Wanted and Unwanted House Guests

As kids we had quite a few rules around the house.  No dating until you were 16; you were only allowed to talk for 10 minutes on the house phone; no jumping on the beds; no singing at the table (I'm pretty sure Dad made this one up out of sheer annoyance); and no animals in the house.  I distinctly remember sneaking a kitten in under my shirt one time as a little girl, but I was afraid I would get caught so after maybe 30 seconds to a minute, I took it back outside.
However there was one exception - any baby farm animal (calves or pigs at our house) was allowed on the back porch in extreme emergencies.  Once in a while a calf would be born in really bad, cold weather, and we would bring it onto the porch to warm it up so it didn't freeze to death.

These same rules for animals apply in my house, too, and before Christmas my back porch met it's first baby calf.  Taylor and I have some heifers out on cornstalks near the house, and of course two decided to calve the day a snowstorm came through.  The first one was born early in the day, several hours before the snow hit, so it was up and going well by the time the weather turned bad.
The other one was born only a couple hours before it started snowing, and the weather was hitting it hard.  Taylor and I went out to check on the heifers and their calves right after it started snowing.  At that point the wind was blowing pretty hard, but the snow was still fairly light.  We drove the two miles to the field and found the newest calf.
I should preface that heifers are not always the smartest when it comes to having a calf.  It's their first baby, and some of them just don't know what to do to take good care of it, but this heifer seemed to be doing alright.  She had cleaned her baby off, and was laying next to it, blocking it from the wind.  Unfortunately the calf never had the chance to get completely dry before the really cold and wet conditions hit, and he was suffering.  We tried to stand him up and dry him off some more, but he hadn't yet gotten up on his own, and his legs were so cold he couldn't straighten them properly.  To make it worse, since he hadn't stood up, he hadn't nursed, and he was quickly getting weaker. We decided we would have to take him back to the house, or he would never make it in the storm.

Before we left with him we wanted to check on the other baby.  We weren't as concerned about this one.  It had gotten fully dried off, eaten and had been up and going.  But as we started to drive to find this other calf, the snow started coming with a vengeance.  It was pretty much whiteout conditions.  We got about half way across the field before we realized we wouldn't be able to see the second calf in this weather, and if we didn't hurry up and get back to the other calf, we might not be able to find it.  We had to use the fence as our guideline just to make it back to the general area of the first calf.  We drove past it the first time without seeing it, but luckily as we turned around and drove back, we could just barely make the cow out in the blowing snow.  We got the calf, loaded it in the truck and started heading back to the house.  The two mile trip took longer than we hoped.  It was at this point Taylor's truck heater quit working, the windshield started frosting over, and I ended up sticking my head out the window to watch the white line so I could tell Taylor where he was at on the road. Finally we made it back.
At home we dried off the calf (who we dubbed "Frosty"), laid out some plastic on the back porch and brought him inside. My hair dryer came in handy to help warm him up more quickly.  It took a little bit, but after we got some milk in his belly and his body warmed up, he started recovering quickly.  After maybe an hour he was working to get up on his own and start walking.  At that point we were able to move him back out to our garage.  The next morning we took him back out to his mom.  She was a  little confused as to whether the calf was hers or not and it took her most of the day for her to start acting like Frosty's mom again.  But he's done well ever since.

I did have a few other unwanted visitors in my house while Taylor and I were gone over Christmas weekend.  Apparently our house has shifted a little and our front door isn't closing as tightly as it should. When we left, we must not have got the door shut properly and the strong wind that started blowing Christmas morning blew our door open.  Our cats took advantage of the situation.  Thankfully Taylor's dad stopped by that morning, saw the door was open and got the cats out. Although we had to wipe a few things down, they didn't make too much of a mess and they didn't leave any surprises anywhere! :) 

Even with the cats jaunt in the house, it was a wonderful Christmas.  Taylor and I were blessed to get some very nice gifts, but more importantly we had a wonderful time with our families!

This was one of my favorite pictures from Christmas with my family.  My sister is such a goof, and I love her for it!

Western Kansas Fact:  The stars are brighter out here.  It may partially be the higher elevation and/or simply that the sky is so wide open, but you can see a lot more stars out here.  They fill the night skies.

One of my favorite scriptures recently has been:
He gave up his place with God and made himself nothing.  He was born to be a man and became like a servant. Philippians 2:7
I loved this scripture because it reminds me that God, Ruler of the universe, left His throne and came to earth simply because He loves us.  And He didn't come to earth to rule over us, but to serve us and die for us so that we may truly see what love is.  I pray that we may choose to love and serve the Lord, simply because He loved and served us first, even when we didn't deserve it.

Here's wishing 2013 is a wonderful year for every one of you!
Lyndee

Christmas means...

I know I'm not alone in this - but I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!  I love celebrating the birth of Christ and what his birth meant for the human race; I love making Christmas goodies (well, actually it's a love/hate relationship - I hate the fact that I can't resist them once I've made them, and that they make my pants fit more snugly) :); I love Christmas decorations, especially Christmas lights!; I love watching corny Hallmark Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music nonstop, etc.

This past weekend I went back to Mom and Dad's to help kick off the Christmas season.  My hometown has a Christmas lights parade at the beginning of the Dec.  This year we talked to our friends who own the little coffee shop on the square and asked if we could bring in our sound equipment and do a Christmas show in conjunction with the buffet they were doing the night of the parade. They were happy to let us, so the past couple times I've been home my mom, sisters and our good friend Connie have all gotten together and practiced singing.  I think the practicing is my favorite part.  We all just relax and enjoy making music together.

Us girls had fun putting on fancy dresses and singing to the crowd that night.  My favorite part about singing is when you're able to look out and see smiling faces, and you know the audience is having as much fun as you are.

Mostly I thought last weekend would just be a great way for me to get in the Christmas spirit, but I got more than that.

Several years ago some neighbors, Ray and Sandy, moved in a couple miles from my mom and dad.  We got to be pretty good friends, but my dad was especially close to Ray.  Lately Ray had started having a lot of health issues.  For years he had persistent urinary problems, but hadn't gone to the doctor about them.  Eventually this led to one of his kidneys completely failing and the other was only partially working.  Around the same time he had blood clots in his legs, and they found he had a heart arrhythmia.  Needless to say he wasn't doing well, and he was in a lot of pain. 

