Ben's Birthday!

Today we celebrated Ben's 31st birthday. We had a wonderful lunch followed by a great DQ ice cream cake (his favorite)! He loved his gift a framed print of the American Cattle Trails.

Eva Lynne's 1st Birthday

Eva Lynne celebrated her first birthday on July 8th in a purple tu tu! Family and friends gathered for a backyard BBQ and everyone enjoyed water games.

Sunset Beach

Back in May Mom, my Grandmother, and I took a trip to Sunset Beach, N.C. My grandmother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and wanted to take a trip one last time to her favorite place. Guess I get that love honest, because there is no other place on earth I would rather be than at the beach.

Mom and I rented bikes and rode them everyday back and forth from the beach to get in some exercise. We had to ride them across a wooden "swing" bridge that was one lane. It was an adventure to go bump, bump, bump and dodge cars.

We read books, baked in the sun and ate great food. Our view from our bed was amazing. We looked over a boat dock and onto "Goat Island". Goats really did live there...there activity was dependent on the tide.

During one of my beach rides I found the "Kindred Spirit" mailbox, where people wrote about life, their families, their faith and their trips to the beach. It was a really neat and of course I left "our story" too.

The sunsets were amazing and so was the rainbow that started and stopped on the beach. It was a great reminder of God's promise.

Here's to three generations of Sandlappers who love to bake in the sun and wiggle our toes in the sand!

FFA members why are we here?

"To practice brotherhood, honor agricultural opportunities and responsibilities, and develop those qualities of leadership which an FFA member should possess."

Founded in 1928, the Future Farmers of America brought together students, teachers and agribusiness to solidify support for agricultural education. In Kansas City's Baltimore Hotel, 33 young farmboys charted a course for the future. They could not have foreseen how the organization would grow and thrive.

Since 1928, millions of agriculture students - no one knows exactly how many - have donned the official FFA jacket and championed the FFA creed. FFA has opened its doors and its arms women in 1968, ensuring that all students could reap the benefits of agricultural education. Today, the National FFA Organization remains committed to the individual student, providing a path to achievement in premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Now, the organization is expanding the nation's view of "traditional" agriculture and finding new ways to infuse agriculture into the classroom.

My FFA career begin in 1994 when I registered for my first agriculture education class. At this time I had no idea where that blue jacket would take me. I competed in a couple SAE (supervised agriculture experience) and won the State Dairy Proficiency. I also enjoyed competing in several CDE (career development events). I was proud to earn my State and American Degrees. In 1998-1999 I severed as the S.C. State FFA Secretary and had the honor of dedicating the national head quarters in Indiana. All 50 states brought samples of their soil and poured them around the flag pool in alphabetical order. Needless to say South Dakota was not impressed with our red clay!

On June 9 I was invited back to the S.C. State Convention as a past state female FFA officer to honor 40 years of women in FFA. It was such a joy to sit and the seats of the Brooks Center on the campus of Clemson University and slip back in time. Though technology and the world around us has changed; I'm proud to say the jackets and the time honored traditions of this organization stay the same!

May 2010 Flood

In the first 3 days of May we have made history! We have had more rain in these 3 days than the entire month combined. The Bible tells of a time when God destroyed the earth by water and after this past weekend I am thankful I wasn't apart of the first flood. On Saturday parts of middle TN had over 13 inches and it kept raining on Sunday. Our home and neighborhood are fine. There are families north of us that have lost everything. The dams on Cumberland River had to be opened today to relieve some of the strain and water levels are expected to rise another 6 feet in the surrounding areas. Please keep the area in your thoughts and prayers. Only one water treatment plant is running in Nashville is short and ground water is contaminated with sewage. This past weekend's weather reminds me of a powerful and might God we serve! I don't have pictures because we choose to stay at home to be safe and stay out of rescue workers ways.

Job Updates!

Haven't posted anything in awhile, so I thought I would give a job update for both Ben and I. As many of you know I worked for Fort Dodge Animal Health for over five years. This past October they were purchased by Pfizer. Many of the products I represented were sold to another company as required by the Federal Trade Commission. I had the opportunity to leave the company and receive a severance and choose to take this time to exit. I stayed at home and cleaned and reorganized everything. In January I received a phone call from a regional manager with Intervet Schering Plough about the possibility of working as a contract product launch specialist for 3-6 months. Ben and I thought this would provided a good opportunity so on February 1 I started work. I just finish month 3 and it appears I will have 2-3 more months of work.

