2012
– A year not easily forgotten. A year of tragedy. A year of drawing closer to
God.
As many of you may already know, this year was full with the
expectation of Sarah Grace’s arrival in late August. Abigail was thrilled to be having a little
sister and Marion and I felt extremely blessed to be expecting another
baby. Unfortunately, it was not in the
Lord’s will for Sarah Grace to come home from the hospital with us. Sarah was born on September 8th
(two weeks past her due date) and went to be with Jesus on September 12th. A few weeks later, Marion’s Aunt Barbara (and
our closest neighbor) suddenly passed away as well. And on November 20th, Marion’s
grandmother Ruth also died at the age of 102! Though these tragedies shook us
deeply, our God was faithful in carrying us through and never letting us
go. We have been so very blessed by the
support and love we feel from family and friends. Even
in tragedy, our God is good.
Earlier in the year (April 16th to be exact), we
had our first broken bone in the family.
Jonathan was in Abigail’s room and fell out of her second story
window. He broke his left femur in half
and was taken to Salina to have surgery.
He was in a wheelchair for 6 weeks and had titanium rods in his leg for
6 months. We were so very thankful that
this accident wasn’t far worse; Jonny was a bit scraped up but he had no other
serious injuries. Even in the
unexpected, our God is good.
This year was also a tough year on the farm. We had drought conditions and the summer
crops did not do very well. The corn
crop was especially hit hard. But even
in the poor crop conditions, God provided for our family and we were able to
get some new to us equipment that was needed.
Even in times of trial, our God
is good.
The rest of the year was filled with fairly normal
activities. Abigail continues to play
the piano and is doing well in her schooling.
She is in Third Grade this year.
She got glasses toward the beginning of the year and she entered several
things in the County Fair which earned her $17.00! Nathan also got glasses this year, but he
only needs them when reading or doing school work. He is in First Grade this year and enjoys Art
the most. He took his first calf to the
fair and thrived at taking care of it and breaking it to lead. He still enjoys being outdoors the most and
especially playing in the dirt. Other than his broken leg, Jonny has had a great
year. He has excelled in his learning
and will be starting Kindergarten in 2013.
Ethan is running around, getting into everything, and talking
constantly. We have attempted potty
training, but it hasn’t seemed to fully click yet. Both Ethan and Jonny love to
go with Daddy on the farm. Even in the everyday, our God is good.
We truly cannot express how grateful we are to all who have
been with us and helped us through this last year. We had several young ladies help throughout
the year (Faith Karg, my cousin Elizabeth, and the Shamburg girls). These young ladies stepped in to help care
for the kids, clean the house and just be a great support and help. And we could not have made it through without
our family! Everyone stepped up to go
beyond the call of duty to take the kids and provide the support we needed both
during and after Sarah’s birth. In the
blessings, our God is good.
We pray that you can also look over the past year and
despite what has happened say OUR GOD IS
GOOD!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The M&M Schlatter
Family
Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter
