No, I didn’t get killed in a plane crash. No, I didn’t get mugged on my way out of Detroit Metro Airport and no, I do not have jet lag! But yesterday I did.

To those of you who have inquired about my whereabouts, thank you! I didn’t know you cared so much. Well, I knew you cared mom, but the others…..thanks!

I had a great trip to Kansas City. On Tuesday morning I woke up….late at 3 am, slugged down my cup of coffee that I usually sip in bed while watching the early morning news and rushed out to the barn to do my heifer chores before I left.

Kissing the boys and Bobby goodbye at 4:30 I rushed out the door worrying about the traffic I’ll face. Worrying was a waste of time, my one hour and fifteen minute trip took 1 hour and 15 minutes. Arriving at the airport on time, I was puzzled by the automatic ticket counters. I had no idea what to do, where to touch the screen or what my confirmation number was! While all the other savvy business passengers with their sleek wardrobe touched and took their tickets in three seconds, I just looked at the man behind the counter and said, “I don’t have a clue!”

He took pity on me and helped me out. Security was a breeze, especially since I had matching socks on without holes! That’s why your mother always says be sure to wear clean underwear….or matching hole less socks! For those of you who are like me and are lucky to get outside the county once a month…now when you fly you have to take your shoes off to walk through security. Thanks to the shoe bomber!

Arriving at the meeting I was impressed with the results of what was happening…and you’ll find out soon enough about this new venture! I’m very excited to see it launched. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll still be here to stop in so I can bore you about the mundaneness of life on this little knolltop….I’m not going anywhere! I mean where else are you going to hear about the silliness of four kids you have no knowledge of and read about stuff that really only matters to me. Aren’t blogs great?!

Oh, did I mention my meeting was with Dallas Burton and his clan? YEs, the highlight of the meeting was at lunch when we were finished and we were waiting for Dallas to read through his emails on his phone while he laughed at the silly jokes, but didn’t bother to share any of them with us. Sometimes he thinks the world revolves around him…..boy when that bubble burst….it’s going to be a big blow to his ego. Come to think of it…he should have a blog!

On the way home I had a much easier time with the boarding passes and automatic check in screens. In fact, I think I heard someone behind me whispering, “Look at her, she’s one of those really savvy business travelers.” NOT!

I walked in the door at 9 pm in one piece and they hardly knew I was gone. It was like I had just walked in from getting the mail. Hardly a glance!

Okay, enough about my trip…it’s writing day….this would make a great column….hmmmm. We’ll see!

Good Monday morning from the Knolltop! It’s cloudy and cold here in southern Michigan. The leaves on the bush right outside my window to the world are still clinging to the branches. I like that. Although the bush should’ve been trimmed this summer, for whatever reason, this year it didn’t get done.

I had a very calm weekend. Friday evening the three older kids went to an all night party with Word of Life. They went to a hockey game and then to Western Michigan University for all kinds of activities like basketball, volleyball, bowling, etc. With tired eyes they tromped in the front door at 7 am Saturday morning, ate breakfast and crashed for the day.

Michigan State won on Saturday, Penn State lost and now we are number one in the Big Ten! I’m still holding my breath….that’s what MSU fans do, we just hold our breath until we win again. For a day or so we can enjoy the win until another Saturday rolls around and then we take in a deep breath and watch and wait.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying to Kansas City for a business meeting. I’ll only be gone for the day, then back tomorrow night in time to kiss my kids goodnight. But I sure could use your prayer!

Threecollie and Lovette, thanks for the comments on the column….you’re very generous!

Good Morning from a cloudy, drizzly knolltop!

Thank you for your prayers, my dad came through his knee surgery with flying colors. But I think that was the easy part….now the work of recovery and therapy begins! So please continue to pray for him…and thank you so much!

If you get a chance to look at another blog today, go to http://knolltopmorganhorses.blogspot.com and see what she has to say about the election. Lori has put into words her passion for her convictions and I was very impressed. She took the words right out of my heart. Thanks Lori!

So for those of you who don’t get my column, I think today would be a great day to include it.