On Saturday morning my mom, dad, Katie, Kyle and I were all coming back from my great, great uncle's funeral when Sandy called.  Ray was having a lot of trouble breathing and she wanted to know if we could help get him in the car so she could take him to the emergency room.  When we got there, Mom (who's a nurse) said she wouldn't take the risk of moving him in a personal vehicle because she wouldn't have any equipment to help him if something happened, so we called an ambulance.  Katie, Kyle and I stood outside and directed the ambulance where to go.  After a while they wheeled Ray out and before they loaded him up, he waved to Katie and I who were standing together.  They took him straight to Topeka, and we went home and waited to hear some news.  Right before the show, we got a call.  They said Ray was coding, and dad left to go be with Sandy.  We all decided that we still needed to go perform, so we went ahead and went to the coffee shop.  

Right before the show we got a call that Ray had passed away.  He was only 68.

Mom and Dad stopped by to be with Sandy after the show for a while.  

Sandy told mom that before Ray died, she had been wiping his brow with a washcloth and all of a sudden he said that he couldn't see. She asked him what he meant, and then he said, "I see God."  "Then go to God," Sandy said.  He took one last breath and then went to meet the Lord.

Sandy said Ray believed in God, but didn't have a strong faith.  I thank God that He gave Sandy the peace of knowing where her husband was going.  

And I think this story offers a lot of hope.  

God doesn't expect us to be perfect or to have a perfect faith. Instead He looks at us with all our imperfections and sins, and He loves us still.  He never gives up on us.  Even up to the last moment, He will reach out His hand and invite us to be with Him.  And it all can happen because of Christ's birth.

So I pray this Christmas, we all can understand and appreciate what this season really means.  And please treasure this time with your family, and pray for those who are feeling the absence of their loved ones.

Lyndee

Newest Self Discovery

This probably isn't the best analogy, but just like a petri dish is a breeding ground for bacteria, I feel like marriage is kind of a breeding ground for self discovery.  It definitely provides the right environment for learning more about yourself.  For instance I've already learned this year that I'm not always the best listener.  But I guess the first step is to admit the problem, now I'm working to fix it.

Well I also recently discovered that I can tend to be selfish/inconsiderate at times.  I really don't mean to be, it's just that when you're single, all you really have to worry about is yourself - what you like/dislike, want to do/don't want to do, etc.  And just because I'm married, it doesn't mean my way of think is automatically, permanently altered.  I still find that occasionally I'm not always considerate enough about how things affect Taylor, or his thoughts and opinions on certain subjects.  A couple weekends ago I made plans for the first weekend of December based on something that I wanted to do without consulting Taylor.  God blessed me with a husband who is more considerate than I am because he was willing to go along with the plans I had made simply because he knew it was something I really wanted to do, but he told me that he would have liked to have been involved in making the decision.
Ugh, I hate making mistakes and being wrong, but at least it provides good learning opportunities, and hopefully those opportunities can help me be a better wife for Taylor.

So there's admission #2, now I just have to work to change it. From now on when I'm making decisions or plans, I want to take time to really think "My plans/decisions/actions do not just affect me" and then I can try to look at things from Taylor's perspective.  But most importantly I'm just going to have to talk to him more and get his opinion rather than assuming I know it.

On a completely different subject - I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!!! Christmas is my most favorite holiday, and yes, I have already started listening to Christmas music. :)  (Don't worry I have considered Taylor's thoughts on this subject and I try to only listen to it when he is not around - he says it has to be after Thanksgiving before he wants to listen to Christmas music).
The only bad part is that it seems like the holidays just keep getting busier and busier.  We've pretty much got something going every weekend in December and I've also had quite a few more writing assignments as well.  This coming week I'll be at the Kansas Livestock Association State Convention writing different pieces about the speakers there.
At the same time I'm also trying to finish up our bookwork for the year.  I've been entering all the information into our Quickbooks account all year long,  but this is the first year I've used this system and our accountant is having me go back and fix some areas.
Then, in the middle of December I'm going to be spending a lot more time down at the feedyard.  One of the feedyard secretaries is retiring and the other will be starting a new job.  So Roshel and I are going to fill in until they get some people hired, but they plan to wait until the first of the year to train any new employees.

Oh well, no matter what all I have going, I plan to fully enjoy the holiday season and stay focused on the reason behind it!

This week we also had a surprise 50th birthday party for Roshel. Fortunately, unlike the time my dad turned 40, I did not blow the surprise, although there was a close call.  :) But by the grace of God, we were able to shock her completely!  It was fun to watch her face as she walked in the door to a roomful of people all gathered to celebrate her.
For her birthday Roshel wanted to have professional family photos taken and we did those Monday while everyone was home.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  We couldn't have asked for anything nicer and Aaron did a great job.  She shared one of the pictures with us, and we can't wait to see more of them!

This truly was the sky that evening, we aren't photoshopped in or anything

Western Kansas Fact:  Pheasant hunting is a big draw out here. We don't have many pheasant in eastern Kansas so most of the hunting is based around deer and turkey.  But people come from all over the country to hunt pheasant in Western Kansas.

My favorite scripture recently has been:
 If any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it.  James 1:5
I know there are a lot of times when I need wisdom or have questions, even questions about my faith.  But the greatest thing is that I don't have to have all the answers.  God has them, and He can handle the tough questions.  I just need to ask Him for wisdom and leave things in His hands.  He will guide me where I need to go.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Lyndee

I Definitely Need Reminders Sometimes

I feel like I have to be reminded about things a lot.  For instance, I'm terrible at remembering names.  I may meet someone, and two sentences into a conversation later, I have already forgotten it.  I've seriously considered carrying around a little notebook, so when I meet someone, I can write their name down.  Hopefully writing their name would make me think about it enough to recall it later. 

Sometimes God has to give me little reminders, too. 
Last Saturday Taylor brought me home two new little bucket calves from the feedyard.  Now I have to preface this - since we built our calf pens earlier this spring, I have had 11 bucket calves.  Even though a few of those calves hadn't had the odds in their favor, they had survived and grown, and I had been able to take each of them to market.  And during that time I think my head had gotten a little inflated along with my pride.  Well... pride goeth before a fall.