Ben worked for 2 years for TN Livestock Network which is a non-profit cattle marketing group. In February he turned in his two week notice and on March 1 he started working for the Beef Connection of TN. Check out their website at www.thebeefconnection.com. This job is providing and challenge which Ben loves.

Ultimately we want to be in the middle of God's plan and be living His will in our lives. We have started actively looking for a farm to purchase. We both realize this could take some time so we remind each other to be patient and wait for the right one. We plan to stay in the middle TN area and are looking in Coffee, Warren, White and Cannon counties.

We hope the spring weather has brought as much beauty in your lives as it has ours. As I write this I am listening to a power thunder storm only wishing I was sitting under a tin roof!

In like a lion out like a lamb!

This winter was like none other in my life time. The snow, cold and wet weather made farming in TN tough. I'm thankful for the moisture, but I am looking forward to spring. I love this time of year all the flowers and trees in bloom. It reminds me that God provides for everything! I'm so thankful for my husband and family and can't wait to see what the summer has in store for us.

NCBA-San Antonio, TX 2010

This year's NCBA Convention was in San Antonio, TX. Ben and I headed down on Monday to kick of the weeks activities with Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) training and commencement. We were trained by some great people: Troy and Stacy Hadrick from South Dakota and Amanda Nolz also from South Dakota. These young agriculture enthusiast are and inspiration and I look forward to working with them in the future. For dinner Tuesday night the Simpson's, Reece's and Neale's headed off to Fogo Chao a Brazilian Steakhouse and the atmosphere and food was great.

NCBA's Opening Session was held on Wednesday and it was awesome. The speaker was Chris Gardner author of "The Pursuit of Happyness". His story is amazing and I can't wait to see the movie starring Will Smith. After the Opening Session we headed off to the trade show to meet up with friends and meet Chris Gardner at his book signing. I can't wait to read the book. The coolest thing in the tradeshow was the sand sculpture.

   

  

 For dinner we meet up with Dr. Devin (aka A-Dad) at Mortons. We all enjoyed our prime steaks!

 

Thursday was a rainy and windy. Ben, Michael Simpson and Robby Reece headed off to tour Graham Land & Cattle Company in Gonzales, TX. Jay Gray general manager gave the guys a tour of the ranches 30,000 head capacity feedyard. I went shopping with Michael's wife Stacey, Robby's wife Brandi, and their little boy Colby. We went down to Market Square to shop and eat authentic Mexican food. On the walk back Colby and I had fun out running each other and playing in the water fountains. Thursday night was the Fiesta Party which consisted of many receptions for different organization. The food and fellowship was wonderful.

 

Friday was a day of committee meetings for Ben so I took off to tour the Alamo. While, there I tried to donate blood at a blood drive, but failed the iron test by one point. One would think after a week of eating beef for every meal my iron would be just fine. The south represented itself well at the Alamo especially Tennessee. Over 20 Tennesseans gave their life to help Texas gain their freedom from Mexico.

Friday was an eventful evening of PBR bull riding and a country music concert. We attended the bull riding and this was my first PBR event. The bulls are big and powerful!

We left sunny TX (it was above 70 degrees most of the week) on Saturday and flew into a cold and snowy Nashville. The officially yard reading says we have 4.5 inches. We had a great time and I hope spend the year promoting the consumption of beef and dairy products!

Christmas 2009

I'm a little behind on updating the blog, but didn't want to get to far from Christmas without posting some pictures. The holiday season started early for us as we went tree shopping the first weekend of December. We has a great time and found a great tree.

I sang in this year's Christmas Choir and loved the music....it was Have No Fear.

In the middle of the month the Band of Brothers had their annual Christmas party. Ben did a lot of planning for this and it was a wonderful evening. We had over 75 people attend. Santa dropped by to read the Christmas story!

On Monday Dec 21 we headed to the Carolina's for Christmas. We had a good time and we really enjoyed the time we got to spend with my Grandmother Iristine. Eva Lynne was a prefect angle even through she was scared of the toy we got her. The Peeler gathering was big as usually... most everyone was able to attend. It's amazing to see what two people (my grandparents) can produce. To date there are 4 children+ spouses, 10 grandchildren+ spouses, and 5 great-grandchildren. All because two people fell in love. I love a BIG family. We drove back home on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas together around our live Christmas tree!