Back to My Roots...

Last weekend I had a fabulous time celebrating our family Christmas.  Yes I know it was a little late, but this was the best weekend for my brother and his family to visit, since he had to go to Wisconsin for his job.  It was a weekend filled with smiles and laughter, and I really miss these times we have as a family.  Since the weather was so nice, my brother wanted to get the "kids" out of the house ( I use the term "kids" loosely as I think we all wanted to go out and do something together) and went to the family farm.  It had been a long time since I had been out the farm, in particular the timber. My brother and his wife took the "mule" with the kids in the back, and Josh and I went on the four wheeler.  We had a blast!  Riding throughout the timber, watching the kids smiling in front of us and "directing" traffic to make sure that we were going to stop. We saw a beautiful sight of about 12 deer jump across the road and run right in front of us, too.  Even though riding around on the four-wheeler with my husband was great (awesome to see my "techy" husband, enjoy an outdoor adventure), the ride brought back so many memories as a kid on the farm.  I thought about the 4-H and church wiener roasts in the clearing and hayrack rides......... seeing the cows walk through the timber......... sledding adventures down the hill and being pulled behind the tractor........ice skating on the pond.......listening to my families' deer stories when they came back from hunting.....and all of these flooded my mind with emotions. These memories are filled with laughter, tears, and joy and most were just loads of farm family fun. It's in my roots, this family farm, as it has been in our family for over 150 years. I think of all the great times and memories that have been made here, and now my brother is making new memories when he brings his children here now.  Even though, I don't visit it as much as I used to, and the farm is different without the cows, and the cousins are now adults, it still is the family farm. I pray and hope that this farm will still continue to make beautiful memories for generations to come as it has for so many long ago.