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When Humility Follows Success

This past weekend, we loaded up 2 pigs and 2 of our 4 children and headed south to sell some of our fine swine at an annual sale. After finally getting everything packed for our overnight stay, we were finally on the road. After piling bags upon bags, because taking a baby and 2.5-year-old on a road trip requires several extra outfits, toys, diapers and more, it felt like our truck was loaded to the max! Not to mention the 2 pigs in the hog box in the back and the additional supplies needed for them. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we began to unload the kids, our 2 fine swine and all of the pig supplies. Before I continue, I should share with you how incredibly in love with pigs the 2.5-year-old is. Let’s just say he was in “hog heaven”!  He was also more interested in helping everyone else unload their hogs instead of helping his own parents! (Anyone who needs some help on their farm, just contact our little one!) As we prepped the pigs the next morning for the show, prospe
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Cheers to Friday...and the Weekend!

It's Friday afternoon and the sun is shining! What more could a person want? Oh ya, I forgot to mention that is is a brisk 40 degrees outside. We were teased earlier this week with two days of 60-degree weather and I'm so ready for that to return! I'm currently on day No. 2 of potty training my 2.5-year-old son. My patience is holding out better than I thought it would after changing wet underwear and so far only one poopy set of undies. I've heard the story of people being able to potty train their kiddos in three days...THREE DAYS?! Well, I'm giving that a shot. I may not be successful in getting him 100 percent potty trained, but if we get 50 to 75 percent of the way there, I'll be thrilled. I realize there will be set backs, but I am trying to keep a positive and hopeful mind. Has anyone else noticed the chitter-chatter of the birds each morning of this week? Isn't that an encouraging sign that spring is almost here? I've seen a handful of Robin
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And Just Like That, I Became a Stay-at-Home Mom

My kids are on a 2-hour delay today after not having school for four days straight, talk about a mom who is about to lose her mind! Anyone else feel me?! This has also allowed me time to FINALLY sit down and write. My 7-week-old is snoozing in her swing and the three boys are playing and the hog chores are done outside, all before 9 a.m.!  On the 15 th of this month, I made one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. After nearly four years of working as an associate editor at The Farmer’s Exchange newspaper, I decided to resign. Why? Well, there are several reasons and I could bore you with all of those reasons, but I won’t. The biggest reason I chose to not return to work is my babies at home and the amount of money it would take each month to put them in childcare. When more than 50 percent of your monthly paycheck would go towards childcare, it becomes a serious consideration to turn your working-mom body into a stay-at-home mom body.  Upon this decision, I
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Optimistic Farmers

W ill Rogers once said, "The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer." As I read that quote the other day, I thought about how true that was. Just in the past week there has been a farmer who lost his combine to a fire and a farmer whose barn went up in flames. I also read about a community that stepped up to help harvest crops that belonged to a farmer with cancer. Talk about having some optimism despite tragedy and loss! I’ve discussed my childhood before and growing up on a dairy farm. However, pondering what Will Rogers said brought back a lot of memories from when I grew up; some good memories and some bad, some happy and sad. One memory I won’t ever forget is when I was awaken one night by hearing a cow heavily breathing right outside my window. Well, for those who have raised animals, we all know what it means when they are breathing heavy ... they probably have been running. Upon going outside, my siblings, parents and I didn’t find
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Choose Thankful

A few weeks ago my husband came in from mowing our yard and said, "Remember those rotten pumpkins from last fall that I tossed across the road by the mailbox?" I replied with one of those "trying-to-remember" looks on my face that every wife knows, "Uh, sure." With excitement he said, "Well, guess what. They grew some pumpkins!" As the season of thankfulness approaches us within the next month leading up to Thanksgiving, the story of our volunteer pumpkins is more than just a story, but a blessing. It’s not always the big things in life that bring us the most joy, but the little things sometimes give us the greatest reward. Our 5- and 3-year-old boys sure were excited to be able to walk with us across the road to pick a couple of pumpkins that night. They even helped me decorate our home with them! Life brings us so many obstacles and trials that I often think we forget to look at the little things as blessings just as much as the b
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To the Next Chapter

In May 2012, I was a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Communication.  Of course I thought I was going to land a job that promised the big bucks and an early retirement.  But, as we all know, trying to make our own plans for our lives doesn't usually work and will almost ALWAYS backfire.  And my expectations of the big bucks and easy life ended up not being quite what I expected. During the past 18 months of working at Homestead Dairy, LLC., in northern Indiana, I have learned so much.  Learning how a 3,500-cow dairy works and how short your patience can get when trying to get 14-20 two-day old heifers on the bucket; the scars on my hands from their sharp teeth can help tell that story.  Or the days trying to beat the rain to get the calves fed their milk and back in their hutches before it down poured rain.  I also ran into the issue of language barriers working the the Mexican men.  There were times where things were easy to understand and
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One Step at a Time

Famous recording artist, Jordin Sparks, hits it right on the head when it comes to her song, "One Step At a Time."  We live and we learn to take One step at a time There's no need to rush It's like learning to fly Or falling in love It's gonna happen when it's Supposed to happen and we Find the reasons why One step at a time As I read over those lyrics and they keep playing in my head like a broken record throughout my day, I remind myself with the possible changes ahead, that I have to take things "one step at a time."  There is no point in holding off on things just because a career change or a possible move new town to call "home," I must keep living my life the way I have been.   Looking forward into my future, I find myself wondering where I will be in a few weeks, will I work another brutal winter at the dairy or will I find myself sitting in a nice, warm and cozy office in downtown Indy?  Or what about commitments I hav
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