Do you know this song?

 I'm sorry I missed my post on Sunday but my daughter and her family were here from MN.  We had the WHOLE FAMILY here!!  YAY--all 13 of us were gathered around our table!!!!!!!! 

 Robert and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary on the 10th of October.  It keeps getting better and better with my sweetie as we see the Lord's rewards for serving Him.  We've had a LOT of lean years with too much work and too little support but God saw us through them all!!

  Robert and I have been blessed with 6 grandchildren.  They are all age 5 and under.  When they get to running through the house, they can make a LOT of noise.  IT'S SO WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Our oldest grandchild is Elise Joyce.  Her daddy taught her this song with the actions.  I asked Elsie to teach me the hand motions but she WENT TOO FAST.  This morning I decided to find the song and learn it so I can keep up with Elsie the next time we get together!  ;)

  The guys have begun the corn harvest and finished the first field late last night.  Please pray that the equipment all keeps working and the weather keeps cooperating as we have about 450 more acres to go.

  Our other big news is that we're putting up a shop building this year.  The cement crew was here and got all of the cement poured.  PLEASE pray that the weather stays nice and the building gets put up.  It is just way too cold to work outside in North Dakota Winters.

Here's Elsie's song done by older kids.  I couldn't resist this version, though, as they are in hot air balloons.  Robert and I had a blast flying over the Napa Valley grape vineyards on our 30th anniversary trip to California.

Have a great new week serving the Lord!

Dawn

You Mean they STILL Need ME?

 Hi everyone,

  Boy has there ever been a lot of excitement around here!  The cement crew came last week and poured the major part of our new shop floor.  Yesterday they came and poured the apron on the East side of the building where the semis will enter for parking at night.  Today they're pouring the South apron which is where tractors, trucks, or other vehicles will enter to get worked on.  

  OUR GUYS ARE ELATED TO BE GETTING THE SHOP OF THEIR DREAMS!!  No more frozen fingers and toes in the Winters!!  I'm excited, too, as I won't have men pacing for weeks and weeks in the Winters wishing that they could be doing something useful!!

  I'll try to share a few pictures from the pour.   That is IF I can figure out how to do that.  UG.  In the meantime, I'll make a few comments about the article I'm sharing today.  

  I found this article encouraging.  I must have some VERY independent adult children as they seem to  be doing a pretty good job on their own.  As I read this article, though, I had to question my assumption that they don't need me any  more.  You mean those "Little" things that I do to lift them up is really appreciated?  It would seem so.

  Well, I won't ruin the article for you by saying too much.  However, if you're a parent of adults, this article is for YOU.  You are still important to your children!!

  Have a great new week!!

  Dawn

PS.  Our soybean harvest is finished.  Now we're waiting for the corn to dry off a bit more before putting it in the bin!

 

Parents. What is the deal about needing our parents? As a young adult, I envisioned that one day I would not need my parents anymore. But actually it is the opposite – as we age, we need our parents more than ever. The evolution of how much we need our parents changes with every age. As a child, we rely on our parents to satisfy all of our needs. As we gain independence in early adulthood, we rely much less on our parents. Possibly even to the point where we do not feel like we need them. Then, in adulthood, when we start having our own families and become parents ourselves, we regress. We need our parents more than ever. Why is that? There are many reasons for this…

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

---

Adult children need their parents for financial support. Approximately 75% of parents help their adult children financially. Whether this is a result of the recent recession or something else, adult children on leaning on their parents for financial support. In some instances, to the expense of their parent’s retirement.  It is a natural parental instinct to want to help out your children stemming from a place of love. After all, just because your child hits 18 does not mean you are not their parent anymore. More than financial support, more adult children are living with their parents than before. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans ranging from ages 18-34 are more likely to live with their parents than with a spouse or other living arrangement. This trend applies to every demographic group. One explanation for this is because young adults are not getting married. Therefore, they clearly not living with a spouse or partner. Is it a bad thing to be so close with your parents that you live with them? Not necessarily. After all, your parents are the reason you are here.  

