The Same Thought

They say great minds think alike.   True or not, I don't know, but my whole life I've pretty much felt that the only other mind that had a thought process similar to mine, was the mind of my little sister, Annie.

We'd get ready for school together in the bathroom and have great conversations. At some point we made up a game where when one of us had mouthwash in our mouth, we would try to continue our conversation through a mixture of sign language and vocal tone inflection. The crazy thing was we could nearly always figure out what the other person was saying (I've tried this with Taylor without success).
Annie and I have also practically been banned from being on the same team when our family plays Taboo. We can always get each other to quickly guess the word on the card.

Apparently, Annie is not the only person I've shared a common thought with. In college I lived in a house with three other girls. One of these girls also married a boy from western Kansas and they live in the next town north of Taylor and I.  Recently I saw a blog post she had put on Facebook telling that they are expecting a baby.  The crazy thing to me was that her blog was also titled "Life in Western Kansas" and after I looked, I realized that she had started her blog 4 months before I had started mine. I had no idea; I didn't even know she had a blog. But after thinking about it, I decided to change the name and website address of my blog. In case you didn't notice, it's now called "Home on the High Plains" and the address is www.highplainsofkansas.blogspot.com

Lately Taylor and I and his family have been busy with one thing - milo. Pretty much the whole month of October was spent in the fields cutting milo. Yesterday we finished up the last field. Honestly I love harvest. I love being out in the fields, working with family, and seeing the results of our labor. Even so, we all were ready to finish cutting and get back to the normal routine.
We still had about a third of the field left when we started yesterday morning, and we figured we might be able to finish it up by mid afternoon. At about 12:30 the guy we were cutting for had finished the fields he was on, so his three combines came to help us. About 45 minutes later we were done. With five combines running, you can really cover some ground!

Western Kansas Fact: A handkerchief is an essential part of a wardrobe. 
We get some windy days out here (kind of in the same way Death Valley has some hot days). :) So maybe it's not quite that bad, but all together, there are probably a couple of weeks worth of days that are super windy. On these days if you're outside you may find that if you clench your jaw you're going hear/feel a lot of "crunch"-ing because of the dirt that has gotten in your mouth. A handkerchief tied around your nose and mouth is the way to go.

This is a video I took on one of the windiest days we had this year. We had gusts around 70 mph. No, it wasn't cloudy - that's dirt blowing around

Don't praise yourself. Let someone else do it. Proverbs 27:2
I really like this Scripture. It is simple and true. We need to be humble, and if we have to tell others about the "good work" we're doing, it probably isn't that good.

Hope you all have a great week!
Lyndee

New Eyeballs

"Lyndee" and "risky" are not synonymous. I don't like to push limits. I tend to be more of a "better safe than sorry" type of person.

That's why last Monday was kind of a big step for me.
Since about 2nd grade, I've had glasses. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table before school one morning trying to make the oh-so-important decision of what glasses frames I would wear for the next several years of my life.

When I started playing sports, I got contacts, and it was awesome not to have to wear glasses.  I thought that was about as good as it was going to get, but for the past year I've been thinking about LASIK eye surgery.  The risk-averse side of me said to just stick with the contacts. They allowed me to see without glasses with practically zero risk to my eyes. But the thought of not needing anything to see was just too enticing.

So after going through some tests to make sure I could have the procedure, I was scheduled to have surgery on Monday, October 14. My mother-in-law came with me to be my moral support and chauffeur.

When they took me back, one of the first things they did was give me a couple of Valium to help me relax. Then when they took me into the procedure room, the first step was to put me under a machine that went down onto one eye. Mostly it just felt like a lot of pressure on my eye, but if I remember correctly it kind of created a suction to my eye and then a laser was used to cut a flap on the top of my eye. Then I was shifted under a second machine. Under this machine, they just told me that I had to hold still and focus on the orange light above me. Then a laser would be used to correct my vision.
Even with the Valium in my system I was still very tense during this part of the process.  When they moved the flap to make the correction, it made it very difficult to see much of anything, so I was focusing every part of my being on that orange light and not moving underneath that laser (no worries, if I had moved too much the laser would have automatically shut off).
Thankfully this process only took about 20-25 seconds, and then the whole process was repeated for the second eye.

One of the things that I think stood out the most to me was the smell similar to that of branding cattle (although slightly less pungent) as the laser corrected my vision. :)

In less than 10 minutes I was out of procedure room.  From there Roshel took me home and put me to bed. They tell you to go home and go to sleep afterward to help your eyes heal more quickly, so I spent the majority of the afternoon in bed asleep.  And when I woke up later that afternoon, I was able to open my eyes and see clearly without glasses or contacts.  It was a pretty awesome feeling!

Before the procedure I was kind of nervous and felt like it was a bit of a risk to have LASIK eye surgery, but now that I've had it done, I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I would absolutely recommend Fry Eye in Garden City, Kansas. They did a fantastic job! Their patient care was superb, and they are very good at what they do.

