If you would have told me 5 years ago that Megan Moss was moving to Africa, I would have bet money against it!  The fact that she is leaving behind her country, great job, and best friend of course...is just a testament of how huge God is and how much He can radically change someone's heart.

After Megan and I graduated from University of Illinois in 2010, we both moved out to Indiana to pursue our careers.  Little did we know that the Lord brought us there to fulfill His perfect plan.  Megan gave her life to Christ in October 2010 and she jumped in the deep end head first!  Since then she has gone on two short term mission trips to Africa.  In October her and her little sister Michelle are moving to Tanzania to become full-time missionaries. 

Megan is going to be working with farmers teaching them about sustainable agriculture.  She will also work with them on the financial side to teach them how to properly manage the money they earn.  This will help Megan to use her huge brain and her master's degree in accounting.  Michelle is mainly working with widows and orphans. Michelle has a law degree which will prove very beneficial in seeking justice for these two very marginalized groups in society. They are planning on leaving in October, but before they can depart they need people to stand along side them to commit to prayerful and financial support. 

If you are interested in partnering with Megan and Michelle you can find more information about these sweet gals at cmfi.org/meganmoss or cmfi.org/michellemoss.  You can also read updates right from Megan and Michelle on their blog at mosssisters.blogspot.com. 

Thanks for reading!

Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

I did something crazy last week...I paid $53 so I can run 13.1 miles!  Say what?!  I am going to be participating in the Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon on August 31!  I have only participated in one other race ever, and it was a 5k that our church put on last year, so yeah...this is quite the jump!  Right about now you are probably saying...why the heck are you doing this?!

Well...

I am a planner, I love to work out, and I love being tan!  I really don't have ample time to lay out (I wish), but I always make time to exercise.  Running outside is like hitting two birds with one stone...I am burning off calories from all the ice cream, burgers, and other delicious summer treats that I am constantly eating, and if I wear shorts and a sports bra while running I am working on my tan!  Even though the racerback and sock tan lines aren't the sexiest things ever, it's still better than nothing!  Also, I don't just like to work out aimlessly...I like to follow a plan...and pretty much every running plan ends in a road race...so I figured, "what the heck?!"  I can comfortably run 5 miles now, and I really haven't tried more than that, but I feel like that is a good training base to start with.

I am going to use these next 10 and a half weeks to control my body and my fitness, so that I can run farther than I have ever ran before!  I do not have any specific goal time that I want to finish in...I just want to finish! 

I will be putting the rubber to the road using the Hal Higdon Novice Training Program, with a few minor personal tweaks.  Please pray for me as I embark on this training journey.  Specifically pray that I will not be set back by any injuries - Ain't nobody got time for that!

Thanks for reading!

When we first bought our house a little over two years ago, our landscaping was completely overgrown and pretty much the grossest thing we had ever seen.  Have yourself a little look...

And that picture is after we got new windows, a new front door, and a new roof...just imagine the horror before!  So then...over the next couple years we tore all the bushes and junk out...so for a long time it looked like this...

Brady and I were planning on doing the landscaping ourselves.  We researched the internet, creeped all over town on peoples yards, and checked out books from the library.  But we had no idea what to do when it came to our house!  It was so frustrating...until...I found out that one of my new crop insurance customers also does landscaping on the side.  When someone is a customer or mine, I am more than happy to do business with them.  So he came out and measured everything and asked all sorts of questions.  In a couple days we had a plan drawn out, and a few weeks after that there was a crew of 3 guys at our house getting work done! 

Of course having someone else do it was more expensive than if we would have done it ourselves, but we are so happy we did it and are so pleased with the final product.  Our house just looks happier now and has so much more curb appeal!

I think you should really see some before and afters...the before pictures were taken Monday morning, and the after pictures were taken Monday evening! 

I can't wait until everything blooms and starts to fill in.  Don Anderson and Garden Gate Landscapes did an awesome job and if anyone is wanting their services then you should call Don at (765) 325-2681.

The pictures hardly do it justice, everyone will just have to come over to see it in real life so you can really appreciate all the new outside wonderfulness!

I hope you like is as  much as we do (I am sure you don't, but that's okay...we better like it the most since we paid for it!)

Thanks for reading!

