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It is all about how we live here at Vicktory Farm & Gardens: Intensely, simply, creatively, lovingly for God, with others. |
And organize the Fiber House.
I hear my knitting needles calling me, and at night I’m dreaming I am sitting at my sewing machine. In my dream my stacks of material dwindle before my eyes as piles of completed projects rise.
And here I was thinkin’ I barely had time to get half of what I want to do done around here. Silly me. Clearly I am far more capable than I think or have previously proved.
Hmmm.
Another busy season of the year.
Our Dirt grows great taters.
This is my typical Wednesday morning rushed offering for the Header Challenge, go see what the fellas (Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man.) have for you this week for my pick of topic, Harvest (what a surprise from me eh?). Harvest is a busy time, but I hope it finds you with a few moments to sit and visit with me and a few slightly competitive sports around the world.
Have you noticed how busy times are busy because even though the time or season may have one name it is never about just one thing?
Pickles anyone? Pickling cucumbers. The best? Mc Pick and Pearl
Harvest Season isn’t just about collecting the crops produced and putting them up.
As if that wasn’t enough,
Evaluating, Calculating
This season has a lot to do with evaluating the year.
A real pretty pumpkin, but not on my list for next year. It's named "One Too Many" but considering how many plants I put in, I'd call it "Five Too Few".
Yeah it’s true that, like most other folk, I run a constant commentary on my life and what I am doing, all year long. But the fall harvest brings with it a feeling of culmination. And from the culmination you can more clearly see what needs to be seen. What worked great, what could have worked even better,
A perfectly beautiful squash prematurely harvested by cute little field mice.
what was a bit of a problem and what was a complete and utter disaster and basically made me a laughing stock in the neighborhood and could that have been avoided. Sometimes me being a laughing stock isn’t avoidable and so it is just best to go with it and get a little chuckle myself and settling in knowing that circumstance will be different in the future and so will the outcome.
Any way that is one big thing that goes along with harvest time that isn’t very harvesty, and it increases the busy-ness of the season unlike the running commentary, because now, if I don’t make note, adjust what I actually can right now, well then, I run the risk of repeat failures or not doing again what did work.
Planting, etc: Doin’ not Just Thinkin’ and Writin’
One of the many other things that makes this season busy that isn’t of harvesty nature… planting. Gardeners, farmers, livestock folk know that what you do right now has more to do with three to six months to a year or more down the road than it does at this present moment. It goes beyond planning. Far beyond just getting out the calendar and planning what to do when and who to contact and where to show up with what. More that just writing, waxin’ poetically about how the year’s bounty is in and how the store walls groan and the hearth fires burn.
New plowed ground getting marked for beds.
Fall has quite a bit to do with just plain doin’. Like planting. And… Building compost bins, bring plants into dormant storage, marking out beds, diggin’ out paths while the soil is just right, liming soils, seeding wildflower beds, restacking wood, washing incubators and hatchers, guttin’ the brooder shed,
October frosts are usually light and infrequent, making it worth protecting crops to extend the harvest.
puttin out remay to get just a little more harvest in, dumpin old pots, turnin’ stuff upside down so it doesn’t catch water, rollin’ up hose, but not to much hose, movin’ manure. Oh wait, manure is always movin’.
Decorating
When the decorator in me isn’t out decoratin’ the fields with poo, I’m in the house swappin out the spring/summer decor for fall. I’m thinkin that for me, spring and summer decor is not really seen as seasonal but just usual stuff, it is out the longest of all my rotating decorations, it is the hardest to put away, and from last season to this season it is the biggest switch over.
Now my attic is full of holiday boxes. But then, it is a small attic.
Lots gets put away and surfaces are bare, then out comes the beginning of the flurry of decorations that will take us from now until February. I began my married life with two small boxes of holiday decorations, then along the way it all became too big and too many little boxes so I introduced myself to my “one box a week” holiday decorating system. It began on Thanksgiving weekend with four boxes, one each for the weeks of Advent. Back then fall decorations could fit in a drawer in my dining room or collected from the great outdoors to be tossed the day after Thanksgiving. Soon autumn became a box-necessary season of its own and now it is all incorporated into the long holiday season of us girls decorating the house. Some things that come out now blend into the Christmas decorations which blend into Valentine decorations and carry us from fall all the way to the middle of winter, when we will finally need to bring in spring, even before she is here.