Truth from the Trenches

By Melissa Hart

While sitting in a combine or driving a grain cart or hauling corn to the elevator there can be a lot of down time. Maybe you spend those countless hours of mundane activity thinking about how good the yields are. Maybe you’re thinking about what next year will bring. Maybe you’re thinking back to the argument you had with your son, or maybe you’re wondering how you’re going to get through another dry year with declining commodity prices.
Whatever is riding the waves of your thoughts, keep one thing in the forefront of your mind’s daily agenda. You have a purpose. Yep, that’s right, you, whoever you are, you have a grand purpose in the world.
You were created with a purpose in mind and a plan to accomplish that purpose. There was nothing random about your creation and there is not one single thing that is random about your life’s purpose. Every minute of your life counts and as you live day by day you need to be reminded of your purpose here on this earth.
Is there anyone like you? Is there another person in this world who has your exact DNA? No. You are unique and very special.
Now that you know you have a purpose, let me tell you there is also a plan for your life. A plan that includes mountain top experiences and days in the desert. A plan that will make you wonder about who and what you are and a plan that will satisfy your appetite of curiosity and strengthen every fiber of your being. You have a calendar filled with treasures and blessings just waiting for you to open them. A calendar created by your Creator, God. When you get to the end of your days and God gives you a glance at your calendar, do you want to see open treasure chests where you enjoyed blessings in your life? Or will you see many, many closed, unused treasurers? You might live an “okay” life with a few blessings here and there, but “just okay” was never what God had planned for you.
With your purpose and plan, God has given you a passion to live out your wonderful life. You have a passion for things that no one else has. I have no idea what your passions are, but you can recognize them. Your passion makes you tick. It’s what creates strong emotion in you. It’s what makes you get on your soapbox. It’s what makes you rise so early in the morning. It’s what keeps you going when life seems to stop. Passion is your lifeblood to keeping on your plan, accomplishing your purpose. Passion is what drives the use of your unique giftedness. It unearths your talents so you can use them for your purpose.
And along the way of working your plan, you’ll run into your pessimist. This may be a person, a memory or a voice you hear whispering in your ear. That whisper doesn’t need to be very loud because it’s very distinct. You can hear it over everything else and it convinces you that you can’t do it. It convinces you that you are silly, useless, selfish and unsuccessful. It reminds you of past failures, hurts and nurtures unforgiveness for others and especially for yourself. It will tell you you’re no good, your plan will never work, you have no purpose and your passion is just uncontrolled emotion.
The funny thing about the pessimist is that he is only describing himself. This pessimist is weak and can be shut down with one good word.
So if you’re on the mountain top, in the desert or somewhere in between I want you to know you are loved, you are special and everything you are matters. And one more thing: You don’t have to believe any of this for it to be true…..it’s true no matter what!

Good Morning from a very sunny knolltop! I watched the sun come up while walking on the treadmill this morning and it is so fun to see light come across the countryside.

Okay, leave it to Pryorvu to crash my pity party! The wise old sage had to come in, speak the truth and put an end to my self indulgent, loser attitude! He’s absolutely right that we need to keep our president in our prayers. So it is my goal to pray for President Elect Obama every day! How about you?

Speaking of prayer, I’m on my way north to be with my mom as my dad gets one of his knees replaced today. He’s needed it done since he quit jumping out of airplanes to save people in the Korean war. Those landings were a little hard on the old guy and now he’s paying for it. Why is it soldiers have to pay twice for us? They pay a price while their in the service fighting for our freedoms and for those freedoms around the world and then as they get older they pay for it again with their bodies. Veterans are true heroes!

After Christmas dad gets the other knee replaced….so from this day until I’d say Easter..you need to pray for him and for my mom!

I’ll let you know how it all turns out….that is unless he doesn’t want me to write about it here on the blog….if that’s the case then I’m in a whole lot of trouble…guess I just won’t mention it. Let’s just keep it our little secret…kind of like Bobby’s surprise birthday party last April.

Well, all my liberal friends, family and colleagues are jumping up and down today from yesterday’s victorious election. Now the whole world is at the mercy of a bunch of liberals! God help us!

Oh go ahead and send your condescending comments….I really don’t care. I’m a republican and I’m not going to cower in the corner defending my beliefs that morals belong in government. Yesterday I found myself timidly explaining why I’m a conservative to a Swede….timid no more! Now I can stand back and criticize every little thing our government does…because in 2009 it will be all the democrats fault! Well, at least we’re off the hook now.

That’s all I’m going to say…yes, I’m bitter and not getting any better writing this blog. Now that’s all I’m going to say…..that’s it. No more from me. I’m done.

On the positive side, it is nice to see our country has progressed to electing our first black president. I’m very proud of our people….but it would’ve been better had he been a republican! Okay, now I’ll stop!

I’m going to be on Rural Route today, no doubt talking about this election with my conservative cronies, Kyle Bauer and Trent Loos. I love talking politics with Kyle….he agrees with me.

This morning during milking I had to chase a heifer around the pasture to get her back in her pen. She ran every direction I didn’t want her to run. It was obvious she isn’t a show heifer by her absolute defiant behavior. But I got her back and fixed the fence….for now.

Better get back to mourning….I’ve got a lot of it to do!

