Friends

The Lord knew that I needed a picker-upper so he sent Benjamin and Amanda Dagley over for a visit on their way home from a field tour at the Grotbergs. Ben's been buying our organic screenings for his chicken business and he needed some more. We twisted Ben's arm, just a little bit, and they're going to spend the night with us. I just realized that I should see if they've had supper. Anyway, Cora already got a picture of Amanda and I, as I came out of the goat barn just now, so I'm sure there will be pictures on her blog soon. Amanda said that their family has been enjoying seeing the pictures from our farm and from Prairie Days on our blogs. I hinted, once again, that we would enjoy seeing pictures from their farm too. We'll see............
PRAISE THE LORD FOR FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!

Erling the Bold--Chapter 21

I am finding it difficult to find the words for how I am feeling right now. I just read Chapter 21 to the family in which the small kings lost the sea battle to the obsessed King of Norway. I am totally discouraged with the world right now and would gladly leave it for a better one. How can it be that one tyrant can ruin a whole country? How can it be that one selfish pig can gain so much power that he can tyrannize thousands of people and spoil their homes? How can it be that so many of the small kings sold out for a mere promise of gain? How can it be that true heroes can loose in this world? How can it be that women and children are being raped and beaten right this minute and nobody lifts a finger to help them? How can it be? Oh God, PLEASE help our country, and your people, to stand firm against tyranny--both externally AND internally!

Erling the Bold--Chapter 20

I believe I have mentioned that, since I am drinking the Master Cleanse lemonade at supper times now, I have time to read to the family. The book we are currently reading is called Erling the Bold. I would like to encourage all of those who feel the threat of lost freedoms hanging over our heads, to read this book. I am getting more and more inspired to speak out with each chapter.

The king of Norway has taken it upon himself to remove the freedoms of the people. He offered important positions to the rich whereby he fattened his armies considerably. Of course the poor people became, instead of independent farmers, slaves of the king. Our hero, Erling, has aroused the people of his area to resist becoming slaves of the king--even if it means their death!!!

In tonight's chapter, both armies lined up for battle and we'll have to wait until supper tomorrow night to learn the fate of the freedom-loving people of Norway. I'll let you know how it turns out but perhaps I can sway you to check out the book for yourself? I probably wouldn't recommend reading it to small children, though, as it is "Brutally honest" about wartime.

In person session with Elizabeth

If you are ever given the opportunity to have a BodyTalk session in person with Elizabeth Hanson, take it. Sure it costs $50, but it is worth every penny!!! I don't know if I'll live long enough to take all of the classes that she has taken in BT, but what she knows is just phenomenal. I learn so much just listening to her do my sessions.

As you know, my back has been killing me for about 3 weeks now. Sure, I had a fall and sure, the chiropractor said that I had a crushed disc but always it seemed like there was "Something else." I've had 2 distance sessions with Elizabeth, plus my own sessions, but my back just kept aching something terrible. Yesterday Elizabeth taught her fantastic 8 hour Access class and then took the time to do a session on me before the practitioner practice at 7:30, which she also led. I am so amazed at her knowledge AND her willingness to share it with the rest of us practitioners with the hope of making the world a better place.

Anyway, my session was fantastic and my back is sooooooooooo much better today. This is what I learned yesterday during my session. You see, the back represents support. As children we are supposed to be emotionally supported by our parents and I never was. I went on as a cripple without their support but, when my mother died, I realized that I would NEVER get the support from her that I needed all along. The hope of her "Coming around some day" was ended.

This caused growing anxiety and so I turned to my dad with hopes that HE would now support me. On Father's Day, not 2 months after my mother's death, he told me that he thinks he has found a woman to be his new "Companion". I told him that he had better marry her, or it will be sin, but he assured me that he has no intentions of getting married. He just needs a "Companion" he said. I suggested a dog but, when he jeered at me, I knew that I would get no support from him either. My anxiety mounted as did the pain in my back.

It's been a very hard time for me, with great pain physically to match the emotional pain. The session last night was great for so many reasons as Elizabeth balanced me to these people who had no idea how in the world to be a parent. She even offered me some hope that my relationship with my family of origin may become a bit less stressed now. Today my back feels better for the first time in weeks. I'm hoping that the worst is over now and I can get back to being a blessing to my family and my clients. Please keep me in your prayers though.

Practice was great as we learned more about how to help people understand that things like this will not go away in one session. Things that took a lifetime to develop cannot be expected to disappear in one session. We were encouraged to help people to realize that they will get out of BodyTalk what they put in. I shared that I got phenomenal results because I hit the shingles with both barrels. I did Access twice a day; had sessions with Elizabeth; and took Module 1 & 2 so that I can do daily sessions on myself. I got well because of my commitment to continue the wellness practices that I have always followed AND I committed to getting all that I could out of BodyTalk.

We also discussed Christian's fear of BodyTalk and tried to figure out it's basis. One of my partners, Liz, said that people tend to fear that which they don't understand. BodyTalk is so new and it works so incredibly better than anything out there that people are suspicious of it to begin with. Take, for instance, the Chinese clock. Elizabeth explained that we could get the same results if we went to the dictionary and went through all of the D's to find that our link was "Depression". However, all of this has been thought out for us by the Chinese who have studied the body's natural healthy state (instead of studying sickness) for thousands of years. Why not make good use of our time and learn from those who have already mastered a subject?

Someone said that people are getting Chinese medicine and Chinese religion mixed up. Is OUR medicine and OUR religion the same thing? NO, but here again people are afraid of things that they don't know anything about. Some people thought that demons turned on the lights when electricity first became available too. Does anybody think that nowadays? I DON'T THINK SO!

Elizabeth talked about what she covers with new clients. These include their sleep, eating, exercise, stress-reduction, and water consumption habits. She talked about water again which was a good reminder. Elizabeth is ALWAYS talking about drinking water to cleanse of toxins AND to help with pain reduction. Did you know that drinking water is in itself a pain releaver? It lubricates the joints and all of the body surfaces. She also reminded us that for every ounce of something else we drink, we need to drink that many more ounces of water to flush that out of our systems. There is nothing more healthy than drinking LOTS of water every day. Which kind of water is a whole 'nother subject, but even "Bad" water is better than drinking anything else as this is the liquid which we are made of. DRINK UP!

Lastly Elizabeth showed us how to get a free education out of the IBA website. All of us felt a little sheepish about not using this resource more. She showed us how to use the forum where most likely somebody in the world will already have asked our question and most likely 10 CBPs have already answered that question. I'm not sure where I was when that point was made, but I got it last night! I'm excited now to be able to tap into the knowledge of others, like Elizabeth, who are willing to share their knowledge with those of us just getting started in the endless body of knowledge called BodyTalk. You can even get collage level credit for taking the upper level modules. Why, Elizabeth got science credits for the many classes that her daughter, Esther, has taken.

Anyway, it was great to be with my fellow BodyTalk practitioners. I'm still thinking about taking the test to become certified when Melanie is here next month. However, with all of this stuff with my parents still working it's way through my body/mind, I'm leaning towards testing in November when Melanie comes back to teach Module 4/7. Now I need to start saving my pennies as all of this takes money. Still, if I can help people like Elizabeth does, no amount of investment would be too small.

Oh yes, I just remembered how my session ended. She found that I have an immune reaction that people normally get when they have been on chemo. She said that this told her that my childhood was as venomous to me as if I had been on chemo which wipes out the good things that help us to fight bugs. I am so thankful that she set it to right for me and I have hope that someday my back (and the rest of me too) will be as strong as the backs of those of you who had parents who loved and supported you. Once again I find myself praising the Lord that he led me to BodyTalk. :) How can I keep silent about so great a hope I have in Christ and in His natural healing ways?

Depth

One day Robert was commenting how people really seem to enjoy Cora's blog. He said, "She's just so full of life that it's fun to read her blog."

Now this was when he had a serious head cold AND he was walking away from me making it hard for me to hear. On top of this, my mother had just died. I was curious about something so I asked him, "And how would you describe my blog."

He thought a few seconds and I heard him say, "Full of death."

"Thanks a LOT," I thought and proceeded to give him the cold shoulder.

Praise the Lord that Robert looked at me just then and noticed something amiss.

"What did you think I said?" he asked me.

"Full of death," I replied.

Then he laughed and said, "What I said was, 'Full of DEPTH'!"

I laughed then too but it made me realize that perhaps it would be wise for me to "Warn" all of you when I'm in a particularly "DEEP" mood. That way you can go to Cora's blog if you're not ready for the somber thoughts I have at times. Consider yourself warned.

Today I seemed distant from everyone--sometimes we call it being "Off" around here. It was like the Lord was trying to show me something and I needed to pay more attention to Him. I felt so alone over at the Braddock quasi celebration, although my family was all around me. It was as though I needed to step back and look at what was going on as though I weren't in the scene. What I saw saddened me like never before.

