A Hymn

1. It Is Well with My Soul
   When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well, with my soul.
   • Refrain:
     It is well, with my soul,
     It is well, it is well, with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
   If Jordan above me shall roll,
   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
6. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.
   
   
   
   

   "It Is Well with My Soul" is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.

   
   

   This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone . . .". Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

   
   

   Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.

   
   

   The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Noble Prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lageroff. (from wikipedia)

   
   

   In old and new sorrows, even in joy, this song is running through my head. The story of the writer, Spafford, is heartbreaking. I always like knowing the story behind hymns and songs. What a testimony this song is to so many people, including me. Sometimes it's hard to sing without crying, and other times I can sing it on the top of my lungs. 

   "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, 

   It is well, it is well with my soul."

   
   

   Beautiful, beautiful, song! Have a great day!

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

Baby Steps

Josey started taking steps and walking this past weekend! She falls A LOT, but is getting better and better each day.

I took the video today, she suddenly started walking to me from the living room. She always does great when she's focused on where she's going.

Casey and I agree that it looks strange to see her upright moving around! We're so used to her speed crawling by our feet, that Josey looks so tall wobbling through the house!

What a big girl!! I used to never be able to imagine her doing these things, and here she is walking through the house! I want to hold on so tight to her!

Josey's Favorite Things

Josey loves laundry! I know where she is going when she crawls out of the living room, she is going to check if the laundry room door is open. Josey is just fascinated by the whole process of doing laundry. I don't know where she gets that from, because it is not one of my favorite things to do.

I put Josey on this little footstool so she can watch me sort clothes and switch loads of laundry.

Ahhh! Nothing like jumping onto clothes fresh from the dryer!

Here's Josey and me in the reflection of the wash machine. She could sit here watching the machine for HOURS!

Folding laundry is pretty cool too! Josey's way of "helping" me is to try to empty the basket before I can fold the clothes. Putting laundry away is fun for Josey too. She rides on my back in her baby carrier as I go up and down the stairs. Josey loves watching me open and close the drawers and hang stuff up. This girl just loves the whole process!

Another thing that Josey really enjoys is putting hats on, or anything on her head.

Love the look on her face! Daddy is letting her wear his hat!

Showing me how cool she looks!

Josey got a hold of another hat last night... She showed off her crawling skills with her hat on backwards.

We had family visit recently, and Josey got to get some good cousin bonding time in. 

There was also some much needed sharing time for Josey too!

Both the babies did really good with eachother! It was so fun to watch them play and crawl, and holler back and forth at eachother. I think they both grew up a bit during their time together. 

Josey is such a fun crazy little girl, who is full of new noises, facial expressions, and favorite things every day!

Navy Graduation

On October 7, 2011, my sisters graduated from Navy Bootcamp!

It was amazing to be there and to see them graduate! Nicole and Lorelei are doing awesome, and amazingly got to be together almost the whole time in bootcamp.

This is the drill hall where the graduation was held. It was packed!

Here is Nicole and Lorelei's division, Division 340

All the divisions that graduated that day. Over 900 new sailors!

Close up of Division 340. I know it's pretty much impossible to see the girls. Nikki is holding the flag on the farthest left, and you can see Lorelei standing to the immediate right of the flag on the farthest right.

Once the graduation ended, everyone in the whole building rushed to see eachother, it was great! We couldn't wait to congratulate and hug the girls!

After the graduation we had 8 hours to be with the girls. They had to check back in to the barracks and rest up for their flight leaving early the next morning to Maryland.

All the family went to Longhorn Steakhouse for a celebration lunch with our Sailors!

The girls arrived in style with my Uncle Paul!

Our table, there were so many of us we asked the waitress to take a picture from each side of the table. 

Nicole!

Lorelei!

The food at the restaurant was a nice change from bootcamp meals! 

Here they are! Lorelei and Nikki, I couldn't be more proud of you!

Casey's Birthday

May I start this post by showing you how adorable Casey was as a child... 

..Well, still is in my book of course!

