Chicks

Libby's box of peepers arrived at the postoffice last week. The shipment, from a hatchery in Zeeland, included fifty layers, fifty meat chicks and six turkey chicks. The bundles of fluff are already displaying their pinfeathers.

Perspective

 Skewed self-portrait of my reflection in the van's bumper.

Clouds

Storm clouds are spectacular, even over a neighbor's hayfield. 

Red

Sustain

Grand River

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4 NIV

Rafters

VBS

VBS isn't just for kids. Our church is nearing the end of a week of Vacation Bible School, and some of the adults have had a blast with rocket science, sour gummy worms and "Father Abraham."

Doors

Sometimes God answers prayer by closing doors. Sometimes those doors aren't figurative.

My sister and I made an offer on a house two miles north of our parents' house. It was a cute, two-bedroom block house with hardwood floors, glass doorknobs and a magnificent oak tree in the backyard. Freddie Mac rejected our offer in favor of another offer, and we turned our attention next door.

A "For Sale" sign perched against the mailbox of the three-bedroom house with two-car garage next door. It had a fireplace, hardwood floors and a stain in the corner of the dining room that caused Julie's nose to wrinkle. We submitted an offer, and this time it was Fannie Mae who turned it down.

Next we toured a charming, two-bedroom stucco house with an arched door, colored glass chandelier and mold in the bathroom. My builder uncle was undaunted by the mold caused by a faulty roof design, so I made an offer. But once again the Freddie Mac's house went to another bidder.

I am disappointed, but God knows more about real estate and my future than I do. So, I thank the Lord for closing doors. 

And I wait for open doors.

White

Lawn boy

Logan tried to convince his brothers to chip in and buy a zero-turn-lawnmower for Father's Day. Logan's persuasiveness isn't that powerful, though.

Strawberries

Friday was strawberry day. We girls and Mom picked eighty pounds of berries at a farm near Bay City. We spent the rest of the day preserving the fruit. We stashed thirty-five quarts of berries in the freezer. We saved some of the berries to eat fresh, but smashed the rest to make fifty-seven half-pints of strawberry jam. In the evening we rewarded ourselves with bowls of homemade vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries. 

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream 

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 cups whole milk

4 cups cream

3 tablespoons vanilla

20 lbs. ice cubes

coarse salt

Beat eggs in a medium sauce pan. Add sugar and 3 cups of the milk. Place sauce pan on medium heat and stir constantly until mixture reaches 165F. Remove from heat. Add remaining milk, cream and vanilla. Store mixture in the refrigerator until ready to freeze.

Using a 1 gallon ice cream maker, freeze ice cream according to manufacture's instructions. For a traditional, crank-style ice cream freezer, pour ice cream mixture in the inner canister and insert paddle. Position canister inside ice cream freezer and secure crank. Layer 1 inch of ice between canister and freezer. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Repeat until ice/salt reaches the top of the freezer. Crank, adding more ice and salt, until ice cream becomes stiff, about forty-five minutes. Remove paddle. Serve.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer.

Soul

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. C. S. Lewis

Gray

A kitten who hangs out in Aaron and Lauren Mae's woodpile

Green

Saudi

Saudi is a spoiled horse. He lives on a hay farm with little required of him than an occasional jaunt on Sunday afternoon.

Pretty in pink

Hosanna

Lamentation

Brian is in the process of weaning his kids by separating them from their mothers. The kids are not shy about expressing their opinion of the situation. One of the kids, Miranda, has perfected a particularly grating wail. 

P.S. Uncle Keith, that's lamentations, not lambentations. These are goats after all. 

Spuds

Sorrow

My sister-in-law Lauren Mae's grandpa passed away Friday night. 

Making hay

It was brutally hot Wednesday afternoon--too hot even to take pictures. But my brothers were out baling hay, so I hauled my camera and my miserable, sweaty self out to the field for a few minutes. 

Hanging baskets

Beach

Albert Sleeper State Park

The  beaches may have been crowded on Memorial Day, but they were nearly deserted one week later when I had the day off for a Korean holiday. 

When I renewed my vehicle registration, I purchased a Recreation Passport, procuring the Beachy Buggy's entry into any state park in Michigan. Mom, Libby, Naomi and I took advantage of the offer on Monday when we visited both the Albert Sleeper State Park and the Port Crescent State Park. 

It was a splendid way to spend a Korean holiday.

(Even if you don't have a Recreation Passport, you can visit any state park for free with a Park and Read Pass available from participating libraries)

Purposeful

Dwarfed by the Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse, a humble brick building resides near the shore of Lake Huron north of Port Hope, Michigan. Though not as noticeable as the tall white tower whose beacon heralded Great Lake freighters into the Saginaw Bay, the individually-sized building continues to maintain a purposeful and functional existence. 

Kickback

Sisters

Sunday we sisters gathered for a group portrait together. We wanted to pose in the orchard when the apple trees were in blossom, but our schedule didn't coincide with that of the trees. So, we settled for the wood-chip trail on a warm afternoon.

Dominion

Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power 

and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, 

for everything in heaven and earth is yours. 

1 Chronicles 29.11 NIV

Trusses

Our Memorial Day project.

Red

South Haven, Michigan

Facelift

Logan just completed a makeover of his WD 45 tractor. Allis looks pretty spiffy with her new coat of paint.

Minnie Moe

The Minneapolis-Moline M670, known as one of the "World's Finest Tractors", is the newest decorative object in our barnyard.