Farm life

Add up all the things that could happen on a farm, put them into two days and that's about what its been like around here.
We started baling this week. I have graduated to water-girl and lunch help. Its funny I used to be water-girl wishing I could help in the haymow, then I was finally old enough to help and I did for a few years...and now I'm just glad I don't have to work that hard :). 
Some of the boys were cleaning out the haymow earlier on and shouted to me that the pigs were out. Sure enough there were pigs making their way out of the hog house. It is never quiet on the farm, especially when I start yelling. I managed to round up Fred and Clayton and we got all six of the runaway hogs back into their pen.

  

Yesterday was  the official start of baling. like I said the farm is never quiet, but baling kind of makes the other days seem peaceful. Tractors driving in and out, balers and hay racks and kids and men and family....all over the place. So, I decided there would not be a four wheeler added to the chaos and I pulled the key, much to my cousin's confusion and dismay. I must confess I chuckled a little.

 Cliff watching the excitement

 the crew in the haymow

the Old Farmer

Anyway, I had just taken the boys water and was walking towards the house when....why is there a pig by the grain bins?....yah, two sows had gotten out. Once again I went running barefooted across the barnyard flailing my arms shouting at the top of my lungs.  My dad was on the way to the field so, Fred got to save the day and open the gate.

In the afternoon the baler broke down and by the time we borrowed another baler it started raining, and we had to quit. We finished baling today around six.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: this week I volunteered three mornings in Peoria, did Ellie's scrapbook pages and went to her shower, cleaned church for my mom, and we were all frantically trying to clean house and set up for the 250 Metzgers that we are hosting in Morton tomorrow. And I haven't gotten to bed before midnight in weeks...I don't know how I would have ever fit a job into this mix!

In Christ

~Michelle

The Road I'm On

This is my 50th post! And, in celebration of this occasion, I have decided to explain myself a bit. (warning, I get extremely long and rambley) 


My dad always wanted a nurse.
Jenny became a chemist and the only thing I knew was that I did not want to be a nurse. I still had childhood dreams about becoming a famous scientist,or inventing a life saving machine. But, truthfully I had absolutely no idea until the end of my senior year of high school what I would do with my life.


When I finally found a career path I wanted, I knew it wasn't right. I was getting extremely frustrated that my life had no direction. Then I was introduced to the ACCFS career test and I thought that it would solve my problems. Wrong. There is a reason Pastor is not my chosen profession :)
After much stress, it seems the light bulb finally went on, and I began to pray about it. And God answered.  If I wanted to live a life fully devoted to Him, I had to actually do it. My mind was changed from forensic science to social work. God opened my heart. He showed me destitution and poverty beyond my imagination.  He showed my a world full of slaves I never knew existed. I realize now God was always molding me and preparing me for a different life.


It hasn't been an easy road so far, but that's not what I prayed for, and that's not what God wants of me.  No strength that I have could ever get me through what I've been through. I have had to endure three hour lectures that ripped my faith to shreds, I've survived classes that preached sin,  I've stood my ground alone in front of classrooms full of students, and the hardest thing still, is learning to love those who mock me. It's been hard but God has given me the strength to not really care, to stand up even if no one is looking. The crazy thing is: this is all in cozy, little small-town central Illinois.


After many closed doors, and God always leading the way, I was accepted into U of I's social work program. It's been truly amazing to look back on. I know its going to be hard, but I know what I will have to face and I know I will never have to face it alone.

He's on this road with me, He'll lead me all the way.

So, as I start a new semester in a new campus at the end of this summer, I ask for your prayers.

In Christ
~Michelle

Roadtrips, Airports, and Friends

This past weekend worked out really well.  A few of us were invited up to Belvidere for Ellie's singing shower on Sunday, and Kendra flew in to Midway airport on Monday night. Throw some shopping a woodfield in the middle, and that's what I call a perfect weekend. :)
On the way to church Sunday we got somewhat lost. (I was not driving) Wendi and I were in the back laughing while the driver and his co-pilot listened to Frank Sinatra. :) There is nothing like cruising around a small town on an early Sunday morning listening to Sinatra. hehe. We eventually found our way to the church and thoroughly enjoyed church, meeting new people, eating, singing, church, meeting more new people, singing, and eating some more.

We were invited over to the Steffen's for supper that evening and to spend the night. On the way we drove by Ellie and Troy's apartment. You can't see much from the outside...but it looks nice.

Supper was interesting... I kind of sort of had a laughing attack. It was rather humorous. The adults didn't know what to think. The cause had something to do with an inside joke, a borrowed skirt, and a very witty comment.
The rest of the evening was spent playing volleyball (which I'm not that bad at ;)...),  throwing around a frisbee, and sitting by the fire.