By my follow up appointment the next day, the flap on my eye was already half-way healed and yesterday at my weekly follow up today, it had completely healed, and I now have 20/20 vision!
Now the only thing left to do is to delete the bi-weekly reminder in my phone to put in new contacts and take my glasses to the eye doctor to be donated to someone who actually needs them. :)

You were good to me glasses, but I have to say, I won't miss you!

These were the goggles I had to sleep in for the first week so I didn't accidentally rub my eyes without knowing it. Attractive, I know!

Earlier this month Taylor and I went back home for a nice, relaxing weekend with my family. On Saturday night, we had a weenie roast in front of my dad's machine shed. There's nothing better than simple family time around a campfire together.

Mmmm.... Chili dogs!

We've been looking for a used 4 wheeler to check our cows, build fence, etc. Taylor went to a consignment sale while we were at my parents and was able to find one.  Kolden had fun trying it out with Taylor that night while checking Dad's cows.

Annie taught us how to make a cinnamon fire bread that she had while in Austria this summer.

On a rather random note, while I was at Mom and Dad's, we drove by one of Dad's fields and a car was stuck in the ditch right next to the gate.

No one was in the car, but as we got to looking closer we could see that they had run off the road several hundred yards earlier, drove across my dad's fence, taken out a fence post, drove through the corn field, ramped a steep incline into the bean field, finally drove out of the field along the fence and as they went to get back onto the road, they missed the turn and ended up stuck in the drainage ditch. We were pretty ticked about the amount of crops that they ran over. But thinking about it now, I just would have really liked to have seen the whole thing happen. It must have been a heck of a ride.

Western Kansas Fact: Who knew there'd be a great place to have LASIK eye surgery done in Garden City, Kansas. I sure wouldn't have guessed that a lot of people travel to Garden City just to have this procedure done.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28
When I'm feeling stressed this Scripture always brings me peace.  I love knowing that God doesn't want to watch us stumble and stagger beneath the weight of our lives. He wants to carry it for us.  He wants to give us peace in this life even when things are hard.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Imagination and Amazement

As I get older there are a lot of things I miss about being a kid, like nap time and eating cookies without ever worrying how my pants would fit the next day... (ahhh, the good old days). But I think the things I miss most are a strong imagination and the joy and amazement at the simple things in life. I remember one time when I was little, Mom was washing windows and she took the screen off the screen door to clean it. That simple act provided Annie and I with an afternoon's worth of entertainment. All of a sudden our front screen door was transformed into a drive through window we could ride up to on our bikes and order from. :)

On labor day weekend my older sister, Katie, her husband, their two kids, and my younger sister and her fiancé came to visit us. Being around my 5 year-old nephew and my 2 year-old niece all weekend definitely showed me how little imagination and amazement I have in my daily life anymore.

On Saturday while the boys worked cows, Katie, Annie and I took the kids to the zoo in Garden City. They loved looking at the animals, especially the spider monkeys and the otters, but I had to laugh because out of all the animals they got to see, the things Kolden and Kallan were most excited about were the little bronze, animal-shaped benches. Every single one of these they would run up to and climb on. Later that day we came back to the house and got out the $5 sprinkler I'd bought off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart.  It was pretty fun to watch how excited they were to run through a little stream of water on a hot day.

They also loved helping me do my chores.  Kolden was so excited to see how many times he could pet my calf, Thatch, through the fence, and it was a pretty darn big deal to put the feed in the bucket. :) They reminded me to consciously enjoy getting to take care of my animals. (They also taught me that I needed to give them lots of little jobs to help me so they could feel like they were doing something thus avoiding any meltdowns because they weren't able to help enough.) :)
 

Kallan's 2nd birthday was later during the week, but we celebrated while she was at our house too.

It was so wonderful to have my family with me and to get to share my home and daily life with them.

The other weekend some friends of ours asked Taylor and I if we wanted to play in a golf tournament with them.  When Taylor told me this, the first thing I said was, do they know I'm terrible...do they know I've never even played golf?  Taylor assured me they knew what they were getting into. :)

Well he's not Happy Gilmore, but Taylor's definitely better than I am :)

So for the first time in my life, I played golf.  All I have to say is they sure make it look easy to swing a golf club well on TV. Sometimes I think I looked more like I was chopping wood.  At least I could have been worse, although maybe not much :) There were several times when I took more "practice" swings than I intended (well maybe I just missed the ball when I swung at it, but oh well.) :) Either way we had a lot of fun, although I was pretty amazed at how tired I was by the end of 18 holes.  I'm hoping before we play again, I'll have a chance to practice up a bit.