It’s a partly cloudy day here on the Knolltop and it’s going to be warm again! Last night Bobby sprayed for flies in the barn and remarked, this is the first time he’d ever had to spray for flies in November! I love it!

We had a visitor last night while we milked. Remember the gentleman I asked everyone to pray for? He now has a job, thank you God, and was in the area so he stopped by to meet me. He’s a long time reader of my column, he even read it way back before I was married with children….so you know that was a long time ago! It was nice to have him visit, although the kids couldn’t understand why anyone would go out of their way to meet their mom…..boy they can keep you humble, can’t they?

I’ve had some interesting conversations this morning, one with a Dutchman who actually lives in Sweden, Jan Bierma, the editor of Holstein International. He called to confirm a new writing opportunity with me. I will be writing a monthly column in their magazine and I’m so excited!

Anyway, he brought up the fact of the importance of this day in the US. Frankly, I was amazed that he even knew it was election day and was even more surprised that he had an opinion on each presidential candidate. He shared with me the ins and outs of his political views and explained why the rest of the world is watching our election today. I was baffled, I never realized the importance of our country’s influence on the rest of the world.

In my little corner of the world, here on my hill with my farm and family I will go in and vote only once. My little vote will be among millions across the country that is counted. It seems so insignificant inside the big picture, but collectively we will make a choice today on a global stage while the rest of the world sits in the audience and watches the play unfold. Amazing….just amazing!

It’s a breezy, kind of sunny, kind of cloudy morning here on the Knolltop!

I’m so thankful for the nice, dry weather. This means the cows are back out on pasture and I don’t have to go back out to the barn in the mornings! I love that. So what am I doing today? Having coffee with my BFF Angie of course! After dishes, laundry, vacuuming and working in my office.

Saturday night all the kids were gone in separate directions. JW headed west and went bowling with some friends, Luke went east to an airsoft war, Sarah went north for a party with the church youth group and Jake headed south for a bonfire and hayride.

Later that night they were all back home each telling about their fun night. It was a good thing we had an extra hour!

Better get my coffee, so I can get my work done before I go for more coffee!

It’s a beautiful morning here on the Knolltop.

I have an urgent prayer request for Sara of Missouri. She and her family are having a difficult time on the farm and they are need of a miracle. If you would just lift them up in prayer…that would be great! I’ll let you know how God answers!

It’s sunny, breezy and quite warm out, now that it’s nearly noon here on the Knolltop.

I’m getting used to my new winter schedule. Now that the cows are staying in at night, my morning routine has changed and I have to go back out and help do some morning chores. I really don’t mind, that just means I do more work and I can eat more. I like that. Especially that Halloween candy that I bought to give out tonight in hopes that no one will show up on my porch! Yes, I plan on turning the light on….for a few minutes anyway! Then it’s an evening of pigging out on chocolate and popcorn!

We had a new calf born last evening during chores and it was a hoot watching the kids trying to bring the new mom and her baby in from the pasture. Jake had a rope halter, I guess in hopes of putting it on the heifer and leading her into the barn. Never mind that she’s not a show heifer and acts like she hasn’t seen white man since she was born! While he chased her around the older boys watched and Sarah gave directions.

The frustration ended with Bobby headed out to help. I continued to milk and pretty soon JW walked into the barn carrying a black heifer calf and then the rest of the crew brought in the new mom. She seemed quiet when we milked her last night and this morning. We’ll see if that continues!

Yep, it’s official, the flowers in the planters by the entrance to the barn are dead. I pulled them out and threw them into the field. Now I’ve got to think about what to put in there for Christmas……but I have time for that later!

The gutter cleaner worked so beautifully this morning, so now I’ve got time to watch the Autumn Opportunity Sale online where Tom Barrends is dispersing his herd in Fremont, Michigan. It’s fun to just listen to the sale while I work around the house. Actually I should be cleaning off my desk…it’s a mess!

I think I’d rather be out cleaning out my flower beds and riding my lawn mower, but then there’s that blasted laundress. She hasn’t shown up in weeks! I pay her good money and she’s still a no show…so I have to do all the laundry myself.

By the way, in regards to the comments:

Tom- You do not weigh 250! I don’t think you could ever weigh that much, so you’re not getting my treadmill! Not everyday is like yesterday, thank heavens!

SBH – You needed a nap and so did I, but as I was just drifting off to sleep for a quick slumber the neighbor hauling corn out of the field with his semi came by blowing his horn! Nap time was over.

Threecollie-You’re right…only farm wives could understand that, we are a unique group!

Sara – How is it that moms get so much done in a day? I think it’s because we just have to so we just do it! I think Nike stole our motto!