Sounds kind of backwards doesn't it?  We have always been taught to put 100% into everything we do, and not to even bother doing something if you aren't going to give it your all.  Well, I am going to disagree with that.  I say, "If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing poorly."  I didn't make this saying up, but heard it from Rob Rienow when he was speaking to men about leading their wives.

You see, many people don't even attempt to do things, for fear of failure.  Many men are scared to open the Bible in their homes because they don't have a degree in theology and are scared they might misprounounce Mahershalalhashbaz...yes that really is someone's name, see Isaiah 8:3.  Men - you don't have to be a Bible scholar to lead your wives!  If you can talk out loud, and you can read...then you can lead your wife!  Just open your Bible to Proverbs or Psalms and read, then shut it.  It is that easy, no hour long sermon is necessary. 

Reading your Bible together along with prayer are the main ingredients to make any marriage flourish.  If praying out loud with your spouse isn't something you have done regularly, then it can be awkward.  Just remember, you are talking to your heavenly Father, He already knows you better than you know yourself, so there is no need for an expanded vocabulary or poetic speech.  Just thank Him for all He has blessed you with, and tell Him what is on your heart.  He already knows, so it really shouldn't be that scary. 

Wives - if a husband hasn't been the leader that your heart desires, then pray, pray, and pray some more.  And when he does step up and lead, don't tell him how he is doing it wrong or make fun of his bumbling speech during a prayer.  Just be thankful that your hubby has taken that step of faith, tell him you are thankful, encourage him, and keep praying for him. 

If it is 11:30 at night and you and your spouse have finally just crawled into bed, exhausted after a long day.  Grab your iPhone, pop open your Bible app and read a few verses (or if you are extra tired, you could have the Bible app read to you...technology is a wonderful thing!).  Then hold hands and thank the Lord for the day you had and the fact that you have a loving spouse by your side.  Next, roll over and have sweet dreams!  See it wasn't that hard and didn't take that long! 

Of course I think the Lord does deserve the best of us, but I also think that reading a few verses and saying a two minute prayer is a lot better than nothing. 

Thanks for reading and I pray this post encouraged you!

Being a farm wife is a hectic job.  Being married to a farmer often means that I find myself eating meals in a tractor, because that is the only way Brady and I get to sit down together.  It also means that there is no "set schedule" and plans often get rearranged, because we are often at the mercy of Mother Nature.  Being a farm wife also means that I always kiss my husband when he gets home from work but am very careful not to touch him anywhere else because he is covered in a mixture of oil, diesel, dirt, and hog manure.  The farm is where we work, where we live, and where we will one day raise our children.  I love the farm and I love being a farm wife, but many women who are in the same position as me do not feel the same way. 

I am so thankful to be married to a man who has his priorities straight.  It is obvious to everyone who knows Brady that his relationship with Jesus is number 1, his relationship with me is number 2, and his career as a farmer is number 3.  Many farm wives find themselves married to a man who has his numbers 2 and 3 flip flopped and number 1 isn't even part of the equation.  Having Jesus as head of our household and marriage really helps to make sure everything else stays in its proper order.  I have heard first hand from multiple farm wives that they often feel like the farm is the other woman or the mistress in their marriage.  This becomes very obvious in those cases when date nights, kids baseball games, and church functions are often missed because the work on a farm is never done. 

The farm has been around in Brady's life for a lot longer than I have, and there is a lot of pressure to work hard and manage it well.  But it is the best feeling knowing that he cares about me and my best interests before those of the farm.  Our marriage is more important than the farm, even during the busy seasons of planting and harvest. 

This past weekend Brady and I attended a marriage conference that our church held in Indianapolis.  We stayed in a hotel downtown and listened to Rob Rienow impart Godly wisdom to all the married couples.  It was a great weekend and I am so thankful that we attended.  I expressed my excitement about attending the conference on Facebook and someone commented, "How are you getting him (Brady) away from the field?"  I was so happy to reply that even though we were still right in the middle of planting, I have a husband who puts his wife ahead of the farm!