Anyway, Taylor brought me home two new bucket calves... One was a little, bitty bull calf.  He had been born a little premature.  I'm guessing he maybe weighed 30 lbs.  My cat could reach his back when it stood on its hind legs.  The other calf was a regular-sized grey and white heifer. 
I knew the bull would have a long row to hoe, so I wanted to give him a fitting, strong name.  I decided to name him Fawkes. 
I'm a little bit of a nerd, and I love the Harry Potter books.  One of the main characters in the book has a Phoenix (a bird that dies and is then reborn from its ashes) named Fawkes.  I told Taylor that I was going to help this calf be "reborn" from the ashes of a weak, premie into a strong, healthy baby calf.  I also figured that with a little work, I could get the heifer (I named her Hedwig, also out of Harry Potter to keep the theme going) drinking and going well, too.

Hedwig

The first time I fed Fawkes, he was so little and weak that he could only suck an 1/8th of a bottle.  By the second day we had to drench (tube feed) him that way he could get a little nutrition and strength built up, and it seemed to work.  The next time he was able to drink nearly 1/2 a bottle on his own and he seemed to be doing very well for his size and condition.
The first two times I fed Hedwig, she sucked her bottle down like she was afraid she would never get to eat again, and I was thinking "Alright, this is going to be simple with her."

At this point, God reminded me that it is not all about me; it is not all about what I can do for these calves.  It is about what He can do through me to care for these babies. 
Day - two Hedwig, my "easy" calf, decided to quit drinking.  She refused to suck. Period.  She also started getting sick.  So we gave her a shot, and I expected that the next day she would be feeling a little better and want to at least drink some  of her bottle.  I was wrong.  Not only was she unwilling to drink her milk, but while I was standing there, holding her bottle, taking a break from trying to get her to nurse, she walks over to her water bucket and sucks down a bunch of water.  I've never had a calf that wanted water but didn't want milk.  I was perplexed and very frustrated.  She acted the same way the following day.

At least Fawkes seemed to be doing pretty well.  He was regularly drinking about half a bottle at a time, and I was thinking that we were out of the woods and into more of a lightly timbered area :)  But I still didn't know what to do about Hedwig.

Finally one night it hit me.  I am not all powerful.  Go figure.  I do not have the power to make a calf drink its milk when it doesn't want to.  And there are certain precautions I can take and medicines I can give, but I don't have the power to save a calf's life.  That power resides in God's hands.  I can allow God to work through me; I can be a steward of His creatures, but it is not about me. It is about Him.
The next morning I prayed, Lord, Hedwig is Your calf.  I release her to Your care, Lord.  Then I walked outside and she sucked down every drop in her bottle.   Since then she has done a lot better.  There are still a couple of times when she is not enthused about her bottle, but I leave it in God's hands and usually by the next feeding she is hungry and ready to eat.

As it turns out Fawkes wasn't out of the woods.  He got the scours one night and unfortunately he was just too little to handle any kind of sickness because by the next morning he was gone.  I hated losing him, but I had to remind myself to leave things in God's hands.

I did get another new little calf.  Her name is Luna.  She is a little bigger than Fawkes was.  Tonight I had to give her a shot, so hopefully she'll get to feeling better soon.

A scripture that really talked to me lately was Faith that does nothing is dead! James 2:26  God wants more than for us to just believe in Him.  It's not a game of hide-and-seek where if we "find" God, we win and we can go on living the way we were.  No, having faith means we give our lives to God.  We live for Him and allow Him to work through us and we share His love with others.  We just have to give God the chance to tell us what He wants us to do and then go do it.

Hope you all have a great week and don't be afraid to leave things in His hands.
Lyndee

P.S. It snowed out here a tiny bit one night, and now I'm all excited for Christmas!! :)

A Yard - The Best Playground Ever!

Personally, I would never want to raise kids in a city, especially an apartment complex, because I couldn't imagine a kid growing up without a yard where they can play.  A yard is so much more than some grass around a house.  For me it was a football field where my brother and I would play touch football (I always thought I could run so much faster in the grass without shoes, but I'm pretty sure I was just imagining that) :); it was a clean place where I could tie my bucket calves up to dry after I washed them; it was the "open plains" for my toy horses; it was a jungle for our little kittens; it was a place to practice cartwheels; and one of my most favorite things about our yard was that it was a place where I could spread out a blanket and lay down to read a book.

Early this summer, after trees were planted and before the grass was grown

I've learned that getting a yard out here requires a little more than buying some grass seed and sprinkling it around until enough comes up to make a lawn.  We just don't get enough rain out here to make a good stand of grass.  Granted there are native grass pastures, but all summer they have been brown and dry because of the lack of moisture. To get a yard around our house, we had to have a sprinkler system put in before any grass was planted.  Last week the yard company came back an finished putting the last of the landscaping around the house, so we finally have our yard work and landscaping done!  It looks so much nicer!  Now that we have the yard, when the wind blows really hard, we shouldn't get sandblasted. I'm all for taking good care of your skin and using skin-care products, but I really didn't appreciate the few times when I would walk out the door and get my face exfoliated by blowing sand.

Last weekend Taylor and I went back to my parents because my newest niece, Dawson, was getting baptized.  While we were there, we also wanted to have our traditional family bonfire/weenie roast.  It was definitely cold enough last Saturday for a fire to feel good, but we decided that with all the little babies it might be a little too cold to be outside for long.  Instead we cooked the hot dogs out there and then came in to eat them.  Later we went back out and roasted some marshmallows and drank hot chocolate.  There's something so simple and fun about cooking things over an open fire and standing around talking as you warm yourself next to those bright flames.  It definitely makes for some great memories!  Also my niece Kallan started walking last weekend!  She is getting so big, so fast!  Now that she'll be able to traipse around after Kolden (her 4 yr. old brother), it will be interesting to see what kind of situations/trouble they get themselves into! :)

I don't like burnt foods, but for some reason a  marshmallow that is caught on fire and quickly blown out is awesome!

Western Kansas Fact:  Bunko is a popular game here.  Maybe this is true other places, and I have just been sheltered growing up, but I had never heard of Bunko until I moved out to western Kansas.  It is a dice game, and there are a lot of groups around that get together once a month to have supper and play Bunko.  I've got to play a few times with some groups, and it's been a lot of fun.