BECOMING A PARENT

---

No one will argue what a life changing moment become a parent is. However, for me, it is when I realized exactly how much I needed my parents. A new baby is demanding and arrives with a learning curve. During that learning curve, I leaned on my parents more than I had in years. I leaned on my parents, now the grandparents, for their child-rearing experience, guidance, and support. Sometimes it was a simple visit, a phone call, or text.  After all, who better to look to for advice than someone who has done this before, and in my parent’s case four times. I found that my parent’s help in raising my child was essential and it felt natural. It is a natural flow for parents to “parent” their adult children at any age, particularly as their children have children.

THE GRANDPARENT ROLE

---

Your children need your parents.  Grandparents have a special unique role to play in your child’s life. So regardless of whether you think you need your parents as an adult, your parents have a role to play in your children’s life. Grandparents offer your child love, adventure, and they pass on family traditions. As your children age, your parents will be able to tell stories of what life was like when you were a child.  Plus, grandparents have the time, at least more time than they had when they were raising their own kids, to spend on your children which creates a sacred bond between the child and grandparent, and is rewarding for both.

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT

---

We need our parents for emotional support. It doesn’t matter if they live geographically close because it is easy to keep in touch in the digital age.  For the first time, parents are able to provide emotional support from any distance. Who better to affirm that you are “adulting” properly than your parents? You can trust your parents to listen and give advice that is in your best interest.  Let’s face it – most likely your parents have seen you at your worst. They still like you even after surviving your toddler tantrums, your awkward middle school days, and endured your teenage years. You can truly bare your soul to your parents when you confide in them in a way that you might not be able to with a friend.

---

We need our parents as adults more than ever for the same reason we needed them as kids. We are always evolving yet our parents will always be a permanent figure in our lives. They are our first friend, our first love, and the most enduring relationship in our lives.

For more informational posts about grandparents, follow our FAMILY category. 

Sources: Why Are So Many Adults Living With Their Parents?

God KNOWS what you're going through!

 

What are you Harvesting?

 

The guys are starting our soybean harvest today.  

 How can Summer be over?  

  If you've read here for long, you know that I am a Summer lover.  Walking barefoot.  Picnics with family. Digging in the dirt.  Going for a swim.  What can be better than NO COATSS--NO GLOVES--NO HATS--NO BOOTS--NO SCARVES?????

  Still, I do love living where there are 4 seasons.  I do love Summer cooling off into Autumn and Winter following where hot chocolate is the very best thing on the planet.  Then, after we're weary of being locked inside for months and months, comes the Spring with new life and new hope.  

  I have much I had hoped to do today including making my world famous "Freezer Tomato Sauce" that my daughter and I used to make together every year.  I have to get some blue jeans washed for my guys plus I have sick clients needing my attention.  Then there's tea tomorrow--HERE!!

  So, although I have much calling for my attention, my usual Sunday post kept calling to me.  "Dawn, Dawn" it said "Your readers are waiting for an update."  So here it goes.

  I still need prayers for my son; his wife; and their 3 sons.  They got a nasty bug about 3 weeks ago and they keep giving it back and forth to each other. Pray for them to destroy that creepy thing soon!

  Then I'm asking for prayers for a safe harvest.  This year has been exceptionally upsetting as there was a 3 person murder/1 person suicide right here in a wheatfield of ND!  Also 2 other farmers around us were killed in farm accidents.  Please pray for safety for farmers world-wide as I so often do.

  Prayers for strength are always appreciated.  I had hoped that the rumor I heard earlier this year would be true.  "They" were saying that med-beds would be available for the public and I got excited when I heard that news.  This MS pain gets worse when it's cold outside so I'm still hoping and praying for some med bed treatments soon.

  Pray for my dog, Boomer.  He hurt his right front foot somehow.  I've been working on him but it's "Interesting" working with an energetic half-grown German Shepherd.  Have I shared his picture here yet?  HERE'S BOOMER!

  Basically, it's a super busy time of year with the crops and the garden produce ready to harvest.  It's exciting to reap what we have sown and tended to all Summer.  Now to get the harvest done!

  As you know, I love poetry so I went in search of a poem that expresses my thoughts today.  This is IT!!!

