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