Perhaps I was more aware of this because I had just read what the American Family Association (AFA) was saying about our country dropping God out of EVERYTHING. Essentially we are becoming a pagan country--breaking the heart of our God who made us great when we had humble hearts towards him and each other.

Most of the women that I saw were in a state of semi-nakedness. It wasn't just the young women either. I watched how they teased the men in their lives with their bodies. I grew up watching and doing this, having gone through the system, but today it was just so repulsive to me. How are men supposed to focus on morality when their major weakness of sight is used against them by the very women they are to protect? I saw my younger self in this and was deeply grieved. It made me angry that my father didn't care enough about me to warn me to cover my body and keep it to myself--to save it for that special someone who would come later.

Of course I've repented of flaunting my body before any male in sight but that doesn't mean that I don't have regrets.

Most of the males I saw were either drinking; had been drinking; or were talking about going drinking. Praise the Lord that Robert walked away from that scene while in collage and our sons think it's stupid. When we were watching the Strolling Strings, this half drunk man in his 70s tried to get his body into the seat next to me. HE MISSED!!!! He ended up sitting half on my lap and half on the seat next to me. Not only was this disgusting but it HURT MY BACK SOMETHING AWFUL WHEN HE FELL ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!! I was soooooooooooooooo grossed out.

We left shortly after the violinists did. I was so grieved in my spirit that I just wanted to get out of there. Earlier, while we were sitting trying to stomach the bad harmony of one of the groups, I looked around and said to Robert, "I wonder if there is anybody here, other than us, who REALLY loves the Lord!!! I looked for that peace that one bears when they know that they are within the will of God for their lives. I looked for someone who was truly happy with themselves and with their family. Then I started looking for another family. There were precious few families present. You know, Dad and Mom and children--a FAMILY. A family sitting together; laughing together; loving each other--a FAMILY.

My heart is so heavy now as I ponder the demise of the family in our culture. One lady earlier in the day had said that within 25 years there will be no more small towns in North Dakota. WHAT? NO SMALL TOWNS? Well, isn't it true that families built the small towns? The men had their own businesses; the women tended their homes well; and the children learned from both parents what it meant to be a responsible adult. WHERE HAS ALL OF THIS GONE?

I chose this picture because it is how I'm feeling right now. I'm sorry to be so long-faced, but I did warn you at the beginning of this post that I was in a somber mood. I thank God that He has always given me a pet to love during the dark years of my life. Thank God for writing too!

I'm also going to share something that I read on the way over to look at the fireworks. As I've shared before, I am reading the book ERLING THE BOLD to the family during meals when I don't eat or if we're all in the vehicle together. This stirred me up to realize how far we have drifted from true nobility of thought and purpose. Maybe if everyone in the whole country would read about Erling's tremendous devotion to protecting the freedom of the people of Norway from their tyrant king, we the people would wake up and rid ourselves of the complacency which threatens our freedoms as well. I quote from chapter 20:

Haldor looked full in (his son)Erling's face, and his own noble countenance glowed with an expression of majesty which cannot be described, and which arose from the deep conviction that one of the most momentous eras in his life had arrived--a period in which his own fate and that of all he held most dear would in all probability be sealed. Death or victory, he felt assured, were now the alternatives; and when he reflected on the great power of the King, and the stern necessity there was for the exertion of not only the utmost bravery, but the most consummate skill, his whole being glowed with suppressed emotion, while his bearing betokened the presence, and bore the dignified stamp of a settled purpose to do his best, and meet his fate for weal or woe, manfully.

Once I read in Fascinating Womanhood, "If chivalry is dead, then we women have killed it." If it is true that we women weaken our men, by thinking we are so tough that we have no need for our men to be strong like Haldor and Erling were, we deserve to have our men be so weak that only alcohol and women's bodies inspire them. Oh God please forgive me for when I have done this to the men that you have put in my life. Oh God, PLEASE save our land if that is yet possible.

Another home school mom is blogging--YEAH!!!

Hello,
This morning we woke up with friends in the house. Jonathan and Sarah Stover did decide to spend the night with us after all. The boys slept in the camper and Cora and Sarah slumber- partied for about half an hour after family prayer time, which was at 12:30 AM. Last night Robert and I spent quite a bit of time discussing organic farming and Basic H with Jonathan while the "Children" played Trumpet with Sarah. This morning we had breakfast together; looked at their new farmstead on Goggle Earth; and sent them on their way.

Our big news is that the guys have gotten the big square baler running and we were all out in the field just now watching them make the very first bale. Pictures to follow.


Here's some wonderful news!!! The lady who inspired me to start blogging has herself picked up her pen again after a sabbatical from blogging. My neighbor, Tamera, began writing about her life on their farm which is a mile and a half away from us. I am soooooooooo happy for Tamera, as sometimes there just is no therapy like writing. At other times, one must release tension by making music or milking goats or digging in the dirt or having tea with a friend or having a good cry........ The neat thing about writing, though, is that it can be a blessing to others if one shares what one has been learning. I encourage everyone, then, to go to Tamera's blog and glean from her life experiences at: http://tamerasvanes.blogspot.com/ Her goats are just sooooooooooooo adorable--love those Nubian ears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now ladies, in the past week 2 of my friends have picked up their pens and begun sharing how the Lord is blessing them as they serve Him in their homes. This is a VERY important message to get out to the world!!! I think many people still think of home school moms as lazy, TV watchers who are old grumps and who nag their husbands and children to death. Maybe the first generation of women who stayed home, instead of running off to the workplace, did have nothing to do but watch tv and gossip on the phone. However, since home schooling has come along, nothing could be farther from the truth. WE'RE BUSY LADIES!!!!!!!!!! My prayer is that every home school mom, who loves the Lord, would start blogging. This is an avenue which is open to us to share how much we LOVE being at home instead of being stressed out in the workforce trying to fill shoes that we were never meant to fill. Please pray about this and, in the meantime you can get inspired by checking out Tamera's and Kimberly's new blogs. Please let me know when you start YOURS and I'll put your link on my sidebar too!

Out to the garden.

Dawn

My back

Well, I again find myself short on time because we are expecting friends for supper. The Stover children called to accept our invitation to stop here on their way home. They may spend the night in the camper too so our children are ALL very excited.

Well, Dr. Steve Chuppe worked on my back yesterday. He said that I moved a disc when I fell being I was reaching out to the side. He put it back in place but said that this is a very delicate situation. I MUST be extremely careful about lifting or carrying anything out to the side. He cautioned me about my usual Superwoman mindset. "Now Dawn," says he, "I KNOW HOW YOU THINK! This is not the time to ignore pain and press on through it. If it hurts, you MUST quit if you want this thing to heal." How wonderful it is to have a doctor who will lay it on the line in a loving fashion!!! He too knows what it's like on the farm, with mountains of work all around waiting to be done. Still, he was very somber and so I am taking it easy today although the pain is far less than it's been in 2 weeks. Please keep me in your prayers as this is getting old.

I'm off to make potato salad, for we're having a picnic supper. Now I wish that I had some of the graduation beans that we sold to Dagleys. However, being the Stover young people just came from Dagleys, there's the possibility that they're all beaned out by now anyway. :)

2 Great news items

I want to write about my day yesterday but I'll need to do that later when it is too hot to be out in the garden. Please see Cora's blog for pictures of our new baby calves. In the meantime, though, I wanted to pass on the following information for you to ponder.

First of all I want to congratulate my friend, Kimberly, for starting her own blog. I am just thrilled every time that a home school mom starts blogging as this gives us a voice in the public arena. So often we keep our thoughts to ourselves, thinking that nobody is interested in hearing them, but people ARE INTERESTED, LADIES!!!!! Here is the link to Kimberly's wonderful blog which she has named, "Quiet my soul": http://kimberly-quietmysoul.blogspot.com/ I encourage everyone to visit Kimberly's home (through her blog) which has always been a source of peace and comfort to me in the past. I bless you, Kimberly, for taking this step and I wish you years of happy blogging about your special family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other good news has to do with the work which is being done to oppose the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (CRC). We've been following this closely since the home school convention in March. Please note in point 2 below that we, the people, are starting to be heard. If you are unfamiliar with why this treaty will end the family as we know it, PLEASE spend some time at this website:http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B1F86E588-AA4A-43A1-998D-D9BF4FBE4D09%7D

THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS THREAT TO THE FAMILY UNTI WHICH GOD HAS DESIGNED--ONE MAN MARRIED TO ONE WOMAN FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People, joining together, have jammed phone lines and ARE being heard. Please take the time to read the rest of this post by Michael Farris that just came in from Parental Rights.org. Please take the time to call or write your senators and urge them to oppose the CRC and become co-sponsors of the SJ Res 16 (Parental Rights Amendment.)

Things are pretty sick when parents have to fight for their rights to raise their own children but our enemies seek to destroy our influence with our very own flesh and blood so that THEY can fill the young one's heads full of lies which will destroy their lives!!!!!!!! I, for one, am not about to keep silent while people like that are seeking to influence legislation. Join me in becoming informed and then help to protect all future generations from tyranny.

