An Amish Summer

It happened slowly.

My life has gone from simple, to simpler.

In the last year I visited my Amish friend each month, sometimes more.  But then, without planning, I started visiting several times a month.

Now...I visit weekly, sharing my week between my rustic lifestyle on our small farm, and traveling to the Amish community I dearly love.

I have met new friends - friends who care deeply about God, family and community.  And me.

I feel so blessed to be able to live and worship among these new friends, living and visiting in their home(s), sharing their meals, assisting in chores and enjoying their company.  They are such a treasure to me, in guiding my walk with the Lord.

This 4th of July I will be with the Amish.  Traveling to a huge Amish Garage Sale with my dear Amish friends.  Later in the evening, I look forward to falling asleep with the sights and sounds of an Amish farm...no fireworks/but the night sky lit by fireflies.  No big bangs/just the whirr of the farm's windmill. The bleat of the sheep, the snort of the content horse as it night grazes.  This is my life.  Farm life.  Amish life.

I'm so fortunate to have a husband who shares me with another world.  It's a world not that different than what we have on our small farm, but the community is strong, and the worship is long and reverent.  I hunger for it - more than food itself.

I've shared so much of their lives.  It's too precious to detail in a public way.

I will continue writing, for now, albeit sparse as I'm not near Internet often.

Until then, find solace in His word.  Jesus loves you.  It's as simple as that...

Sherry

Gelassenheit

In the last month, I've spent 4 weekends living in an Amish community. Waking to song birds, delicious meals on a wood cook stove, holding a precious 2-day old baby girl surrounded by 7 siblings, singing in German (Loblied), kneeling in prayer on hardwood floors, tears flowing/and hugs from women who love freely as Christ loved, humble men as Ministers, new foals, fresh kittens, straw-hat boys on bikes, shy girls in bonnets and buggies, and horse-drawn everything. God is present and much revered. I'm so blessed to be a part of their life.

I'll check in more, later.  Lord willing.

Until then, Aus Liebe (in love)

Sherry

My Field of Dreams - Defined

Dear Friends ~

Greetings in His risen name.  Christ Jesus.  May we both feel His presence at this time. 

In my last post, well over a month ago, I had been somewhat "secretive".  I posted the following:

There are changes on the horizon for us.  These plans are based on Scripture.  His Word.  These plans have been talked about, prayed about, wept over and are now being put into place.  I am moving forward to enter my “field of dreams”.  A move closer to a Plain life.  I feel like James Earl Jones in the movie, Field of Dreams, beaming that huge smile of his, as he tentatively sticks his arm in the cornfield.  After doing it several times, he shrugs, lifts his eyebrows and walks in, a smile planted on his face.  I, too, am “sticking my arm in”, beaming as I do so.  I’ve been waiting for the last year for the Lord to lead me.  I believe all the changes up to now have been set in place for such an event.  (The changes actually began nearly 30 years ago.)  Hubby Russ is my biggest encourager.  He feels I need to act.  To see.  To experience.  After much debate and prayer, I decided I will just move forward, and see if the Lord throws up barriers, or opens doors.  So far, so good.  I’ll explain more later…as I/we move forward. 

Truth is, I have been traveling more and more to my favorite Amish community.  Visits, day trips, meals, discussions{many many discussions}with open Bible, snail-mail letters in between, being in their church for sermons and song, and even spending the night with my dear friends.  I was/am trying to line up my life in scripture and in truth.

As you can see by reading above, I said I would "...just move forward, and see if the Lord throws up barriers, or opens doors..."  He has opened doors.  Many doors.

But my heart isn't catching up to these changes.  I feel like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, going down side paths, not staying on the narrow path.  So right now I'm not sure which road I am on.

I probably have you totally confused by now.  But I'll explain soon. 

Until then, please pray for me/us. 

Psalm 25:4-5

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me, 
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Sherry

P.S.  We still don't have water in the cabin...but I'm actually enjoying it.

