Driving through rush hour traffic in Chicago, on our way home from World Dairy Expo, my phone rang, it was my son. He was calling to tell me his girlfriend had just been in a car accident and it was bad. I comforted him as well as I could from 150 miles away and told him we were coming home as quick as we could. But the most important thing he needed to do was pray.

Much to my dismay, my son called back and told me she had died. It was a shock for all of us to absorb that this young, vibrant, freshman nursing student at U of M was gone. She had just posted on Facebook that she was going to the fair with JW. She was home for the weekend and was looking forward to hanging with her friends. She was on her way to pick up her best friend but would never arrive that afternoon.

When I finally arrived home that evening, I sat down with my son and we both cried. I felt like the mother of a young boy again, like I could fix it all, but this time there was nothing I could do. No words would make him feel better; no actions could bring her back. This was the final chapter on earth for Leah and we had to close the book and move on.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, JW and I prayed together. I kissed him, told him I loved him and when I got up to leave I heard him crying quietly. At that moment, I realized nothing will ever prepare a mother to hear her 19 year old son quietly sobbing in pain. Nothing.

Sitting in the silence of my room, I began to sob as well. Why did we have to face days like this? Why do we have to hurt so much? Where did I sign my name to having my heart yanked out of my chest from a child’s pain?

The next few days were filled with waves of grief. Laughing about a situation one minute led to silent staring and a teary eyed glance the next. Each of my kids cried at different times and for different reasons. Unbelief was still staring us in the face as each night Leah didn’t show up at the door with her laptop and book bag ready to do homework.

Questions were asked, thoughts were pondered, stories were told and prayers were prayed.

In the high school gym, where three months earlier she had graduated as the salutatorian, we were sitting in the third row on the right staring at the flowers surrounding her casket. Poems were read, songs were sung and a message was preached. Having been through this before, I was prepared for the sentiments that washed over me and handled them with dry eyes. But when I looked to my left and saw my 17 year old with his jaw clenched and tears running down his face and then watched my 13 and 15 year old wiping their wet cheeks I began to stretch out my arms like a mother hen with her chicks offering a warm, comforting touch.

As I rubbed and patted and offered tissues, I listened to the sniffling teenagers behind me and wondered how I could offer them comfort as well. Then I looked into the bleachers and saw the hundreds of young, sorrowful faces and their pain was overwhelming to this mom.

When the service was over and we walked down the hallways of the school, lined with crying teenagers with seemingly no hope at all. I wanted to reach out to each one and tell them it was going to be okay. I wanted to let them know they could see Leah again, if they had a relationship with Jesus.

Honestly, I wanted to bring them all home, give them a cup of hot chocolate, some cookies and kiss and hug each one of them. But I couldn’t.

While I am assured hope springs eternal, some of these kids aren’t so sure. You see, without God there is no future with their fallen friend. But those who know Jesus have the promise that Leah is a much bigger part of their future than she ever was in their past. And that is our comfort today and the days to come.

Normally at this time we would be loaded up and headed into the Hillsdale County Fair for a week of fun, but this year, instead we are going to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.  We’ve been planning this trip for a year now and to say I’m excited is an understatement.  I have not been to expo since I was pregnant for Sarah! JW was 4 years old and Luke was 2. I can’t imagine what I enjoyed about having two toddlers to keep clean and out of everyone’s way at such a show in addition to having a big belly and an appetite to match.  Let’s just say the cream puffs were my mainstay!

But now Sarah is 14 and Jake is 13 and JW and Luke are old enough to stay home and milk cows!!!! Life just keeps getting better and better!

Right now, JW is in Madison getting ready to participate in the judging contest tomorrow morning.  They left on Friday and will be back sometime on Tuesday.  Then we will leave Wednesday morning….really…..really…..really early!

Now for a football update: Luke’s team is still undefeated!  They beat Colon last Friday night which was a big win for them.  And the Friday before was Homecoming and they beat Lenawee Christian!  Luke was on the Homecoming court with his girlfriend Jessie and I took lots of pictures.  Since I have a couple of minutes before I head out to the barn which is in two minutes, I will post a few pics.

 This is my personal favorite of them!  Love it!!!!

 Then he helps her back in her ride.  I’ve got some others to post but now I’m late for the barn!