Obama Administration Pushes CRC Ratification
-- 24 June 2009

Dear Friend of Parental Rights,
Monday in a Harlem middle school, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told a group of 120 students that administration officials are actively discussing “when and how it might be possible to join” (that is, ratify) the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). As before, she also communicated what a disgrace it is that the U.S. would stand with only Somalia against such a widely-accepted treaty.
This is the first direct public statement by the Obama administration that it will seek ratification of the UN CRC.
In my 30 years of political involvement, I have learned to recognize this as what is called a “trial balloon.” Like in World War I trench warfare, our opponents have “sent up a balloon” to see if it will draw fire. If things remain quiet, they will proceed with their plans to push for ratification of the CRC in the U.S. Senate.
To discourage them from doing so, we need to make sure that our voices are heard with unmistakable clarity. We must let the Obama administration know that we oppose this anti-family, anti-American treaty.
Here’s what we need you all to do:
1. Call the White House comments line at 202-456-1111. Tell them you heard the administration wants to ratify the CRC, and you strongly oppose this giving away of U.S. sovereignty to the UN. Also keep in mind that this treaty gives the government jurisdiction to override any decision made by any parent if the government thinks that a better decision can be made—even if there is no proof of any harm.
2. Call Ambassador Susan Rice’s office at the United Nations. Tell her that you want her to represent the United States to the world rather than trying to get the United States to go along with international law initiated by the UN. The US Mission at the United Nations can be reached at 212-415-4000 (press 6 to leave your message). This number has been disconnected through our efforts. You can also contact the Public Diplomacy Office at 212-415-4050. We are no longer urging calls to the U.S. office at the United Nations.
3. Contact your Senators and urge them to oppose ratification of this treaty. (Find your Senators’ contact information by typing your zip code into the box here.) Ask them also to defeat it once and for all by cosponsoring SJRes 16 – the Parental Rights Amendment.
It is very important that we speak up right now. Please call before you close this email!
Sincerely,
Michael Farris

Cheating

Ok, I don't have much time this morning as I need to be at the office by 11:00 to see a client. First, though, I need to iron my pillowcases; feed the troops; help with chores; add some straw to the stock trailer and hook it up; drive to Mandan; unload the stock trailer; drive over to the office; get set up for a session--all by 11:00. Being I needed a little help with my morning post, I decided to cheat and copy something. This just came in from the EFT website just now so I hope that you will enjoy the humor. I could only print 3 of them, as the other 2 were just plain stupid. Please keep me in your prayers today!

Love as always,

Dawn



From our Humor files

Creative Definitions - Part 1

The following is from the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Source Unknown

Bartlett's Appleseed Shoot date set

I just got home from bouncing around on the highway for 2 hours. This was supposed to be a simple trip over to Hazelton to bring home the corn planter with the 4020. Wouldn't you know it--half way home I got a flat tire on the corn planter. NOT TO PANIC! I knew that Andrew would be showing up sometime as he had run to Linton to pick up twin for the new, square baler and then was pulling the plow home.

When Andrew arrived, I told him that we had a flat tire. He got a somber expression on his face as he looked at the tractor tires but I told him that it was on the corn planter. "OH," he sounded relieved, "that's not a problem." HOW WONDERFUL THAT IT WASN'T A PROBLEM TO HIM AS IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS A PROBLEM TO ME!

So he had me lift up the corn planter and he put the jack underneath it. He took the tow rope that he had on the pallet of twin (which was wrapped tight with plastic wrap anyway) and tied the wheel up to the frame. After I lowered the corn planter to towing position, it held just fine and I was off again. Andrew could go lots faster than I, so he took off but left me the cell phone just in case. I had no further trouble, though, and seeing as he had given me some ear plugs to wear when we had left home, I even have my hearing left. That tractor cab is soooooooooooo noisy.

Anyway, I'm out to the garden but I needed to check emails to line up sessions for tomorrow in Bismarck. Then I checked to see if anyone posted recently and that was when I read the following information on Jonathan Bartlett's blog. PLEASE consider attending this shoot or at least praying for it. Sometime soon, I will write why I am such a believer in EVERYONE knowing how to shoot, but that will have to wait for the next rainy day.

I loooooovvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee summer when I can dig in the dirt!!!

Dawn


APPLESEED! You're invited.
Many of you in the midwest area will probably be getting an email for me later on with information on Appleseed, but let it suffice for the moment for me to tell you that we are hosting an Appleseed here at our farm, August 22-23 (Bottineau, ND). My brother and I will be Instructors-in-Training, and it will be a lot more fun if we get to help train people that we know!It's not up on the Appleseed website quite yet, but it is on the Instructor schedule so it should be up shortly. We hope that many of you will decide to come for a visit, and get in two days of intensive marksmanship training while learning the history of April 19, 1775 and its significance! I'm looking forward to it.http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

Just found this treasure

Hello,
I just went on the Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Societies' website (listed on my sidebar) to see when the summer symposium is going to be held. I was looking under upcoming events when I noticed that they had thanks listed for those who helped with the winter conference. It's way on the bottom of the upcoming events section.

There I found a slide show of pictures taken in February. Wouldn't you know that they have a picture of Jacob. The caption underneath it just cracked me up and I'm still chuckling. You see, for several years now, our guys have volunteered their time to help the conference go more smoothly. One of the things they've done is take the meal tickets so that the staff doesn't have to do all of these petty little things. This is what they wrote under Jacob's picture.
JACOB BORNEMANN--VOLUNTEER AND MEAL TICKET BOUNCER.

If you have time to look, you may enjoy seeing the pictures as there is another one with Robert and Jacob on. "Meal ticket bouncer," indeed. :) Jacob has as much "Bouncer" in his personality as I do. The ladies told me that they have grown very fond of Jacob so I'm happy that they acknowledged his help in such a humorous way.

Prairie Days continued

Right after lunch on Saturday, Mark and Lynette, led the group in singing some hymns and rounds and an eating song. I have been begging for a choir for years now so I was delighted to see that a few others were interested in singing together. We practiced an hour and then people split up. Most of the young men and ladies headed over to the place where they were having the lumberjack contest. I spent a half an hour helping Benjamin clean up the kitchen for supper.

When I was finished, I too went to see how the lumbermen/women were doing. Cora took some pictures of the event. Here Jacob is partnered with Peter Bartlett and push/pulling for all he was worth. You can see the determination to push his muscles to try to beat the clock.

Cora got this gem of Robert pondering. Robert told me later that something just didn't seem right. The young men seemed to be wasting energy by rocking the saw too much. Shortly after this, our new friend Bob Disney came upon the scene. He and Robert got to talking about this and thought that they could do better. Well, Bob talked my Robert into giving it a whirl and sure enough, they were right. In other words, they WON THE LUMBERJACK CONTEST with the least amount of time spent in cutting the log. They beat ALL of the young men and Robert later summarized with, "It's not always brawn that wins the battle--brains come in handy too." Andrew said, "Ya, like you weren't pulling for all you were worth." They laughed and I wished that I had been there to see it.

Here Bob Disney is playing CAT AND MOUSE. He has on the white shirt and hat. What a great mind this guy has. Later he spoke about his new project. He's now marketing SONIC BLOOM. This is a system that makes plants grow phenomenally large and strong. I've read about it before so I was excited to hear Bob answer my questions. Now, for some cash........

Later, Cora went to Suzanna Dagley's old time photo shoot. She had so much fun getting dressed up in an old time dress, hat, and gloves. I have lots of pictures of her but this was my favorite. I couldn't help but think how much she looks like Marila's Anne girl here. With the sun shining on her hair, you can see the beautiful auburn color that I love so much on my very own Cora girl! One thing that surprised Robert and I, as we looked at the pictures of our lovely daughter, is how grown up she looks. Usually people think that she looks like she's 17 or so, when she's actually 22. How lovely is my sweet young miss!!!

Well, it's time to make supper and I still am not finished with remembering all of the wonderful events of Prairie Days this year. I guess I'll have to conclude another time. Feel free to go to Cora's blog to see all of the wonderful pictures that she has posted there.

Later,

Dawn

Prairie Days

Oh, what a wonderful day it was for our family yesterday!!! It was the 7th annual Prairie Days at the Dagley farm and many of our friends were gathered there. We enjoyed partaking in the simple delights of the "Good old days". It was a loooooooong day for us but, seeing as today is summer solstice, the sun stayed up most of the time see we could sandwich a full day between 2 chores and 2 100 mile trips.

Our first stop was the Oasis in Bismarck where we met Molly Geiger who had brought her 2 brothers, Moses and Josiah, to ride along with us. They wanted to be at Prairie Days by 10:00 too so as to see Jonathan Bartlett's presentation of frontier survival skills. Cora moved up front with her cake, and the boys all scrunched in the back seat of Tonner (our big crew cab pickup) along with Andrew's banjo and the puppet skit supplies. This is not the best picture, as the sun was so bright, but I believe that you can still see the smiles of the young friends.