Flower picking, a lot like flower harvest eh? Flower-harvest could be one of my favorite harvests to do.
But don’t forget the last of the fresh home flowers. Fall flowers… I think I am fondest of flowers of the autumn. Obviously mums, of which I did not grow my usual fare of this year, but the wild aster and the dahlias,
Early morning gathering of cut flowers for the house
and of course the first rose of late spring is so inviting but there is nothing like those last roses to give your heart a lift. And heart-liftin’ is important, bringing me to…
Partyin’
The final (but most important) thing that adds to my busy-ness, parties!
When you grow food cuz ya like people and wanna feed them, the one thing that is a must do is autumn parties. And autumn is full of them! We’ll be taking an abbreviated celebration of the true discoverer of America, Leif Erikson on the road this year all the way up to Justin and Anna’s minus the lutefisk I suppose.
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes: Roma, Chocolate Cherry, Stupice, Beaver Lodge Slicer, Heinz, Gills
Then it’s Columbus Day on Monday, time to roll out the meatballs, pasta and garlic bread, with homemade sauce from the tomato harvest.
Great potato harvest this year, looking forward to some yummy meals with these fellas
The Irish girl in me, usually with the help of my very Irish daughter, has got to throw in a little celebration for Saint Brendan, the canoeist from Ireland, who was a bit bored with the monastery one day so he took off for a little adventure with some of his buds. So bring on the spuds, cabbage and cream and call it Colcannon!
Howden or Socerer pumpkins working on their tan, anybody have a sun lamp with a looong cord?
And of course if like me, you grow punkin’s, even though you didn’t grow that many this year and you’re still too chicken to try a giant punkin’, ya gotta have a Punkin’ Head Day celebration at the end of the month, and invite all your Punkin’ Headed friends and family to join ya. I have. There will be ripe punkins to carve. And treats to eat.
A bon fire party! And maybe we'll serve roast duck!
There’ll be a bon fire for sure! Burning bright and reminding me of what was once said about Dirt’s and my home, what burns in our hearts really.
CC and her autumn colored kittens at the top of the full hay barn!
C.C. and her kittens will see see you soon Dear Reader, thanks for taking the time to visit with me today and note to self, I will never worry about white space in my posts again. Whew golly!
It matters little that a good deal of my paperwork is now done on the computer. It is still paperwork, ignorable, hateful paperwork. It still gets procrastinated ’til the last minute (or beyond) and I still have unrealized fantasies about it being incredibly organized and caught up, and it is still hard to find things under pressure.
Like this morning. Just with this blogging thing (we won’t talk about the Farm paperwork or my checking account will we?), I would love to brag that I am finally all caught up on my Reader, (and have been for two whole mornings) but really it is only because my new Reader has barely an eighth of my old list.
And earlier this week, I got my header challenge in on time, but my post was missing most of what I wanted to say, (lucky you eh Dear Reader?).
This morning, I found that I have won the Silver medal for the week and I know I have the picture of it somewhere to put it in today’s post. But really, you ought to hear rifling through piles of stuff like in real life because I can’t seem to find it….
Ahh here it is. There you have it, there was a tie between Dave and Chris for gold and I won the silver. Hmmm. Doesn’t that really mean third place?
At first this week’s challenge was exactly that, a challenge, but when I took a ride in the woods with Bet on Monday I knew what I needed to take a shot of, too bad I didn’t have my camera with me. Lesson learned.
So of course I procrastinated until Wednesday morning. Which according to the weather and the fact that I don’t have to be done until one o’clock could assuredly have been fine. But it wasn’t.
Fog. Dense, reflection disabling fog had descended on the farm. Everywhere. It was beginning to look like the only shot would have been of the jars in the canning kettle. But then right around eleven the fog began to lighten up and so Bet and I took a two legged walk around the farm for the two shots.