Annie jokingly gave me a hard time about playing golf and told me to take a video. Well here you go Annie! Luckily this was one of my decent swings :)

Western Kansas Fact: We don't have much in the way of hills here, so we build our own.  During silage harvest, corn silage is stacked and packed in big piles. I rode with Taylor in the silage packing tractor and driving down the steep incline can be a little scary to start with.

This is a picture I found that shows what type of an incline they make and have to drive up and down.

Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others.  1 Peter 4:10 The lesson that went with this Scripture reminded me that God gave each of us talents. But that doesn't mean we should use them only as we please. He gave them to us for a specific purpose. The gifts He gave us should glorify Him, not ourselves.

Have a wonderful week everybody!
Lyndee

Without Regrets

Regrets are kind of like pimples.  Nobody wants them.  Almost everyone gets them at some point or another, and some people have more than others.  Thankfully when I look back at my life so far, any regrets I have are fairly insubstantial and they're pretty few and far between. I think this comes from being surrounded with good family and friends to help keep me going down the best paths.

A few weeks ago I was able to avoid an opportunity for regret. Taylor and I were in Oklahoma for a wedding. While we were there I spent a lot of time talking with my family because my Grandpa Joe wasn't doing very well. Taylor and I talked about it and had decided that after the wedding we would drive home so I could get my vehicle and drive up to see Grandpa. As the weekend went on, it became apparent that Grandpa wasn't going to be around for long, maybe not even long enough for me to make it up to see him after driving up from the wedding.
Since we only had one vehicle, and Taylor couldn't leave because he was standing up in the wedding, it would have been pretty easy for me to say that I'd just have to wait until after the wedding and hope that Grandpa would still be around.

It's amazes me how long it can take for things to sink in sometimes and to truly understand the gravity of a situation.  Finally it hit me that if I truly wanted to find a way home, I could. And if I didn't, I could very well miss out on the chance to see my grandpa one last time and tell him I loved him.
I left before the wedding, took a shuttle to the airport, rented a car and made really good time back home. By that evening I was sitting, holding my grandpa's hand.  Katie and I sang to him a little and I got to hear him say, "I love you." By the next afternoon he was gone.
I thank God I didn't miss that opportunity and for my husband who spent a lot of time on the phone finding me a rental car so I could drive home.

I pray this experience will always remind me to live without regrets.

Grandma and Grandpa Joe at their 70th wedding anniversary 

We buried Grandpa on Wednesday.
On Friday Taylor and I were driving to Denver to catch our flight to go to Playa del Carmen for vacation. It's about an hour south of Cancun, and we stayed at an all inclusive resort.  We were there for a week.  On Sunday we went to an ecopark called XCaret.  There we floated down an extremely clear underground river. (the water in the river was pretty chilly, but Taylor "helped" me adjust to it quickly... by shoving me in!)  This place also has a sort of zoo and aquarium.  We spent some time snorkeling and got some drinks at a bar. Then that night we watched a show telling about the history and culture of Mexico. I didn't understand a word they were saying but it was still neat to watch.

Taylor and I celebrated our two year anniversary while on our trip.  It's been the best two years of my life :)  A lot of people said we looked like we were on our honeymoon; I told them that's because he still makes me happy

Monday we went deep sea fishing. We didn't catch any big fish, but we did catch a few reef fish. The seas were pretty rough that day, and I was doing fine, but in the middle of the trip I did bait the fish by depositing my breakfast into the ocean.  But after that I was good to go and went back to fishing.  Taylor didn't get sea sick, but I still ended up with the better end of the deal.  Where we were fishing at, if you catch fish and want to eat it, there's a restaurant on the beach that will cook it for you. So we had them cook a red snapper and a "Trigger" fish we'd caught.  It was some of the most amazing fish I'd ever had! Unfortunately about an hour or two after we got back to the hotel, Taylor started feeling a little under the weather.  For the rest of the night he had what he referred to as "the Mexican cleanse."  I started to get worried about him, but after about 12 hours, he finally started to feel better and quit having to rush to the bathroom every few minutes.
We rearranged our schedule and spent the next couple days just hanging on the beach, resting, relaxing and in Taylor's case, recuperating. We're still not sure what made Taylor sick, since I ate the same fish he did.  The only thing I can figure is that he ate rice and tortillas and I didn't.

My "Trigger Fish" I caught

Taylor caught the big red snapper in the middle

On Thursday we toured some Mayan ruins.  It rained all day, but we were still glad to be out looking at things rather than stuck in our hotel because of the rain especially since there wasn't much to do there if you aren't able to go out on the beach. We left on Friday, but we were both ready to come home, especially since it was still raining the next morning.