Jonathan sharing about how to do the

clove hitch knot, and other good things to

know, in the event the need arises for us to

need such information.

I listened to Jonathan's presentation as I've never heard him share on this before and Cora had everything under control for her sauerkraut-making demonstration. This year she used my mom's kraut cutter, which I just inherited. As Jonathan finished before Cora did (she started later), I was able to tell a little of the history of sauerkraut to the group of ladies I found gathered around Cora. This was where I met Alice whom I spent quite a bit of time with throughout the day. She's in the pink on the left hand corner. I learned over lunch that she sang in the Sweet Adeline's for 11 years in Bismarck. I had had this privilage during my collage years in Brookings. I talked her into practicing with the choir (I'm getting ahead of myself) but she didn't sing with us for some unknown reason.

Here are some of us ladies, older and younger, gathered

to learn together. That's one of the biggest joys of home

schooling. Everyone learns together at their own pace!

"Old" friends walking arm in arm. The taller girl is

Amanda Dagley by the way. When did she grow into a

young woman?

From tea parties to gun safety tips, there is something

of interest for EVERYONE at Prairie Days. Here is

Jonathan perfecting what he learned at the Appleseed

Shoot, I have no doubt. By the way, he told us that their

family will host their own shoot at their farm with the

tentative dates being August 22-23. We'll try again to

send the boys, Lord willing.

Well, I have much more to say about Prairie Days but I

need to go and exercise. My back still is a pain and the

exercises seem to ease the pain better than anything else.

I will say that the puppet skit was pure joy as Amanda Dagley

and James Balyeat helped us backstage. It's absolutely

impossible not to have light hearts around those two!!!

I'll write more later about the choir and our puppet skit

and, of course, add pictures.

Farm news and another great session

What a busy day this is turning into. Yesterday Robert was going to take the boys up to get the "New" baler home from Mandan. It was raining buckets, though, so he decided to postpone the trip. In the meantime he got inspired to see if Myer Tractor Salvage in Aberdeen has a replacement engine for the 1086 tractor which died last year. We really need that tractor working once we get into haying season. We literally have TONS of hay to put up, as it is our main cash crop, and we've had lots of good moisture this Spring so it looks wonderful! Anyway, the answer came back, "Yes, they do have a replacement engine" so Robert and Jacob took off for Aberdeen just now to go get the engine. Meanwhile, Andrew is driving the 1486 tractor ever so slowly up to Mandan to fetch home the new baler. Robert figures that it will take him pretty much all day but we just didn't want to pay them $350 to bring it down here for us. Andrew wasn't too heartbroken that he didn't "Get" to spend the day working on his thank you cards although he is trying to get the ones done for the people we'll see at Prairie Days tomorrow.


That leaves Cora and I to prepare for Sabbath; get things ready for Prairie Days; AND get the lawn mowed if it ever dries off. We've been waiting all week for the grass to dry off but it hasn't happened yet. No complaints, though, as the memories of drought years are not far enough back for that, if they ever will be. Still, I do like to mow before the grass is a foot high so I'm hoping that we get a breeze here quick.

Have I mentioned about Prairie Days at the Dagley farm? Well, it's the highlight of our summer as it's our chance to step back into the "Good old days." Everyone comes and shares whatever old-time skills they know and almost everyone dresses as though they lived a hundred years ago. The food is all pot-blessing, so the Dagleys aren't put out, and it's all pretty healthy too!! Lots of families share their musical talents too, so it's a wonderful day of fun and fellowship. We'd love it if you would join us too!!!

This year the Dagleys are offering old time family pictures so maybe I'll be able to talk everyone into posing for one. I doubt it'll be like my brother's latest family picture though. Theirs was out in Madora and the men were guzzling on whiskey bottles and the women were saloon girls. I'm positive that ours will not be THAT kind of old time picture--if we take one! Anyway, it's a great day for everyone so, if you're free tomorrow, come and join us. Cora posted the detailed schedule on her blog recently, so you can check it out there.

Now I'm going to share a little about my session with Elizabeth this morning before I share a few pictures. It was an awesome session too so I'm hoping for even more relief from this back pain. The session that she did on Wednesday morning led to about a 50% decrease in pain. Anyway, the category was the circulation to the large intestine with the definition of natural consciousness of lungs. Energetically this means that the whole session will help me to nourish discernment as I release all of this negative junk from my childhood.

The first formula was a secondary normal matrix in the liver. This has to do with anger and adaptability and it was affecting my brain and chest. In this case, the chest meant that I was holding closely to grief and pain. Elizabeth said that it's location in the head indicated that it's been there since my childhood. This was severed and now my body can heal at an even deeper level and release the anger that must certainly be bound inside of me. One thing that I had noticed in my 20 years of recovery work was that I had skipped the anger phase of grief. The four phases being denial, anger, sadness, and acceptance. Certainly I lived in denial most of my life but then it seems that I skipped to sadness. I suppose it's because anger was taboo in my childhood home--for everyone but dad. Now it can finally come out. PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR ME AS THIS SCARES ME MORE THAN ANYTHING THAT I CAN THINK OF!!!!! Is it "PROPER" for Christians to get angry?

The second formula was an active memory event in March of 1970. This had to do with the community event of preparing to send our marching band to the Twin Cities. The band had won honors at the state level of competition and was going on to perform representing the state of SD in the national competition. Many of my friends were traveling with their families to see the band compete and, of course, there was no money at our house for such extravagances. So I was feeling left out of my "Society" which was draining my creative and productive energy. This was linked to a parasite in my heart energy center which has to do with the ability to feel loved by others and feeling that I BELONG in the world. This is so interesting because most of my life I have felt all alone. One friend asked me once, "What separates you from the rest of the world?" I guess I thought the answer to that question was the incest but now it would seem that this event when I was 12 years old also played a role in isolating me and keeping me from totally enjoying others that the Lord wanted to bless me with. Now I'm feeling a little angry that I didn't have a parent who would discuss this with me at the time and help me to work it through when I was 12 instead of letting it harm my health for almost 40 years. Can you see how much BodyTalk has come to mean to me? Now I don't have to live the rest of my life "STUCK" in these self-destructive patterns. Once again I must Praise the Lord for leading me to BT and to Elizabeth who is a born-again BodyTalker like myself. Thanks Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the third formula started with the nerve supply to, from, and within the kidneys. The kidneys give us our "Oomph" as Elizabeth says. This specifically had to do with how my mom was affecting my energy levels. This was linked to a secondary matrix in all my senses and joints which linked to ALL the negative side of energy--the self-destructive kind of energy. This too was a very old matrix that I built in childhood, in order to survive. The location of it indicated that 2 main mindsets were prevalent. The first is bitterness and the second is needing to make other people wrong. WOW. When Elizabeth asked me if our family did this, I recalled that during most meals we sat around and criticized other people who were "WORSE" sinners than we were. I'm crying now as I can see how this has kept me from the friendships that the Lord must surely have intended to send me through the years. It is one of the things that I hated most about myself when I was younger. The 20 years of my recovery work have helped to strengthen me so that I feel the need to criticize others very seldom now. Still, it is one of the things that makes me hate myself INTENSELY when I am with others who do this, and I join in. OH FOR JOY TO THINK THAT THIS SESSION WILL END THIS PERMANENTLY!!!!!!!!!! The Lord uses Body Talk so unbelievably to change lives that I MUST TELL OTHERS AS IT CONTINUALLY BLESSES MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that was the end of the session, but Elizabeth said, "Wait, there is something else yet." So we waited while the Lord showed her that I need to be adding something to my diet. She went through the list of things that usually pop up at this time in the session. It wasn't protein, certain fats, calcium, a vitamin or mineral. Suddenly I felt that it was a grain and, when she asked if it was a grain, she got a "YES". She said that I need to eat oats pretty heavily the next 3 days. This was when I told her that Cora came into my room last night and asked, "What would you like me to fix for supper?" I answered, "Oatmeal." Elizabeth and I both praised the Lord as HE knew that I was needing some oats for whatever reason. Isn't that AWESOME???

God gave us intuition for our own good and we usually just shut it off because we're taught to be so left-brained in our country. I think I'll write a post about this sometime soon but for now I should go and make a nice, big batch of granola as we're out and I'm getting hungry. The primary ingredient in my recipe is none other than oatmeal. :)

So for the farm news. Here is a picture of Andrea and her brand-new baby calf! Andrea was given to our family by Andrew Vetter when I was up at the health center in 2006. She was blind and he didn't want to deal with a blind calf. Andrew knew that the Bornemanns can't turn any hurting being aside so he made the offer and Robert took her in . We named her Andrea in honor of Andrew and we had intended to raise her for slaughter.

Andrea was a little bit of a hassle but we stuck her in with a batch of calves who adopted her and we bottle-fed her. She learned to follow her peers around and her sense of sound is incredible. When she was grown, we put her in with the milk cows and they lead her around. She goes way out in the back pasture with them and they bring her back in for water. She knows her name and will follow us when we call her in to the corral for some reason.