Am I saying things are always sunshine and rainbows? Heck no!  Being a farm wife means that sometimes I go to bed alone because Brady is going to be in the field all night.  It also means that I have to wash all Brady's work clothes with a splash of bleach to get the smell out and sometimes I accidently ruin my clothes in the process.  Being married to a farmer also means that I worry about Brady a lot because farming can be a very dangerous job.  Lots of times us spending time together often means we are in a truck, tractor, field, or hog barn.  All those things are totally worth it though, because it is so rare for someone to love their career as much as Brady loves farming.  He loves the farm so much, but he loves me even more! 

We live in a world where we don't talk, we text.  We don't have lengthy conversations, we write 140 character 'tweets' that describe our day in a play by play fashion.  Social media has added a whole new dynamic to our everyday lives, and it hasn't been around that long, so we are still wading through all the changes it has caused in our personal relationships.  I am definitely not a social media hater at all, I am very active on Facebook for my personal and professional life, I write a blog (whenever I make time), I creep on Twitter, and I get inspiration on Pinterest.  But here is the thing about social media...IT IS NOT REAL LIFE!  It is a soapbox...you can make your life appear to be anything you like! 

Most people, myself included, paint a rosy picture on the internet.  We post pictures of smiling faces and flowers on date nights, but the keys stop clicking when our husband forgets our anniversary or comes home late one night and forgets to call.  I am not in any way saying that we should bash our husbands on the internet, but I am saying that when you aren't having the best day or your marriage is going through a rough spot....don't look to Facebook for comfort!  It will only make you feel worse because all your girlfriends are obviously married to Prince Charming, which obviously isn't true. 

Ex's are probably the biggest lurking danger of social media.  Before the social media world invaded our life, ex's could be safely tucked away into fading memories and it was easy to pretend that they had just fallen off the face of the earth.  Social media reminds us that our ex's are still in fact living people.  With the mutual friends that are obtained in a dating relationship, it is hard to completely avoid an ex on the internet, but there are steps that can be taken to ensure that this happens almost never. 

First and foremost...DON'T BE FRIENDS WITH AN EX ON FACEBOOK OR FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER!  Just don't do it...even if you say nothing bad is going to come of it...nothing good is going to come of it either, so just don't play with fire and leave it alone.  Do not interact with an ex on Facebook, at all!  Don't look at their profile picture, don't message them, nothing.  Also, be completely transparent with your spouse when it comes to social media.  Share passwords and allow your spouse to log on to any of your accounts whenever they would like.  Some married couples even have a joint Facebook page, which can be very beneficial because this also keeps certain unwanted people from contacting you, because they know your spouse will see it. 

Although social  media can be fun and beneficial, it's not always the best thing for a marriage.  When we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in our online lives, even innocent
interactions can divert our time and attention.  It's essential that we guard against distractions so that our spouses never have to wonder which 'friend' is the most important. 

Going to book club is something that I look forward to each month.  I have always been a bookworm but I wasn't in a book club until about a year ago, and now I hope that I never have to go without again.  It is so fun!  One of my favorite things about book club is that I read books that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole otherwise.  And surprisingly...sometimes I actually like them!  

Last year I was chatting with one of my best girlfriends and she mentioned how she used to be in a book club with co-workers (before she became a SAHM), and how much she loved it.  I was so jealous; I wanted to be in a book club!  Well, a couple of friendly emails to gal pals later, we had started a book club!  April 2012 we met and discussed "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.  The HG series was all the rage at that point, so we figured we couldn't just let the band wagon pass us up!  "The Hunger Games" is a prime example of a book I would never read if it weren't for book club.  I never read Harry Potter or Twilight either...I am just not into cult, teenie bopper books.  Science fiction and fantasy really aren't my style either.  I am more of a Jodi Picoult, Kristin Hannah, Emily Giffin fan.  I like books about dogs, best friends, murder trials, controversy, and/or love.  I also like a good non-fiction book every now and then about a topic, issue, or person that I am interested in.  You can check out books I have read, want to read, and am currently reading by being my friend on Goodreads.  

Sidenote on Goodreads - I love this website!  It is like Facebook, only it is for ultra-nerdy bookworms...like me!  And instead of it being all about me, this is my little soapbox like Facebook, Goodreads is all about the books!  You can see what books your friends have on their bookshelves, you can rate and review books you have read, and once you have reviewed enough books, the website will start generating book suggestions for you! 