I wanted the backyard shot for sure because I knew Dirt was going to be taking down the awnings this week and I was cleaning up the dining room and soon there would barely be any signs of a late summer wedding. Save for the dress that hangs on the back of my bedroom door for now.
Well Dear Reader, I am in fact putting away all the wedding supplies in the dining room along with packing away all our summer decorations so that Bet and I can get out our autumn decorations and get ready to get all cozy. If it hadn’t been for the wedding I do believe we would have made sure that the fall decor had at least a little start before we left for the fair.
Because of the nature of turkeys and quail (hunting season, Thanksgiving and all) we have a tendency to do a autumnal look for our booth at the fair. It seems to be going a bit backwards to come home to summer decor and green pumpkins.
I could do nothing about the pumpkins this year, not my fault, that one is in the weather’s bad column, but it seems a shame to be just now getting to the start of fall decor. But Bet and I will quickly catch up and soon we will have the autumn spirit going strong at the Farm.
In a similar vein, Bet is finally stripping her bedroom for a complete make over, most likely the last one it will ever get. Something we were hoping to get to before Anna left, oh well. And we still have the office to get completely put together and holy moly you should see my Fiber House (commonly known as the Laundry House at present) a heap o’ mess.
Consequently, we have quite a bit of work to do before we can take our winter rest, not to mention the same ol’ same ol’ in the fall that we love to do, flower bulb and garlic planting, preping beds for spring, trimming back and putting tender plants into winter storage, harvesting, butchering and storing food supplies… The list is long.
But I am determined to stay on top of this blogging/journaling thing not to mention the paperwork thing. We are contemplating participating in NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Program). Part of what they do is come and look at your records. “What records,” Bet asks! The records we are supposed to be keeping on something other than our faulty greymatter cells.
I, we, have a lot of work to do.
The Fair is certainly exciting, fascinating and productive, but it is also exhausting. Even though we weren’t competing for extra prize money this year (we won two years in a row and had to sit this year out) and took a lot of breaks from entertaining the crowds, we couldn’t help ourselves and so now, it is just plain good to be home. Back to doin’ regular stuff. Like blogging about our lives.
And catching up on the header challenge. Please go visit the other participants: Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man. Say hi and how much you liked their idea of “Water Reflection – Inanimate Object”.
This picture is my favorite for this week’s header challenge, reflections of the non-animal type, it says it all. We’re home from the Fair, fall is beginning and the wedding is behind us.
Yep, it’s true, with the wedding behind us that means my Anna is now living somewhere else with a different name, a different identity, and new interests. And yes, that tugs at my mommy-heart but not really as it is clearly what God led us to and therefore a very good thing. More on the wedding later (I wasn’t allowed to carry my camera around so I am waiting on the photos of others, and perspective)
Since being home Bet and I have ridden the horses, located the summer kittens and fed and smooched them.
And spying webs everywhere, including the tree tops.
I’m glad autumn is here, I am so very ready. Time to sink my teeth into evaluating the year. Fall, the end of September and on into October, is my New Year. Time to put things to rest and plan out the next year. So lots to reflect on while standing at the waters edge. Thanks Tom for such a specific topic this week, it cut down on my thinking!
So you wanna hear a sample of comments and questions that were asked of us at our turkey and quail display? Here goes:
Why do they poop?
Is that an owl? Yes, dear it is.
Oh, look at those baby turkeys. (In reference to the quail.)
What are their names?
Oh look Harold, a vulture.
That’s mean. (In reference to a sign next to a quail egg that said both egg and quail are delicious.)
What kind of bird are you? (Asked of Bet while sitting in the middle of the display.)
Kai was a big help at the display, he has a way with the birds.
Questions not asked enough:
Yah, back at the Farm Dirt did a little harvesting for me and boy howdy, do I have a bunch of work to do.
The Fair can be fun and good but down right exhausting.