Always in the back of our minds we were gong to eat Andrea someday like we did the calf which Dan Vetter gave us years before. However, right when Robert pondered taking Andrea in to the butcher shop, somebody noticed that she was bagging up. Yes, you guessed it. This morning Andrea calved and here is her picture. She knows her way around the corral by herself so the guys put her in the corral with her baby for a few days until we're certain that they're bonded. Andrea won't be able to find the calf in the pasture so it'll be up to the calf to find mama. We must be sure that the calf is able to do this before we turn them loose for the summer. Robert said, "If she's going to mother a calf, we'll just leave her be. There's plenty of steers around here to eat." YEAH--Andrea is spared. Isn't she beautiful? To think that she almost met a bullet just because she was blind. Today she became a mother--PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!! Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that Robert named her little bull calf, "Andy."

Here's a picture from this morning right before Robert and Jacob took off for Aberdeen. Cora wanted to thank Jacob for all of his help with making Andrew's graduation cakes. Well, when Jacob was so excited about Mylo Hatzenbuhler last week, Cora decided to get him a few cassettes of Mylo's. The song that Jacob loved the most was TO ALL THE COWS I'VE MILKED BEFORE. Guess which cassette Cora bought for him? YUP. Robert is going to be listening to Mylo a LOT today. :)

Once again, I invite all of you to join us at Dagley's farm tomorrow for one of the most enjoyable, laid-back days that you have ever had. I wrote a puppet skit, in which Mylo himself appears, so we'll be taking the puppets with us too. I'll post pictures soon after.

Love to all,

Dawn

My speech

Andrew is such a sweetie! He uploaded this video to YouTube so that I could put it on my blog. I had to tease him because he said that, if it went over 10 minutes, I would have to post it in 2 parts like he did with his speech. I listened to it, though, and it was ONLY 9 minutes and 59 seconds. Now you know how much time it will take you if you want to listen to my thoughts on my son's graduation day--June 7th. I thought that you may want to hear some stories about Andrew's life. ENJOY

Incredible session

WOW--it's been a great morning here so far! We've been trying to get last year's oats sold organically all winter to this mill in Iowa that we've sold to before. They didn't ever need any but now they said that they'll take a sample as they're running low!!! This is VERY good news as our money is running low too. :) Please pray that they will take it, as their price is better than the elevator's, and we need all of the help that we can get!!!!

The other good news is that I had a fantastic session with Elizabeth this morning!!!!! She really feels that it will be life changing in a BIG way!!! You know that my back has been killing me ever since I fell in the barn 6 days ago. It just seemed strange that it wasn't responding well to all that I was doing for it. Yesterday morning then, when I had this thought, "Maybe a session with Elizabeth will help," I emailed her but had doubts that I could get in on such short notice.

Well, isn't it a coincidence that this is the one week that she hadn't lined up clients because of her crazy schedule with her family activities? She worked me in this morning and I will ALWAYS remember this session. Elizabeth herself said that she felt tingling during most of the session (which is unusual) so she knew that the Lord was doing a BIG THING FOR ME!!!

It all had to do with my relationship with my mom. I really feel that this healing could not have happened while she was still alive, as I was just so controlled by her. I learned that lower back pain, which I've had most of my life, is caused by feelings of insecurity and feeling trapped. Sexual abuse is also linked with this so the pain I've felt there probably isn't just from my broken tailbone incidents.

The first formula was very short. First of all we went into a body chemistry concept, "I have had no support in life." Can you see why this would hurt my back as our skeleton supports our bodies? This linked to the lymph in the spleen which sweeps away our negative emotions. This linked to the male energy of having strength to live my life. If you put all of these together you get this. My body/mind wanted to sweep away this concept that I have nobody supporting me in life and link it up to the male energy that I will need to learn to NURTURE MYSELF. This is something that I have been starting to get a glimpse at--the concept that I SHOULD TAKE CARE OF MYSELF BECAUSE I AM NO LONGER A CHILD. Also, just because nobody did it for me when I was little does not mean that I am not supposed to do it for me now. I never knew that I mattered enough to anybody to think that I am special!! I never knew that I AM SUPPOSED TO PLACE ME AS A PRIORITY IN MY LIFE--IT WAS ALWAYS JUST GIVE, GIVE, GIVE FOR OTHER'S PLEASURE!!! IT'S PRETTY NEAT TO THINK THAT IT'S OK TO VALUE MYSELF JUST A LITTLE BIT! If you had parents/family who loved you when you were growing up, you may have to shake your heads at this, but these are the patterns that I learned growing up in a really dysfunctional family.

The second formula was even more fantastic. There was a fragmented matrix in the L2 vertebra which left me stuck in my childhood pain emotionally and stuck with physical pain too. Matrices are things that we build for ourselves to help us cope with life in difficult situations. They work at the time to help us survive but become dysfunctional as our life changes. For instance, most people would frown at me if I showed up at their house sucking my thumb but it's ok when we're children. This was linked to a concept that I need to feel guilty if I say that what other's are doing to me hurts me or if I "Judge" them for abusing me. Can you see how this kept me in the silence which surrounds all incest victims and victims of many other kinds of abuse?

This linked to my stomach which energetically represents my "Digesting" what life throws at me. This linked to ALL of my belief systems and ALL of my emotions. What this says is that this concept that I felt guilty for defending myself from their abuses was affecting EVERY belief and every emotion that I have ever had!!!!

Then the body wanted to unhook all of the neuropeptides within all of the connective tissue of my body. Elizabeth explained that from the book MOLECULES OF EMOTIONS (which I will try to locate soon), she learned that emotions flow through the body naturally. They are to be digested by sharing them with someone who loves us so that they move out through our tears, sweat, and urine. However when there is nobody to talk to about something traumatic, the emotions store in the body as neuropeptides which cause physical pain over time. Elizabeth unhooked these so that I can release all of the negative emotions that I have stored up since the incest.

This whole formula had a definition of the small intestine meridian which she learned was obstructed since I was a child. By opening this up and applying it to the whole formula I will benefit by being able to develop discernment about nurturing myself. By learning how to care for myself, I will be able to grow into the person that I am meant to be!!!!!!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!

I learned that the symptoms of a constructed small intestine meridian are:bloating, gas, constipation, moodiness, pessimism, sighing often, PMS, melancholy, and excessive consumption of raw and cold foods. WOW, when I think about that list there are very few of these that don't describe my whole life. Do you see why Elizabeth and I both feel that this is a session that will totally change my life? There is no longer a reason to remain a victim just to please my mother. There is no longer a reason to "Keep my mouth shut to keep the family shame a secret." Can you imagine how freeing this is for me???????????????

Well, I got some homework. Elizabeth said that for the next 2 weeks or so, the old me will be releasing the old concepts such as, "You don't deserve to express yourself," or "Who do you think that you are to take 10 minutes to write in your blog anyway?" or "Don't you know that there is work to be done--how dare you do a BodyTalk session on yourself in the middle of the day--you're not THAT sick anymore?"

I know that she's right for it's happened twice already since the session and it's only been a few hours. Well, each time I become aware of a self-defeating concept like that, I MUST do cortices.
Cortices links the 2 sides of the brain to work as a unit. People have come out of comas; been saved from death at automobile wrecks; recovered from shingles on the brain... by doing cortices regularly. I guess I'll be doing a lot of cortices in the next few weeks because I have felt, for a few hours now, the joy of what it feels like to know that I am worthy of my own self-love!!! WHAT A SESSION AND WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY IT'S BEEN SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would appreciate if you would keep me in your prayers as I move into becoming the Dawn that God always knew that I would be!!!

After I did cortices immediately following the session, I broke out into praise to the Lord. Suddenly it entered my mind for the first time in my life that I WILL GET TOTALLY WELL--TOTALLY WELL. That is my birthright and I'm going after it today and every day for the rest of my days on earth. PRAISE THE LORD!!! PRAISE YE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bee stings

Hello again,
My aunt just sent this to me. Hardly ever do I have the time to read forwards but, as you may imagine, bee stings are a topic of interest to me. Anyway, these folks are looking at bee stings as something bad, which they certainly are for those few who are allergic to them. A different aunt was telling Cora at my mom's funeral that they raise bees and never have arthritis and numerous other common complaints of aging. They get stung every so often and the bee venom helps them to stay healthy as is common knowledge amongst bee keepers. None-the-less, most people prefer not to deal with the pain of a bee sting so I pass this information on as a preventative. It sounds interesting enough to try and, if I ever got stung by a wasp or a hornet etc, I would certainly do this immediately.