Being made right with God by His grace, we could have the hope of receiving the life that never ends. Titus 3:7
This was yesterday's "Scripture of the Day," and it really spoke to me.  This was the prayer that I wrote to go along with this scripture:
"O God, without You my life would be meaningless.  I would just be alive on this earth for a short period of time with no purpose, no hope, knowing I would never be good enough, clean enough, to make it into Your kingdom.  My life would just be made up of simple actions that were the same as the actions of the people around me.  But God, You lifted me out of the despair and filth of a worthless life.  With the sacrifice of Christ, You paid for my sins.  Christ's death on the cross didn't make it so that You could overlook my sins and uncleanliness.  It took away my sins and put them on Him.  I am clean only through Christ.  O God, thank You for paying in full the debt that would have broke me.  Thank You for giving me new life, for giving me hope, for giving me the love that I could never have earned no matter how hard I tried.  I choose to devote my life to You, Lord, because You gave everything for me.  You have saved me.  Amen."

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Lyndee

Mom's Girl

Believe it or not, there was a time when my older sister, Katie, and I did not get along.  It was when I was a baby/toddler and she was probably between 5 and 7 years old.  Katie didn't like me because she wanted to "play house" with me and use me as her baby to cart around.  Apparently I didn't think much of that idea, and I would cry anytime she held me.  Personally, I think I was a smart baby concerned with self preservation.  As a defenseless toddler why would I want a 7 year old traipsing around with me?  :)  However I will admit that I have always been a "momma's girl."
When I was in Kindergarten, Mom worked 12 hour shifts 2-3 days a week as a NICU nurse at Stormont Vail in Topeka.  That meant she had to leave before I got up, and since I fell asleep early in the evening, on the days she worked I was already asleep by the time she got home.  Even though I got to be with her the remaining days of the week, I missed her on the days she worked.  So I had her get me up at 5 a.m. on those days so I could eat breakfast with her and she could do my hair.  Then I would go back to sleep, until we had to get on the bus to go to school.

This past weekend was fantastic because I got to have some special Mom time.  She drove out on Thursday and on Friday we traveled with my mother-in-law and a group of women from the local churches to Denver for a Women of Faith conference.  It was a great experience!  At the end of the conference my soul felt refreshed and my relationship with God felt rejuvenated and recharged.  I really loved listening to the speakers and my two favorites were Lisa Harper and Angie Smith.  They both have written books and, based on their talks, I would guess their books are really good.  I'm currently reading Lisa Harper's book Stumbling into Grace, and I'm enjoying it immensely.
Mom left on Monday, but I was so glad to get some special time with her.

On the bus to the second day at the Conference.

While Mom was visiting a stray dog showed up at our house.  She's really sweet, and her and Bently have a great time playing and chasing each other around the house.  I'm just glad he has a friend to play with because I was getting really tired of catching him dragging my cats around the yard because he was bored.  I bet out of anybody the cats are the happiest that this other dog showed up. :)

Left - new dog, Right Bently

Western Kansas Fact:  Although the terrain is relatively flat, running out here makes it easier to run a lot of other places.  There may not be a lot of steep hills out here, but the elevation is quite a bit higher than the rest of Kansas or many other eastern states.  When I ran in Nashville, many people said the hills were terrible, but after training at a higher elevation, they didn't really bother me.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Romans 12:2
I loved this scripture because it reminded me not to allow myself to just float along with life.  I cannot let my life be dictated by the expectations of society.  I need to turn my life over to God, and let Him renew me so that I can live for Him, even if that means stepping outside of the box of what is "acceptable" by society.

Have a fantastic weekend everybody!
Lyndee

Fall and All of Its Glory!!!!

There are a lot of people who say they either don't like the cold, or they hate when it's hot, but I honestly enjoy each and every season.  But I think the absolute best part is the changing of the seasons.  I'm not talking about the date written on the calendar where summer officially becomes fall; I mean whenever you can feel the shift in the air; when the wind somehow whispers that winter will soon be coming.  It's fantastic.  Nearly as much as I love feeling that shift, I love thinking about all the things that fall into my classification of "fall."

•  Fall makes me think of the way the leaves change color, creating a beautiful array of reds and oranges and yellows.  And of being a little girl playing with my younger sister, Annie.  We had a game that we played when the leaves fell off the trees.  We loved to scrape them into a big pile and make a nest out of them.  Then we would find rocks to put in our "nests" and we would pretend we were birds.

• Fall makes me think of harvest.  I can practically smell the corn that would pour out of the trucks and into the auger to be stored in the bins.  I can hear the tractor as it revved up to run the auger, and the sound of the corn pouring out.  I think of the black shirt I would sometimes wear and the way it would pull in the last remnants of heat from the sun as I stood there.

This isn't my family's farm, but this is the same basic setup we use.

My dad cutting corn last year.

• Fall makes me think of making soups and baking, especially apple or pumpkin goodies like apple cake, apple pie, apple streusel muffins, chocolate pumpkin bread, pumpkin butterscotch muffins, etc.  I love the way the oven warms up the kitchen from the cool chill of fall and the way the smell of cinnamon permeates through the house.
• Fall makes me think of baby calves and checking cows with my dad.  Morning and night we would go out and check for any new babies that had been born that day and speculate on which cow would have hers next.  Along the way we would take time to run over hedge balls that had fallen off the trees so the cows couldn't try to eat them because we were afraid they would choke.

Now that I live out here in western Kansas, I realize that the things that make up "fall" for me may change.  After thinking about this for a while, I realize it is a good thing.  I'll always treasure all these memories and pull them to mind every time I feel fall moving in, but I'll also get to add new and different things to that list.  Here are a couple of things I already know that will soon become a part of my "fall":

• Fall means milo harvest - getting to work alongside my husband and his family as we cut milo out of the fields and the conversations we have on the CBs while cutting (they can get interesting at times!) :) 
• Fall means pheasant hunting - I went with Taylor for the first time a couple of years ago and it was fun, although I will be sure to wear warmer boots next time.  Walking across all those pastures and swinging your legs up and over the tall grass was a pretty darn good workout.

Milo harvest last year

It's kind of exciting to think about my life as it changes and what other aspects it will include over time and who all will be a part of it.