For Casey's birthday I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

Recipe via Pioneer Woman. (Click here for recipe) A place to find good recipes when you can't get a hold of your Mom or your Mother-in-Law. (ahem, Kathy C)

Mmm! 

These cupcakes are so tasty, Casey ate four! And he really would've appreciated it if I didn't put candles on his cupcake, or take his picture.. Hmm

Josey giving her Dad some birthday love this morning before he left.

On the Birthday Dinner Menu is:

Baked Chicken Thighs, using the spices from my "The WHOLE Chicken" recipe. (Click Here)

Baked Sweet Potatoes, with butter and brown sugar.

Frozen corn, ...cooked of course! Add some sugar to them while they're heating up.

and Sourdough Bread not made by me, but I would like to some day.

 I Love you Casey! Happy Birthday!

Dog Days..

Hi!

I'm tired!

In many ways shapes and forms...

Josey should be tired too, due to her lack of sleep for the past two nights, and her unwillingness to take a good nap the past few days.

I know my husband is so tired and weary. Gone ALL day some days, just trying to finish up harvest.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining... I'm just in a weird spot right now, and have to try really hard sometimes to "look UP", look at the positive, and keep going :)

Wanted to share what keeps me going in these "dog days of parenting and farming". One of my favorite verses! Always a good one to turn to.

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 


We'll just keep on trucking! And, after seeing old pictures like this one... I wonder how I can even utter a word!

I am VERY thankful for modern farm equipment! What a blessing!

Beginning of Harvest

Harvest Photos

Casey taking a break one morning with Josey. She's learning to have a good eye for the best tractors! 

Casey cleaning off the combine with the blower. That job is especially fun on a windy day.

One of the tractors, John Deere is the way to go around here! That yellow pipe you see is loading the corn way up into the grain bin. Where corn is dried to the correct moisture then trucked into town. 

Casey seeing if Josey wants to climb up the grain bin for him. She wasn't so sure...

(I couldn't upload these next photo's any bigger)

One day we went on a little family ride in the combine. It was Josey's first time! She watched quietly with really wide eyes at what was going on. Josey seemed to like it in the end!

Josey hanging out by the old Mack farm truck.

Little scrunched nose face!

Sitting with Grandpa Ray! You can't tell he likes Josey at all, huh? :) Grandpa Ray just loves her! She's pretty much got him wrapped around her little finger.

Everything has been going decently well with harvest so far. (Yay!) Casey's still going back and forth to college in between everything. Josey and I have been holding down the fort at home, with occasional trips back and forth to the working men. Josey is getting about 3 more teeth at the same time, which is great fun (NOT). Poor baby! I've also had some awesome girlfriends visit this past week. It was great to catch up and have some girl time. Fall is our favorite time of year! I can't wait for all the gorgeous colors, baking pumpkin bread, making soup, and bundling up!

Kohrs Superhero Sandwich

In a recent conversation with my older sister we were tossing sandwich ideas back and forth.

I wanted to find ideas for meals Casey can eat while driving the combine.

(This is a combine ;)

After she read to me a recipe idea, we both stopped and said "Mmmm! Doesn't THAT sound good?" (we started licking our lips and giggling at each other) We read about a three layered french bread sandwich, each layer slathered in butter, then tossed in the oven.

Doesn't that sound good???

Both of us did decide that the recipe needed major modifications. There wasn't even cheese on the original recipe! I decided to make this for dinner last night. My sister's family sadly missed out, but were sent pictures to drool over.

So, this is what we came up with.... A Kohrs Superhero Sandwich!

What you need:
French bread
Butter
Lunch Meat
Cheese Slices
Caramelized Onions
Italian Dressing (or similar)
Oven Temp: 400 degrees

First, chop up your onion and place it in a pan over med-low heat with 2-3 tabs of butter. Then, cut about 4-6 inches off of your french bread, to make the size of your sandwich. Then, take your bread that you want to use for the sandwich and cut it into three slices horizontally.

Spread butter on the bottom slice and add meat and cheese. Take the middle slice and spread with (ALOT of) butter, and drizzle with Italian dressing. Place onto the bottom layer of the sandwich.