This information may be something worth remembering , as summer is here again. It might be wise to carry a penny in your pocket while working in the yard as an antidote to BEE STINGS !
A couple of weeks ago, I was stung by both a bee and hornet while working in the garden. My arm swelled up, so I went to the doctor. The clinic gave me cream and an antihistamine. The next day the swelling was getting progressively worse, so I went to my regular doctor. The arm was infected and needed an antibiotic..The doctor told me: "The next time you get stung, put a penny on the stung area for 15 minutes". That night, my niece was stung by two bees. I looked at the bite and it had already started to swell. So, I taped a penny to her arm for 15 minutes. The next morning, there was no sign of a bite. We decided that she just wasn't allergic to the sting.
Soon, I was gardening outside. I got stung again, twice by a hornet on my left hand. I thought, "Here I go again to the doctor for another antibiotic," but then I remembered what the doctor had said. I promptly got my money out and taped two pennies to my bites, then sat and sulked for 15 minutes. The penny took the sting out of the bite immediately. In the meantime the hornets were attacking, and my friend was stung on the thumb. Again we used the penny trick. The next morning I could only see the spot where the hornet had stung me-- there was no redness, no swelling. My friend's sting was the same; couldn't even tell where she had been stung. She got stung again a few days later upon her back while cutting the grass! The penny worked once again!!
I wanted to share this marvelous information in case you experience the same problem. We need to keep a stock of pennies on hand. The doctor said that the copper in the penny counteracts the bite. It definitely works! Please remember this and pass this information on to your friends, children, and grandchildren.

More than you realize

Dear friends,
I'm writing to encourage you to continue doing good works for the King. You may never know how much your example may be inspiring others to stay true to the Lord. "Little things" may mean more than you realize to somebody who is lonely; or sad; or wounded in some way. An example of this is the card that we got from our dear friends last week. They were at Andrew's graduation and the father shared, right before they left, that he was so glad for Andrew's fine example of Godly manhood to their young sons. We were still surprised, though, to read these glad words.

Dear Bornemanns,
I want to thank you all for the wonderful testimony of your lives that was evident at Andrew's graduation! It's a struggle in our day to keep our children's hearts and to raise children strong in the Lord. I again am just writing to say, "Thank you" for your being faithful to truth and to our wonderful Savior!
We had a great day on Sunday!
Thank you and may the Lord give to all strength to "Stand" as our world becomes darker and darker.
In Christian love.

On the front of the card it says, "Thinking of you today." On the inside is printed, "Through the moments of this day, whatever they may hold, may you sense Christ's deep and abiding love!"

I encourage you then, to keep serving the Lord each day for you may be blessing others you never even dreamed were needing encouragement. It would be wonderful, too, if others bless your life, to drop them a short note of appreciation like our friends did to us. We need each other to strengthen the body of Christ in these quiet, little ways. Praise the Lord for this wonderful family who encouraged us with their card!!!

Review of the week

How can it be a whole week since Andrew's graduation already? I guess that's what happens when a family is VERY busy. I see that Andrew finished burning the DVD of the graduation day. He wants to hand copies out to his special friends at Prairie Days this coming weekend. I further see that he posted his graduation speech on his blog this morning, so feel free to go there to hear his thoughts on the momentous occasion--the link is on my sidebar. I'll ask him if he can help me download mine too. Maybe I should listen to it first, though, as I can't remember everything that I said. :)

Like I said, we were super busy this past week. The guys almost got all of the sunflowers planted, but ran out of week. There are just 35 acres to plant yet and we're praying that they can finish that in the morning before the showers come which are foretold to us. It would be great to get a good inch or two of rain. I'm just praying that it doesn't come 15 hundredths a day for a week--that kind of gloom is very hard on a strong melancholy disposition like mine.

Cora, Jacob, and I got the rest of our big garden planted on this side of the road. I had hoped to finish the small garden across the road today but Cora isn't feeling well and Robert needs Jacob to help get the semi ready to roll this week. Still, it feels great to have accomplished so much in the garden and to see the rows emerge as the weeds are picked and laid down as mulch for the plants.

Also last week we got some business taken care of at the North Dakota BodyTalk Center before the FCS annual meeting. It was good to meet with my partners and pay my bills. I now own 1/5th of everything in the office. Now I need to do more sessions to help climb out of the hole. :) I still owe Robert for my last year's classes, plus I want to take more this fall, so I'd best get some more paying customers. If you know of anyone who has too much stress in their life, send them my way for BodyTalk sessions! Sessions last an hour and the price is $35 at the center and $30 for a distant session. How's that for some free advertising? :)

I already wrote about the annual meeting; buying the baler; picking rocks; driving tractor; hurting my back but not a word about Napoleon's 125th birthday party. Well, Jacob is a 4 H member and all of the 4 H clubs in Logan county had a booth at the Quasi. Tamara Svanes and I took a 2 hour shift manning the booth with our children, Olivia, Sophia, & Jacob on Friday night.

It was great fun! Finally Tamera and I actually got to visit a little bit and the children worked great--after they realized that they weren't just there to eat free popcorn. :) Here are some pictures of that fun evening. Tamara posed for me while Jacob is ready to get to work.

I'm not certain that this isn't my only picture with my neighbor and friend, Tamera Svanes. It's about time, isn't it Tamera? She's stuck by me through thick and thin (hasn't been much thick really) and always has a word of wisdom to share at moments when I'm "Lost". From her years as a medical doctor, Tamera learned much about dealing with people and I am soooooo blessed to have her friendship. Here's to you, Tamera! May we serve popcorn and pizza together for decades! Any other fun group ideas are welcome also!

A real live customer. Run and get his ice, cold water Jacob!

A picture of the crew taking a break. Olivia is in the

green shirt and Sophia is in the pink. Jacob's orange

shirt makes for an interesting "Team" image. "OH MOM,

WHO CARES WHAT WE LOOK LIKE?????????"

The most fun part was making the popcorn in the real

movie-theatre-sized popcorn maker. I am a popcorn

making nut, you may recall. Here Olivia was helping me

put the popcorn in right after I had added the oil. Wait about

10 minutes and listen to it pop!!! I don't know why I love

that so much but it really tickles my funny bone. The smell

is incredible too. What a great deal this was. A VERY

large bag for only 50 cents--and workers got it FREE!!!

Yesterday, the children and I spent the day at Napoleon and it was GREAT!!! The bad news is that we all forgot to take our cameras along! Can you believe it? Well, the parade was awesome and I was so proud of my children for not taking any bags along to snatch candy with. It's not that they think they're too old, it's just that they know that candy weakens their immune systems and we're finally getting over this dastardly cough. I watched repeatedly as the "Neighbors" children (nobody we knew) ran over and took "OUR" candy and very seldom did anyone protest. Andrew did get his cap full with a few things that nobody could resist but that's a far cry short of the bags of junk we used to bring home from such events. GOOD FOR YOU CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the parade, Cora delivered her cake to the Senior Center and we ate our sack lunch at the park. Then we hunted for a parking place and finally made our way under the big tent just in time to see ANDREW THE MAGICIAN perform his not too breathtaking magical tricks. Then Cora and I gritted our teeth through half an hour of yodeling (just not our preference in singing), while the boys went out into the hot sun again to see the re-enactment of an old time shoot out. All of the bad guys got killed, and only one good guy did, so justice was obtained.

The program under the tent got better as Mylo Hatzenbuhler was on the program for an hour. I've never seen Jacob laugh so hard in all of his life and Cora and Andrew were almost splitting seams. After the show, I ended up buying a CD because of his song SUPER CATTLE GROWTH HORMONE which makes one think if you can stop laughing long enough. I told Clyde that we're organic farmers and he asked for our card as he's pondering doing a song about organics. God only knows where that will go.

Back to the program--after Mylo the Silo, the Army brass quintet played and were they ever gooooooooooooooooood! I was so happy that the children got to see a real trombone player, who even had a solo during one song. Lastly Clyde Bouman came back and filled the tent with his incredible tenor voice. He kept praising the Lord--one song after another of pure praise to the Father in Heaven. WOW.

Next Cora and I stood around holding hats and Gerbers so that the boys could go bounce in the HUGE air bouncers. I can't even think what they're called, but you've seen them at celebrations. After we ran out of water, we headed for home. We had thought of going back for fireworks after chores but my back was killing me from sitting so long. Jacob was bummed because, although I said that I wasn't going back in to town, his siblings didn't want to take him in either. I comforted him with, "We'll see lots of fireworks if we go to the rodeo on the 4th of July in Mandan." Now I hope it works out for us to go!

So that brings me to today. I'm a bit upset with myself because I didn't give Cora the extra BodyTalk sessions that she needed this month, but we've been sooooo busy. Well, when I was doing the session just now, it came up that I should do reflexology on the ovaries. I don't know if you've ever had this experience where you find something that works really well but then you forget about it in the light of another wonderful discovery. I've used reflexology for years but it has definitely taken the back seat to BodyTalk. Still, it came up today so I got out my book. Now I've seen lots of books on Reflexology but I think that this one is the best. It's called ONE TOUCH HEALING and it is so easy to understand and the diagrams are soooo helpful.