Western Kansas Fact:  Dreams (at least in the agricultural industry) seem to be bigger out here.  Back home the opportunities, especially for the younger generations, to expand and grow in agricultural endeavors seem to be fairly limited.  There is only so much land available, and as more people move further out of the cities, more and more land gets developed and the land prices increase.  But out here the population is smaller and practically the whole economy of western Kansas is based on agriculture.  So there seem to be opportunities for anyone who is willing to work hard enough to get them.  It's okay to dream big because those dreams can actually become reality.

In Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me. Psalm 139:6
I loved this scripture because it reminded me that no matter what we face in life, we can find peace in knowing that God has a specific plan for us.  And even when we find ourselves turned away from Him and heading down the wrong path, we can trust that He knew it would happen.  But the great thing is that He will use that wrong turn in our lives to create something good.

Enjoy the fall weather and have a great rest of the week!
Lyndee

5 rattlesnakes = 1 pie

I love to bake, especially during cool fall and cold winter days with music going or a Walt Disney movie playing in the background.  However since I also love to eat what I bake, I try not to make a lot of goodies all the time.  I wouldn't have enough hours in the day to work off everything I consumed.  So a lot of times I find reasons to bake that allow me to give away most of what I make, like bake sales, dinners at church, etc.  It's great living next to the feedyard as well because any time I need to get rid of some food, I can take it down there and it will disappear in no time.
Well today I had to make a pie for Taylor because of a deal I had made with him earlier this spring.  However my love of baking was not the reason behind this deal.  I made it known to my husband and people at the feedyard that I would bake a pie for anyone who killed five rattlesnakes anywhere near our house.  Jim, an employee at the feedyard, has already earned one pie this year.  Apparently the snakes like to lay on the end of our driveway at night where there is crushed up asphalt.  The black rock retains the heat from the sun better so it's a warm place for them. 
Last night Taylor went to take some papers up to the office, and right after he left the house he called me and told me to bring his gun out to the driveway.  I walk out there with a spotlight and his gun to find him tossing gravel at the snake so it would stay in it's defensive curled up position and wouldn't go anywhere.  Then he proceeded to shoot it and rid us of one more harmful creature.  That put Taylor up to the magic number 5.  So today I baked him the peanut butter pie he asked for.  I hate snakes and love to bake, so I'd say it's a pretty good deal for me.

Speaking of baking, the other day I was making some birthday cupcakes for my niece's first birthday, and I had to call my mom for a recipe.  Calling her reminded me of the many, many times I had called my grandma (her mom) for help and suggestions as I was first learning to bake.  Like me, Grandma also loved to make cookies and cakes and muffins and so forth and so on.  Plus she was generally in the house, so she was a great person to get a hold of when you got a question while making something.  One of my favorite memories of calling her was on my parents' anniversary.  Us kids had decided we would cook Mom and Dad a special supper, and we picked out a delicious looking cake to make as well.  We'd gotten the cake into the oven without problems, but we hit a slight snag with the frosting.  It was a homemade mocha frosting.  Not having made anything mocha before, we got slightly confused by the term "coffee."  I believe the recipe called for 1 cup of coffee, so we grabbed the coffee can, measured out a cup of grounds and poured them into the frosting.  When they didn't mix in well we realized that maybe we'd done something wrong.  I can remember calling Grandma (for about the fifth time that day), and telling her about it.  When we got to the part where we told her we dumped in coffee grounds, I can remember her starting to chuckle and saying, "Well you had better get those out of there."  Unfortunately it was a little late for that, so we just decided to go with it.  That night we had a coffee ground frosting chocolate cake.  Truthfully it was pretty good except for it was a little funky to feel the coffee grounds in your teeth and it was definitely a strong coffee flavor.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I frequently have disjointed, meandering trains of thought.  Thinking about calling my grandma for baking help made me start thinking about all the things I remember about her. 

• She had some of the prettiest handwriting.  After she died, I made copies of a bunch of her handwritten recipe cards and made a special recipe book of them.  It makes me smile each time I look at them.  
• Nearly all of Grandma's food was delicious, but she had a habit of trying out new and mildly interesting recipes and using other people as guinea pigs for them.  One time she made a green tomato cake, but refused to tell anyone what it was or what was in it until after they'd tried a bite. 
• She had the softest hands I'd ever felt.
• When she answered the phone, she would say hello, but her "hello" always started with a "mmm..." at the beginning, so it was more of "mmmhello..."
• She was great at playing Chinese checkers, but Grandma wasn't above cheating.  Sometimes we would get distracted and forget whose turn it was, but it seemed like most of those times she ended up saying  "I think it's my turn."  Sneaky, sneaky  - acting like a innocent, senile woman!  :)
• Purple was her favorite color and lemon was her favorite flavor.

I could go on and on, but these are some of the first things I think of when I think of her.  And they all were just little individual quirks that made grandma, Grandma.  I don't think about what job she had, or what chores she did during the day, or whether her floor had been freshly swept, or any of those things.  I hope that when I have kids and grandkids I can remember that it's the time spent together and the little things that matter.  Sure we all have responsibilities, but sometimes the biggest responsibility is to realize when they can wait. I wonder what my grandkids will remember about me someday...

Kallan's Birthday cake.  If the amount of green frosting on her hands and face was any indication, she really liked it.

Western Kansas Fact - Spotlights are more of a necessity than a useful tool.  The same goes for shovels and hoes.  Maybe this isn't just a western Kansas fact, but growing up we had a yard light and no specific need for a spotlight at night.  Out here though, you have to be a little more careful of what you can't see.  Anytime I walk outside in the dark, I have a spotlight with me.  I want to make sure there aren't any rattlesnakes in my path.  Hoes and shovels are good for killing any snake you find.