We slept in the next morning. It was wonderful. Ellie, Wendi, Charity and I went shopping in the afternoon. I impressively only spent $10. :) We met Darcy and Troy for supper at PF Chang's.  That is some very good Chinese. And, I learned to eat with chopsticks...which was quite an accomplishment. :)

So, we said our farewells (which took an extremely long time- thanks to Troy and Ellie) and hit the road for the airport. That was quite the experience. We drove through a rather crummy section of Chicago, which I didn't think was that bad but Ellie and Wendi were freaking out. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but people waiting for a bus stop seems perfectly harmless to me. :) Midway airport is really a nice airport and the whole process of picking up Kendra went smoothly. Except, Ellie and Wendi had to drive around the circle for 50 min. while I was inside waiting with Kendra for her luggage.

After all that fun...Tuesday was back to boring everyday life.

This afternoon we heard some awesome news. My cousin Kirk turned his life over the the Lord in repentance. :) !!!

In Christ
~Michelle

Flying by

As always, summer starts out slow and I think "great! I'm going to be so bored and it will be wonderful," but then it all hits at once.

Monday, after many weeks of emailing and calling back and forth, I finally started volunteering at the Harbor Light Hospice office. Its not the most exciting position but it will be something to do.Originally I was going to be a hospice volunteer so I would get to meet with families of the dying...It was going to be super cool, but they put off emailing me back for over a month sooo I get to copy things and sort through pages of patient files. So, frustrating. My supervisor did say I could go out on visits occasionally. :)

Monday evening we had Ellie's 20th birthday party! We made pizza and ate her birthday cake. We Went for a walk but it didn't last very long. Mostly we just hung out. We are really good at doing that. :) I didn't get home until really late. Oh, well it was worth it.

Tuesday, I went to a camp out. Brooke's cousins have a lake and a cabin and she invited a bunch of girls over. We went swimming and canoeing in the afternoon. It was a lovely day with the chance of severe thunderstorms. We eventually after a few attempts managed to get the fire going just in time for it to start raining. We are smart though and positioned the canoe just right. It rained so much though that while the top logs were kept dry and burning, the fire pit was flooded with water.

 We ended up cooking our hot dogs on the grill after the storm passed over. that evening we played ultimate frisbee, went fishing, and stayed up until 3 in the morning playing dutch blitz. :)

Wednesday, was spent recuperating from Tuesday...I'm getting old and I don't do very well lacking sleep.

Thursday was U of I transfer day! I am so excited. I had a ton of fun wandering around campus with my dad and looking at all the random things he pointed out..."now that used to be the.." hehe It made him feel old to be back at his Alma mater.

First impressions: My program is really informal and the teachers seem really nice. My social work program has a total of 75 students. All of my SW classes are in the same building. We each have our own individualized mail slots and a refrigerate and microwave any of us can use. :) I know the engineers  don't have their own microwave :)

Mom picked us up and we went to my apartment. Its really cute and I'm really excited to live there.

We met Jake, and he took us on a tour of the engineering campus. It is huge! He had to use his ID card to get us into some of the buildings. I felt like I was breaking into a top secret spy laboratory. It was great fun. :)

We ate supper at Applebee's and headed on home.

Friday morning, I started volunteering.

This week has been packed! So much for summer boredom.

In Christ

~Michelle

In the days of writing letters

This past week my cousins came out from California. We pulled out a bunch of old letters and pictures we found at my grandma's house after she died. I love old pictures. I love old letters.I absolutely love the era of the 1950's and basically anything before that.

My Grandma Schlipf's mom and dad and uncles and aunts. The short man in the center and the woman looking over his shoulder are my Great-grandparents. I am assuming this is one of my great-uncles. The corner of the picture says 1914. My grandma :) My grandma's cousin Fanny. :).... One of the many pictures I found. I have no idea who this is, but she is gorgeous.

Grandma and her sister Miriam This picture is sweet beyond words. :) My grandma's cousin Lorene married my Grandpa's brother Clarence. Someone made my grandpa take my grandma home from the wedding even though neither of them wanted to...and the rest is history.

their wedding

hehe. :)

We have a lot of the letter's grandma sent to grandpa before they got married, most of them are day-to-day stuff and invitations, but this was hilarious:

"Dear Elmer,

Miriam was here today and said she and Joe are invited to go to Bluffton this weekend-and would I like to keep the kids. I felt like saying-"Do I want to break my leg"- but I didn't. So, unless they change their minds, I'll be in Eureka Saturday night.

If you want to come over and spend a nice quiet evening at home (with two kids), you may. If you'd rather skip this weekend, just let me know. I wouldn't blame you.

As Ever, Marjorie"

Besides letters between my grandparents, there are some very humerus ones from a very wild friend of grandma's, some are from friends, cousins, and brothers who were stationed overseas during WWII and, there are even a few dated the 1890's between my great-grandma and her cousins in Germany. The letters are in German, so I can't read them.

sigh...:)

In Christ

~Michelle

Oh the Trials: the Saga of the Lawn Mower

We have two lawn mowers. A new one and an extremely old one.

