Samuel

Hi from Naomi - Most of you probably already know this, but in case you didn't - We had another brother! He was between Silas and Priscilla in age and died during childbirth. I was only 8 (almost 9) and so even though us kids were disappointed, we weren't exactly heartbroken. It was a lot harder on Mom and Dad, but he would have been 13 today, so it doesn't bother them anymore - Priscilla came along and she kept us busy enough for two normal kids!

Samuel wasn't a name that we had talked about before, but Mom and Dad sort of "gave him back to God" like Hannah did with her Samuel, and so they chose that for a first name and Enoch means "teacher" - a reminder of the things we learned during that time.

The year he was born was one of the coldest winters any of us remember and after his funeral on the 20th, the ground was still too frozen for a burial so we didn't actually bury him until May 13th! We know that he's really in heaven and we're looking forward to getting to know him someday!

A couple of us went to the graveyard to take this picture, and that always makes me think about our life - a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanisheth away - one day and one hundred years are both nothing in the light of eternity. If the Lord tarries, we're all going to be in a graveyard somewhere someday - Am I living my life for what is going to last?

And lest you become depressed, the first beef calves were born today - two of them and one dairy calf :)