It’s been a bit of a hectic weekend, but only in good ways! {smile} Sort of. If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen that I saw a coyote trotting across the field next to our place the other afternoon. I thought my eyes were deceiving me at first (since it was black!) but I whipped out my camera and tried to snap a few shots and they’re definitely good enough to confirm for me. Although, you really can’t mistake that wild-dog trot.

He stopped and looked right at me before going on his way, totally unconcerned.

Mr. Fix-It spent some extra time checking over our fence this weekend! These are times I sure do miss the comfort of having our donkey around. She wouldn’t tolerate anything coming in the field. Not deer, not turkeys, not even our dogs.

Then on Saturday we had sports and house work and general chores and clean up work to do. On Sunday we had church and then we had friends over to enjoy our day of rest with us. It’s always nice to look at our place through fresh eyes when someone comes over. You tend to get in a rut of only seeing what needs to be worked on, fixed, improved, etc. Visitors usually don’t see our mental to-do list! {smile}

Mr. Fix-It and I took a walk Sunday night and talked about how sometimes you miss the forest for the trees. You see tasks, jobs, problems, but you forget the overall vision. (Well, we didn’t say it in those words, but that’s what we were talking about.)

Here’s what I mean…

There was a time before we had a yard to keep mowed and flower beds to weed.

Our house under construction in 2004, and later in 2010.

There was a time before we had fencing up on all our fields–we didn’t even have a backyard fence for the dogs!

There was a time before Molly was grown and giving us calves to sell (and eat!).

Molly as a heifer in 2007, and then last year in 2013.

There was a time when we didn’t have the chicken house…just a pen, and only a couple Bantams. we still had to buy our own eggs from the grocery store!

There was a time before we had a barn. And then before the barn was red! {smile} A time before we had sheep and then before we had cows.

There was a time before we had a garage…before we had a feed shed…before we had the lambing lean-to…before we had a garden…before we had fruit trees…

The point is that everything just takes time. Our first flock of sheep was just a ram and two ewes. (Just that little group of Hog Islands you see in that left picture up there.)

You grow, you learn, you mess up, you redo (you undo and redo!), you try again…and you take lots of pictures to remind yourself on the tough days of how far you’ve come! A farm, a homestead, a family, is a growing, changing, dynamic, thing.

The truest beauty is not in the moment, or the view from the porch over lunch, or in the flowers blooming this month…the beauty is in the years. In the dirt and sweat and seeds and rain, the praising and the spanking, the years of plenty and the years of little, the mistakes and the victories and the never giving up. In the calling–to raise a family in this place, in this way, on this narrow path, serving those He puts before us.

Be patient! Let’s not lose sight of eternity for the crooked gate latch in front of us. 

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” (James 5:7-8)

Did you have any long, deep thoughts this weekend?

See where I’m sharing…

Happy Monday!