Cora's BT session was pretty long, with the reflexology thrown in there, and my back was getting very sore when I had this thought, "I wonder if reflexology would help my back?" I looked in the concordance and found the right page and Cora and I went after it. She was lying on the couch so I gave her my foot and I worked the reflexes on my hands. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS WORKS!!!!!

While Cora fell asleep, I came back to life and started working on laundry. Now I've been sitting here this whole time and my back is only a little tired and the pain is almost gone. WOW!!!!!!! So being this blog is called A RAY OF HOPE, and my goal has always been to share everything that I learn that helps me with my and other's health problems, today I encourage you to study reflexology. You can't go wrong as this energy is already within us but it gets blocked from stress. The concept is very similar to BodyTalk's and can be very helpful in conjunction with BT. I still think that nothing will ever work as good as BT because nothing that I know of anyway deals with the emotional causes of the stress which is killing us. Still, it we can get the energy flowing more quickly through Reflexology, I say "GO FOR IT!!! Check it out--you only have pain to lose.

Well, if you've read all of this you probably need a break, so here's a free tip from my book ONE TOUCH HEALING. Any time that you get tired, you can revitalize yourself with this simple technique. Put your hand on back of your head. Run your hand down the neck to the place where there is a small indent. Massage lightly here for about a minute and you will be surprised how suddenly you will receive a new burst of energy to get you through the rest of your day. I love this little trick and have used it thousands of times over the years. I pray that you too will give yourself a free lift any time that you are weary. It's called ONE TOUCH HEALING!!

Love and blessings to all,

Dawn

Geography Song

Cora just showed me how to put this video on my blog from her blog. Do you suppose I'll remember how to do it on my own later? I don't usually like to duplicate what she has done but this was MY favorite part of Andrew's graduation program too. Andrew and I had so much fun doing this and, when Clifford Johnson (seen in the kitchen doorway) got people clapping, I couldn't resist joining in. As soon as Chuck sends us the DVD of the whole graduation, we'll put on more video clips--like the puppet show, the slide show, our family song, and speeches. We can hardly wait for it to come, but in the meantime, there's lots of work to be done in the garden; putting things in order here after the graduation; and doing BT sessions.

Later,

Dawn

Dumb

OH FOR DUMB!!!!!!! Last night when I was finishing hand milking (she doesn't let all of her milk out with the machine) Jacob's cow, Lilac, I was reaching for the salve container. It was further away than usual, and no children happened to be there at the moment to hand it to me, so I reached a little further. It was just out of reach so I reached a little further and then it happened. I fell off of my pail. Since the shingles on my brain, I always sit on a 5 gallon pail (turned upside down) while milking my cow. This way I don't have to look down which STILL makes me dizzy after 3 years.
Anyway, I reached for the salve container when suddenly the pail slipped out from underneath me. I fell on the hard floor at just the wrong angle. My formerly broken tailbone hit the piece of wood that sticks up and it HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Immediately I did deep reciprocal #4 to the back of shoulder-back of hip. This helped quite a bit and then I did #16 occiput to sacrum which helped even more. I was able to sweep the floor; get the milkers washing; milk a few goats; and limp to the house. Jacob and I soaked in the whirlpool and I took some clove capsules which help for pain. I put the ice pack on and went to bed. I slept pretty well considering and only stirred when Robert woke up in the dark of early morning to go over and plow all day.
The good part is that Cora had just let Cheerio out 2 minutes before this. If Cheerio would have been in her stall, I would have fallen right underneath her. She tends to be on the jittery side of things so I could have gotten a nice kick to the head or chest too. Praise the Lord that this did not happen! I find that when I'm in pain, Polyanna's glad game comes in handy. All you have to do is find something good in the situation and focus on this instead of on the pain or sorrow. Being we can only focus on one thing at a time, the good begins to appear bigger than the bad and one goes on their way truly happy. Judging from this pain in my back, I'll be playing the glad game a LOT today. I just pray that the tail bone isn't broken AGAIN. It's been broken 3 times already so it is weaker than the average tail bone. OH HELP, LORD!!!!!!!!!
The first move I made this morning told me that it wasn't just a little injury, so I'm icing it again. Please keep me in your prayers today as we need to prepare for Sabbath; finish setting out the plants the Dagleys sold us at the graduation; and sell pizza in Napoleon tonight at their 125th birthday party. OUCH--just thinking of it makes my back hurt!

Big Day

Last night Robert and I had our yearly date at the Farm Credit Services annual meeting. It was a wonderful treat to get away with my sweetie! The supper was great and the speaker was even worth listening to for once. They usually get some dorky speaker, but this guy was the ATTITUDE DOCTOR. He was really funny but also made the point that we need to realize that WE can be old grumps to others which pull them down. He took a roll of toilet paper and put it on a string and hung it around his neck. He said that negative thinking is like waste which poisons others. Then he brought one out with 3 rolls on it and said that this is one you can use to depict a REALLY big grump. He did advise against hanging them on people, but setting them at some one's place at the table might not be a bad idea on days when others are pulling you down. We're pondering doing this as a word picture can really make a dent that words alone don't at times. I know that seeing him in my mind, with that necklace of a toilet paper roll, will make me think twice when I feel that I MUST vent on my family because so and so is a real jerk. I'll more easily remind myself to just let that stuff go and build on the positive. It was a great evening!!!

Robert also had a big day as he got the paperwork signed to purchase the big square baler which is a dream-come-true for him. More on this later when I have some pictures.

I just learned, from Jonathan Bartlett's blog which I finally had time to read, that today is a different kind of big day than the one we had on Sunday. I think that this is REALLY important so I won't say much about it. Please take time to listen to this 10 minute video about some people who are really trying to save our country. It is soooooooo wonderful to realize that, we the people, have the power to take back our country for God!!!!!!!!!! Please pass this on ASAP so as to make as big a punch in the aristocracy as possible. Never did I think that America would be so disgraced as to have an aristocracy but SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT THEY'RE PRETTY SPECIAL. I wonder what they'll feel like when they stand before GOD at their death?
Let's join together folks--it's never been easier than now with the Internet. Why do you suppose that "THEY" are thinking of taking it away from "US?"

Frustrated and Farming

This is ridiculous. I have been feasting since Sunday night after half a month of fasting on the Master Cleanse. This means that in the past 48 hours I have had several white flour buns; lots of our baked beans; plenty of tortilla chips with salsa and hot cheese dip; 1 glass of punch; and 3 pieces of cake. Today I have a sore throat. How can that be? I fought off Robert's bug for almost a month as long as I stayed off of sugar and white flour. Now just a few "Cheats" later, I have a sore throat which is how Robert's bug started. ): I guess I just cannot handle sugar and that's that. Of course, I also know that stress plays a role in weakening our immune systems and I've had a little of that this weekend too.

Then today I GOT to drive tractor most of the afternoon. I was complaining to Robert that I kept picking up rocks in between the disc blades. This means that I had to take the 100 pound (only a slight exaggeration) disc wrench out to the disc. After using leverage to pry the rocks out, I had to drag that thing back to the cab; hoist it up to the floor of the cab which is about 2 feet above my head; climb back in the tractor; and then lift it over the seat as it rests behind the seat. Robert told me not to complain about being held up with all of this because, when I was finished discing, I get to pick rocks. LOVELY!!!!!!!

I finally got the field finished about 4:00 and then did some deep reciprocals while I waited for Cora and Jacob to pick me up with the 9030. Jacob drove and Cora and I picked rocks until 7:00. It was cool and damp and miserable and my throat started to REALLY hurt. This was when I decided that I better get back to placing my health as a priority.

So I'm going in to my room to exercise. According to Peggy Brill, the author of the Core program, you should never skip more than 2 days in a row or your muscles will start to go backwards. I didn't do it last night because I wanted to finish my post about the graduation party. I didn't exercise for 2 nights before as I was at the graduation party or preparing for it, but now I am going. My neck and shoulders really ache and that is the best antidote, so I'm going now. :)

Can you tell that I'm trying to talk myself into this? Why is it that I never need to talk myself into eating sugar or white flour, when I know that they are bad for me? Why must I talk hard to convince myself that it is time to exercise or mix up a new batch of lemonade? I suppose the reason is that I am a sinner and like Paul says, "That which I would not, I do; and that which I would do, I don't." Sometimes I get so sick of the sin in me that I could just scream, "Why didn't anybody love me enough to use the rod on me when I was little?" Proverbs 22:15 says, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." Now I am stuck as an adult, with all of this foolishness in me, and I have to wait until God can get through my thick skull to prune it out of me. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, LORD, AND DO YOUR GOOD WORK IN SPITE OF ME TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Graduation Day

Well, Andrew's graduation day is history now. It was such a wonderful day for all of us that I'm sure it will remain bright in our memories as a highlight in our lives just as Cora's graduation day was. Andrew did VERY well with all that he was required to do but went beyond the requirements and touched people's hearts. Robert and I were both so pleased with him

as he took this step into manhood which Robert calls, "Rights of passage." We both think it is essential for our children to have a day like this to acknowledge that they are no longer children-that they have now stepped over into adulthood.