It really was a very successful Fair. We nearly emptied a box of business cards and I resisted giving one to everyone who spoke to me, so that is good eh?
Bet explaining through her sore throat the finer points of turkey and quail keeping.
Dirt says our customers have some competition though, the eagle has been at the Farm, picking off our pastured meat birds one by one each day. Thanks Mom Nature, I appreciate the help!
A lot doin’ at the Fair the last week, well at least for us. There was the Junior Poultry Expo. Bet and Anna didn’t participate this year. Bet is too old and Anna got married. But we added some of the Long family to our troops!
Check in for Junior Poultry Expo
Steph and the boys helped out in the Bee Booth down in the ag building and the Longs joined them there too.
The Longs helping out in the Pierce County Bee booth, promoting bees and their products.
Kai did a great job this year.
Down in the poultry expo barn the kids had a pretty successful fair. Kai had a great time and improved his poultry showning.
Anne and Josh
Anne and
Abby and Erin
Abby both won Reserve Grand Champion in their age class of Fit and Show. And the Long family has been thoroughly introduced to the finer points of Fair.
Family standing in support of poultry showers.
Back up at the Animals of the World barn, along with all the Fairgoers and potential customers that stopped at our booth to visit us, we had a lot of family and good friends visit with us too.
Some folks aren't used to the Fair.
The honeymooners came to visit us at the Fair. Guess it was a bit much for the Groom.
Mike enjoying some cotton candy while his wife enjoys soda crackers!
Bruce giving us the okie doke. Always the encourager!
We’re all back home now, the three of us at Vicktory Farm & Gardens, the Longs, Leonards, Manleys, Stones, and Bowermans back at their places and the newlyweds up north at home.
Fair is always a good place to be.
Getting back into the swing of things here at the Farm, weeding, riding the horses, setting up the Market Garden beds for fall. We’ll catch up on some of those things and then we’ll get to those wedding photos eh.
Bye, Bye, State Fair, see ya'll next year.
Well, at least our world for five days will be. Bet and I and the Bowerman gals will be down at the Puyallup Fair for its last five days. We exhibit our turkeys and quail in the Animals of the World Barn.
We work hard setting up and then we work the crowd for the next five days.
Our aim? Give ’em what they want, turkey style. Either information or entertainment. Both are an easy do.
Most folks don’t realize that turkeys only existed on the western hemisphere prior to the Europeans discovering the Americas.
Just sayin’, sorta interesting.
I’m a bit tuckered out from the wedding and I’m looking forward to doin’ the Puyallup and talking about things other than feeding eighty people, fancy clothes, cakes, flowers, ribbons…. But when I get back from the Fair I’ll have more photos collected from everyone and very ready to tell all about the wedding and the story. I think I’ll do it all in C’s. C for Coulter. Cake, clothes, company, concept, craziness…. C’s work doncha think? Night for now Dear Reader I’ll be catching up with you about this time next week.
I’m not really participating in this week’s banner challenge because I won’t be around for the vote but the others will be putting up posts I’m sure. So go see what their world’s stage is this week, Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man. See you next week!
My new header picture
Stephie Jean Manley's Honey Comb at the 2010 Puyallup Fair
was taken on the first day of the Fair. With lots to do for Anna’s wedding and only eight days, well seven really, to do it in, the girls and I went off to the Fair for a whole day. The shot is of my oldest daughter, Stephanie Manley’s prize winning honeycomb. (I figured it was fair game since I grew my daughter on Vicktory Farm & Gardens and she grew the honeycomb. Just don’t know how macro it would have been for the header challenge that I missed this week, oh well. And I won’t be around next week with a new header for the challenge either.)
It was my intention, as much as possible, to spend some special time with my baby girl before she got all growed up in one day and went off to be a wife to a wonderful fella. So off to free-day at the Puyallup. We picked up a little camera on the way to the Fair as mine didn’t make it to the car and I knew I had a header challenge pic to take. I gave it to Anna as a belated birthday gift.
We clicked a few pics made sure we had some candidates for the Macro Header Challenge, watched the giant pumpkin weigh in, patted cattle rumps, ate a fair burger, wore our feet to the bone and then headed home.