Our old lawnmower is blue and small. The armrests are falling off, there is a hole in the floor, a ragged old rug covering the chewed up seat cushion, and bungee cords hold the deck in place so the blades cut the grass even. And, it only starts when its in the mood. yah, a real nice ride. So, one year ago we decided it was about time to get a new one. The new mower is great.

About two weeks ago, our new mower quit working. Supposedly, it ran out of oil and we basically burned out the engine. While its in the shop we've been using the old mower.

This morning I had to mow. I got on the little blue mower and turned the key. Nothing. I choked it, turned the key, it shuttered and died. My uncle Fred was walking by and I roped him into working on it for me. He took part of the engine apart and sprayed some ether on something, and it started! We put it back together and realized the deck had fallen. We had to turn the mower off to fix the deck with bungee cords. It wouldn't start again so once again we took it apart and put it back together again.

Finally, I was mowing pleasantly along in the apple orchard when I noticed I couldn't see in front of me it was so foggy out. Then I smelled it. Yah, the mower was on fire. I stopped, turned off the mower and fixed the smoke problem.

Once again, I was seated nicely on the mower catching the sun when I looked behind me at what I was mowing. The grass was cut in slants. My bungee cords had snapped and I had mowed over them. The lucky Fred was walking by again and I waved him over, and we rigged it back up again with a new bungee cord and one of the old ones we managed to bend back into shape. So, I kept my eyes on the cords the rest of the time. But, that's not the end of it.

I was just about finished with the apple orchard when the mower sputtered and stopped. I checked the bungee cords, they were there, I looked for smoke, there was none, I looked to see if I had accidentally cut the fuel, nope. Then, smart me, I checked the gas tanks, completely empty. This time my dad came to the rescue. He found me a gas can, filled it with gas, and filled up the mower for me. :) I'm sure he was rolling his eyes, but he did it anyway.
And that was that. I mowed the rest of the yard with no problems (except for mowing over another bungee cord...sigh).

Anyway, I got some sun and fresh air so, it wasn't that bad.

Moral of this story: farmers are great. I'm sure on a sweltering hot day they'd rather not be fixing a mower every five minutes. :)

In Christ
~Michelle

Southern Drawl

I spent my Memorial Day in Tennessee and Athens, Alabama at the Tennessee sing.

Saturday morning we met in the Morton church parking lot at 4:30am. It was extremely early to be up, dressed, and ready for a 9 hour bus ride. I love bus rides. Kendra, Wendi, Larissa, and Troyandellie were there, which made it even better. Troy's whole family was along so I got to get know Darcy alot better. She's in Ellie'd wedding with me. Troy's youngest brother Coby was also on the trip. He is hilarious, and absolutely adorable. Too bad he's only 12 ;). Surprisingly the trip there went really quickly.

wendi and kristen

Michelle H. and Darcy

The couple of the year :) They met one year ago on this trip.
We arrived around 2:00. They held an auction. It wasn't very exciting. Auctions are the same everywhere. There are a few items that go really high and a bunch of stuff the auctioneer should just buy himself. Really. There should be a rule that you can't put collector's plates or flashlights on auctions. It took way too long just to bring one dollar, while the caramel popcorn was flying off the table at $30.

The singing started late in the afternoon. The announcer got up and in a slow southern drawl welcomed us. Then a few people got up and sang special numbers. After each one he'd say "Thank ya, who'll be next." The singing went until 9:00. Needless to say, after 21 hours we all crashed and went to sleep early.

Sunday we visited the Athens, Alabama church. It was different then I am use to. Its a lot more laid back and slow in the south. There aren't any clocks anywhere and "take a ten minute break" means about twenty. :) None of the old people have teeth any more. It makes their accent even funnier. :)

aw... so cute :)The Athens church

Sunday after church we went back to the fellowship building in Tennessee. We sang a lot more, and had a few more special numbers. During one of the last songs the minister kept calling out "sing it once more, once more." So we sang the chorus ten times. :) Even though we had just sung for about 2 hours, we sang the whole half hour drive back to our hotel. Seriously. I loved it. :)

We had a pizza party and a dutch blitz tournament. Kristen and I won the first round! yay us. :) we didn't win the tournament though...sigh. After everyone else went to bed, I stayed up until 2:30am with Troy, Ellie, Kendra, Wendi, and Darcy. We had a great talk so it was totally worth the loss of sleep. :)

Coby and Wendi :D awww.... Dutch Blitz Some random hand game that I am pathetic at.

Monday morning the bus left at 8:00. It actually wasn't that bad. We played the name game, sang some more, talked, slept, and stopped way too often for all the old people to stretch their legs. :)

going out to eat

exhausted.

It was a great weekend. Southern people definitely are different then us "northerners" as they call us. I don't think I'd like to live there though, I like to know what time it is.

In Christ~
Michelle