  Have a great week serving the Lord,

  Dawn

Harvest

A prayer for those

Whose lives are thin

And shelves devoid of

Bread and tin.

A stronger prayer

For those who stand

With more than enough

In every hand.

For in God's Kingdom

Love is King

And generosity

The trendy thing.

• There is no lack
  Or chance despair.
  No deprivation.
  No hunger there.
  In God's town..
  No cupboards bare.
  No hungry child.
  No shadow there.
  In the City of Angel's
  No fears you'll find
  For hope and joy
  Are all refined..
  ..by hands and feet
  Of those who love
  And serve the one
  true God above.
  So come on people!
  Come and see
  What God can do through you.
  Through me.
  It's Harvest
  And in the Autumn glow
• The words of truth are
• "Reap" and "sow"

For heaven need not

be a 'distant place'

If we love our neighbour,

At this time.

In this space.

So here's my prayer;

Dear God above..

Open our hearts

Through the power of Your love

And help us to see, every moment we live,

With the eyes of Your generous Spirit.

Teach us kindness.

Teach us to give.

For the path may be narrow

But our hearts can be wide.

Under God's season of plenty..

..and blessing

No-one can hide.

And in closing I ask

That I never walk by.

That I look that God given task

Square in the eye.

Keep me soft in the heart

Never letting it harden.

That the Eden we seek

Is right here in this garden.

Copyright © Christopher Grieves | Year Posted 2020

You TOO?

Isn't it wonderful to know that God IS bigger than we are?  

God has the answers to our problems!!  

God IS the answer to our emptiness.

God is everything to me and still I need more of His presence. 

 I thirst for more of God's closeness to me.

 I long to be more like Him.

 I hunger for God to make me into the person He wants me to be!!

 I long for ALL of God's people to want MORE of HIM too!

 Dawn

Powerful Enemies

 This may come as a surprise to some but I have many enemies. 

 The school system despises me for home schooling my children for 22 years. So do my family of origin and Robert's family of origin.  

 The religious system despises me for keeping the Sabbath rest from Friday night at dark to Saturday night at dark.

  The medical system despises me and has tried to destroy me for my work as a Christian energy worker.  Heaven forbid that people be strong and healthy but then, where's the money for the sick care system in that?

  Now that I bring up the word, "Christian," I must also say that most of the world despises me for my faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I neither patronize the liquor industry nor the tobacco industry.  I don't even buy most of the sugary food items for sale in the grocery stores.  Indeed, I hardly ever go out to eat nor do I attend movies except on rare occasions when there is one worth watching.   

  The government most likely despises me for my stand for gun ownership; freedom of speech; and parent's rights to care for their children in the way that they see best.  

  These are all some pretty powerful enemies.  Sometimes, when I look around me, the combined effect would make me shutter except for ONE thing.  Rather, I should say ONE PERSON--the Lord of ALL!!

  I just heard this song on "Rejoice Radio" and my heart is singing.  My daddy makes all of the difference.  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  

  I pray that you are blessed today as you, too, serve the Lord in the midst of powerful enemies!

Dawn

All I can do is Pray?

 So many people are grieving the death of a loved one.  I don't know this family from North Dakota but I heard about them on the local news.  Now I am grieving for them.  They're a farm family and it's harvest time and now they're burying FOUR family members.

We may never know why but there were 3 murders and 1 suicide in a wheat field just a 3 hour drive from us.  HOW CAN THAT BE??  It leaves one numb just to think about what that family must be going through.

I've been praying for the surviving members of this shattered family!  It seems like so small a thing to do!  If we lived closer, I could take food over.  My guys could go and help with the harvest.  We could hold them and listen to their grief.  We could be there for them but, as it is, we can only pray for them.

That's the way I've been thinking about their situation.  All I can do is pray.  That's the way I've been feeling but Father just corrected my thinking with this song.  May it bless you, too, and open your eyes further to how much prayer REALLY HELPS a situation.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers that you've sent to my family and I all of these years.  I would be so lost without your prayers!!  May God bless you for each one and I pray that He is close to you as you deal with your tough situations too.

Hugs,

Dawn