Last night Luke’s team won their third consecutive football game!  Not only did they win, but Luke and his buddy, Dewey both scored touchdowns! In addition, the game was on the radio and so their names were announced over the radio waves! Dewey ran the ball while Luke caught a pass and ran it in for the score.

So I asked myself the question, why are they doing so well?  Is there extreme athleticism?  Is it because they are savvy football players?  Is it because they practice hard and have a great team this year?

Nope.

Although all of those are great thoughts, I’m giving full credit for their football prowess to their stylish haircuts

–the Mohawks!

A couple of weeks ago, our good friend and hair stylist, Sue, came over to walk and brought her trusty scissors with her and ended up giving Luke and Dewey a mohawk.  Now some folks don’t think these haircuts are all that cute, but I have to say, the look has grown on me.  Actually, Luke is so cute in my book that I really don’t care what kind of haircut he has!

So as they venture onto homecoming next week and have to play Lenawee Christian, I wish them good luck because I don’t think it will be the shut out it was against Camden and Battle Creek St. Phil.

Luke and his girlfriend Jessie are also the Junior reps for Homecoming so we will have that wonderful halftime activity and of course the dance.  This morning we are headed to pick out the tux!

But first it’s time for cleaning!

Yesterday I said I would be back with more about Luke’s baseball showcase, but it’s today now. 

In July, Luke received a letter inviting him to a recruitment baseball came by IPFW. Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne University…or something like that.  He was excited and so was everyone else.  Because it was an all day thing, I was the lucky one who got to take him to Indiana!!!!

We arrived and signed in and he went on the field with about 100 other baseball players while all the parents sat around the field and watched.  It was fun to just sit and enjoy the day but honestly, it was like watching a glorified baseball practice. I sat in the sun and got toasted to a crisp.  It was 90 without a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze.  As hot as it was, I so enjoyed being able to just sit and focus entirely on my boy.  I watched him run bases, hit, catch a bunch of pitchers in the bull pen and then at lunch we walked to an auditorium to listen to the IPFW coaches talk about recruitment. 

We learned a bunch to say the least!  And while Luke is only a junior, we learned that this is the most important year of baseball if he wants to go on and play in college.

Of course I met a few friends while I was sitting around.  One mom from Taylor, Michigan was telling me about her son’s summer of playing 63 games of ball and the coveted letter from the Atlanta Braves asking him to come show off his stuff!  That was so exciting I was elated for the mom and I don’t even know her name!

I also met another mom who hails from my home county.  We laughed at the fact that we all drove to Indiana only to meet someone who knows exactly where you live 3 hours away!  I met a dad who had been married 3 times and who’s son is a superstar and a proud grandfather who was surprised that this 45 year old woman would be able to talk antique tractors with him.

It was a great day with Luke and gave us a glimpse into what his future could hold…but only if he works hard to exploit his God-given talent!

The past couple of weeks has been fun.  Not only are the kids in full swing with football and volleyball practices and even a football scrimmage last Friday evening….JW had a singing contest and Luke went to Indiana for a recruitment camp.

First, JW–he decided to enter a Kareoke contest at the Jackson County Fair.  We left chores for Sarah and Luke and we headed north to Jackson.  After witnessing two people in a brawl and the arrest of another guy while walking into the fairgrounds, I knew this was going to be a fun night in the city!  I took a picture of the guy getting slammed up against a building with the cops cuffing him and this guy walking by just laughed at me.  I remarked, “This just doesn’t happen back home!”

Then we went and listened to the contest, which was interesting to say the least.  Of course JW was the most handsome contestant…and I’m not saying that cause I’m his mom!  He really was….ask his girlfriend!

He did a great job!  But he didn’t win.  I’m not sure what their criteria was on selecting the winner, but I can tell you it had nothing to do with singing ability or voice quality.  Enough said.

Ok, now I have to change and get ready for church, so I will leave you with a couple of baseball pics and then come back and tell you about them!

Good Monday Morning from a sunny, warm Knolltop!

It’s Dairy Days this week and while we have no cattle going up, the kids will still participate in the contests.  Today is quiz bowl, so Luke, Sarah and Jake will go up for that while JW will be working for Koebels all week. 

