5/22/11

A seeding time birthday


"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."  
Genesis 8:22



If you are a farmer, particularly a Canadian farmer, your life revolves around the seasons.   Our seasons are extreme and distinct.  With each season comes different tasks on the farm.   We have only one seeding time in the spring and one harvest in the fall...then a long cold winter.  In between seeding time and harvest is typically a hot dry summer.  
Every aspect of our life here on the Canadian prairie rotates around the seasons, and the weather.  We pray for rain some years, other's we hope it stops raining long enough to get the seed in the ground.  We  watch for frost and signs of winter coming.  Our live's are connected to and dependent on nature, which we believe God is in total control of.   In a way that makes dependence on God a little more tangible. Throughout the Bible there are so many parables and metaphors that relate to farming, seasons, seeding and harvest.  For most of the world these things are somewhat obscure references, since few people know what it is to put seeds in the ground each spring and hope for a harvest.  For us, season's are a way of life, our livelihood.

After a month of  15 hour work days (on average) ,6 days a week we are coming to the end of seeding time.   Only a couple more days left and I will once again eat meals with my husband!



Saturday was my husbands birthday so we popped over to the field to say hello.
The kids were excited, as always, to go for a ride in the tractor.



Rain clouds rolling in to give us a much needed little shower.   Some parts of our province are swamped with rain and flooding.  We were fortunate to be dry enough to seed this year.  Farmer's not too far from us haven't even been able to get into their fields yet.



After a quick spin in the tractor the kids and I headed over to my parents house to fix up a quick party. 
 Nathanael was working in the field right next to mom and dad's house so it was quick for him to pop in for a Birthday dinner.   My husband (the former city boy from Seattle) has been working for my Dad on my family's farm for several years..on and off for most of 15 years actually.  
My kids are the 5th generation  in my family living and farming in this area...well they're not exactly farming yet but they are getting their feet dirty in the same dirt that my great grandfather broke with his team of horses.  


Aili and my mom preparing a vegi tray for the birthday dinner.  Aili is becoming such a grown up girl lately...I find myself watching her, wondering where the years went.  I am loving this pre-teen age.
It was cute to see them working in the kitchen together.  My daughter and my mom. 




My Dad enjoying some time with his youngest grand-daughter.   
I really love my family!   
We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful grandparents so involved in our kids lives.  

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