I decided to do one sandwich with Italian dressing and one with Spicy Ranch. Both were tasty! Now, place meat and cheese on top of your dressing. Take onions off of the stove and scoop them right onto the top of your cheese.

Now put the top of the sandwich on and spread with butter.

Wrap in foil and place in preheated oven on top rack for 15 minutes. I was nervous for how the sandwich would turn out. I thought that when I opened the foil I was going to have a huge mess inside. But surprisingly I didn't!

Here's a close picture of all the layers. Mmm Mmm delicious!

Casey's reaction wasn't bad either! I was told that the sandwiches were amazing the first bite. After the second bite, I got a DOUBLE thumbs up, and Casey said the sandwiches were a home-run!

The salad you see is from a previous post, you can find the recipe here.

I love having recipes like this that are so quick to make and taste so good!

Family Thoughts and Family Fun

The past week has flown by! We have been busy, and will start to get more and more busy in the weeks to come.

Harvest is on it's way! We might start next week. I don't think I will see Casey for awhile. He's going to school full time and will be spending every extra second he has in the fields. I feel like we are holding our breath. There is a lot of excitement, expectation, and unanswered questions hanging in the air. We've been watching the grain markets and weather all through the past season, the roller-coaster of prices up and down, the weather from dry, to wet, or windy. It's a weird feeling to have SO much put into the fields, and all the outcome is mostly out of our control. We just have to be patient. It really is not in our hands, it's in God's. Thank goodness for that! Because I (we) would be a nervous wreck. Farming has certainly stretched our faith in many ways. This time of year is interesting for us! I know Casey and his Grandpa are just itching to get in the fields!

We spent Labor Day weekend in St. Louis, with Casey's Dad and his wife. It was nice to get away and have a break before the craziness of harvest starts. We went biking while we were there. The men went on the technical mountain trails, while us girls went on the paved route. Josey was happy to ride in her little bike trailer. She is so cute and tiny in there! We put her boppy pillow behind her to make it more comfortable with all the straps. She talked to herself and looked out her little windows the whole time. I must add, that all this happy baby bike-trailerness was a slow weight that creeped up on me! And, I was happy to accept Tina's offer to switch bikes halfway through. I felt very out of shape. Ha! There was also a white haired, mustached, elderly gentleman that passed us a few times, which added to me feeling more out of shape. We really enjoy biking, and have to find some local trails we can go on. It's a really fun family activity!

As summer fades into fall. We are looking forward to cooled of weather, a change of pace, harvest, the gorgeous colors of the trees, baking, and of course hunting season!

I am going to try to make it a point to capture as much as I can on camera!

Kitchen Redemption

I needed a little redemption after making the most horrible dinner late last week. NOTHING turned out. Not even easy peasy to make frozen vegetables. We were of course, more hungry than normal that night. I was so mad I couldn't talk all through dinner... that gross dinner.

After a few humbling days of just sticking with what I know, I decided to try a some new recipes again. Thank goodness, everything turned out last night.

Chicken Cordon Bleu stuffed with canadian bacon, Red Leaf Salad, and Italian Peasant Bread were on the menu.

Along with the grand finale... Peanut Butter-Banana Pudding for dessert.

Here it is! I thought it was so pretty!

Peanut Butter-Banana Pudding
(from Southern Living Secrets of the South's Best Barbecue)
This is a make ahead dish. Prep time: 10 minutes, Other: 2 hours.

1 (3.4 oz.) package French vanilla instant pudding mix
2 cups milk
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (8-oz.) carton sour cream
42 vanilla wafers
6 small bananas, divided
1 (8-oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Prepare pudding mix according to package directions, using a whisk and 2 cups milk. (Do not use an electric mixer.) Add peanut butter and sour cream, stirring well with a wire whisk.
Line a 2 1/2- qt. casserole with 14 vanilla wafers. Peel and slice 4 bananas. Top wafers with one-third each of pudding mixture, banana slices, and whipped topping.
Cover and chill at least 2 hours. To garnish, peel and slice remaining 2 bananas; arrange slices around outer edges of dish.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.