Yes, JW is back in our midst, if only for a matter of hours before he leaves again.  I’ve been following him around like a puppy since he got home asking all about is NASCAR adventures.  We have laughed so much, mostly because of his story telling, he’s very good at it, but his view of NASCAR compared to so many others.

JW works for Competition Tire and they will go to a NASCAR race and mount and balance all the tires used by all the race cars.  Some of these cars will go through 15 sets of practice tires and then 20 sets for the actual race.  That is  an amazing number of tires if you ask me, especially at $500 per tire! 

Anyway, JW and the crew work down in the pits doing their tire thing right next to all the racing teams.  Normally this would impress a kid who loves fast moving anything on wheels but apparently we didn’t bring the boy up right, he is just not as impressed with the whole racing thing.  At least he’s not as impressed as the crazy NASCAR fans. He just likes to do his job and leave and could care less about the race. 

But it’s his rendition of the fans who see them at Taco Bell or Subway who spot them in their Goodyear uniforms and mistake them for a pit crew.  The NASCAR fanatics start giving them the thumbs up and yelling, “Yeah, Good Year, you part of the pit crew????”  And when they say no and explain they are just the ones who mount and balance Jr’s,  Jimmy Stewart and Jeff Gordon’s tires, they are even more impressed and then they start pointing at their vehicles and say, “Hey, we have Good Year tires! Yeah, we love Good Year!”

JW returns a smile and the thumbs up and walks away shaking his head.  He said he has never seen so many shirtless, big bellied men yelling, “Whoo! NASCAR! YEAH!” in his life. 

It’s another part of this world I have never been exposed to, even though we live just 30 minutes away from Michigan International Speedway. Although I have no desire to put on my tank top and grab a Bud Lite, I have enjoyed learning about this world through JW.

This week he will go back into the cow world and enjoy working with great cattle in East Lansing.

And now, I’ve got laundry to do, blueberries to fetch and a zillion other things that are patiently waiting for me!

Sarah and I will head to go pick blueberries before it gets too hot and then I’m just not sure what we will do.

Last evening, in the heat and humidity, Sarah had a volleyball workout and Luke went and played basketball.  When they got home, Luke’s shirt was soaked!  I asked him if that was all sweat and he assured me it was and then said, “That’s what happens when you want to win every game…you get sweaty.”

Today he’s off again to bale more straw and then will take his Farmall M to a tractor show a few miles south of here.  JW is in St. Louis at a NASCAR race.  He is mounting and balancing tires for Comp Tire.  They provide all the tires for the racing teams and he gets to go to the races and do his tire thing.  Last weekend he was in Chicago for a race and the highlight of the weekend was that Danica Patrick (sp?) said “Hi” to him.  He was all smiles.

Now I’ll leave you with a few baseball pictures that I neglected to post this spring!

Luke dumping the gravel out of his newly painted catchers helmet.

Yep, it’s July, already and I can’t believe how I have neglected this blog the way I have. This is ridicules!!!!

Let’s just not worry about how longs it’s been but just move forward. 

It’s a beautifully, hot day here on the Knolltop! After walking this morning I was going to pick blueberries at Jennifer Lewis’ place but decided to take the kids swimming instead.  It’s just too hot to do anything else.  Now I’ve decided to update this blog!  For those of you who may not know, Sarah, Jake and I went to Montana with my parents for my nephew’s wedding.  Here is a story about how it went. 

It was a 1600 mile drive, the longest drive I had ever made to sing at a wedding. But then again, this was no ordinary wedding.



After encountering heavy rain, downed power lines, detours through back roads, wrong turns in the mountains of Wyoming, 20 miles of gravel road in the middle of a destitute Indian Reservation, a western store where the sales lady tried to sell me a $100 shirt and one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever enjoyed, my parents and two younger children made it to Joliet, Montana where my oldest nephew would say his nuptials under Big Sky Country….literally.


I missed the memo saying the ceremony would take place in a branding lot where we would be tripping over rocks and stepping over dried cow pies. I was in a panic when I realized my pink silk dress and heels might not work too well in amongst the sage brush but I soon found this would be the least of my worries.


After greeting the family and seeing how tall everyone had gotten, I asked my sister what time the rehearsal started. She replied, “Fifteen minutes ago.”


