Literally! This month we have focused on joy. Joy in family, hobbies, self, work, and faith. We often go through our days forgetting to find joy and are always looking at the glass half empty instead of half full. However, we are days after Thanksgiving heading in the Christmas craziness and we easily can be derailed with decision fatigue. There are decisions around every corner. Our lists are endlessly long. Events are never-ending. Gift-giving is a challenge these days as it seems like everything has to be so grandiose. Shopping this year has been a challenge as well with out-of-stock items. We wake up each morning seemingly trying to put…

I write this post with Thanksgiving being tomorrow. A day that will be filled with an abundance of food and gathering with our family. I am thankful for my family, health, and all that God has given me throughout the year.  We especially are mindful to be thankful during the month of November and on Thanksgiving, but we should always have a thankful heart. God has done so much for us and has provided for us as he sees fit. Maybe not in our timing but when he knows it is the right time. God truly has blessed us with his endless mercies.  I often tell my children to be…

As the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:22 says we should rejoice in our work. God has given us our lot (work) to do and as long as we have God at the center our work should be joyful.  There are days that it is hard to be joyful about our work. Trust me, being a farmer this summer with no chance of rain in the forecast or when there was a chance of rain it didn’t show it was hard to find the joy in work. That is where I had to have a child-like faith that God will provide. Indeed he did a little too late perhaps for this year’s…

We continue our series of finding joy today with our focus on hobbies. Early this year we discussed the lost art of hobbies and finding hobbies to do as a couple. Both of our articles expressed the importance and value of having a hobby and being open to a hobby to enjoy with your spouse. Today I am missing my niece getting confirmed as I have a sick kiddo and am having a hard time missing such a milestone. However, it has given me an opportunity to do a hobby that I love… sewing!! However, I did not set out with utmost joy or look at it as an opportunity.…

Contributed by Carrie Guthmiller As I go about my day-to-day life, I have to-do lists that I need to, have to, and would like to accomplish each day. Each of you reading this has your own day-to-day to-do lists. As you read this article in the back of your mind you may even be thinking about them. Our to-do lists are our expectations of what and how the day should look like. I would like each of you to take a step back from your to-do lists and day to day expectations for a moment and read this verse:  Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares…

Of the three of us ladies at Rhubarb and Rubbish, I am the only one that is an empty nester. The three kids are all in their early 20s but doing various different things from living in another community, raising their own children, and buying houses. All three are busy working and living, while I am still busy working and living. As you can imagine, connecting regularly presents challenges. For my son, who lives in town, I am usually guaranteed to see him once a week at our Friday night family suppers with my parents and sister and her family who live in town. Friday night suppers were started a…

Last week I told you a story of a regular life activity that created memories for me as a child and the importance of just remembering to be with each other in the Chasing Headless Chickens post. This week, I’m going to address intentional memory making. Every day is an opportunity to intentionally make memories, but some days and events call for a little more intention. As I am writing this, I am reflecting on this past weekend. My entire family, minus a couple of people who had to work, traveled between two and two and half hours to where my daughter lives to watch her performance in The Adams…

Imagine with me a moment—the summer heat rising off the gravel roads, bright blue cloudless skies, green and gold fields for miles around, a white farmhouse and barn with a variety of tractors and farm equipment haphazardly lining the drive. Now…add in the sound of dying chickens and the screams of a couple of kids about 5 and 7. Ha, gotcha! I know you were thinking of iced tea and a porch swing while eating Grandma’s fresh-baked rhubarb crisp! But, that isn’t in this story. When my oldest sister and I were small kids, my parents would go to my paternal grandparent’s farm and butcher chickens. They butchered enough chickens…