Life lessons - it's what you value at Christmas and every day of the year!

This is one of my most favorite Christmas presents this year. A dish towel. Yes, it is a dish towel, but not just any ordinary dish towel.

My grandmother, Jessie Yess, had embroidered this dish towel, but there is more to the story as Paul Harvey says.

My mother said when she was little, her grandmother Emma Jane Smith, my grandma Jessie's mom, came to live with them. Grandma Emma Jane was 71 when my mom was born. She lived to be 85.

Mom said Grandma Emma would ask Grandma Jessie for busy work in order to "contribute" something. She wanted to feel needed. Grandma Jessie would give her dish towels to hem. During the day, Grandma Emma would hem them by hand and give them to her daughter (Jessie). At night, my mom (Sharon) said she would remember seeing Grandma Jessie sitting taking out the hems in the dish towels Grandma Emma had hemmed during the day.

The next day, Grandma Emma would ask if there were any more needing hemmed and like clockwork, Grandma Jessie would hand her a batch and say, "Well, yes...these need to be hemmed."

At one time Mom says she remembers Grandma Emma getting wise to the situation, but the main part of the story is she wanted to feel needed. She wanted to contribute something to the household. She was getting older and couldn't see as well and probably couldn't do a lot of other housework she used to do, but she wanted to stay busy and do something.

This wonderful story of love showed me we ALL want to contribute something to the greater good - no matter our age. We want to feel needed and useful. No one wants to be a burden on others or offering no contributions in life.

This was a way Grandma Emma could feel needed, wanted, useful. What a wonderful love story about how a daughter made sure her mother felt those wonderful things.

This dish towel reminds me of my grandmother and how she was always busy helping do things like canning, playing with my sister and me, or folding laundry. Little things that showed her love for us. And that's why I value this simple dish towel so much...for the memory of that alone.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a wonderful, useful New Year!

Yikes!

I very clearly remember this Christmas. I certainly didn't think Santa was going to show up! I think I was smiling because my mom and dad told me to, but I was secretly SCARED TO DEATH! What if he knew we'd been bad and I was getting coal? My sister, Cathy, in the photo is even more scared!

But, thank Heaven, Santa brought us good presents and we ALWAYS remembered the year that Santa appeared on our doorstep!

Harvest time!

We began cutting soybeans in the field behind the house today. Here's a look . Quite a bit of dust flying for having had 5 1/2 inches of rain just two weeks ago! Steve's in the combine; Erik in the tractor with the grain cart behind.

Happy 5th of July!

What? Happy 5th of July? Don't you mean 4th of July? Nope...5th. Here's my thought process.

On July 4th, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress . Actually on July 2nd, the Congress had already voted to declare independence from Great Britian. It was later published and signed near the beginning of August.

So, why Happy 5th?

On the Fourth, we actually made a statement as a country saying, "We're not gonna take it anymore." We listed the reasons why, what we believed to be the ideal nation, etc, but on the morning of the 5th, can't you imagine those of the Continental Congress waking up to wonder, "What did we just do?" They had pledged EVERYTHING they had to see this through!

It's a whole lot easier to say, "I'm not gonna take this anymore and I'm changing something", than it is to actually do it. Once you've made that public statement you have to begin to formulate how the action will take place; how you will change what you believe to be substandard. How many of us have said, I'm gonna lose weight, or I'm gonna finish school to wake up this next morning thinking, ahhh...maybe tomorrow.

Well, these people had no choice. They had made a rather bold statement of independence and now they were known for it. People would be judging them on how they had achieved that goal or fallen short. They would judge them if they individually profited from the situation.

So, I believe it much harder to actually put the statement into action and today was the day of action for our country. We could no longer talk about doing something, we had to move, take action, change the world. And...overall, I believe it worked out very well.

But...I imagine for a little bit on the morning of the 5th of July, 1776 there were some men who wondered What the heck did we do yesterday? And today, July 5th, 2008 there will be more men wondering the same thing, but for different reasons! Happy 5th!

Large snow drift? Cocoon? Alien?

Actually, the answer would be none of these! It's a large haylage/silage bag. We put in hay and oats to fill 550' of bag this past week. It will "mature" into a wonderful feed for winter and I LOVE the smell when the bags are opened to feed the cattle. I think the cattle love the smell too! Ron Byers of Berwick had the team to do it. We supplied the field, the location, and a tractor. His guys had trucks to haul it and the know-how to do it! It was like a well-oiled machine! A truck would come in, dump it's load into the unloader which filled the bag and voila! That truck would pull out and shortly later another would pull in.

Secretly I'd like to go out with a BIG magic marker and draw a funny face on it or something else. Not sure I can get away with that one!

Michael Buble must have had this in mind!

One of my favorite songs out is from singer Michael Buble...and country singer, Blake Shelton, has recut it thanks to his girlfriend, Miranda Lambert. The song is titled, "Home" and the lyrics go...Another summer day, has come and gone away, In Paris and Rome and I wanna go home...

This is Jon-Mel-Li farm in western Illinois...better known as home to the Terstriep clan. Believe me, it is very hard work, but it's true whether you're Michael Buble, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert or Julie Terstriep...sometimes you just wanna go home.

I enjoy walking back to the cemetery on our farm and just listening to the cattle, wildlife and even the corn grow! (Yes, on a summer day you CAN hear the corn grow.)

It's oh, so peaceful....and I enjoy visiting other places, but I just wanna go home.