The Mayan ruins at Coba

All in all it was a fun trip, the only thing Taylor and I missed was American food.  They had really good restaurants at our hotel, but you can't beat American quality, especially when it comes to beef.  We both were really craving a good steak. :)

A few things we found interesting while in Mexico

• A lot of Spanish people vacation here
• This means a lot of men in speedos (many of whom shouldn't be - I took some photos but I just to show what it was like but I won't subject you to that)
• A lot of women in thongs or topless 
• These conditions make for some very good people-watching opportunities :)

Western Kansas Fact: You quickly get accustomed to not having a lot of trees around when you live out here.  When we went to Mexico, it was a pretty forest-y area. By the time we got home, I was glad to drive through eastern Colorado and see the openness (this was kind of amazing to me, I used to think eastern Colorado was a waste land) :)

When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me.  Psalm 32:3
I really like this Scripture. When I first began developing my relationship with God, at times it was hard for me to admit my sin.  But this Scripture and lesson reminded me that God sees everything I do. He already knows my sins, but when I admit them to him, I free myself. Those sins no longer hold me hostage and make me guilty.  


Have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Fine, You Can "Help"

I'm not always the best at accepting help.  Instead of being grateful, I tend to be more concerned that the person helping me isn't doing that particular job "right." ("right" and "exactly the way I would do it" are the same things, aren't they?)
But I realize now that I need to change my way of thinking. I'm certainly glad I've had people in my life who didn't take this same attitude with me.

For example when I was in high school, our neighbor, Mike Day, had me help him get his cattle ready for artificial insemination (AI) [Side note - Using AI allows cattlemen to economically use the best genetics possible to raise better beef using fewer natural resources].  To AI cattle you need to synchronize their cycles, and the first step of this process is to put in CIDRs. Instead of being a control freak (like me), Mike showed me how to do it, and then he gave me the chance to try.  For the next three years, when breeding season came around Mike let me put in CIDRs for him.  Mike was willing to let me "help" and his trust and confidence in my ability to learn helped build my own self confidence. I truly loved getting to help him each year and learn a new skill.
That skill meant even more to me this year. Taylor and I decided to AI our cows, and because of Mike, I was able to put in CIDRs for our own herd.

Getting ready to put in CIDRs

Besides messing with our cattle, Taylor and I have had plenty of other things to keep us busy.

We recently finished wheat harvest.  This year it was much more relaxed than normal because the wheat wasn't very good and we didn't have to cut late into the night.  I also had more free time as the grain cart driver because it took a long time for the combines to get full and need me to come get their grain.

Storm clouds rolling in

Taylor and I have also been working to put in a flower bed around our garage/shed. It's taken us a while but we've been really pleased with the results. I don't feel like I'm someone who visualizes things very well, so I was really happy with the way the flower bed I designed and planted turned out.

For 4th of July weekend Taylor and I went to my family's. My brother had a big cookout and volleyball game for family and friends.  We had a blast!

Last week I also got two new little kitties. I'm having a hard time figuring out the perfect names for them, but they're really fun to have around.

Western Kansas Fact: If you're driving during wheat harvest season, it's best not to be in a big hurry. You will encounter combines and other large equipment moving from field to field. You will have to slow down for them. But please be patient. They will move over so you can go around as soon as they can.

Wait for the Lord, and he will make things right. Proverbs 20:22
When someone hurts us or wrongs us, it can be easy to want to pay them back.  But it is not our place to do so. "Vengeance is mine. I will repay," Hebrews 10:30. God is the only one who is perfect and sinless, and He is the only one who can rightly settle a score. Who are we to judge the sins of others? Instead God calls us to forgive others because He forgave us through Christ's sacrifice. When we try to take revenge, we are telling God that we don't trust Him to do what is right.

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

I'm not an expert on AI, but if anyone has any questions about it, feel free to send them my way. I'll answer what I know or talk to someone with more experience.

Did Hell Freeze Over?

I'm not sure, but I think Satan might be decorating his home with icicles. In less than a week I dumped 0.5", 1" and 1.30" out of our rain gauge. For a near-desert climate going through one of the worst droughts since the dust bowl, I have to assume hell has frozen over.
It's so nice to see things looking kind of green again!
Admittedly, not all of this rain was wide spread.  When we got an 1.30", three miles south of us they only got .20".

Look!  There's actually standing water!!!

The inch of rain came on Saturday night.  Earlier in the evening myself and the girls that went to Nashville to run participated in a glow run in Garden City. It was a fundraiser for the volleyball team. I'm definitely not in the running shape that I was when I ran my half marathon, but I still did pretty well.  The run started at 9 p.m. and not long after we got started, we could see the storm moving in.

Glow Run! We had a little bit bigger group than we did in Nashville! It was such a fun way to spend time with your friends!

Western Kansas Fact: The static electricity in the air here can create some pretty awesome lightning storms. 
As we were running, there was a lot of lightning in the distance. Thankfully we were able to finish before it got too close but when it arrived, it was one of the most amazing lightning displays I have ever seen. The flashes were like constant ripples across the sky.

