Dusty Roads to the Heart

"How about going up to see how our new house is coming along this afternoon," Mark said as he and Bret prepared to go do chores. "Those are the most wonderful words I have heard in a long time!" I told him going to him and throwing my arms around his neck. "I'll have Kate ready when you guys get home." After driving an hour north, we pulled into a parking lot and stopped. There were new homes setting everywhere, waiting to be moved to their new locations. There were one story ones, two story ones, brown ones trimmed in white and white ones trimmed in all different colors. We got out of the car and slowly walked to the door that had a sign OFFICE over its top. Inside,  the receptionist looked up and smiled. "What can we do for you?" "We are having a new home built here and we were told we could come see it anytime. We wonder if this is a good time to do so?" Mark asked grabbing for Bret's arm to keep him from going t...

Laying deep within her little soul was a small unwrapped gift. It laid there so quiet, just waiting for the day she would reach for it and untie its pretty bow and unwrap its pretty paper and let it spill out into her very being . It laid there, deep in her heart, unmoved, just waiting. It laid there all through her childhood and into her adulthood. It laid there so quiet, just waiting because she didn't understand it. She didn't know where it came from, and sometimes when she was a little girl, she didn't like it. She didn't like it because it was full of tender....tender feelings, deep serious thoughts, and sometimes tears that would roll down her cheeks and fall unbidden onto her lap. After all, a little girl is suppose to get gifts like a brand new bike, or pretty ribbons for her hair, or hold a beautiful doll in her arms. She got all those gifts when she was a little girl, but this special gift was there to....just waiting. A teenager may get laughed at if she...

Oh my lands! What a beautiful community! What wonderful giving people! Love and care still reigns! You wouldn't believe Grandma and Grandpa's living room Sunday evening! There were boxes and boxes of cloths, groceries, toys, shoes. It all came to us from far and near. It is amazing how many braved the weather to help us. Night found us once again at Grandpa's house. It would be our "home" for a couple of weeks. We were right back to where we had started. But this time we knew the true meaning of thankfulness. In the back bedroom, Mark quietly pushed the two twin beds together while I put clean jammies on Bret and Kate. He pulled down the covers and brought us to him. There we laid, snuggled together, while a night light glowed softly into the darkened room. Daddy held his little boy and girl there close to him in his strong farmer arms. Somehow those arms reached to include me. Coming close to loosing someone that is dear to you even made a strong farmer c...

It was one of those wintery nights, cold with sleet hitting the windows. A night for hot chocolate and snuggling on the couch. It had been misting all day, and it stuck on everything it touched. Little Kate, now two, and Bret, a big five year old, were asleep in their room down the hall. Mark and I sat together on the couch admiring our new paneled wall and the papered wall in the hallway. We had just completed them the day before. It was Saturday night, just a week or two before Christmas. We woke Sunday morning to that same sound, the plink of little ice pebbles hitting the windows. "I'm afraid we are in for some electrical problems if this keeps up much longer," Mark voiced as we sat down for breakfast. We had no idea that just outside our back door, there behind those shorty-forties, something was happening that would bring our world tumbling down once again. We were all in our jammies, all but Daddy that is. He had to drive to Grandpa's to do cho...

Mark slowly drove into our yard pulling a used big round baler behind the pickup. Bret sat like a little man there beside him. Both had big smiles on their faces. They had been over to Mr. Nagley's farm to buy the baler this morning. Mr Negley lived about 30 minutes east of us and was our Vermeer dealer. "Oh look Kate. Daddy and Bret are pretty happy, I'd say. Looks like they bought themselves a new toy!" I said as she and I hurried to the pickup. I always felt a bit of pride you might say when Mark upgraded his equipment a bit. I don't know-- maybe not pride exactly-- just happiness for the man I loved. Yes. That's it! Mark and I had decided it was time to switch our "silo days" to "baling days". It was becoming such a hassle to find help, especially since I was not able to help as much. Then, just face it...Mark was getting plum tired of those trips up and down the silo! I had always hated the day he had to crawl around the ...