The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.  Luke 18:27   I love the hope in this scripture.  No matter what we face in life or what obstacles we come up against, nothing is impossible.  The biggest thing is to make sure we aren't taking credit for the miracles He works.  We have to realize that so many things occur every day with His help and guidance that would otherwise be impossible for us, and we need to praise and honor Him for that.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!
Lyndee

5000 Miles and New Niece Later . . .

Well it wasn't quite Around the World in 80 Days, but Taylor and I did hit 9 states in 10 days (Kansas not included.)  It was a great trip!  We left on Aug. 12 to head toward Glacier National Park where we were going to meet up with Taylor's family who was already vacationing there.  It took two days to get there, so we got to spend nearly all of our anniversary (the 13th) driving.  That was ok with us, though - lots of quality together-ness time. :)   Taylor's family was traveling in their RV, so I had sent our cake topper from our wedding with them, and we each took a bite of it the night of our anniversary and had a little champagne.  The cake flavor was still good, but it was a little mushy from thawing out, so neither of us felt inclined to gorge ourselves on cake.  One bite was enough.

We spent the next day exploring the Glacier National Park.  It was a beautiful place.  The air was so fresh with the smell of cedars and pine lingering on each breath, and the waters were unbelievably blue and clear.  We spent a couple hours taking the "Road to the Sun."  It's a road in the park that travels on the side of the mountains overlooking a gorgeous valley.  A lot of the mountainsides were covered with wildflowers and waterfalls trickled or poured down various channels on the mountain.  The views were good, but I'm always a little tense about driving the winding, narrow mountain roads.  I'm used to a lot more room with no precipitous edges.  Thankfully Taylor was driving, so I could enjoy the view a little more.

I'll admit the big cliffs can make for some fun pictures though!

Toward the end of our drive we even got to see a few grizzly bears.  The next day Taylor and I left Glacier to drive to Seattle.  We got there that evening and Taylor found us an awesome seafood restaurant down on the bay to eat at.  It was called Elliot's Oyster Bar.  Neither Taylor nor I are fans of oysters, but their other seafood was fantastic.  As an extra bonus they had extremely good margaritas!  The next day we got up and walked down to Pike's Place Market to explore.  I absolutely loved it down there.  There were tons of vendors set up selling everything you could imagine.  Three or four big vendors sold the fresh fish on ice, but  my favorite part was seeing all the beautiful arrangements of flowers and the delicious looking fruit stands.  I told my sister, it would be so easy to be a good boyfriend in that city because you could pick up a gorgeous arrangement of flowers for your girlfriend for $5, and they were always available.

We left Seattle the next day and headed for the Redwood National Forest by way of the Pacific Coast Highway.  While beautiful, a large portion of this highway runs through many little towns and has a lot of traffic.  The best part of it was when it went through a National Forest, so there weren't any little towns and less traffic.  It's probably a good thing we live in the middle of nowhere or road rage may have been an issue in our family. :)  With the slow pace it took us a day and a half to get to the redwoods, but they were worth the drive.  There is no other word to describe these trees except majestic.  They are so huge and ancient.  When we drove through one of the really old parts of the forest, we stopped frequently to get out and take pictures.  I was amazed at how quiet it was in those woods.  It was like even the birds stood in speechless awe of the trees.  The next time I go through those forests I want to have my bike on the back of my vehicle so I can ride through in the open air and experience them even more.  I wish I lived in a world where trees could talk because I would have loved to listen to the stories they had to tell.

After leaving the Redwood Forest Taylor and I drove to Reno where we donated some money to the CPCOBJD (Contributions for Poor Casino Owners and Black Jack Dealers) :)  We had a good time though!  From Reno we spent two days driving home across Nevada and Utah.  We took highway 50 which is dubbed as the "loneliest highway in the world".  It's all desert and barren.  We saw some bikers who were making their way across it.  If I tried to bike across that highway, I'm pretty sure I would either feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I finished, or I would get to meet the Lord a little earlier than expected. I'm pretty sure the latter would be more likely. :)

It was a great trip, but both Taylor and I were glad to be home.  We've always known that we are slightly ridiculous/crazy, but after spending hours upon hours in the car, our ridiculous/crazy-ness was very much amplified.  For our sanity, we may take a break before going on another long road trip.

While we were gone, my brother and sister-in-law had a little baby girl.  Her name is Dawson Joe.  I packed up on Friday and went back home to see this precious new addition to our family.  While I was there, the Lord blessed the area with some MUCH needed rain.  The creek near their house had stopped flowing and nearly everyone's ponds were drying up.  It was a good start but they still need much more.  My mom, sister and I got to enjoy the rain a little more than others because it started pouring on us during the middle of one of our walks.  Oh well!

Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.  Daniel 3:18

This scripture reminded me that to be faithful to God, I must be faithful in all ways.  Not just in some.  I can't just love Him in my heart, I must love Him through my actions, too.  If I allow others to influence me or pressure me into doing things that do not honor God, even the little things, I am not placing Him first.  I am not honoring Him or the precious gift of my life that He has given me.  Sometimes I need to be reminded of this.

Congrats - You have made it to the end!  Now have a great week!

Lyndee

Run, Forrest, Run

A lot of people I know are extremely fond of, and very good with young children and babies.  I don't know if I would go so far as to say I am one of these people.  If there is a baby in the room, there are a lot of women who are drawn to it and want to hold it, whether they know who the baby belongs to or not.  Generally I have to have more of a personal connection.  I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews, but they are special to me.  I don't usually feel as strongly about all children.
However I do have a soft spot for baby pigs and baby calves.  We raised both growing up, and now I have my own setup to raise bucket calves.
The other day I was riding around the feedyard with Taylor, and he pointed out a brand new baby calf in one of the pens.  Taylor wasn't sure if this calf would be able to survive, but I gave him some big puppy-dog eyes and asked if I could look at it.  My husband is a sweet guy, so he humored me.  When we got in the pen with it, it was easy to tell that there was something wrong with his back legs.  They were very weak and almost seemed to buckle when he walked.  The odds weren't in his favor, but I couldn't help but want to try and save him.  With his weak back legs, it was really easy to come up with a name for him - Forrest.  :)

Forrest got off to a good start by eating really well, and every day I would get him out of his pen so he could walk and play and build up leg strength.  He's done better than I could have ever hoped for.  Now when I let him out, he runs all over.  Watching him now, you would never guess that he had any sort of problem.  One of my favorite things is to yell "Run, Forrest, Run!"  :)  Just goes to show that everyone deserves a chance.