This is a video of the lightning at our house.  It doesn't even come close to doing it justice because you can't really see all the other indirect flashes across the sky, but it can give you an idea.

This week Taylor and I turned my biggest bucket calves, Milo and Sweet, out with our cows that we moved across the road.  They probably weigh close to 400 lbs now.  They weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do at first.  The whole first day they were over there, they stayed next to the fence closest to the shed where I had been keeping them.  Since they weren't willing to walk around the pasture to find the water, I had to take some over to them.  The next afternoon, I went out to check on them.  They were getting thirsty again by that time, and they came walking up to me, mooing.  Since they were willing to follow me, I decided to just lead them to the water.  Together we walked (in Mary and her little lamb fashion) probably close to quarter of a mile to the water tank.  Once they knew they didn't have to rely on me to bring water, they were happy to join the herd.

Some weeks there are Scriptures and lessons that I can really experience in my daily life. This past week one of these Scriptures was:
Pray in the Spirit at all times, with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need. Ephesians 6:18
The lesson that went with this Scripture talked about living in God's presence during all parts of the day.  Once last week I went for a run in the evening.  Afterwards I walked a little bit, and during those quiet, relaxing moments, I could feel the peace of God's presence.  At that moment I realized I need to slow down more often in life, and give myself time to be with my Lord.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and can find time to slow down and relax a little.

Lyndee

Sing, Sing A Song...

Silence... In an old farmhouse with 6 people, it wasn't a sound we frequently heard growing up.  Someone would have been more likely to hear us kids laughing and playing, or fighting and arguing at times (I blame most of those times on my brother - he used to be kind of mean). :)  But there was one sound that could be heard almost constantly around our house... music.

For one, we almost always had a radio on.  My mom sang around the house all the time, too.  She used to sing with a band at the local Banner Grange square dance hall when I was really little.  Sometimes the band members would come over to the house and have a jam session. All of us kids were quick to join in on the singing, too. We'd sing some in church, for the talent show at the fair, etc.
When I was a freshman in high school, my sister Katie started singing at a local bed and breakfast (the Red Rock Guest Ranch) that had a chuck-wagon show and supper every Saturday night during the summer.  It wasn't long before it turned into a family affair.  We'd help serve the meal and then we'd sing after they ate. My favorite thing is to sing harmony. There's nothing better than when you get the perfect blend of family voices. For four years we spent our summer Saturdays singing at Red Rock.  It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun, but by far we always have the most fun when we're singing at home - it's a lot less pressure. :)

Even though I've moved away, my family and I have still found occasions to sing together. This past weekend we had an awesome opportunity - we got to sing at Joey+Rory's Bib & Bucklefest in Pottsville, Tenn. Rory had mentioned that if we ever had the chance to come to their Bib and Bucklefest (a one-day music festival they put on at their farmhouse the first weekend of June) that it would be fun if we could sing at it. We were all a little nervous at the idea, but when an opportunity like that comes up, you don't just let it go by. So for the past several months any time I was home, us girls and mom were practicing (Sadly my brother and his family weren't able to make it or he would have been singing with us too). Our cousin Jonathan Boatwright, who lives close by in Franklin, Tenn. was kind enough to learn the songs we were going to sing and accompany us on his guitar.

We were the first to perform on Saturday.  We were supposed to start singing at 1:30 but we got pushed back a little bit because there was there were storms moving in, so Joey and Rory had a construction crew that had been working on remodeling their performance barn come and build a quick lean-to over the stage so equipment wouldn't get ruined if it started to rain. We had to cut our set a little short because of the delay, but it was still such an awesome experience, and we were all so grateful to Joey and Rory for the opportunity.
Here's where our names were listed on the venue:
http://www.bibandbucklefest.com/2013/MUSIC.html

We decided to stick with "The Patterson Family" because it'd just be confusing to have "Patterson, Ingels, and Stabel" and abbreviating that to "PIS" just isn't classy. ;)

After we performed we went back to the merchandise tent, and a few people actually came up and asked us to sign their fans, shirts, etc.  We were pretty honored.  I think they were just a super nice crowd. :)

Later that afternoon it did start to rain, and they had to put everything on pause for a while.  Quite a few people left, but I was more surprised by the number of people that stayed and even sat out in the rain.  Eventually they moved everything under a big tent and kept going with the show. It all turned out well, and it was a great way to spend the weekend with family and friends.

"Fred Chicken & Willis" down on Broadway
 This weekend Taylor jokingly told Kolden he was going to  call him "Willis" so Kolden came up with a nickname for Taylor, too - "Fred Chicken"

Here's the website for the Joey+Rory tv show on RFDTV: http://www.thejoeyandroryshow.com/tv/HOME.html

Monday after we got home from our trip, I got three new bucket calves.  They were a little older than most of the other bucket calves I've started, so that has made them a little more challenging.  Calves learn to nurse from a bottle a lot easier when they're brand new.  These calves have been on their moms for a good 2-3 weeks, so the first few times I've fed them have been a little more like a rodeo than anything else. They're starting to calm down a little, but two of them like to kick and I've had a couple close calls. Thankfully I've been close enough to them that I haven't caught the kick full force yet. Hopefully my luck continues!