Then on Saturday, the eleventh, Justin came to visit for the weekend, mostly to have a little pre-wedding brother time with my other two sons, Eric Manley and Mike Stone. I think they were helping him to prepare to be related to some of the strangest people he will ever know! They know full well the adjustment normal folk have to make!
And then wedding week began. Anne Bowerman, Anna’s little sister from a different mother (and father), hosted a little ladies luncheon for Anna, Anna’s new mom and her sisters. It was lovely right down to the little swans that held our mints. Sorry no pics.
Lots of shopping nearly each day. Yep, each day. Nah, I think I parked the car on Thursday afternoon and pronounced myself done. And hopefully I will not be driving the twenty plus minutes to town any time soon. Especially to shop. Especially to shop for shoes and girly stuff.
Anna’s new Mom and Dad came down for the whole week and stayed across the highway at our dear friends’ guest house. It was great to have them here to drag shopping and to help Dirt put up the two twenty by thirty awnings in the back yard.
Friends came and went and cleaned like crazy, chasing the cob webs that were being ignored for the last month.
Then came Friday, the day before the big day and when the worker bees really came out of the wood work, speaking of bees did I mention that I got three stings in one day last Sunday and Monday. The two I got on Sunday were from cleaning out the barn/garage area. Then on Monday morning I sat on one in the dining room. Did I mention we live in a very old farmhouse that the wildlife find easily accessible? Any way back to this last Friday, Dirt and I have some awesome hard working friends and a few of them showed up to do as much “day before” set up and cooking as possible.
EBet was an amazing sister, baking something like ten loaves of beautiful bread amoung other things. Oh, did I mention the bride got terribly ill this last week? Not that she was actually working to begin with, mostly working on being homesick before she even left.
Rain cause the guys to spend approximately fourteen hours working on a gutter system where the two awnings systems came together. I hope someone got pictures of it so you can see it in all its splendor!
Saturday morning came with nearly clear skies and more work and more workers giving their all to make Justin and Anna’s wedding day phenomenal. The rain held off until the middle of the ceremony, but we had a bucket of forty some umbrellas for the eighty guests, it was just too wonderful as Pop, Lucas and Ellie passed them out and we stood ’round the couple and heard their declarations to spend the rest of their lives as one flesh living for God.
The wedding was beautiful, in spite of the rainy weather. I hear there were tears all around. It was tender and sweet and truly an innocent day. I, of course didn’t take any photos, so I can only share one tonight. When I get home from our five days at the fair with our Farm’s turkey display I will most likely be able to post some more photos of the wedding, but for tonight I will leave you with one shot of the young couple with a promise of more and more details about the day they became one flesh.
Anna and Justin Coulter September Eighteenth, Twenty-ten
and Ready for the Envelopes.
We didn’t send out invitations. Anna and Justin’s wedding will be so small and intimate that printed invitations were barely necessary. We joyfully asked those very close to us if they could please join us on that day.
And instead we are sending out little booklets to those who could join us. And they have strings attached. Lavender ribbons.
There Are Strings Attached to This
When someone says, “strings attached” my mind quickly goes to figurative strings rather than the literal tie ’em in a bow sort of strings.
Around here we usually aim for living string free. Dirt never cottoned to the idea and I grew up tripping on seen and unseen strings, it is an uncomfortable and awkward way to live. So we try to keep one another clean of strings. When we give gifts, we let them go, whatever the recipient chooses to do with it, it is their gift. And we avoid bribing, not just with our young children at home but our grown ones and our friends as well.
But sometimes strings are unavoidable. These non-invitaitons come with strings. Because the verbal invitation came with strings.
Strings of Participation
It says right in the little booklet on the center page that we, the Vicks and the Coulters and many of those in our company, believe in the priesthood of all believers. In our gatherings all are called to participate how the Holy Spirit leads them.
Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 1 Corithians 14:26
That is how we view a wedding being as well. Much like our simple gatherings; no prescribed day of the week, no set formula, no weekly rehearsed songs or “messages”, just us, being lead by the Holy Spirit. And the leading can be at that moment or in advance.
