Saturday, July 31, 2010

Praise to the Lord - A Mid Year Report

It seems like the month of July has flown by! Even in the midst of the preparation for the wedding and life settling down afterwards, God has been faithful and blessed us tremendously. It has been three weeks since the day that Adam and Sarah joined their lives together for life. What a gorgeous day filled with an overflow of love, smiles and seeing God's hand at work throughout the whole day from last minute details to the beautiful weather.

Now that the farm is a bit quieter, I thought I might give an update on the summer happenings. Sarah, a new happy bride, has now left the Bentley Farm Gazette and has made a new home in Wichita, Kansas. We could not be happier for the newly married couple even though it is not the same with Sarah being gone. Isaac has spent this summer in Ithaca as he continues with clinical rotations and he also participated in the Summer Dairy Institute. Allie is also at Cornell for the summer taking classes. Between their academic obligations, the two are very much enjoying planning their wedding for December 27th.

It has been an unexpected blessing to have Nate home for the most of the summer. He came home from Reynosa, Mexico, earlier this summer and thereupon asked his company for a domestic placement. Due to breaking his hand while waiting to be placed, he had been delayed in going back to work. This has lead to him being able to finish much work on the exterior of our house, and even an unexpected vacation to LA for the weekend with me. With Nate being home, we had one of his friends, Mike, from Princeton join our family for the summer while he prepares to return to Princeton this fall to work with a Christian campus ministry. He has been dubbed the “summer intern” and has graced our house with a great attitude and the willingness to do anything. But today Nate left for Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he is going for training and then eventually onto his final destination: Weston, West Virginia.

Luke and I have both been grateful for the opportunity to be home this summer. Luke, being interested in the medical field, decided to take an EMT class and has been learning how to respond to any sort of emergency. He has been busy volunteering at the local hospitals and riding in ambulances. I, too, have been taking classes but in a different field – accounting. Instead of learning how to take a person’s pulse and listen to their heart, I am happy when the numbers sum up to the correct total. But even more than that, it has been wonderful to be home to be with Sarah and the family in the weeks of preparation for Sister’s wedding.

Jacob loves his summer job. He and his boss travel down to Westchester County whereupon they spend the whole day cleaning swimming pools. One day, he arrived home with the back of his pants torn off due to a client’s guard dogs not realizing that he was not a criminal suspect. Now he is more than certain to be cautious when he sees “Beware Guard Dogs” sign. Rebecca and Caleb have been busy caring for the heifers and calves that have returned to Bentley Farm for the summer and are very excited about the upcoming fair. The only dilemma is catching the heifers to train them for the show ring. One of Rebecca’s heifers, Speeddarling, is more than determined not be caught in the field and just when you think you may be able to put a halter on, she will either go through the fence or jump the gate and then give you that look that says, “I am impossible to catch.”

It is hard to believe that the youngest member of the family is now a teenager. Caleb turned thirteen today and celebrated the day just like a typical teenager by receiving a stereo as his birthday gift and going to the movies! We continue to marvel at Caleb’s intellectual thoughts and admire his sensitive spirit towards others.

I so appreciate Grandma Farmer’s determined spirit and positive attitude on life. She had a bit of a setback this summer having fallen and injured her shoulder. Even though she had this injury, she had been able to continue to make her famous oatmeal bread and keep up with the busyness of the past month. She recently had surgery and we have been praying for a speedy recovery. She has already shown great improvement and we know she will be sure to recover in short order.

It has been a year now since my uncle Mark and I traveled to Chicago to pick up our Cousin Maryella to come back East and live with us. She continues to humor us since we never quite know what her next verbiages might be. The other day at lunch she said, “Bless this food that is so good. Give us appetites to justify this good food.” Every day, I continue to learn from her. She teaches me a slower pace of life and to appreciate every moment of life.

And Mom and Dad are what hold all of us together. I have valued my walks with Mom in the morning and am hoping that one day I might be half of good a mom as she is. Dad has taken on the responsibility of the caretaker of Bentley Farm. When he is not at work, you can find him in his garden weeding and gathering fresh produce.

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Praise to the Lord!
O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath,
come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.