at the dairy farm

my grandpa is a social butterfly. he knows a lot people in his town and likes to take us on field trips. in the past, we've been to a cricket farm and a training center where golden retrievers are taught to be assist dogs for people with disabilities. but this time, he brought us to a dairy farm.

i need to start with the story of how my grandpa met the owner of the dairy, rob, who is a dutchman just like ben. he is also a Christian and incredibly kind. rob restores old farm equipment. he got his hands on a feed trailer my grandpa built in 1963. he figured it had about a million miles on it. to finish the restoration, rob wanted a "miller built" sign that my grandpa (whose last name is miller) put on all his machines. so he gave my grandpa a call to see if he could have one, and thus began a beautiful friendship.

 my grandpa's sign: "miller built"

the feed trailer my grandpa built in the 1960s. it was huge!

i think it is super cool. anyway, rob showed us around the dairy. did i mention it had 9,000 cows that are milked twice a day? you might be wondering how this is possible. answer: the wheel. cows enter a spot in the wheel and are electronically milked as they go around. the machines monitor the milk and production to make sure everything is okay. then the cows exit back into their holding pens to wait for the next milking. so amazing!

all sorts of cool things happened at this dairy. because the milk is used primarily for cheese, it goes through a filter that removes the water. that water is then reused for the cows to drink, etc. also, through some complicated process i do not understand (but i'm pretty sure my brother did), the manure from the cows was transformed into fuel that could power a truck. yes, that is right. here's an article for those who are interested.

and of course, we got to see the babies, too. they were being fed.

and a shot of hannah and lauren for good measure.

i think i have enough pictures for two more california posts: the orange grove and my grandpa's shop.

thanks for reading! happy new year's eve!

in the land of olive groves

we just got home from our california adventure a few hours ago. although we had a great time, it is always good to be home!

my grandpa is an amazing man. he's a tinkerer, a machinist, an engineer, a welder . . . he doesn't fit into a category. i took some pictures around his shop, and i'll share those in another post. he lives in the san joaquin valley, a really beautiful area that provided many opportunities for picture taking.

up until a few months ago, he owned an olive grove, but he recently sold it to a friend of his. we still were able to visit it on monday morning. here we go!

ben and grandpa bonding over a love of tractors and machines!

of course. :)

this picture looks like lord of the rings to me and ben.

hannah rides with the guys!

see that green stuff? that's mistletoe. it's a parasite. not so romantic, huh?

my mom pointed out that she can see why Jesus went to the mount of olives to pray and to be alone. olive trees grow full and dense and a grove is a private place.

hannah was so good! love that hat.

i took hundreds of pictures, so i'll share some more later this week. thanks for reading!

today's lunch

in-n-out is a true california treat. i had mine with grilled onions. yum!

today was filled with activities such as a peaceful morning walk through my grandpa's old olive grove and a trip to a local 9,000-cow dairy farm. tomorrow we're driving up into the mountains, and then we're traveling home on wednesday. until the future!

en route to fresno

greetings from sunny las vegas, nevada! we're here for a layover—been up since 3:15 this morning and with the help of some caffeine and catnaps, we're still going strong. :)

in Christ alone

merry Christmas!

a few weeks ago, my parents gave us a book named come thou long-expected Jesus—a collection of advent readings. yesterday's reading reminded me that Jesus "tabernacled" with us. he is the "place" where we now commune with God. and Christ Jesus was born a martyr—He came to die. Christmas points to the cross. it was a beautiful reading and helped me remember the weight of what we celebrate this time of year.


our day was filled to the brim with blessing upon blessing. we were able to spend the day with both our families, and it was such a treat. i hope your day was blessed, too!

well, folks, even though it is only 8 p.m., we've got a 6 a.m. flight to catch, which means we're off to bed. we're flying to fresno, california, to visit my grandpa. i hope to share some news from the road, but if not, until the future!