Anyways, back to book club.  I love it!  We meet once a month and discuss one book each time we meet.  The girls in our group have a variety of favorite genres, so we read all different kind of stuff.  We use a rolling Google Drive document to choose our book each month.  All the girls in the club can add books to the 'Best Book Club Ever Booklist', yes that is really what it is called.  And then we each vote...3 points for the book we want to read the most the next month, 2 for second most, and 1for your third choice.  Whichever book has the most points is the book that we all read for the upcoming month, and whoever put that book on the list has to lead discussion.  We always meet for two hours.  We usually spend a little over one hour talking about the book, and the remaining time talking about other girly things...such as husbands, houses, clothes, hair, kids, work, etc! 

In March we read "Defending Jacob" by William Landay and this month we are reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards.

If you love to read but aren't currently in a book club, then you should join one!  Check out your local library as they usually sponsor them.  Or better yet...send some emails, make some phone calls, and start your own!

Happy reading!

2 things...today is my birthday and I have the most wonderful husband in the world.  Last year for my birthday Brady surprised me with a weekend getaway to southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.  We went to a Ertel Cellars Winery, the Creation Museum, and stayed at the Hickory Road Inn Bed and Breakfast.  We spent the weekend eating at delicious resturants, drinking wine, watching basketball, and relaxing.  It was such a wonderful weekend that turned into a memory and tradition.  You can read more about that birthday weekend here. 

Because we had such a great time last year, apparently Brady has decided to make Sam's Birthday Weekend Getaway an annual event.  He asked me a few weeks ago if I could take a Friday in March off of work.  I said yes, unsure of what Brady had up his sleeve.  Well today he told me what we are going to do.  WE ARE GOING SKIING!  Brady had to tell me what we were going to do ahead of time because of the gear that we will need to pack for hitting the slopes.  We have been talking about going skiing together ever since we met and we still haven't got around to it.  We will spend three days in Cadillac, MI at Caberfae Peaks.  Cadillac is supposed to get one or two inches of snow everyday this week and this weekend it is supposed to warm up to 38 degrees!  A perfect recipe for a fun weekend skiing.

I have been very VERY busy with work lately as sales season just wrapped up, and Brady has been very busy and stressed out lately with all this windmill stuff going on (for those of you who don't live in Tipton County...I will probably write another post explaining this fiasco in the near future). 

That will be Brady and me in a few days!  Yay!

This is what we had for dinner tonight at the Peters household.  It is one of Brady's favorite meals.  I love it because it is super cheap, super delicious, super easy, and it freezes really well.  We usually get three meals out of it!  I found the original recipe on allrecipies.com...which is pretty awesome, and if you never have checked it out, you should do so now...well not right now, after you finish reading this post of course =)

STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

Ingredients
1.5 pounds of ground beef (give or take depending on how much you like meat)
2 green peppers chopped
1 29 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 29 oz can of tomato sauce
2 beef bouillon cubes (you could substitute a can or 2 of beef broth)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 t salt
1 t pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 cups cooked white rice

Directions
1.  Brown ground beef in large stock pot.  Drain grease and add green peppers.  Sautee on medium for about 3 minutes.
2.  Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with juice, bouillon cubes, brown sugar, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and Worcestershire. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3.  White soup is simmering, cook rice according to directions.  Add cooked rice after soup has simmered for 30 minutes.  Cover again and simmer on low for 5 minutes to soak flavors into the rice.
4.  Serve and enjoy immediately.  

Three random things...most of the time when a recipe calls for ground beef I substitute ground pork.  I have never tried ground pork in this recipe, it just doesn't seem like it would taste too good.  If you substitute ground pork or even ground turkey in this recipe and it tastes good, please let me know!  Second, my favorite part about this recipe is that it freezes so well, I usually get three meals out of making it one time.  I just put leftovers in gallon freezer bags and freeze until we want to have it again.  Third, this recipe is most like a stew than a soup, if you want it to be more liquid and less stewy then substitute beef broth for the beef bouillon cubes. 

Hope you enjoy!

Everyone saw the Ram commercial during the Superbowl on Sunday.  The one with Paul Harvey telling viewers how farmers care for their animals, work hard from dawn until past dusk, have family as a top priority, pass their career on from generation to generation, and our stewards of the land.  The Lord needed a special kind of person who was strong in the back yet gentle in the spirit to do all these things, so on the 8th day "God made a farmer." 

