The County Fair!

It's that time of year again!  The county fair started this week and the kids are always excited about that!  It's kind of sad for the girls though,  because it also means a close of another summer vacation from school.  We like to start our homeschooling the week after the fair,  so they know that next week another school year will begin.  So we are trying to make the most of the fair week.  Below are a few pictures that I have taken so far of our entries and ribbons.  We also went to the Figure 8 racing last night.  That was a real red-neck entertainment. :) There were 'suped-up' jeeps and trucks that raced around these cones and jumped little humps of dirt.  It wasn't the most exciting thing that we have seen but it was fun for my kids to be there with their cousins.  Later in the week, my son will be showing his cows in the holstein show so I will try to post a few pictures on Friday.  It's fun to spend time with our kids and make happy memories

 with our "farm family!"

See these petunias that Faith won first place in the fair?  These petunia plants were totally destroyed by the hail when we had our second tornado.  Out of about 7 or 8 entries they won first place! Is that a miracle or what?  We serve a wonderful God!

A night out.....

When Karl finishes the middle of the night milking shift, he goes through the heifer barn to check on the animals.  That's when he found a young heifer wedged up in the bars of her stall with her back legs split out behind her.  She couln't get up and if Karl wouln't have found her she would have died like that.  So he puts a halter on and tries to turn her around but she is way too heavy.  She weighs about 500 pounds.  He tried pulling on her tail to turn her but his hand slipped off and he fell backward on his back.  That's when he tried to tie her to the 4-wheeler to pull her around and he finally got her out of her stall but she was still split out with her back legs.  So he decides to call his partner (that would be me) to help him.  Keep in mind that this is 1:30 A.M. and I am sound asleep in the farmhouse.  I jump out of bed and quickly get dressed and stumble part-way down the steps when I realize I should put my glasses on or I wouldn't  be much help.  So I fumble around on the bedstand until I find my glasses and go as quickly as I can to get my shoes at the back door.  As I run stiffly up the driveway trying to get my eyes to focus, Karl comes running down to get the loader tractor.  My job was to open the gates and get all the other animals chased away so they wouln't escape while he drives in with the tractor.  Then I take his place on the tractor to operate the loader.  The plan was to roll her onto the bucket so that we could take her out to a different building with soft bedding so we could get her to stand.  The problem was that I was still trying to wake up and focus my eyes and he wanted me to operate the hydrolic bucket on the tractor. Which way do I push the lever to go forward?  Oh dear, the bucket was going down, back, up, over, and Karl was trying to hold the heifer in the right postion while shouting instructions to me.  Finally, I got it going the right way and up went the heifer.  Whew!  So we got her over to the other barn and laid her gently down, untied her, postioned her legs under her, and pulled her head around and up she jumped!  Sometimes if they have injured their legs, they will just lay there and die.  Thank the Lord that she was able to get right up and walk! 

                                   

        It was just  another day  night "on the farm."

Two Escapees in Two Days

The other evening, me and the girls looked up at the barns and seen a young bull wandering around outside of the pens. He's #97 and well-known for escaping through the feed gates at the front of the pens. He is small enough to fit right through the bars. The next day, we looked up at the silos and there was a small heifer walking around looking very out of place on the driveway. She had squeezed herself through the gates also. They wandered around and visited the other animals before being chased back into their pens. Here is a video of them.

Pickin' Rocks

Pickin' rocks is not a fun job but it is something that has to be done.  After mowing the alfalfa,  my farmer goes through the fields and picks up rocks that have come to the surface.  It's amazing how many rocks come up between each cutting.  But if they are not picked up they could dull the knives on the harvester or make worse damage.  My job was to drive the truck while my farmer sat on the back and looked for rocks and jumped off to pick them up.  Sometimes I got out and picked a few up also.  We got finished in about an hour and headed home for supper with the kids.  Hannah had made chicken stir fry with rice.  It was yummy!

"Help us, Lord, as we're working the row, cutting down the briars, moving back the rocks, and pulling out the stumps, the front line, give us courage, Lord, big strong hearts, buckle up the armor; give us great strength and the power of Thy Spirit."
51-0930 Bro. Branham praying

And Life goes on.......

Remember the hail and the tornado that we had a few weeks ago?  Well, today we are thanking the Lord for saving the corn crop and getting the machinery shed and shop back up and also the good crop of alfalfa that they are cutting today.  The corn looked hopeless after the hail stripped it, but today it's growing tall and beautiful especially after the 4.5 inches of rain that we had on it just recently.  Hannah is glad also that Buddy's leg is healed.  Everything looks beautiful again and we are so thankful that there is still "life on the farm."

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Relaxin' on the farm......

When our first tornado struck the farm, one of the things that the kids were sorry to lose was our old porch swing.  We never got it replaced until after the second tornado.  I decided that all farmhouse porches should be graced with a porch swing.  Many sweet memories can be made on a porch swing.  It makes a good place for fellowship with friends, reading a book, or as I found Nathan one night, swinging alone and relaxin' after a long day of hard farm work.

Today when the girls came back from horseback riding, they were hot and dusty.  Faith knows a great way to cool off and relax your muscles after riding.  

 The horse watering trough makes a great tub to soak your tired and hot body.   Buddy wasn't sure he wanted to share the water trough with Faith, though.... and Hannah wasn't about to jump in with Faith.

So who wants to come over and go swimming with Faith?   

A special 4th of July at the Farm

We had a wonderful time this past weekend! We started off with supper Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house with special guests. The Buitenkamp family from Holland was visiting the U.S. and came with the Sangers to fellowship with all of us. Bro. Gerald and Sis. Michele told us many testimonies of taking the Message to different people all over Europe. Sunday morning their sons took turns telling us what they do in their Voice of God office there in Holland. Bro. Gerald told us more testimonies and then ended up with an original recording of Bro. Branham preaching in Germany with an interprepter. We were very blessed. The whole church was then invited to our farm for a picnic and time of fellowship. There were hamburgers, fruit, potato salad, baked beans, chips, and loads of dessert. Then the Buitenkamps led in songs of worship. Some of their songs were African and songs that you probably have heard on young foundations. Sunday night we went back to church and heard more testimonies from Bro. Gerald and the rest of Bro. Branham's tape from Germany. Below the pictures is a video of some of the singing. Be sure to pause the music on the right side of the screen.