wood pile. 

Here Sam is cutting the metal siding.

I was so glad we could get to a couple of these projects because Craig and Joella help them when they can, but have their own responsibilities and huge remodeling job of a very run down house.

They have already improved so much since we were there on Mother's Day.

Below you can see Sam up high on the rope swing far behind the children.

It's so great that there are so many shade trees, trees to climb, and two swings. 

Carrie and Susanna

Susanna and Rose

While we visited after the picnic, the children played in the huge front lawn.

Dad told me he was so thankful for how well all the cousins get along with each other.

He said that no matter which set of cousins came, all of them got along well.

I was so glad for this cheering observation. 

Children who are disciplined, who are kept busy at profitable work and play,  and whose parents take responsibility for them instead of blaming everyone else when there are any issues usually get along fine. 

What a blessing!

I didn't know where to fit this in, but on our way home from Missouri at a rest stop, 

a friendly truck driver allowed our three boys to climb up and see inside his truck cab.

 More pictures of Missouri soon I hope.

Wearing Wedding Dresses Through the Mud

Wearing pretty wedding dresses through the mud on a dairy farm is not exactly the greatest idea,

but that is exactly what our girls did after Tonya's wedding.

So here they are, finding their way through muddy spots to get back to the dairy barn.

We also explored down by their luscious garden.

One of the ladies of the farm urged the three little ones to each pick themselves a watermelon--

so they did!

Who can turn down a fresh watermelon straight from the garden?

We visited the cow barn that houses 200 dairy cows.

As I understand it and as we were told, this farm is one of only three left in the States, that has this turntable for the cows to be milked on.

Forty cows at a time enter one at a time. The cow finds its spot and stays there till the milker is done and the table has rotated back to the gate where the cow will get off again.

Several families who had been at the wedding stayed to watch the milking done in late afternoon.

It was amazing watching the turntable.

Everything is computerized. Each cow wears a computerized band on its leg, and on the turn table, the computer reads which cow it is and whether its milk is okay or whether there are problems and the milk needs to be separated. 

It also measures how much milk it gives.

One cow gave about 48 pounds of milk, or about 6 gallons!

Here all the children are watching, wide-eyed.

This is the tank where the milk is kept--

a 5000 gallon tank, and here is the other side of it.

Yes, wedding apparel and dairy farm mud aren't exactly compatible,

and I am reminded of when Jesus said, "You are in the world, but not of the world."

He gives us a robe of righteousness that we must keep clean 

as we navigate through the mud of life's situations.

 Some make fun of those who want to keep clean, pure and righteous before God,

so that we may be presented spotless someday before God. 

They talk about how we want to just gather our righteous robes about us and be Pharisaical and legalistic.

I prefer to think of the story of the little white flower discovered growing in a dark coal mine.

Every day the dirt and dust would fall upon this little flower,

but by and by its petals were as white as ever.

Something in the petals of the flower kept the dirt and dust from staying on it, and it stayed beautiful and clean despite all the dirt around it.

We live in a sinful, dirty world, and we are not unaffected.
Sometimes dirt falls upon us--
we feel confused, we are hurt by the deeds and attitudes of others,
sometimes, being human, we ourselves make mistakes or hurt others,
we may do one thing and wish we hadn't,
or refrain from doing something and later wish we had.
We may not know what to do at times.
But by and by, like this beautiful yellow butterfly that landed softly atop the black mud on that dairy farm,
God dusts us off, washes away our sins, errors, mistakes, hurt feelings, upsets, and confusions,
and keeps us clean, washed, forgiven, and right in His sight.