With such a strong message. of course this commercial has also caused some controversy.  Just find the video on YouTube and read the comments below.  You are sure to find comments all over the board, things such as...

"And on the ninth day God saw that the "caretakers" he had created were
destroying the natural resources He had made for their own profit. They were
poisoning the ground and water with chemicals, fertilizers and animal waste,
promoting soil erosion and loss of topsoil by over-tilling the land, destroying
wetlands, cutting down trees and generally just screwing up everything they
touched. And always complaining while the largest welfare program in this
country (The Farm Program) supports them."

"I'm an Atheist and I loved this commercial."

"And on the ninth day, when the farmer became lazy, God made Mexicans to pick
the fields."

"SOME of us understand where our groceries come from.
And please thank all the farmers you meet today; you are an invaluable
asset."

"Beautifully made commercial. It's blatantly exploitative and misleading -
relying on an ignorant and easily led audience."

"No Farmers, No Food"

"We don't need farmers. All we got to do is go to the store and buy our food.
Pretty easy, huh?"

"And on the first day, man invented God"

"Farmers are stupid, its a stupid job."

"The whole point of this commircal was to sell the truth.  How our food is
made and where it comes from.  And most of all, how hard farmers work and struggle to
get the job done.  Farmers don't get enough credit and respect for their work."

"On the ninth day, The Devil created GMO's and MONSANTO!!!"

"Most food comes from large corporate farms."

"Being a farmer is one of the most demanding and stressful jobs you can possibly
imagine and when it comes down to it yes it does have one of the worst financial
returns of any other professions for the amount of investment and commitment. If
the government didn't give farmers financial aid, nobody would be a damn farmer.
The government gives those incentives to keep jobs in America and prices down so
when you go to the market you save an extra $.10 cents a potato."

Wow...lots of people, farmers and non...have stong opinions!  Here is where I throw in my two cents.  I loved the commercial, Ioved hearing Paul Harvey's voice speak once again and read his famous essay that was first given as a speech in 1978 at a Future Farmers of America Convention.  The tribute to farmers has since been passed around by farm families as an anthem to the work in their lives, and it was so wonderful that the whole nation got to hear all those wonderful words and see all those gorgeous pictures.  Putting the spotlight on agriculture and God during the nations biggest televised event was a bold thing to do...and it was awesome!  

Things have changed in farming since 1978, just as most things in our day to day lives have changed since 1978.  But the core values are still there and many negative comments that people are posting in response to the commercial are simply untrue.  Farmers care for the land, we take many steps to preserve the land that is our life blood for many generations to come.  Farmers are the last people who want to see our fertile soils get eroded and they do many things to prevent that.  On our farm we do extensive no-till and cover crop practices to ensure land preservation. 

Most food does not come from large corporate farms...the vast majority of farms in America (90%) are owned and operated by individuals or families.  The next largest category of ownership is partnerships (6%).  The “corporate” farms account for only 3% of U.S. farms and 90% of those corporations are in fact family owned.  Many farm families have formed modest-sized corporations to take advantage of legal and accounting benefits of that type of business enterprise.  We do not currently operate as a corporation, but we may change that in the future.  Corporation or not, our farm is a true family operation, Brady is the 6th generation who will take it over as head farm manager one day.    

Contrary to popular belief, Satan did not create Monsanto and GMO's...as the world's population continues to increase, so does the demand food.  Farmers and agricultural workers have taken this challange head on.  This increased demand has been met (and exceeded) with the aid of large-scale equipment and machinery, improved crop varieties (including GMOs), commercial fertilizers, and pesticides. 

Farmers really are amazing people.  To be a successful farmer you have to wear so many hats.  You have to be an agronomist, grain marketer, mechanic, livestock caretaker, tax man, heavy equipment operator, manual laborer, and more.

Please watch and share this video of the commercial.  Every time someone watches and shares the video, Ram makes a donation to FFA and to assist in local hunger relief and educational programs!  

If you know a farmer, shake his or her hand today.  And if you are married to a farmer like I am...you can do even more than that ;)