"Look Mommy, There's Heaven!"

Recently my Great Grandma passed away.  This was Claire’s first experience with death.  I chose not to take her to the visitation or funeral, but we did talk about the fact that she passed away in her sleep and went to Heaven.  We talked about how Heaven is a wonderful place where everyone is happy and healthy, and all our loved ones that have passed away are there. 

“Where is Heaven?” Claire wanted to know?

 I simply answered that Heaven is far away in the sky, and it’s so far away that once we go there we can’t come back home. 

Claire seemed to grasp the idea as much as youngster can and didn’t talk much about the topic until last night.  We were driving to the field to meet everyone for a wonderful dinner my mother in law had made for us.  The field wasn’t far from home.  It was on a dirt road and we were enjoying our time driving there.  The sunset was beautiful; much more vibrant than normal.  Like normal Claire was telling me about how excited she was to see everyone in the fields, but then she said something that surprised me. 

She was looking at the sunset and remarked, “Look how pretty that is Mommy!  That must be where Heaven is!  I want to go there when I get older someday.”

With a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes I told her that yes, it was beautiful!  And I bet she is right; that is Heaven.   I told Claire that I hope she doesn’t go there for a long time because I would miss her. 

“Ok Mommy.  I’ll stay here with you,” Claire softly responded.

Oh, she makes me smile inside and out!

Rain Rain Go Away!

What’s going on in our fields right now?  Well nothing today due to the rain!  We are still harvesting soybeans but the weather is making that difficult.  To harvest soybeans the field and the soybean plant need to be dry.  So if the air is damp in the morning or evening we can’t harvest and we can’t harvest in the rain.

The kids and I have been staying very busy lately!  Though we are only in the fields for a couple of hours each evening we find plenty to do.  Since farmers don’t keep a normal 9am-5pm day with weekends off, we have to keep everything going at home while Brad works in the fields.  The kids and I have been enjoying the extra outdoor work while the temperature has been tolerable.  We spend lots of time caring for the dogs, cat and horse, raking leaves, picking up sticks, and finding other outdoor tasks to keep us entertained during the day. 

But, the best part of our day is taking dinners out to everyone working in the fields.  We do our best to prepare a hot home cooked meal every day, pack them all up, and deliver them to the fields before they get cold.  Sometimes this is quite a challenge due to the drive time between fields.  The kids sure miss Brad during this time of year, but I know they are learning to appreciate hard work and what it means to love what you do!

Claire giving her Daddy a big hug at dinner time.