Playing Catch-Up

I am sitting on the deck as I compile this post. The sounds of children playing, birds singing and frogs beginning their evening chorus interrupt the early evening stillness. The air smells of rain with a hint of apple blossom fragrence. It is a perfect setting to reflect on days gone by and catch you all up on the goings on of my life.

End of February. Still winter. As I already mentioned, Kerri's best friend came out to visit us from Tennessee. We hadn't seen each other in over a year, so we had so much to catch up on. We had the best time!

In March spring began showing up on the farm. And for me, my busiest season, lasting through the months of March, April and some of May. Calving went great this year! The weather was about perfect for the little calves, and there were no birthing complications or sicknesses. Pretty soon they will all be happily romping in the pastures.

On April fifteenth we welcomed my baby brother Michael Gideon into this world. After three years with no new babies in the house, it has been a joy to have a little one to love on again!
Mikey is such a little stinker, and has completely stolen my heart. :)
He has so many faces that he makes already and we can tell that he is going to be a very energetic little boy!

Michael the day he was born...

Michael at six weeks...

A couple of months before Michael was born we had a little gender reveal party along with the birthday party that we had for Josiah. We were not telling anyone (besides our immediate family) the gender until after he was born, so I wasn't able to share these pictures until now. Joey was quite excited that he was getting a new baby brother!

The secret is in the cake!

I didn't get any pictures of the guys out seeding the fields this year, but they finished a couple of weeks ago. Now they are on to spraying, which makes it a little bit less busy for us errand runners. 

It is supposed to freeze tonight, so we are all praying hard that our crops will be protected!

There now, all caught up. :)

But I am not about to drop off the face of the earth again.

On Monday I am starting a blogging challenge with two of my sista's. 

Stay tuned! ;)

Breaking the Silence

So it has been a while. 

It seems kind of ironic, hypocritical even,  that I took such a long blogging break right after I wrote a post practically promising more posts. The truth be known, for a couple of weeks after my cyber disappearance, I had the legitimate excuse of being busy. We planned and put on an event for our church and then we had a friend out from Tennessee. 

But after that, I began what would be a struggle of the inward, spiritual kind. God began chasing me and asking me to surrender things that I held so tightly. 

The running away took it's toll. The words were stolen out of my heart. I barely wrote at all (thus, no blogging), my journal scarcely saw my pen, and I retreated to a place where I could shut off the flow of feeling. A hiding place.

I resided in this place for a long time, because there my soul wasn't bothered. I intentionally became blissfully unaware of the Love that was calling me to action.

I had constructed a wall of noise to block out the still small voice of God asking me to hear Him again, no matter what the cost. To feel His heartbeat, to be his voice. To take up my cross every day and follow hard after Him.

Have you ever been in that place? 

You know that God is asking you to do something, but instead of being obedient, you find yourself unwilling, and begin a wildly unfruitful journey that only leads right back to where you came from?

This journey had me see God in a new way. He is relentless. He loves me to much to allow me to be comfortable with where I am. Even when I feel like he must have given up on me, when I peek through the cracks, I find him and His mercy waiting with open arms. 

So now I am working on tearing down that wall, one day at a time. Today another piece will fall down as I click the publish button, and get back to regular posting.

My next post I will catch you up on what has been going on these past couple of months. 

And I dare to promise... it will be soon! :)

I will leave you with a sneak peek...