I named my new calves Wendy, Michael and John off of Peter Pan.

Western Kansas Fact: When it rains, you'd be surprised at what kind of animals will pop up. This week it rained. Taylor and I were over at his mom and dad's and when we went to leave, Taylor found a salamander.  I've never seen one out here before. And when we got home, you could hear frogs chirping in the distance. (Usually it's too dry out here for them, and their sound is one of the things I miss most about my hometown area.)

The storm this week had a lot of lightening and I got lucky enough to catch this strike.

This scripture meant a lot to me this weekend:
I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.  Psalm 139:14
So often people degrade themselves or the way they look, but when they do, they are degrading God's holy creation, too. We need to remember that God made us a particular way with specific talents and that we should use those talents to bring glory to His Name.  This message was good for me to hear before we sang at Bib & Bucklefest because even though we were nervous, we could use the talents He gave us to honor Him.

I haven't found a lot of time recently to blog so here's a few things that have happened since my last post:

I helped with Vacation Bible School, Taylor and I visited the Oklahoma City Zoo, and we went to the Broadway production of Les Miserables in Denver.

"Lady Lyndee" & "Knight Eryka" at Kingdom Rock Vacation Bible School with our Bible Memory Buddy "Duke"

Hope you all have a great week!
Lyndee

Maybe I'm Crazy, but I Have Fun!

I may be just a little bit crazy (or possibly a lot a bit).
I came to this conclusion as I thought about writing this blog about my trip to run in Nashville.
I realized I paid to travel over 1100 miles to run 13.1 miles in the rain with more than 17000 other people - and here's the craziest part - I'd do it again in a heartbeat! (Yep, certifiably insane) :)

Early Thursday morning myself, my mother-in-law, and three of our friends drove to Denver and then flew to Nashville to run on Saturday.  My friend Sarah and I were running the half marathon again and the rest of the girls were doing the mini marathon (2.6 miles).

We got tickets to go to the Grand Ole Opry on Friday night.  The experience was great although a little bittersweet.  George Jones had just passed away so most of the performers did a tribute to him, and they did a fantastic job.  Sitting there as artists honored him and his music, I couldn't help but be a little sad. While their music will live on forever, little by little those artists who have become the foundation of country music, and the inspiration of many, are passing away.  All I know is I'm glad I got to grow up listening to their music, and someday I look forward to sharing their music with my kids as well.

Leading up to the race we all were constantly checking our phones for weather updates - they were calling for rain on race day.  As Saturday morning got closer, we all were pretty certain we were going to be getting wet.  Thankfully my mother-in-law, Roshel, had thought ahead and had my sister-in-law, Eryka, pick up some running rain jackets for us. Go figure - where we live is practically a desert so I really didn't have any equipment for running in the rain.

At the convention on Friday. People had written some of the reasons they run on this sign.  I  wholeheartedly agreed with the one that read "ice cream."  In fact on Sunday I rewarded myself with a bowl of ice cream from Marble Slab for a job well done :)

Come Saturday morning, I was really glad to have that jacket because the rain had arrived. I was also happy I'd gotten some knee-high compression running socks, so I didn't have to worry about my socks getting wet and falling down, or about my shoes rubbing anywhere.
During the whole race it rained, but honestly, I really didn't mind.  I kind of felt like a little kid running outside playing in the rain.  I stayed plenty warm while I was running. I still can't decide if it was a good thing or not, but the water made my headphones keep slipping out of my ear.  About mile 4 I gave up and left them out, but then I couldn't hear my running app when it told me my pace at each mile. I'm not sure if this made me run faster because I was afraid of falling off pace or not, but either way, in the end I was happy with how I finished. My total time was 1 hr. 43 min. and 5 seconds with an average pace of 7 minutes and 52 seconds per mile. That was about 8 seconds per mile faster than last year.

Sarah and I before the race.  At this point it was only sprinkling!

Sprinting to the finish.  You can't see the finish until you're almost there.  But this year I was more familiar with the course, so I knew when to push it.

My favorite part of the actual run was seeing a little girl, standing in the rain with her hood up and a disappointed look on her face holding a sign that said "Worst parade ever". It made me laugh out loud.  I was so grateful for the people who braved the weather to cheer the runners on. It's definitely easier to keep running with their encouragement.

The worst part about the rain was after the race was over.  Last year the weather was beautiful and we all were able to hang out after finishing our run, soaking in the moment and taking pictures.  But this year with the rain and cool weather, everyone quickly got cold, and all we could think about was getting out of the rain and going back to the hotel to take a hot shower.
Even so, the rough weather during the 10 weeks of training and the rain on race day couldn't diminish the sense of accomplishment I felt when I got done.  It was all worth it!