This weekend a couple of my good friends got married - Bethany and Morgan Parker.   I was blessed to get to know Bethany really well during my senior year at college, and she had a huge influence on my life and my relationship with Christ.  They both are truly inspiring people, and this weekend it was amazing to see the number of lives they have touched. I was so honored when they asked me to read the Scriptures at their wedding.  Thank you both for allowing me to be a part of your special day.

Western Kansas Fact:  Out here cars and motorcycles are not the only forms of transportation.  Many people also own their own planes.  Back home, I would frequently hear people talk about the types of cars/trucks they like, but on several occasions I have heard conversations about which planes are the best.  The business opportunities plus the distances people have to travel out here make personal planes justifiable.

I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  Galatians 2:20.  This is one of my all time favorite scriptures because I have felt the change that can occur when we let Christ into our lives.  If we live our lives for Him, we are allowing Him to be with us constantly and to experience His magnificent joy, peace and love.

Road Trippin' - Taylor and I are going on a road trip to Seattle for our anniversary/vacation.  I can't wait to tell you all about it when we get back!

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

Lyndee

Sister, Sister

Anyone who knows me and my siblings, knows that we are all very close.  With each sibling, the relationship developed differently.  Katie and I always got along well, but it wasn't until she went to college that we became true friends rather than just sisters.  My brother and I spent two years in high school together, and Casey took me under his wing.  I loved those years I got to spend with him and his friends, and I missed him a lot during my junior and senior years.  Fortunately we got to spend another year and a half together in college as well.  I was so grateful to have my brother nearby as I adjusted to college life.
But since the day Annie was born, she has been my best friend.  As kids we spent all of our time playing together, laughing with each other, and watching Walt Disney movies.  Actually we still love to watch Disney movies together, and we quote them to each other all the time.  Once Annie and I took a long walk together and recited the entire movie, The Emperor's New Groove.  Fortunately I've loosened up and long since abandoned my rule of "absolutely no talking during Walt Disney movies" which I used to enforce upon Annie.  :)

This weekend Annie came out to visit me, and we got to have some good sister time.  It happened to work out that Taylor was even out of town for a bachelor party.  We didn't do anything terribly exciting, but to me it was wonderful. We spent some of the time in Garden City working out, grocery shopping and meeting a friend for lunch.  We also worked up a bunch of peaches I had, made peach butter and froze some zucchini, squash and okra out of my garden.  But during the time she was out here, my favorite part was watching the movies Tangled and Mama Mia together.  It reminded me of all the wonderful movie-watching memories I have with her.
On Sunday Annie headed back home.  I've decided that it is much easier to be the person leaving to drive across the state than to be the person watching them go.

Me and Annie

On a another note, Taylor and I frequently joke that we act like old people.  Well, this week our "old people" behavior has intensified.  Last week a friend of Taylor's asked if we could come play on their softball team because they were short a couple people.  I don't know if they knew what they were asking.  The only softball team I've ever played on was during high school P.E. In those instances, generally we had extra people in the outfield that knew what they were doing and they could cover me and any mistakes I might make.  :)  Anyway we've played softball on this team a couple of times in the past two weeks.  On Monday while Taylor was sprinting to first base, he said it felt like he pulled his quads, and he spent the rest of the time hobbling around.  While he was doing this, I was trying to stretch out my lower back which still bothers me occasionally from an old high school injury.  We spent the rest of the evening groaning as we moved, icing various body parts and applying liberal amounts of Biofreeze.  Yep, we're old people! :)  There is an upside though!  I've found out that I'm not quite as terrible at softball as I thought I might be.  Plus Taylor and I bought some mitts and balls so we can practice some at home.  Things are looking up!

Western Kansas Fact:  I've decided that most people in western Kansas were either race car drivers in a former life, or missed their calling to be one in this life.  Driving fast is definitely the norm.  When I told my old roommate, who is from western Kansas, about how quickly everyone seemed to drive out here she told me, "Well,  you have to if you want to get anywhere without packing a lunch."  She does have point.  We live over 4 hours from the nearest big airport, 30 minutes from a Wal-Mart, and the closest mall is over an hour away (but it is a pretty small one.)  But it's okay with me, I love the rural life.  You couldn't pay me to live in the city.

The Scripture I liked most this week was: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.  Ecclesiastes 9:11  The lesson for this scripture talked about how many things in our lives may not go as we planned.  But we need to trust in God and know that He is the one who is in control, not us.  There are many times when I need this reminder.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!
Lyndee

Time Flies . . .

For me the most satisfying days are those when I can look back and know that I've worked hard to accomplish some goal.  And I despise the unsatisfied, antsy feeling I get when I look back and feel like the day has been wasted.  Time goes by way too quickly for me to be alright with wasting any part of it.  I think that's why I'm a morning person - to me, unless I am dead on my feet, sleeping in is a waste of the best part of the day, and I would much rather be up doing something.  (Unfortunately for him, Taylor does not share the same opinion, and we both decided that it was something of an oversight on our part to not have a door between our bedroom and bathroom.  I think his body is slowly adjusting and learning to tune me out so he can continue sleeping as I get ready in the mornings.)

This weekend I was given a fresh perspective on how quickly time does go by.  We have some neighbors/friends/adopted family back home, and this weekend their daughter, Leah, got married.  The wedding was beautiful, Leah was absolutely gorgeous, and it was a wonderful celebration.  Being at their wedding reminded me of our own wedding and that next month Taylor and I will have been married for a year.  It feels like a lot has happened this past year, but it doesn't really seem possible that 12 months have nearly gone by since our own wonderful day.

At the reception and dance my nephew showed off his dancing skills to Country Girl Shake It For Me by Luke Bryan.  At one point he even tried some break-dance moves!  :)

And while I feel like a lot has happened in our own personal lives within this year, I can't imagine how my Grandpa Patterson feels.  This week he celebrated his 90th birthday, and on Sunday our family had a surprise birthday party for him.  I know Grandpa has said before that the first 50 years fly by, and everything after that is a blur.  For me it's kind of mind boggling to think that during his life the Great Depression and dust bowl occurred, the second World War took place, farmers switched from horses to tractors, societies became desegregated, the Cold War happened, we sent man into space, etc.

And yet so often we all are  just fumbling our way through our lives.  I know that every day of my life won't be a thrilling adventure, but I want to make sure that, even while completing the mundane, but necessary parts of everyday life, I am truly living and being fully present in the moment.

