Wow! It feels like it has been a really long time since last week, but here we are! In my mind, time off was going to be super relaxing and I would have tons of time to do a bunch of different stuff, but that has really not been the case. Every day there has been something I need to do, so Friday I finally had a day to myself and I was so thankful!
Monday was my first day off, but I had to go to a doctor's appointment late in the morning. Thankfully, it didn't take long and I still had most of the day to myself. Jonathan had Bible Study in the evening and he and Graham got dinner while I was gone. I had an inter-professional experience with some nursing students from Wright State Lake Campus. We met at VanTilburg Farms in one of the conference rooms to talk about different health risks a farmer might face in different areas of the farm. It was really interesting because it wasn't just a dairy farm like I am used to, it was much more of a business-type farm with lots of employees and different specialties. One of the three sons, who now own the business, gave us the tour and he was very kind. He told us about what they do. They have 4,200 acres that they farm, he said it is the smallest part of what they do. It takes them one week to plant and 4-6 weeks to harvest depending on the year. They also buy grain from surrounding farms, so they have a bunch of feed bins and a big scale to weigh the semis that come in. Additionally, they sell fertilizer to the farms in the surrounding area - they even apply it if people want them to! One of the big buildings had 4 big liquid fertilizer sprayers and two for dry fertilizer. They look big on the road...but they are even larger in real life! It was really cool to see. In the same building they had a bunch of liquid fertilizer in big tubs and some overflow grain, it was a giant building. The next building over had a combine and two choppers for silage as well as a big manure spreader and a bunch of other random equipment. Then we went to see where they work with the anhydrous ammonia and how all of that works and we also "got" to see the manure pit and piles of chicken fertilizer (woohoo). After those we went to the shop for the excavating business they run. There were about 5 trucks in there, two or three of them had trailers, a bulldozer, a backhoe, a skid loader, a pontoon boat, a ton of shelves with storage and more tools than you would find in Lowe's and it there was still plenty of room, it was pretty massive. The office was super nice, the ceiling and walls were all wood and they fed us pizza and cookies while we chatted. During the explanation of what the farm does he said they just got into the dairy business on November 12th. They have 4,200 registered Holsteins and they milk about 3,600 cows at any given time. All the cows get milked 3 times/day in their 24 hour milking parlor where they have a carousel so they can have 80 cows getting milked at a time. Every 7 hours there is a 1 hour cleaning and they will be adding 35 employees to their current 75. Sadly, we did not get to see the dairy operation, but it was such a cool experience! There were only a few of us girls there, 2 of us from ONU and about 5 from Wright State, but it was a really interesting evening!
Tuesday I had a hair appointment and I got some studying done. We went to run at the YMCA when Jonathan got home and then we had canned beef sandwiches and baked macaroni and cheese. We relaxed during the evening, Jonathan helped me choose an outfit and get ready for my interview on Wednesday. The interview went really well and also gave me the chance to meet up with Dad and Grandma for lunch, which was awesome because I love seeing them, that's for sure. Thankfully, I got home at a decent time and threw together some chicken crescents and got to have dinner with Jonathan while I talked to him about the interview. We went through the folder they gave me and looked at some of the possibilities they have to offer. The next few months are going to be pretty exciting, that's for sure! We are super excited to see what doors open and where we end up!
Thursday was another great day, I went to ONU to meet up with Hannah, Hannah and Jillian for lunch, so it was wonderful catching up with all of them! Graham came over in the evening for Bacon-parm pasta with mushrooms and we played Carcassonne and Sequence.
Friday I finally got to stay home, so I did a lot of studying and relaxing! Jonathan had a retirement party for one of the engineers at a local brewery after work, so he didn't get home until later but he had a great time with his work friends! When he got home we watched the Christmas movie "The Star" which was SUPER cute! We 100% recommend it!
Saturday morning we went to the YMCA to work out, then we went shopping in Lima to finish some of our Christmas gifts. When we got home we made some apple crisp and got the gift wrapping supplies out, so our living room is wrapping central right now and, I must say, the gifts are beginning to look so cute! We are very excited for Christmas! After the apple crisp was done we bundled up and went over to the Harrell's, our new friends from church. Joel is the worship director and his wife, Lyndsie, invited us over awhile ago. We had such a great time talking with them and getting to know them better. They moved here from Texas a few years ago and they have a little girl, Ayda, who is going to be two here soon. It was such a great evening! They made us fajitas (which were absolutely delicious) and it was a great time of fellowship! Ayda became friends with both of us about the minute we walked in the door. She was so sweet and gave us lots of love by the end of the evening. We have been so blessed to get to know a lot of really great people in our short time living here! So many wonderful friendships!
Today has been very productive so far! We went to church and went grocery shopping as usual, then we came home and unpacked. For lunch, we had sausage gravy, biscuits, mashed potatoes and corn - so we have tons of leftovers for the week...and we are pretty excited about it. After that we finished wrapping gifts for other people and Jonathan has been sorting through old school stuff and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of all while we have had the Browns game on. After the game we have some photos to order and we are getting ready for the week ahead of us!
New Christmas movies we have loved this season:
- The Christmas Chronicles
- The Star
Menu for this coming week:
- Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Pulled Pork and Cheesy Ranch potatoes
- Beef Burritos
We have had a good week over all and have been enjoying the Christmas season thoroughly, but have failed to take any pictures, so here is a photo of our small, but perfect Christmas tree! We are very excited about it and it keeps us super cheery! Have a wonderful week! See ya next Sunday! Love you all!
Love,
Alli and Jonathan
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