Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

At one point when my little sister, Annie, and I were growing up, we made a pact that if we didn't get married, we would live together in an old farmhouse with a big garden and barn raising pigs and cattle.
I thought this plan was the most magnificent idea ever. Annie and I were best friends, we loved all of the same things, worked well together, and always had fun… who needed to get married when this option was available? Honestly, how could being married to any man compete with the awesome life Annie and I could have?
…And then I met Taylor. With him in my life my ideas of "not needing a husband" flew right out the window (sorry Annie). :) Last week reminded me of just how much I do need him.

Last Saturday Taylor and I both had our bags packed to leave on a trip, but it wasn't a trip we got to take together. Taylor was headed to Vegas for his soon-to-be brother-in-law's bachelor party. I was headed to Denver to catch a plane to Orlando. My sister-in-law Eryka had chosen to go on a short cruise with her bridal party, mother, mother-in-law and aunt instead of having a specific "bachelorette party".

As cool as it was to be able to go on a cruise with them all, and as good of a time as we had, I gotta say I had a really hard time being gone from Taylor for a week on a boat in the middle of the ocean without the ability to call and hear his voice.
The worst part was leading up to our departure - the time while I was moving farther and farther away and knew that soon I wouldn't even be able to talk to him. Thankfully it got easier once we were on the boat. After we sailed away, there was no going back, so I was able to relax a bit and enjoy a cruise through the Bahamas. :)

One of our stops had to be cancelled because of bad weather, but otherwise everything was great. We spent time laying out on the boat, dancing at the club, watching shows & comedians. We watched "Frozen" while laying by the pool, climbed the rock wall on the boat, and went snorkeling in Nassau. I even got a massage at the spa on the boat.  The gentle rocking of the boat on the ocean made the massage even more relaxing.

A "Silent Party" - one of my favorite thins on this trip was the silent party. On the first night instead of playing the music over the sound system at the club, they had headphones for you to put on and you could pick which of the two DJs you wanted to listen to. At first I didn't know what to think of it, but it was A LOT of fun. My favorite part was when us girls were doing the Wobble, and everybody else busted out in YMCA.

It was a great trip, but by Friday I was chomping at the bit to get home to Taylor. Getting to be with him would have been enough, but I got some extra surprises since I'd been on the boat on my birthday. By the time we got back, he'd been home for a couple of days, so when I got home, there was a beautiful arrangement of flowers on the counter and a pair of diamond earrings to match the style of my wedding ring. The next morning when I went out to do chores, I found that Taylor had cleaned out the tack room of my calf shed, and bought me some shelves and cabinets and organized my calf supplies for me. I couldn't have asked for better birthday presents. He's a keeper! :)

Maybe I'd rather not take trips without my husband but, on the positive side, I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder. I can truly say I've appreciated each moment with him this past week.

Western Kansas Fact: Spring and green are not synonymous.  Growing up I took for granted that when spring time rolled around, things would turn green. We don't always have enough moisture for plants and grass to automatically green up as soon as the weather turns warmer.

Love suffers long and is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4
This Scripture lesson made me think about how often I place my own needs and desires above those of others. I neglect the opportunity to show God's love through my actions. I pray that in the future I would recognize when my outlook and actions have become selfish, and then make an effort to change them.

Have  a wonderful weekend!
Lyndee

Old, Positively

On certain nights I wonder if people who drive past our house, but don't know Taylor and me, wonder if our little house on the hill is home to a 90 year-old couple.
After trying it for the first time last year, Taylor and I decided to give up TV for Lent again this year. However without TV taking up a portion of our evening, there are times when after supper is done and the kitchen cleaned, we go take a shower and crawl into bed. Taylor will usually stay up for a while reading before he goes to sleep. I love to read, too, but (since I inherited my mom's ability to fall asleep) it takes me a maximum of 30 seconds to enter a REM cycle once I'm laying down, so I don't finish books very quickly in bed.

Once this past week Taylor and I were both tired, so by 9:45 p.m. all the lights in the house were off, and we were asleep in bed. Yeah, we might have some habits of 90 year-olds, but I'm ok with that - I felt very rested the next day. :)

Rather than just giving physical things up for Lent, I wanted to do something that could have a more meaningful impact on my life. So I am working to give myself a more positive attitude. I decided that when a circumstance has a severely negative effect on my mood, I have to stop and list several positives about the situation. The other morning I had to tryout my attitude-adjustment approach.
I went out to do chores one morning before going to workout, but as I stepped into the garage, I was concerned to find the floor of the garage was rather wet as well as some of the ground outside the garage door. Water/plumbing issues can put me in a pretty sour mood. Later we figured out that there is a leak in our radiant floor heating system, and it was coming up out of the floor in the seam in the concrete between the garage floor and the concrete pad outside. Not exactly the best news to have, but I was able to find several positives points.

1. If there had to be a water issue, at least it wasn't in my house
2. The water didn't quite make it to the bag of milk replacer I had in the garage, so it didn't get ruined.
3. At least it happened when it wasn't extremely cold, so the water didn't freeze and mess up our concrete.
4. Some of the water that leaked outside went into my flower bed and will be good for my plants.

I, truthfully, was rather surprised at how much better I felt after finding some good things to focus on. For the rest of the day, whenever I thought about the leak in our radiant floor heating, I was able to counter it with a positive thought. It was nice to keep my entire day from becoming tainted by one bad event.

Last weekend, I went home for my little sister's bridal shower that us bridesmaids were hosting. We had  Mom's kitchen and living room packed full of ladies, and Annie got some great gifts! What made it really fun was that several of Annie's roommates (past and present) came up the night before and stayed at Mom and Dad's so it was like a big-girl slumber party only with a little less giggling and a little more sleeping throughout the night. :)

Annie & her roomies!

Annie & Grandma Patterson at the shower

The weather Monday was absolutely AMAZING. It was mid 70s with hardly even a breeze, and it's too early for any bugs to be out. I spent most of the afternoon outside cleaning calf pens, going for a run, and that evening Taylor and I worked in the garden doing a little prep-work to get it ready for planting. The next day was not nearly as nice because the wind was blowing like crazy - but I didn't let it ruin my attitude -  windy days make me really enjoy the nice days, and I was able to accomplish a fair amount of book work because I wasn't tempted to go outside instead.

A Scripture I really like recently was Matthew 25:40.
Anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me.
I really liked the lesson that went with this Scripture. It reminded every person on earth is important to God, but often as I go through life, I frequently overlook people. I prayed that God would help me to see people the way He sees them and to show them God's love through my actions and attention.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Lyndee