The rest of the trip was great.  The weather straightened up and we got to enjoy being in Nashville.  I got to hang out with my good friend Heidi who lives in Nashville and Saturday night we ate at an awesome restaurant called Sambuca.  I would definitely recommend eating there - great atmosphere, great food, great music and great service - just make sure to make reservations in advance.  On Sunday, Roshel and I went and visited our friends Joey and Rory. I'm definitely not a city girl. As we drove out to their farm, I could slowly feel a tension I hadn't even noticed until that point easing out of my shoulders as we left the city behind and drove into the country.   It was great to relax and enjoy a beautiful evening with great friends.

By Monday, I was definitely ready to be home.  I missed my husband and easy rhythm of our daily lives. Now I just have to figure out where my craziness will take me to run next time! :)

Come near to God, and God will come near to you.  James 4:8
I loved this scripture and its simplicity.  There are a lot of times when I let the busy-ness of the world distract me from God, and I feel so far away from Him.  But He's not hiding from me.  There's no huge process I need to go through to feel Him in my heart again.  All I have to do is go to Him with my heart open and my mind focused on Him. He's waiting right there for me to come back to Him, and He'll come to me as soon as I let Him.

I hope you all have a fantastic rest of the week and weekend!

Lyndee

Sleepovers - Then and Now

There are five words that I bet will strike terror into the heart of any parent -

"Can I have a sleepover?"

I don't even have kids, but the thought makes me cringe.  I remember being in 3rd and 4th grade going over to a friends' house with a group of 5-6 other girls. Usually our nights consisted of loud raucous laughter and practically zero sleep with various activities in between.

While I'm not particularly looking forward to chaperoning my future children's sleepovers, it's still fun to be the one having the sleepover.
On Friday I went back to my hometown.  Dad was having surgery that morning to fix the herniated discs in his neck that were causing him a lot of pain. While Dad recovers from surgery, my brother, Casey, will be helping out with a lot of the chores. Friday night, Casey was going to be bach-ing it.  His wife had planned to take their two girls to visit one of her best friends for the evening. So since Casey was going to be by himself, and because he would be coming up to Mom and Dad's to help with chores the next morning anyway, Annie and I told him he should just have a sleepover with us.  Mom was going to stay the night with Dad at the hospital, so it would just be us kids.
After we left the hospital Katie came over and brought her two kids and we all watched a movie together. Then Katie and the kids went home and Casey, Annie, and I stayed up until 2 a.m. chatting and listening to music videos.  The entire evening was a blast!  I feel sorry for any person who doesn't have a close relationship with their siblings - they make the best friends in the world! :)

Mom, Dad and their kiddos at the hospital

Watching a movie on Friday night

Before we left the hospital Friday night, Mom joked that if we had sleepover, then we had to pick up after ourselves.  The next morning while Casey did chores, Annie and I picked up the house, swept, vacuumed and did dishes. (Now I just need to figure out how to make my kids and their friends do that someday!) :)

Dad came home the next day, and we were all relieved to see how much the surgery had helped.  The pain in his back, neck and arms was gone.  Now we'll just have to figure out how to keep him from trying to do too much too fast.  Poor Mom is going to have her hands full.  I think the doctor should have prescribed some sedatives she could give him when he starts getting restless. :) Dad is definitely not one to sit idle and the doctor said he shouldn't lift anything heavier than a full milk jug for the next 4-6 weeks. The day after his surgery Casey already had to get after him for trying to lift something too heavy. Casey told him, I think that's more than 10 lbs, to which Dad responded "9 and a half." Stubborn old fart.

On Thursday I'll be flying out of Denver with my mother-in-law and some friends to go to Nashville to run.  I'm getting really excited. I just hope I can beat last year's time. I'm also excited to be done training in bad conditions.  The weather has seemed rather tough to run in this spring. We've had a lot of cold and windy days.  Personally I hate running against a strong wind.  Several times when I've had to go longs distances, I've run with the wind to my back and had Taylor come pick me up when I got done.  Today I wasn't so lucky.  The weather started out nice, and I had to do 8 miles, but by the time I went to run a strong north wind had picked up. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing we had a sustained wind of 30 mph with stronger gusts. I felt like most of my energy was spent trying to keep from blowing sideways.  Also, it's been so dry here that any wind seems to pick up a lot of dirt.  At one point, while running past a bare field, the dirt was blowing so much that I couldn't see anything in front of me, and I had to run with my eyes closed. By the time I got home I was completely dirt covered and taking a shower was my first priority. Oh well, at least running in conditions like that should make Nashville seem like a cake walk.

The dirt especially collected in my shoes and in the crevices of my arms.