Amish Musings

It’s hard to believe 2013 has almost flown by.  It seems like just yesterday I was taking stock in 2012, and reminiscing about the special times I spent with friends and family.  And my Amish friends.  So much so, I came up with a “Top 20” list of my most special moments with the Amish people and community.  So, here they are, and in no particular order:

1. Driving to pick up lambs on a warm summer day with my farm friend, Ellen.  Upon arriving at the farm, Ellen and little Enos literally dove into the little bundles of wool, falling to their knees and embracing them, while father and I smiled at the process, standing at the weigh scale. It was a good, albeit hot, day to catch a half-dozen or so sheep. 

2. Walking through the vast kitchen garden with a mother and her young children, picking ripe watermelons.  Kids with smiles and dirty bare feet.  Me, with foot ware, marveling at the size of the melons and the hospitality of this cherished family as we loaded a couple melons into my truck.

3. Being invited, and attending, an Amish church with a local family.  Three hours on a hard bench, surrounded by a sea of head coverings, was truly one of the most joyful days of my life.  (Some day I will detail this blessed day.)

4. Joining my Amish friend, and her family, for dinner in their home.

5. Chasing the piglet I let get by me while loading, and watching in awe as an older man became a boy while tackling the 40 # squirming gilt in his strong arms.

6. In an Amish kitchen, watching my friend remove her head covering and let down her hair, to show me how to do it up in a bun.  I have {finally} mastered the task. 

7. While driving in a small town, being waved over by an Amish family in their buggy, and seeing the family literally pour out into the street to greet me as I pulled over in my vehicle.  Mother too!

8. Stopping to watch twin lambs born on my Amish friend’s field.

9. Sitting in rocking chairs in an Amish home, studying the Bible with my friend and kindred spirit.

10.  Washing dishes together and chatting endlessly about our different, yet similar lifestyles. 

11.  Playing ball in the aisle of an Amish store, with a two-year old.

12. Having a silent prayer before sharing a meal after church.  Feeling the Holy Spirit permeate the building.

13. Having a young man, a horse trainer, come to our farm and train our horse for draft work.

14. One of my favorite men of the community stopping by my vehicle on his bike, and talking about Jesus.

15. Picking up an Amish friend from his place of work.

16. Young Amish girls, peeking through horses legs and letting out a squeal of delight upon seeing me walk up to their farm.

17. Dropping off a goat on Christmas Eve to an Amish farm.

18. Loading up rabbits and three boys to head to the Auction.  Seeing them eat cookies from the tin I brought, and sip hot chocolate (complete with marshmallows) from the thermos, the trio perched on hay bales.

19. Holding up the freshly killed suckling carcass in a frigid barn, while my Amish friend washes it down.  He nods and smiles, letting me know I am needed.

20. Driving the snowy country roads with young Amish boys, answering their curiosity questions, such as “How old ARE you?”. 

When 2012 ended, I had no idea my life would connect with this community of faith even more.  Now looking back on 2013, I see where I have stepped closer into this way of life.  I will share those new “Top 20” soon, Lord willing.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Remember…Luke 2

Sherry 

Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)

The weeks seem to fly by, don’t they friends?

Thanksgiving is behind us, and the Holy Season awaits.  While joyfully preparing a favorite dish for Thanksgiving dinner, I had my youngest son, Mark, in mind.  I knew he enjoyed it, and would be thankful upon seeing it on the bountiful table.  Just think – Jesus told us He would go and prepare a place for us!  He is making a place that will encompass all we adore!    John 14:2-3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Lately, my focus has been on laying up meat for our 15 sled dogs, which requires trips via truck to nearby smokehouses and processors for their prime give-a-ways.  Today was such a trip.  This has been the routine for the last decade, and our thankfulness for these folks can’t begin to be verbalized.  Now, with the end of the rifle (deer) season, our trips will be less and less.  We also butchered our final hog, with processing day looming. 