Cora's former music teacher, Rev. Lane Keister, played piano for about 45 minutes before the program started as people came in and sat down. People were just amazed as he got that old piano rumbling in ways that I'm sure it hasn't since he played at Cora's graduation 4 years ago. He definitely is a VERY gifted musician, the likes of which is not usually heard in North Dakota. Thank you, Lane, for blessing us in this way. This was a great way to begin the afternoon and

the program followed. Here is what was on the program.

Introduction and Welcome by Robert

Pledge of Allegiance & Recitation of 10 Commandments

Instrumental music by boys: BLACKBERRY BLOSSOM

A word from the Principal--(Robert's thoughts) with poem, "IF"

Family song:WITH MY SONG

A word from the teacher (Me) with poem, "TROUBLE TROUBLE"

Valedictorian's Address with Poem, "Farmer's Prayer"

Geography Class Skit by Andrew and Dawn

Presentation of Diploma

Puppet show, "Would you grad-ge-ate Jethro?"

with the Dagley children providing music

Andrew's life pictures slideshow

Open mic--Bring a song to share

Closing prayer with Pastor Steve Kyner

I'm hoping to be able to post the video of Andrew and I doing the Geography Class song soon. Andrew did so well and the people just loved him. I enjoyed being able to share the way that we do things in our school and also some of what we have learned.

During the open mic time these friends blessed us with music or a poem: Angelica Miller, Delores Miller, Clifford Johnson, the Dagley family, my brother Rick, Sarah Keister, Robert's mom, and Cora and I played our piano duet. We did, "Fugue on a Russian Theme" and it went ok. It wasn't like playing it on our own piano but it was a good thing that Lane got all of the dust out of the thing before we played. :) At least we couldn't use THAT as an excuse for our mistakes. :) It was more like a case of weak nerves, but Robert said that it sounded good so maybe others didn't notice our bloopers as much as we did. :)

Our puppet show went ok. We were trying out a new concept of putting the puppets in front of us instead of killing our shoulders lifting them up over the top of the stage. We had done puppets like that in Bismarck Baptist because our puppets were not full body puppets. This means that they had no legs so we had to put them over the top of the stage. However our puppets do have legs so it made sense to try putting them out in front of us. It worked great in that our shoulders didn't weary at all. When we watched the video of it this afternoon, though, we all had a good laugh. Most of the time our puppet's feet weren't on the floor--they were hanging in mid air!!! I had noticed it about half way through the skit and kept Polly's feet down better after that but the first half was pretty bad. Oh well, that's how we learn. If we never try anything, we'll never make any mistakes, to be sure. We'll never accomplish anything though either, right? How's that for a recovering perfectionist? Anyway, it was sooo much fun to be able to work with my children in this way. It was a dream come true for, ever since directing puppets at our church in Bismarck 17 years ago, I have dreamed of having a family puppet ministry. Perhaps this will become a reality in the future?

I'd best move on. This is the picture of the punch table. Jerome, Robert's cousin, is helping himself while the Geiger girls and Amanda Dagley visit having caught up with their work. It's always nice, when home schoolers have an event, to see the young people visiting with each other. Check Cora's blog for pictures of the adults visiting. :)

The boys and I are reciting Exodus 20:1-17 here. This is the long version of the 10 Commandments which we recited at the beginning of every school day for the past 17 years. I don't know if I had the jitters or if we just should have gone over it once beforehand, but in a few spots I blundered. This means that I wasn't perfect--oh my. Andrew chuckled under his breath and kept going. Jacob wasn't feeling the best so he didn't really lead out--therefore it was a good thing that we had Andrew with us. :)

The boys are playing Blackberry Blossom here. What a joy it was to see them enjoying music so much that they would choose to share a song. My mom would have LOVED hearing this!

Here Robert is sharing his thoughts about raising Andrew. It wasn't hard to tell that he has a very deep love and affection for this son who is so much like him. Many of us were wet eyed when he was finished--including Robert!


Me in my yellow dress sharing some stories about Andrew's life that only a mother could know.

Here Andrew is giving his speech. Being I had shared that he taught me how to combine sunflowers, he thought he would explain how I happened to get lost that night in the dark. He is a good story teller, an art which is fast disappearing in the computer age. He did such a good job of explaining why he was glad that he was home schooled and Robert and I wiped our eyes several times. I'm sure that he will post the video of this sometime soon.

Our first born son, Andrew Robert Bornemann, on his graduation day.

Here Robert is reading the diploma and Andrew is waiting for his father to hand it to him.

This is Angelica Miller singing THE VIA DOLAROSA. She is the daughter of our friends, Lyle and Becky Miller. It was beautiful especially when she sang one verse in Spanish. Becky was indispensable in the kitchen and as always, her smile lights up my world. Thanks for coming and sharing Miller family!

These are our friends, the Dagley family. Four years ago, when there family was larger by three children, they sang BE THOU MY VIVISON. Andrew REALLY likes that song and asks for it many times in school or church hymn sings. I wasn't at all surprised when he asked them to sing it for his special day. As always, the hearts of this family blesses ours!

This is Delores Miller whom our family has grown up thinking of as a grandma. She took a poem out of her pocket in the kitchen and said, "I was going to read this for Andrew." It was "IF" by Rodyard Kipling which Robert had just read a few minutes earlier. We laughed together. She said that she had a second selection along and would read that instead. This taught me the value of being prepared with an alternate song or reading when I REALLY want to be able to share something for someone special. Thanks Delores!

This is a picture of our dear friend, Clifford Johnson, who sang about our Lord's sacrifice on the cross. He also helped Ellen and her crew in the kitchen when he wasn't jamming with the Dagleys and later with Andrew and Rick included. Clifford and Ellen are examples of what I wrote about at the top of this blog. They don't know the meaning of the word "Old," and just keep getting

better every year! We could not have gotten through the day without their help and their love.

This is a picture of Robert's mom, Marly Bornemann. She conquered her fear of public speaking and did a great job. She read, "The Farmer's Son" to Andrew. It was as though someone wrote it just about Andrew and we all had lumps in our throats. What a fitting tribute it was to the graduate AND to Marly's own son, Robert. :)

Here is a picture of most of the Keister family. Lane at the piano is playing for Sarah who sang, Psalm 121. This is the song that Lane accompanied for Cora 4 years ago when she sang it for her graduation. Sarah is a former opera singer and now challenges herself by singing with a baby on her hip. How wonderful it was to hear you again, Sarah!

This is our pastor, Steve Kyner, right before he blessed the meal. He was saying that he remembers when he came to Alfred that Andrew was "So tall." We were very glad and honored that he and Vangie were able to join us for the afternoon. :)

This is a picture of Andrew after supper. He was showing Justus Geiger how his turntable works. It's built to hold 90 pounds so Andrew had taken the bathroom scale along to make sure that nobody heavier than that stood on it. He's just a little protective of his Lego creations--kind of like me with my goats. :) Andrew told me one time that he has over a thousand dollars stuck into his Lego collection. He certainly drew lots of attention to himself at his Lego creation display where he shared with everyone what he really loves--creating things. I often wonder if he likes yellow because that's the predominant color that Legos come in or does he like Legos because they're yellow? I wonder if we'll ever know?

This is the litle lady who kept the kitchen running smoothly all afternoon--our friend Ellen Johnson. She manned that kitchen like a battleship and not a minute was wasted in preparing the supper. By the time the program was ended, food was being set out on the tables and I never had to lift a finger. What a gift that was!!!! Then Ellen said, "You go and eat with your family." When I protested that the guests should go first, she said, "If you want me to run your kitchen, then you have to follow my orders." We laughed together and I picked up a plate. She said that the family should eat first and then visit with the guests instead of worrying about the food. How's that for a friend? Other ladies helping in the kitchen were Roxanne Gill from Eureka; Delores Miller from Streeter; Becky Miller from Streeter; and the Geiger girls from Baldwin. Cake cutters were Estella Merkel and Marly Bornemann, both of Eureka, SD.

When all of the kitchen was spik and span after supper, Ellen sat down to rest. This was when she picked up her crochet hook. Talk about an amzing woman!!!!!!!!! I have learned so much from Ellen about preparing food--whether for a family or for a crowd. May God bless you richly, Ellen, for how you have blessed my life with your wonderful friendship!

May God richly bless all who helped us to celebrate Andrew's life yesterday, June 7th, 2009. Thanks for all of your prayers that helped make the day a joyous celebration for Andrew!!! Feel free to check Cora's blog for more pictures and Andrew's blog for some videos of the big day.

One thing that I just noticed, as I proofread this post, is that there are no pictures of Cora. How can this be? Well, it's because she was the one taking all of the pictures. Chuck said that he'll send all of the pictures that he took soon so then we'll have pictures of all of us doing things throughout the program. I'm sure that SOMEBODY here will post some of them and then you can see Cora in her cute outfit that she redid from an old prom dress.

Happily tired,

Dawn