Western Kansas Fact: Weeds can be a blessing (as long as they're not in a field). With the drought we've been having, weeds seem to be the only thing that will grow (and even they are having trouble). But anything that helps hold the dirt down is a good thing. However they cannot be tolerated in a field because they will rob moisture from the crops.

At dawn on the first day Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to look at the the tomb. Matthew 28:1
I got a new perspective for this Scripture the other day. The lesson talked about these women's devotion to Christ. Even after they had seen Him die, they continued to devote themselves to Him and serve Him. They served even though they felt as though their hopes had been dashed. This gives me a new standard to aim for. I pray my devotion to Christ may be as strong as theirs.  Strong enough to endure even when hope seems like a distant dream.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Shopping? No thanks, I'll take a calf shed.

When I was young, I was a definite tomboy.  I loved helping my dad, being outside, messing with animals, etc., and I didn't care what clothes I had on - clothes didn't matter. What mattered was having a pocketknife in my pocket. As I got older, I learned to appreciate more feminine things as well, but I never completely outgrew my tomboy-ness.  

For instance I know a lot of women who love to go shopping. Personally, I have to be in the right mood for shopping.  On the rare occasion I am in that particular mood, generally after a few hours I have a headache and am ready to leave the mall/stores and go home. Furthermore, I cannot stand to go window shopping.  Nothing feels like a bigger waste of time than browsing through stores, while at the same time knowing I'm not going to be buying anything. (The exception makes the rule - I could spend hours in a Barnes and Noble looking through books and getting ideas of ones I would like to read.)

Shopping may not be the blood-pumping stimulate for me that it is for some other people, but I do get excited about some new things.  For instance, right now, I can hardly wait for Friday to get here.  That is when my new, pre-fabricated, three-sided calf shed is coming! This shed will give me more room so I can keep my bucket calves longer and get them bigger before taking them to the sale. (Exciting - I know!) :)

With five bull calves at the moment, I definitely could stand some extra room.

My newest calf "Hamish." I named him after one of the three princes on the Disney movie Brave. 

Well - Taylor and I made it all the way through Lent without watching TV. It felt a little weird the first week, but it was pretty easy to get used to after that.  I used to like having the TV on just for background noise, but I've come to enjoy the quiet a lot more.

After Easter, I sat down to relax and watch a recorded episode I had missed out on during the past couple months, but watching TV wasn't nearly as satisfying as it used to be.  Even now Taylor and I both are a lot more inclined to leave the TV off in the evening.

This past weekend Taylor and I went back to my Mom and Dad's for a visit and also to go to Taylor's sister's final dance recital at K-State.  We got to give Kolden his birthday presents, too.  As always, I loved getting to see my family and play with my nieces and nephew. When I go home my nephew, Kolden, is my little buddy, and he likes to spend as much time with me as he can (I definitely don't mind - I love spending as much time  as possiblewith him too).  Anyway I had to run four miles for my training while I was at home. When I told Kolden, he said he wanted to run with me.  I laughed and told him that he had to take his afternoon nap instead, but I promised that when Mom, Katie, myself and the kids went for a walk later, we could run the last little bit together. About 30-40 yards before we finished our walk, I let Kolden out of the stroller and we started running. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, and I stayed next to him to make sure he stayed off to the side of the road. I guess Kolden thought it was a race, and was willing to cheat to win.  As we ran together, he kept trying to cut me off! Little turd. :) By the time we reached the mailbox, Kolden was panting hard, saying he was tired. I was glad I had convinced him to stick with 40 yards rather than 4 miles. Later that night he told Katie that he had won the Holton Piston Cup. :)

At one point Kolden was giving his sister a wagon ride, but she decided she wanted to walk.  Kolden then told me he would give me a wagon ride. That lasted all of two seconds before he told me I was too heavy.  I'm going to have to teach him the art of building up a woman's self esteem! :)

Got lucky to catch such a good picture of these three. Pretty darn cute in my opinion!

Western Kansas Fact: Cleaning your ears is EXTREMELY important. With the especially dry conditions we've experienced lately and the strong winds that have blown the past few days, the joke about being able to grow potatoes in your ears becomes a lot less funny and seems more like an actual possibility. 

A lot of times when someone is speaking or when I am reading, I simply see or hear the words with my brain. But occasionally I feel like words speak to my heart as well. The Scripture lesson I read the other morning did just that:

I have given you power... that is greater than the enemy has. Luke 10:19

The lesson for this Scripture said that while there are many, many characters in the Bible, most simply stated, the entire Book is the truth of the battle and triumph of God over Satan. I especially loved one line in the lesson, "Hell will have to get through Him to get to you." Most often I think of Christ's love as a peaceful thing, but this lesson reminded me that He loves me fiercely, too.  So much so that He will battle and defeat the power of hell for me. 

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Lyndee