I’ve dragged our dog sled out in the drive by the cabin, but have yet to hook up dogs.  This year, we are officially “retired” from providing rides to the public and it feels heavenly to have a clear calendar around the Christmas holidays.  Until I know that snow hook will take hold, the sled will sit. 

Since our last season, we have said our last farewell to several dogs in our kennel due to age and/or infirmity.  They were born before 2000 - old dogs, with puppy hearts.  It is always difficult to see a dog reach the end of the trail.  It fills your head with all the glory they experienced as Champions on the race trail.  How ironic that these dogs have seen more wilderness throughout the Midwest and beyond than us, as their owners.  Two of the dogs, Windows and Ranger, were born at Arctic Wind Racing Kennel {Bob and Jan Shaw}.  And one, old-gal Union, originated from the Championship kennel of Andrew and Diane Cesario.  All leaders.  All amazing.  In the early 2000’s they reigned as true Champions on winning teams driven by winning mushers such as Frank Holmberg, and owners, Joann and Larry Fortier who had Windows and Ranger in their Coyote Run Kennel for the main portion of their life.  In their later years, upon coming to us, they ran tours with intense pride, enthusiasm and an air of professionalism.  Many know them.  Many will miss them, as will we.  It’s bittersweet to close the door to a piece of mushing history.  Rest in peace, sweet canine friends.

Black bonnets on Black Friday – what a special way to spend the day!  I headed out early in the morning from our small 40-acre farm to head south – to my favorite Amish community.  I picked up two young women and headed to several Amish-run businesses, via my small 4x4 truck.  As we traveled out into “the world”, how delightful to be with these beautiful young women who were Christ-filled and joyful.  They are like a clean slate – Tabula Rasa.  What a gift.  We had a wonderful time, visiting two more Amish communities and wrapping up the day at a Walmart and Subway.   One of the highlights was seeing adults and children alike from one Amish community head home from a ski/sledding adventure on a local hill, using the horse-drawn wagon to pull gloved skiers, grasping ropes trailing behind the trotting horse.  It truly brought a smile to my face.

I’ll be heading back to my favorite Amish community next week, once again.  This time to assist in canning beef and pork from their recent butcher day.  I’m truly counting the minutes until that adventure.

The rifle season ended without success.  However, we are in a county that has a “late anterless” season from 12/23/13 to January 1.  I may have venison burger yet, Lord willing. 

On a sweet note, our hen “Israel” just came off her broody session with two new chicks today.  This gal hatched 22 chicks for us this past summer.  (8 the first batch, and 14 the second)  That’s a lot of sitting time!  She’s out in our barn, away from the chicken coop.  For a moment Russ talked about bringing the trio in the cabin for the next few week.  I would have complied, but after thinking more about it, we know the chicks are warm huddled under Mama Israel, and she is a good Mama and will protect her young. 

I will leave you with a precious video from a dear friend, Homemaker Ang.   You won’t be sorry you took the time to view these beautiful, unique images.  I’ll write more next week about how ironic it is that us, Homemaker Ang and family, and Terri’s family (as written about HERE) are all on the same page.  What’s going on folks?  What are we getting “ready” for?

Until next time – Lord willing. 

Rejoice!  The King is on His way!

Sherry

In A Nutshell

If you’ve stumbled across my Blog, welcome.  If you have been here before, welcome back. 

Those of you who have visited often know “something’s up”.  I have gone from checking in an average of 30 times a month, to 2. 

Honestly, it is God-driven.

There’s no easier way to say it, other than God is doing some pruning in my life, and that of my husband, Russ. 

Almost 3 years ago, Russ and I said a special prayer together, asking the Lord to lead us, as we follow Him.  {To “…take up the Cross”…Luke 9:23}   And he has led us.  He has been faithful, and present for us EVERY day. 

In some ways, it hasn’t been easy to slip into “God’s economy”, where you trust Him for your every need.  But it has been good.  And He has never (and I mean NEVER) failed us. 