Hay makin' time!
It's actually raining tonight (6/24/08) as I write this, but it's been a busy 10 days of making hay. This is my handsome, TALL son, Erik, after having raked hay all afternoon last Friday. He and Grandma Sharon were "arguing" over how to rake the field. He said, "So, I just raked my part my way and she raked her part her way!"

They kinda like to tease each other and bug each other. Hard to tell who wins...probably nobody! As long as Grandpa can figure out their windrows we are doing fine.

A well needed rest tomorrow with this rain and on to more hay-making later this week.

It's hard work, but it often reminds me of the story of the grasshopper and the ant - who worked hard to put food away for the winter. (The grasshopper was off goofing around all summer - singing on tour or something.)

When it came to winter, the ants had plenty to eat, but the grasshopper didn't have any food - I guess that going on tour thing during the summer only sounded like fun! :)

Rushville-Industry 4 x 200 relay, 2nd in STATE!

Members: Breanne Moore, Sarah Roegge, Tayler Onion, Erin Ealy.

This is my beautiful niece Tayler Onion and her 4 x 200 relay team. They placed 2nd at the State Track Meet today for Class A teams! What a difference a year makes. Last year, we went to the state track meet excited for whatever would happen. The girls made it through to the finals....guaranteed at least 9th place and medals! Awesome, we thought. Guaranteed!

Never count your chickens before they're hatched my mother used to say and that's exactly the lesson we learned. The girls dropped the baton in a handoff and couldn't pick it up to finish...no place, no medals, no cheering crowds. Just tears, heads in their hands, and saying, "Well, what if?" The hurt was so deep, you just couldn't help hold back the tears for them. It was devastating.

This year they returned. Posted the fastest qualifying time from sectionals. Posted the fastest qualifying time going into the finals and then....one member fell during another event and banged up her knee. No...not again! This can't be happening. Somehow, she dusted herself off and was ready to go. They ran their fastest time ever...Broke their school record again! 1:45.71. JOY, HAPPINESS! To God be the glory. We learned the lesson to never take ANYTHING for granted, never count on anything. Enjoy the ride. Just enjoy the ride!

These have to be the biggest smiles of the day. The other three members also took first place in the 4x100 relay. Lightning struck twice ! Team finished 6th in state....Big grins, happy girls, and memories they'll never forget, because in the end, it wasn't about the medal really, it was about people, memories and never giving up and hoping for something better in the long run. A very Christian message!

Rushville-Industry Prom

This is a picture of my beautiful daughter, Leigh, (left) and my beautiful niece, Tayler Onion (right) at Tayler's junior prom. Can't believe she'll be a senior next year. She is the spitting image of her momma.

Big weekend for the Onion clan. Son, Austin, had a big 8th grade Spring Party Friday night while his sister had her conference track meet. Then Saturday, chaos broke loose with Tayler's prom. Cathy will be tired on Sunday when pre-prom, prom, after prom and after, after prom is over!

Mother Nature messing with us!

Today is April 24...and no corn planted in our area yet. Seriously, Mother Nature needs to be a little more helpful!



With the cost of food, (and I want to emphasize Americans spend the least amount of their income on food of anyone in the world!) perhaps people will go back to planting big gardens and canning. First, you get your own organic food. Second, you're getting fresher food. Third, you'll waste less and there is certainly a sense of pride when you put those jars in the basement full of wonderful vegetables and fruits!

Sanity and earthquakes

Something happens to you when your bed starts shaking at 4:35 in the morning...you question your sanity! Are you dreaming or what the heck is going on?

It only took a couple of seconds to realize we were having an EARTHQUAKE this morning. Centered in the metro St. Louis area, we felt it up in western Illinois!

The windows rattled, the bed was shaking, it was still dark out and in my mind, I went tripping back to 1968. I was 7 years old sitting in the back seat of Mom and Dad's Chevy Impala. Mom turns to us girls (my sister, Cathy, cousins Terra and Lori) and said, "Will you girls quit shaking the car!" Our eyes were big when we replied..."We're NOT shaking the car!" The telephone poles outside the car were swaying and my mom said OH NO!

Kansas is burning tonight!

My Jayhawks did it! Rock Chalk Jayhawks....we believed in you. Congratulations to you all. Way to go Coach Self. You had such class this week.

Just a few of our cattle.

This has to be one of my most favorite places in the world. This is the beach at Perdido Key, FL about a mile from Orange Beach, AL. This Flora/Bama line is absolutely beautiful no matter what time of year I've visited and it's just so peaceful. People are absolutely the friendliest and so mannerly. I wish the "Yankees" would remember their yes ma'am and yes sirs as much as these folks do.

Thanks to all our friends at the Flora/Bama line and their gracious hospitality!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU!

Tomorrow's the big day. I'm hoping for a KU Final Four year! Seems crazy that Illinois people would be KU fans, but our relatives have KU connections!

If you've ever been to Phog Allen Fieldhouse, it's quite an experience. I equate it to going to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN....the most famous of the venues for the Grand Ol Opry. Allen Fieldhouse is awe-inspiring. The ghosts of basketball definitely live there!

So, best of luck to my Jayhawks. Hopefully Monday a big smile will be on my face and the Jayhawks will be ready to take the title!

This photo is actually from spring 2007, but it won't be long until farmers are in the field in western Illinois.

Prices of inputs are SO high it's very scary. Imagine going to the grocery store to buy milk and it costs $2.00 while the following week it's gone to $3.00!

In the meantime, you have no control over how much your boss pays you for the job you do this year.

Out of control would be the way I'd describe the situation..out of control and scary.

Yet, hope springs eternal and every farmer is an optimist.