Note to self:

Never forgo blogging during a week like last week. Oh my. I have a lot of catching up to do! It all started with a terrible sinus headache, which started the terrible unraveling. Here I am, well over a week later, and I have absolutely NO idea where to begin!

So gear up for a collection of photos to explain the last week and a half (or so). Yikes. This should be interesting.

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Ash Wednesday:

During Lent we give up something and ponder our mortality. We are, after all, nothing without Christ. Without Christ, we are here today and gone tomorrow, as fleeting as the flowers that fade. 

On Ash Wednesday, I was out walking before the sun had risen. In the dim light of dawn, I witnessed the beautiful ritual of the flying ants giving up their wings. I was surrounded by thousands of fluttering wings, taking flight one last time. I could not see it then, but the path I walked was covered in a blanket of wings already sacrificed. 

The ants too were remembering their mortality. 

Soon after they release their wings, they mate one last time--one last gift of life--and then they die. 

I was awestruck. 

I felt like I was peering into creation's worship of its Creator; and as long as I remained quiet and reverent, they would graciously allow me to watch. 

In those moments of first light, every wing shimmered with heavenly glow: gold, pink, pale. Awestruck.

Later in the day, on our daily walk, the children and I found the remains of their sacrifice: Wings that had not yet been blown away by the wind. 

They were but a moment. 

It stuck in my soul, and there it remains even today: a picture of beauty, sacrifice, mortality, worship.

Dairy Cows:

We now have three dairy cows. When I say "we," I mean the farm. Enterprise Farm. Not ours in the technical sense, but ours nonetheless. Tai at first was confused about their purpose. He asked if they bite. No... they don't have upper teeth. He asked if they kick. No... they're nice cows. Then what do they do?! He wanted to know. They give milk. His special milk (non-dairy milk)? Well, no, they give cow's milk. Talk about a perplexed kid! 

Shawn and Gitta Frank (Shawn's "partner in crime," if you will) both come from dairy backgrounds. They are in love with these three, and I had fun watching them decide who would get the honors of milking them first :) 

So, without further ado, I introduce you to Jane, Mirembe, and Sarah:

Notice Ava is quite interested in the milking!

I love this photo

These three are the beginnings of our dairy. One (Mirembe) is in milk, and I'm in yoghurt-making heaven!

Other Farm Happenings:

It's still raining! After writing that post about three days of rain, it didn't rain for a week. But since then, it's been raining... and raining... and raining! Awesome. Hope fulfilled. And lots of mud :)

We continue to clear land

for a "before photo," see this post

We've been planting maize using the two-row corn planter that coincidentally comes from our former Amish neighbor in Pennsylania! Even though the corn planter has been here since before we came to New Hope, this is the first season it has been used--thanks to our new tractor. Already our corn is popping up in rows! Look very closely... you'll see it.

There has also been a lot of activity around our fish ponds, but I'll save that for Farm Friday :) 

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I suppose this marks the end of my photo collection and efforts to fill you in. 

How have the last couple of weeks been for you? Hopefully not as "slacker-ish" as mine!