Some of you know what I’m talking about.  Blind trust.  To walk by FAITH, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).  Sometimes it takes BLIND TRUST to get you through a day…an hour…a minute.  But it is amazing to see what He chooses to do with you during that time. 

I have my husband to thank for keeping me from worry.  When things are so financially strapped or we are facing a crisis, my husband asks “…do we have what we need for TODAY?”, to which I reply…yes.  “OK then…give us THIS day, our daily bread.  No need to worry.”  {Side bar:  Did you know that we are told not to worry 365 times in the Bible?  One for every day!}

Additionally, it meant the Enemy (aka the Devil) put us at the top of his chalkboard, with our names underlined, in BOLD.  The Enemy was relentless in trying to oppress us.  We had to call on the name of Jesus to keep him at bay. And it has worked, because the Lord doesn’t lie.  I remember stopping outside and huddling with my husband, our arms around each other, calling on Jesus to protect us from the onslaught of the Enemy. 

So, how did these changes come about over the past couple years?  

We started our pruning with no longer having television, several years back.  (A very wise decision…we no longer allow SIN to come into our home, un-invited, invited, or otherwise.)  We will never view television again.  No DVD's, nada.  Simply, no TV.

Then, we removed the Internet from our farm. 

We do not have a “fancy” phone.  No Internet on there either. 

Radio is our media, and it is honed on the Christian station during the evening. 

Next, my camera went.  This was difficult at first, as I “prided” myself as a photographer, having won several contests in the past and been published in a dozen or so media outlets.  As the year rolled around four seasons without hearing the sound of a shutter release, I knew it was good to be without a camera.  For me, it was taking too high a priority in my life.  {Idols come in many forms...}

In addition, we have reduced our goat herd to zero. 

We have reduced our horses to one.  Raz.  

Funny thing, we spend more time with him (both of us) and he seems happier being by himself.  As you can see by his hefty frame, he spends most of his time eating anyway, as horses should.

Another big change for us…we have “retired” from our dog sledding business.  This winter, for the first time in over a decade, we will have the dogs to ourselves.  I will not be booking appointments and answering the phone and returning emails.  Our website has been taken down, several emails went POOF, LinkedIN, Paypal, tweets have stopped Twittering and more.  (My life is getting simple.…er.)  Upon telling people, they say “where are your dogs?”.  They are here, and will be until they pass from this earth, back into this earth.  We have 19.  That number includes two 15 year olds, and several 14 year olds.  We only have 5 under the age of 7.  In simple terms, our kennel is aging out.  Kinda like us.

So what do we do all day?  We still have pigs (sus domestica, for you DNR folks...).  

We have chickens, with several broody hens who, in their patience and sitting, blessed us with 9 more chicks this summer.  Along with the rooster...couldn't have done it without him.  

And we have our free-ranging rabbits, both adults and several white/black/and gray bunnies skittering about. 

Although we keep very busy each day, our main focus is on our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We rejoice that He is in our life, leading us daily.  We rejoice that Jesus will return…perhaps soon.  We rejoice that we welcome His return, and look forward to being with Him.  We hope others around us will become lovers and followers of Christ, as we are, so they can have an eternity with our triune God.  Until that time, we continue to have our weekly Bible study at our place each Wednesday evening.  We always look forward to meeting in the presence of the Holy Spirit and talking about the Bible, the Living Word, and giving the glory to Him.

One last thing - one thing I haven’t talked about in a while - is my relationship with the Amish community.  My interest in the Amish people spans nearly 30 years. It has grown leaps and bounds in the last year, since I attended an Amish church service last summer.  Since then, I have been meeting regularly with an Amish woman, circa my age, at her home for Bible study.  I met with her yesterday, in fact.  Driving home last evening, clutching a container of freshly-popped warm popcorn she made for my road trip, made me wish I could stay forever, in their world.  I glanced over at the loaf of fresh-made bread sitting on the front seat of my truck, straddling the animal feed bags I had picked up from another Amish friend.  The bread had risen and was baked in her wood cook stove while we sat and visited that afternoon.  But more importantly, I take home the lessons learned during our day of delving into God’s word.  I truly know this friendship, and that of her family, is God-sent.  I treasure it like all my friendships with Plain People.  What I love about being with them is seeing the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…) played out before my eyes.  Perhaps some day, I will immerse myself even deeper into their way of life, Lord willing.  It will be the Lord’s doing, for both Russ and I.  Right now, I am just following the path before me.  