On a side note, while gone over the weekend our garden seems to have exploded.  The cantaloupe and watermelon are growing to gigantic proportions.  The watermelon has even started to climb the fence of our garden in its efforts to continue growing.  Now we'll just have to hope that their taste will be as good as their growing ability.  I'm also very excited because I picked my first peppers off my pepper plants today, but not for the reason you might think.  I started my pepper plants from seeds in my house before I transplanted them to the garden, and the transition was a little rough for them.  Taylor kept making fun of my struggling plants, but I had faith in them.  So we made a bet.  He bet that they wouldn't produce any peppers, but I bet that they would and I told him that if I won, I wanted to get a day at the spa!  Look out full body massage, here I come!!!

Western Kansas Fact:  The gravel/dirt roads out here are not like the ones back in eastern Kansas.  Growing up, you had to be relatively careful on the gravel roads.  They generally were fairly narrow, frequently had lots of potholes or washboards, and lose gravel that could make your vehicle fishtail if you went too quickly.  Truthfully a safe speed would probably be somewhere around 30 miles per hour on those gravel roads although many people drive faster than that.  However out here most people treat the gravel roads just like another highway.  I recently went on one where it had speed limit signs posted at 50 miles per hour.  I've never even seen speed limit signs on our gravel roads back home.  But these roads are generally very wide and flat, and there isn't enough moisture to wear down the roads and make very many potholes or washboards.  But, out of habit, I still get nervous when anyone is driving very fast down them even though they are much safer. 

So far today's scripture has been my favorite one this week.  Pray for each other, that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has wonderful power and great results. James 5:16  I love this one because it reminds me not to be afraid of my mistakes or sins.  When I acknowledge them and admit them to God and others, I am preventing them from controlling me.  Instead, I can ask for the prayers of others and be healed and become a better Christian myself.  And the same is true for every other person on earth.  

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Lyndee

Friends and Fireworks

When I was little the fourth of July meant that Dad would give us four kids $20 to share and spend on fireworks.  We would spend forever (or maybe an hour) surveying our options at the white and yellow tent, carefully calculating what assortment of fireworks we could get for that $20.  We were so cautious picking them out - we didn't want to get home and find out later that any part of our money was spent on a lame firecracker.

As I've gotten older, I much prefer watching the professional displays of fireworks as compared to some smaller version I could buy myself (plus my tight-wad self can't get over the fact that I would have to spend a bunch of money to get good fireworks, and then they would be over in 5 seconds.  But it's ok because Taylor is enough of a pyromaniac/firework fanatic for the both of us.) :)
This year because of the extremely dry conditions, we didn't buy any fireworks.  Instead we had a cookout and a card party with some friends.  Then this weekend we went back home for the annual July 4th celebration in my hometown called July Jubilee.  It's an event put of by the Chamber of Commerce at Banner Creek Reservoir.  In the afternoon they have bands perform and a fireworks display later that night.  My sister Katie used to be the Chamber director before she took a new job, but she has continued to be in charge of booking the entertainment.  This year she got our good friends, Joey+Rory and their daughter Heidi, to come back as the headliner for the event.  We were all so excited to see them again!  They also had two of their good friends with them, Colm Kirwan and his sister, Shannon.  They are both Irish, but Colm is living in Nashville and working to make it as a country music singer and Shannon is visiting him for a couple of months. I loved listening to their Irish accents as they talked, although occasionally while talking to them, I found myself unintentionally lilting some of my words the way they do.  I kept thinking, "Jeez, I hope they don't think I'm mocking them!"  Maybe I found it a little too easy to do because me and my little sister Annie are dorks and sometimes we go around talking to each other in accents, mostly English and Irish.  :)

On Friday we all ate supper up at Mom and Dad's and then watched their new TV show which aired for the first time that night.  It's a kind of variety show and it was great.  If any of you want to watch it, it's called "the Joey+Rory" show and it's on the RFD channel on Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. central time.

Joey, my brother Casey, and my two nieces, Kallan and Rowan

Then on Saturday morning, Joey, Rory, and Colm came out to go fishing with Taylor, myself, and my sister's boyfriend, Abe.  It was a beautiful, relaxing morning out by the water.  The fish really weren't biting, but that was ok.  I did catch one little bass, so I was happy.  After some breakfast everybody came back to Mom and Dad's and we all played volleyball.  It was a blast although I now realize how far I've fallen from my high school days of volleyball when I was actually pretty good.  Guess I need to practice more!  :)  Poor Colm and Shannon informed us that in Ireland a hot day is somewhere between 70-80 degrees.  They must have thought we were trying to kill them when we started playing volleyball in the sun in 108 degree weather.

Their show that night at the lake was great and the fireworks were fantastic too.  I know I enjoyed them much more than anything I could have bought myself (plus at the lake they put their fireworks to music, and I just don't think I'm talented enough to time my fireworks to songs) :)
Right after the show they all had to load up and leave because they had a 15 hour drive to make it to Wyoming by 3:00 the next day.  I didn't envy them having to drive all night to get there, but I was so glad they were willing to do it so we could see them all and spend time with them.

I don't know how to describe Heidi's voice, but it is awesome and so unique from so many others that I've heard.

I'm pretty sure all the girls at the lake fell in love with Colm, his accent and the great song he sang called 'Never Alone.'

Annie, Shannon and Katie

Joey+Rory - such wonderful musicians and people we are so blessed to call them our friends.

Western Kansas Fact:  After traveling from eastern Kansas to Western Kansas, use caution when opening any food/makeup or other contents that may be under pressure.  The higher elevation creates increased pressure on them and may cause them to squirt out of their containers the first time they are reopened.  (This seems to happen to my moisturizer every time!)

My favorite scripture this week was:  "I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you.  Begin to posses it."  Deuteronomy 2:31

I loved this one because of the lesson that went with it.  It said that so often when we face a difficult task or situation, we tend to procrastinate because it seems to big too accomplish.  We don't even know where to begin.  But God tells us that if we will make that first move, He will help us get through it and overcome it one step at a time.  We have to trust in His promise that He will always be with us and will provide for our needs in any situation.  But we must be willing to take that first step.

I hope you all were able to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy here in America this fourth of July and have a great week!

Lyndee