The new farmers wife

As in modern farmers wife... thinking about blogging about the farm... since that's getting more on my to do list everyday...

First off I want to perk some interest, hoping some other farm ladies will find my blog and tell me their story as being the farmers wife...

Here's mine... in a nutshell... since my computer is only giving me about 20 minutes...

Let's start with the fact that I did not grow up on a farm... never thought I'd fall in love with a farmer... but I did :) And after being married for 10 years, we finally live ON a farm for more then 2 years now... So exciting and so challenging at the same time!!!

My priority is still my kids!! (1-6-8-10) As they still need me, even the older ones, to get ready for school, and after school to assist with homework and no fighting, I am at this point NOT a milking farmers wife (sad but true) BUT hubby has enough people working for him, so I am not missed at all...

I am like the superstar when all else fails... or with other words: when there is a cow calving and the workers are all gone and hubby needs assistance with pulling off the calf or calves, I am there for him... And at night, I go out and scrape the 'poop' so the ladies aren't too dirty in the morning... Push up the feed (by next year I might have some muscles and do a quicker job at it)

I love catering for them all, so we introduced everyone to our Dutch standards: COFFEE after milking!! :)

Looking forward to your story, and hoping people will find this post through google!! :) 

Love Each Other, Graham Kendrick (Lyrics)

All the room was hushed and still

And when the bowl was filled

He stooped to wash their feet

And when it was complete, he said

This is what I'm asking you to do

This is why I'm kneeling here beside you

This is what I want my church to be

This is what I want the world to see

Who it is you follow

Love each other

One another

Love each other

In the way that I have loved you

Walk together

And whatever comes

Love each other

In the way that I have loved you

Let the room be hushed and still

Let us go to where he kneels

And join him as he serves

And learn his ways of love

Graham Kendrick

Copyright © 2009 Make Way Music

www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

This song has such a great message! Love each other in the way that I have loved you! We can not love each other if we don't know what love is, if we don't know what HIS love is! We need to understand His love first, before we can 'love each other'!

Do we kneel down on our knees for each other enough? We need to kneel down, and ask His help! We can not do things on our own! We need Him!

So many times we feel discouraged, we feel like 'church' is not going the way it's supposed to go, the music didn't fit my needs, the message was too long or too short or I heard it all before, the children were too loud, the room was too cold or too hot... we can come up with a thousand complains, but did we go on our knees? Did I? Do I love you in the way that He loves me? I need to go on my knees more often, and not for me and my needs, but for yours! I want to serve you, my brother or sister, in the way that He wants me to serve you!

Love each other, one another, LOVE each other, in the way that I have loved you!

Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.

John 13:34-35 (The Message)

No matter how many times I've listened to this song, and read through the scripture I get chills all over and butterfly's! I hope you do too, and will love me like He loves you!

Ever since the Beth Moore conference, this 'loving well' has been on my mind, and God is helping me to love you! Beth's 4 confessions of love help me a lot too, I'd like to share them with you:

1. God is perfect love! (1 John 4:18)
2. NOTHING can separate me from God's perfect love. (Romans 8:38-39)
3. God pours His perfect love into my imperfect heart. (Romans 5:5)
4. Accessed, I can love ANYONE through ANYTHING. (Philippians 4:13)

Love,

Francien.

Fall cleaning...

Since I've been feeling GREAT for the last 3 weeks, I took my chances and started a big project...Cleaning out the oh so cluttered house... :) Baby steps at a time!! haha!!

Yesterday the basement got a good cleaning up, it looks so much better now! Almost all the toys are put into boxes with big labels on them. The kids can ask for one box at a time to play with. There are a few toys left on the shelve to play with (for example, woody and Buzz lightyear!) And some toys still need a box (like the little people, but they are hiding right now...) But overall, I am happy with the results... and don't worry, not all the boxes are full, just some of them (like the cars and the barbies... haha!)

Today I started baby-proofing the living room, which meant... taking the Lego out... And since I don't want the Lego in the basement (cause then it would end up EVERYWHERE) I had to put Tjipke's drums in the basement and use our music-room to make another play area for the kids... It turned out ok! The livingroom looks specious again!! :D Maybe today I'll be finishing with the diningroom... we'll see how well the kids and the baby behave!! haha!!

Once upon a dream...

I had it on my heart to share this story again...

Written in my heart about 12,5 years ago, written for all to read on Sunday July 26, 2009.