So, in a nutshell, I plan to take a break from yet another medium in my life.  My Blog.  It’s been coming for some time.  And now is the time to take a much-needed break. 

I hesitate to remove it entirely, like I did my “older Blog”, which showcased our early years on the farm.  Truth is, I poured my heart and soul into those blog posts.  And I miss pulling them up when I desire to check on something.  So this Blog remains.  (For now.) 

Those of you who are also on Facebook have not seen me on there, as I have deactivated my page for a couple months, perhaps forever.  We’ll see where the Lord is leading me…and what He is preparing me for…

So, taking up the cross daily, in addition to this pruning process has been interesting.  {Read John 15}  

How about you…have you made a decision to take up His cross and follow?   I would love to hear your testimony.  

Blessings to all, and enjoy this beautiful summer.

Sherry

Friday Amish Visit

Soon...

I'll be among them.

To me, it's the best thing...

...this side of Heaven.

Until next time, dear friends.
I'm off visiting the Amish folks.

Lord willing.

Sherry

Amish Hospitality

It's been nearly two weeks, since I stepped into the world of the Amish.

This time, I was invited to attend their church service.

I can't write about it yet.  

It's still too sacred, too raw.

Too spiritual.

But soon, I will share the treasured time.  

It is truly one of the most blessed days I have ever spent in my life.

I felt...

at home.

Until then, God willing.

To Him be the Glory ~

Sherry

Summer Sizzle

My life is simple.

No alarms.

No office to head to.

I am lead by one thing, and one thing only.

Jesus...

Oh, but I try...

Two new (just weaned) lambs grace our small farm.

Retrieved this past Saturday, from an Amish farm, a couple hours south of us.

It was a wonderful trip, with my friend, Ellen.

We were within minutes of the Horse Progress Days,
but couldn't stop with our precious cargo.

If that's not enough, I'm heading on a solo trek on Thursday,
to get our new piglets (just weaned),
from another Amish farmer.

I love my Amish farmer friends.  

Until then, keep your eye on the prize...God willing.


"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
More than that, 
we rejoice in our sufferings, 
knowing that suffering produces endurance, 
and endurance produces character, 
and character produces hope, 
and hope does not put us to shame, 
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts 
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Romans 5:2-5


Sherry

P.S.  If you haven't visited this lovely Blog (linked below),
 you might enjoy a "look-see".

It's always fun to meet new folks.

Lilac Lane Cottage

Amish Bound - Spring Trip

Adventure awaits, as I travel this week to my favorite communities.

Stay tuned dear friends.

Until next time, God willing.

Sherry

What Does Spring Mean to You?

We are down to six hens, after selling off our excess flock.

{Ironically we have 3 roosters...

2 are "free" to farm folks if you are in the neighborhood.}

And have more eggs than we need. 

Less is more.

God is good.

The chickens {and bunnies} are enjoying spring.  

And so am I.

However, with it, brings "wanderlust"...

I get it every Spring, 

after being in a 15 x 20 cabin, 

without TV or Internet over the long winter months.

This year, it's off the charts...

The urge to travel to Amish country is strong.

I can't seem to fight the urge.

But soon, I'll be visiting again.

Picking up piglets.

And lambs. 

I love Amish folks...and how they do business.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, God willing.

Sherry

On the Road to the Amish

I had to postpone my trip yesterday due to a winter storm warning here in the Mitten state.

Today is much better.

I'll write more upon my return.

Until then dear friends, God willing.