The booklet, non-invitation, could appear to have strings of participation in that regard, that when a person comes, as an invited participant, that they realize that the Holy Spirit could give them a nudge to say something, read something, or sing something even. No one has to. Well, unless the Holy Spirit is telling them so and they would like to sleep in peace. The Holy Spirit can be ignored, for a bit, or at a person’s slight discomfort.
Second String
But just as important as the first string mentioned, the other string is much like the first, a string of participation.
Dirt and I have always felt, from our first daughter’s wedding ’til now, that those we invite are those who we hope will fulfill their communal duty and hold our children accountable to what they say on their wedding day. What our children say, what they sign, what they agree to.
In our world, a wedding guest is not just a wedding guest, “sign in here, drop the present there, listen to this, eat, dance a bit, now bye-bye.” We ask folks to join us to be witnesses to the declarations made by the couple and upheld by all, not just the pretty girls in matching dresses or the fellas in tuxes.
Yes, legally the state only requires two witnesses and quite frankly that would be fine if that is all a couple had, but we like the phrase, “the more the merrier” or “safer” as the case may be. Over the years Dirt and I can see that we owe our marriage, not just to the reconcilling power of Christ, but also to those around us, folks willing to speak up or even cast a skewed glance our way.
We also cherish the help, when it was most helpful, prior to any real trouble, just ungodly thinking. Folks, who through casual conversation even, pointed us in the direction that God would have us take in our marriage rather than listening to the world “lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8.
These are the few people that we have asked to come be with us this day that lays ahead of Justin and Anna, and their family, people who are not only in the postion to hold them to the Truth of God but also those who are willing and not clouded by what they see in the world to actually act on their understanding of God and marriage.
Those are the strings attached here at Victory Farm and Gardens.
You should go see what the rest of the header challenge group came up with for this week’s “strings attached” challenge. Please go visit the other participants: Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man. Say hi and how much you liked their idea of strings attached. Wonder if we’ll see some hot air balloon pictures?
I’m totally humbled.
I had no thought of winning this week. I really just had an idea of a picture and a post, and knowing that I’m havin’ a hard time posting except for the header challenge change over, I just put up my favorite picture of Dirt and Anna with our changing foliage behind them.
And I was late on top of that. Really late, not just a half hour or so but nearly a half a day late, okay yeah, actually I think I was pretty close to twelve hours late. I haven’t stayed up that late in quite a while, certainly not alone or on purpose. So I just have to say a big thanks to the fellas for picking my header as this weeks winner.
Tomorrow is another big day of preping the Farm for the wedding. Two weeks and two days. Wow.
Saturday is Anna’s birthday and she has chosen to make us all go into the mountains to pick huckle berries. Not the tart little red ones of the low lands. Up around four to five thousand feet grow amazing deep dark purple huckle berries. They’re a bit like a blueberry but bigger, juicier, taster, better. In Yakima, at the base of the mountains where there are many berry patches, they sell for ten and a half to thirty bucks a gallon depending on the year.
They make great pies. Great jam too, but if they aren’t in pies I like them best in smoothies. or shakes. They don’t turn into wine very easily at all, so Dirt has stopped trying and leaves my berries for pie and ice cream.
Usually we are already camping up at Iron Creek where we hold base came each year on Labor Day weekend, the best time for berry pickin’. But we sort of knew in the backs of our minds that things were going to be a bit different this September. We gladly are taking a break from the big camping trip so that we can have an even bigger celebration of a new life.
Oh and for the record, Anna will be taking three ratters with her (Rat Terriers) and her new house comes with its very own tabby cat named Floyd. I am sure that after a resonable settling in time she will get back to blogging. Fortunately for us, there is no room for a horse not even a small one, so Holly and Marvelous stay here at VF&G.
Well I’m just yappin’ at you Dear Reader and I oughta be asleep making up for lost time last night. Just wanted to say thanks for the fellas voting for me this week and looking forward to next week’s challenge.