Today's message in church inspired me to write about the dream I had years ago... I think it's finally time I write it down... not that I will ever forget, but I would like to share it with you all... :) I was 13 years old when I got the dream. I did not understand it at the time, and did not want to talk about it with anyone... There is only a few people that heard this before... :s (shame on me...) The dream: Thousands of doves were flying in the air. All of them were grey, except for one. That one dove was pure white and flew all the way in the front. A lot of the grey doves were following and listening to the one white dove, but there were some that were trying to get away, and if they succeeded at leaving the group, they would fall down to ground. They didn't even look back at what they had left behind... There was one dove that got my attention. It felt as if I was that dove, I always tried to get away but got pulled back by some other grey doves... I didn't feel in place where I was, but stayed because of them. Until that one moment, I pulled myself out of the group. I felt free, but only for one second, because soon after I pooled away, I felt myself falling and falling and falling... The one thing that was different about seeing this grey dove, was that it was looking up and crying about what it had left behind. I would always wake up before the dove felt on the ground. Almost 2 years after having this dream for the first time, I understood what the dream meant! I was 2 weeks away from becoming 15 when I heard the 'Easter story' with my heart open! It finally wasn't just a story any more! I understood that Jesus had died on the cross for ME! All this time, I was trying to pull away from the most important Person in my life! All this time others were trying to pull me back. And I'm glad they did! And I'm glad He did! For a week I was struggling with myself, what would I tell others?? Others that always thought of me as 'that Christian girl' when actually I wasn't. I was just following my parents' believe, not my own... Then there was youth camp. Saturday night, when everyone was in line for the one and only shower, someone offered me a bucket with water. I've never been a girly girl, so a bucket with water sounded just perfect for me!! :) I took it with me, and some soap and shampoo, to a little room in the barn. I sat on my knees and started washing my hair... And then and there I got this warm feeling inside, butterflies if you wish... and everything made sense! God had just told me the most important thing of all: "I love YOU!" I started crying and gave my heart to Him! Just a few day's after this, I got the dream about the doves again. But this time, it did have an ending. Just before I would hit the ground, the white dove came down to me and carried me back to the group so I could follow Him! Without being held by my beloved, but flying with my own wings and listening with my own heart. Now why did I never share this story? Good question, I don't know... Maybe because God didn't want me to use it until now, maybe because He wants YOU to read this right now at this moment... Or maybe because I was just to shy... :)

‎"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Luke 11:9

"Ask and it will be given to you!"

Wow, God does not sit still when you ask Him something to His glory!

I was having a very hard time finding some 'quite time' to spend with God. If it's not the kids that distract me away from Him, it's the laundry, or the dishes, or the garden... It's so easily done to put the Most Important One in second place...

For the last week one certain sentence of a song was stuck in my head:

"Jesus, my passion in life is to know You. May all other goals bow down to, this journey of loving You more."

And this truly is my passion! But why is it so hard to 'make' time for God? I praise Him through singing, and by looking at my kids, and looking at nature... BUT I don't take enough time to get to know Him more! And so I asked him with all my heart if He would help me find more time for Him! "Ask and it will be given to you"

Monday morning, 6 am, I am wide awake...

If you know a bit about me, you know that this does NOT happen to me, I have trouble falling asleep at night, and trouble waking up in the morning... I need lots of hours and lots of coffee to wake myself up...

And here I was wide awake... I was afraid to get up, since that could be tragic to the rest of the day... tired mommies are NO fun! So I stayed in bed till 7, and got up to do the regular things...

Tuesday morning, same thing happens again...

Since I'd be gone all day (shopping) I really needed that extra hour, I was SO frustrated... why would this happen???

Wednesday morning, same thing happens another time!

But this time, a still and small voice said: "you needed more time, here it is!"

So I got up and went downstairs to read my Bible! I finally understood! God was giving me more time!! And I so enjoyed my time with Him!!

Jesus, my passion in life is to know You

May all other goals bow down toThis journey of loving You more

Jesus, You’ve showered Your goodness on me

Given Your gifts so freely

But there’s one thing I’m longing for

Hear my heart’s cry

And my prayer for this life

Above all else

Above all else

Above all else

Give me Yourself

Savior, the more that I see Your beauty

The more that I glimpse Your glory

My heart is captured by You

Jesus, You are my greatest treasure

Nothing this world can offer

Could ever compare to You

So, hear my heart’s cry

And my prayer for this life

Clean up clean up everybody everywhere

It's that time of the year again... Just a few months before the new loads of toys come in, we need to say goodbye to some 'older' toys... Which was actually very easy this time, since Rachel was missing out on the fun for a good reason... :p

While she was at preschool and Bauke was having a nap in the car (since he felt a sleep on the way back from groceries), Marten and I were going through the toys that I had set apart a while ago and nobody missed... :p

Everything except for the mr. Potato head's family was allowed to go! Right in the middle of pricing it all, Bauke woke up and came in the house, he was actually very good, since it was all toys he really doesn't play with anymore... That boy got too big too quick... probably because he IS the third child in the family, I still see him as my baby, but he is turning 3 next month (!?!?!) Hard to believe... :p

So everything is now waiting to go to the sale! Kids toys and clothing sale in the rec center tomorrow... I wonder what cool toys will be there to buy!!!

(I know... I just make it go on and on and on... But I actually bought some pretty good Christmas gifts in the last couple of years!! Reduce Reuse Recycle!! AND I'm bringing in 10x more then I'm going to buy!)

PS. The picture above was at one of the basements worst times!! haha!! 6 kids in one basement with too many toys turns out to be a disaster! LOL

10 tips for having a vegetable garden

I decided this year that we would have a garden again. Not too many different things, just easy and simple... Here are some things that I'll have to remember for next year: 1. 4 rows of BEANS is just TOO much, even if half is green and the other half is yellow... 2. If there are 'different' colors of seeds, it means that there is a different kind of vegetable involved 3. Tomatoes do not turn red when not in a sunny spot 4. Only 4 out of the 50 tomatoes that do grow in the sun, will turn red 5. 3 rows of Cherry tomatoes is just not such a good idea 6. Think about what to do with thousands of cucumbers, BEFORE you plant them 7. remember that it's not just picking the vegetables, you also have to actually do something with them so you can enjoy them all winter long 8. Be ready to have your house being taken over by tomatoes so they can lay in your windowsills and turn red instead of green or black 9. Pick the beans before the rain season starts, even if that means picking them in 37C 10. If you do not follow up on number 9, you end up with muddy beans Now here's hoping that next year I will remember my own 10 tips! The picture is not even half of what came and still has to come out of the garden...