My thoughts began to run wild….What? We’re late? I’m a part of this wedding and I’m late! How rude! The bride will never forgive me! She’s got enough on her mind without worrying about the vocalist being late! What a great first impression I’m making on my niece-to-be! Get on it sister! Let’s Go!


Seeing the wedding spot across the hills, it was only about a mile or so as the crow flies. Unfortunately we had to take the long way around and that was a 15 minute drive down winding, hilly, gravel roads dodging grazing cows.


Thinking I would meet an anxious bride, tapping her toe, looking at her watch, we arrived only to find the bride and groom laughing and joking and absolutely nothing happening. There was also the absence of a sound system and only a few chairs set up. What was happening?


They walked through the rehearsal and I asked the bride if there was any way I could do a sound check the next morning when they set up the sound system. She assured me it would be set up by 10 am and available for use.


The next morning came and no word from anyone about any sound check. I waited and wondered most of the day. By now it was wedding time, I pulled on my silk dress, slipped into my heels and headed for the hills. Arriving an hour before the ceremony I felt confident this would be plenty of time to work out the kinks. But it was when I saw the absence of a sound system…again…that I really began to wonder about this western way of life. Didn’t they have watches? Do they know what time it is? Do they just round off to the nearest hour and go from there?


Trying not to be the bossy Aunt from Michigan, I smiled faintly while the groomsmen joked around and slowly…ever so slowly put together the sound system. But it was when guests began arriving and they we were still saying…..”testing..one..two…three…testing….” that I said enough was enough. I stood up, took charge and began giving orders like a drill sergeant. You get the sound system running, you three go get your wedding clothes on, you go get the cord we need for the iPod and do it quickly!


With young men scattering in different directions, I felt a sudden rush of control and the feeling that all was right with the world again. Within minutes the ceremony began and the entire event was beautiful and quite memorable with the big sky and mountains in the backdrop.


Sitting in the second row watching my nephew and his bride look into each other’s eyes and proclaim their love for one another, all of a sudden, sound checks, cow patties, silk dresses and sage brush paled in comparison to a blushing bride and her handsome groom in his wranglers and cowboy hat. Bending her over in his strong arms for the wedding kiss was the icing on the cake on this beautiful day in a branding lot turned wedding chapel under the big Montana sky.

It was a great time!  Next: updating the pictures!

Good afternoon from the Knolltop!  It’s cool, a bit windy but not a cloud, well, maybe a couple of clouds in the sky! I just got back from walking outside, yes normally I walk on the treadmill, but today, I ventured out while Sadie was sleeping.  I have to sneak out like a mom with an anxious baby.  Sadie loves to go with me but she is getting so old, blind and deaf, she doesn’t hear cars coming and of course she doesn’t hear me calling her.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking….put a leash on the dog gone dog!  Good idea….but it’s easier to sneak out.

The boys have a game today at home. I will take my trusty camera and get some pictures.  It occurred to me I have no baseball pictures and I will need some for JW’s open house.  Oh my heaven’s I said the O.H. words! Every time I speak or hear those words I start to cringe!  I’m not organized enough to have a full fledged open house…doggone it I said it again (cringe, cringe, cringe)

I’m getting this thing planned and progressing along and I feel pretty ‘ok’ about it.  Just as long as I stay away from other mothers who are more organized and I don’t have to listen to how they have the tent ordered the food is finalized, the picture collage is done, the ice sculpture is in the freezer along with all the home made cookies, cakes, pies, pastries and every other delectable thing you could see at an open house.  Come on people….this isn’t a wedding reception!!!!!! (deep breath, phew…almost had a full blown panic attack!)

Nope, we aren’t doing all that food, people can have their main course at the other 20 open houses, they will have to suffer through ice cream sundaes at JW’s party.  Yep, that’s what we’re serving, ice cream with all the toppings, root beer floats and brownies! What else would you expect from a dairy farm????? I think I’ll order some of those M&M’s with JW’s name on them…those sound so fun!

Okay, now it’s time to make subs for half the baseball team.  Every time I take the subs into the boys, they tell me, “Oh mom, Tommy wants a sub next time!”  Oh, okay, just call me “Subway!”  JW, Luke, Jake, Dewey, Dave and Logan today…..I wonder who we will add next week?

Gotta go!