Ta Da!
Seasons change. One moment we are hanging out in a season enjoying the elements and dynamics, and then quickly we are in the next.
We have no control over the changing of the seasons, they come whether we are ready for them or not. Seasons usually go by the calendar, we can expect the change. But occasionally the next season leaps toward us and envelopes us long before we suspected it to come.
Most times, even without a calendar, when we head into another season we can feel it. The air smells different, the light changes, plant life begins to fade or buds begins to grow, fruit sets, fruit ripens.
Dirt and I and all of us here at Victory Farm & Gardens are heading into a new season. The apples are nearly full size and changing color. The berry vines are changing color. The air feels different.
The light plays different. Feelings and emotions change. Space changes. Hearts change.
Fall isn’t the only season, the only change, Dirt and I are moving into. Years ago our oldest daughter married, a year later we became grandparents, that was a big change. Three years later our second daughter married.
And now our youngest is marrying. Yes, she is the goof ball in these photos. For every serious or at least acceptable photo, there are countless knuckle-head hammy-schmammies. She even turned her trip into a ham, unfortunately I clicked on the trip and missed the recovery. She tripped because she was goofin’.
It is a big change for Dirt and myself and for her sister Bet too. We’ll have a bit of a quieter life. A bit more space, a few less shopping trips, fewer phones ringing, fewer laughs. We’ll miss her something fierce.
But the biggest change will be the change in Anna. She isn’t just going off to a new life, with a new name. She is about to become a different person.
Our Creator created woman for man. And He said at creation that the two become one flesh. When people enter into marriage, God takes two creatures and makes them one. Amazing.
We say the words, we think we know them, yet, we barely see it, can barely sense it. But when we put our hearts in God’s hands fully and allow Him to teach us, we begin to see and feel the change.
The change is there whether we acknowledge it or not. It would be like trying to deny that fall is coming.
When we deny that we are a new person, that we are forever a part of another, changed forever, we are denying to our detriment. When women, or men, desire to have the companionship, relieve the loneliness, seek a mate and marry, yet refuse to acknowledge that they have changed to the degree they have, it would be like running around in shorts and a tank top in midwinter, in Alaska. A bit frost bitten and uncomfortable.
The season has changed and nothing we say or do makes it not so, but we can cause damage when we deny it. God is the one who created us and created marriage. He created the mystery that a man and woman become one flesh, that one is made from two.
He loves us more than any earthly father or mother can. He loves and cares for each of us . Why would he do something that would harm us? Why would He bring us into a mystery at our peril? We do not loose something when we loose ourselves into another for life. Not like when we drop a ring down the storm drain never to fetch it back again.
We gain and we gain untold gain. I would rather loose myself into my true married self than try to retain a false self, one that in God’s eyes no longer exists. He says, the two shall become one. I think He meant it.
There comes a time when parental love, no matter how good, is not enough. I believe not unlike the searching for Him, he puts that desire into our hearts. To find that person that we are to become one with.
Being a parent is great and I would never trade in the life I have had being a parent. But I can never, no matter how well I know my child, be one with any of them. That is not my place nor Dirt’s. That place is for another.
So yes, we will have a long and good life if we honor and love our parents all our days, but we are never one with them. That mystery is left for another. Beyond DNA, beyond our complete understanding, this is the mystery God has many of us participate in.
Dirt has lead his girls on through a wonderful life, they have a strong foundation in the Lord, and a good understanding of haying, but now we have entered into a new season with our youngest daughter.
A new name and a new being will be hers with someone who will know her like no other, not even her father and I, only God will know her better.
I know how that feels and it is good.
I was very late with my header post this week, nearly twelve hours, which is pretty good considering I have been running three or four days off in my head this week. Funny, I think I am the queen of change but having Dirt home and shopping in town early in the week instead of later and I was off by several days in my head. So I told the rest of the header challenge fellas to go on without me. But you should go see what they came up with for this week’s header challenge of “change”. So please go visit the other participants: Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man. Say hi and how much you liked their idea of change.
