The Right Occupation

Throughout my life I've dreamed of being a lot of different things.
I've always loved animals, so as a young kid I thought I should be a vet when I grew up.  Then later I wanted to be a nurse like my mom. My first year of college, I spent a lot of time worrying if I was picking the right career path. I decided to switch from pre-nursing to Ag Communications, then I added Ag Econonomics, then I dropped the communications part. Then right before Taylor and I got engaged, I very nearly made the full circle and went back to nursing, but didn't end up doing it.

I changed my mind thinking each new option would bring me more fulfillment with the work involved, making me happier in the long run…but I was mistaken.

I didn't realize the best thing I could ever do is be a mom.  No job could even compare or bring as much happiness into my life as my daughter has.

- My heart has never melted the way it did the first time I saw her smile.
- Nothing has ever brought me such true delight as hearing her coo and jabber in her carseat as we drive down the highway.
- And I can't think of any other job in the world where I would gladly wake up "to work" multiple times in the middle of the night. (Although thankfully, the past few weeks Taylee has limited it to one or two times per night, and I'm not complaining about that!) :)

I hope I can take some of the lessons I've learned since having Taylee and make sure I am applying them to the rest of my life - like remembering how much joy the simplest things like her smile or her coos can bring me. God has blessed my life so much, I know there are things I need to be more thankful and appreciative of, so I want to make sure I see the joy in the simple/everyday parts of life as well.

These last two and a half months have absolutely flown by, and I am amazed at how much Taylee has grown.
I am truly grateful my girl is strong and healthy and growing well, but admittedly it makes me a little sad to see how quickly this stage of life is passing by.
I know it would be completely futile to wish time would slow down, so instead I'm going to pray that by looking to enjoy and appreciate the simplest parts of life, hopefully I can be more present for each moment. In the future I don't want to look back and have regrets about how I spent my time.

Most of all I want to say thanks to my husband - because of his hard work and determination to provide for our family, I am able to stay at home with our daughter and experience all these little moments with her.

On the thought of how I spend my time…I now understand my mom's abilities a little better. I have always marveled at how much my mom can accomplish on any given day. Now I realize that when you have a baby, it's like you develop another gear and a lot better time management. During nap time, you can get a heck of a lot done. :) I still have  a long way to go to be able to match my mom, but I'm getting closer! ;)

A few pictures from the first couple months of Taylee's life…meeting great grandparents, grandparents and spending time with daddy.

Taylee's first combine ride - cutting some dry land corn

As for God, His way is perfect. Psalm 18:30

This was a recent Scripture in my daily devotional, and I appreciated the lesson that went with it. It spoke of different people in the Bible who had made plans, but their plans didn't come to fruition. However, they still submitted themselves to God. Because they were willing to give themselves to God rather than closing themselves off because their plans were denied, He was able to use them for a greater purpose and bring glory to Himself.
I pray I would have faith enough to always accept Your plan above my own, Lord. I submit myself to You. Please use me. Amen.

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

Pregnancy Hormones & Sasquatch Hair

All of my life I have had a head full of thick, dark hair. I was born with it, and when I met Taylor in college, one of the first things that caught his eye was my dark, big hair (Texas-styled he called it). :)

But like most women, I also shed a lot. I have been frequently amazed at the fact I'm not bald because of the amount of hair I can lose in a day.

That's not the case at the moment. Apparently my pregnancy hormones are in full gear because the last couple of weeks, the amount of hair I shed has dropped drastically. I have a hair cut scheduled for the middle of July, and I'm afraid by the time it gets here, things may be completely out of control.

So please don't be concerned if in the next few weeks you see a Sasquatch-type figure in the western Kansas area - it's just me and my crazy pregnancy hair! :)

Thankfully, the pregnancy hormones seem to be primarily affecting my hair. You hear stories about women who kind of go off the deep end and get really emotional. So far there has been only one evening when I was tired and frustrated and started crying for basically no reason. Otherwise, I feel like I've been able to keep the crazy to a minimum, but at least I've got a great husband who can take that sort of thing in stride. :)

Like usual, May and June have been busy months. We've had two baby showers - one back in my hometown and one in Lakin. At both we were beyond blessed by the generosity of family and friends. During the last two months we also AI'd our cows, helped with Bible School, attended a graduation, and started wheat harvest, just to name a few.

At the end of May I was so thankful to get to spend a couple of hours with my friend Bethany and her sweet baby girl, Eleanor. In college God used Bethany to help guide me in developing a closer relationship with Christ. For the past couple of years Bethany and her husband, Morgan, have been in India working and sharing the gospel, but they came back to the states to have their little girl. It was so great to get to see them before they returned to India.

My sisters put on a baby shower for me in my hometown over Memorial Day weekend. It was so great to see family and friends that I don't get to catch up with very often. 

I definitely wasn't the only pregnant lady there. Out of a relatively small group of women, five of us there were pregnant and there were a couple other pregnant ladies who weren't able to make it.

We were blessed to get a lot of nice things, and my grandma made a baby quilt for us that we loved. One side of it matches the quilt she gave Taylor and I for our wedding (which goes perfectly with our nursery) and the other side had a barn, silo and cow.

Eryka and Roshel put on a great shower for us in Lakin with a "Cute as a Button" theme. They did such a good job, and again we were so very blessed by the people who came to support us and bring us gifts to help us get ready to welcome this little baby into our lives.

I was also very grateful for my sister, Katie, who came out to Lakin for the shower and helped me organize and put away all the gifts. With her help it only took a couple of hours, where I probably would have spent an entire day trying to figure out what to do with everything. :)

The past few weeks have felt like we lived in Iowa or something. We have gotten a tremendous amount of rain which is extremely unusual for our area, especially this time of year. It has definitely slowed down the wheat harvest, but we'll never complain about getting rain. It's really giving our fall crops a great start. (Although I do hope we are able to make some good progress from here on out, or I'm afraid I may go into labor in a tractor) :)
I'm driving grain cart again this year, but Stewart got a new tractor and it is extremely nice. It makes for a pretty smooth ride for me and the baby! :)
I did have to go to Wal-mart and buy some scrub pants so I can adjust the waistband to fit my needs. At 8 months pregnant I needed something I could wear comfortably sitting in a tractor for the majority of the day. Between my overalls and my scrub pants, I am definitely styling! :)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and agains the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

The lesson that accompanied this Scripture was one I felt we all needed to be reminded of from time to time. Too often I feel like we tend to ignore the devil, and that is exactly what he wants - for us to ignore him, so he can work in our lives. Instead we need to recognize him, and call him out and ask God to help us fight against him. Jesus overcame the devil and sin and death and He will help us if we ask him.

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

Lyndee

The Baby's Not Even Here and Already Our Marriage is Changing

I can't even begin to fathom all the ways God has blessed my life, but one of His blessings I am most grateful for is the relationship He has given Taylor and me. And if there's one thing we have heard many times since becoming pregnant (and even before), it's that children will change your life.
I can't wait to experience these changes, but one change Taylor and I don't want to make is to neglect our relationship. We know that we can only be good parents if our marriage is strong and we approach parenting as an unshakeable team.

But I never would have guessed that even before the baby arrived, our relationship would already be changing.

Taylor buys cattle for the feedyard so two or three days a week he is driving to sales, and once in a while he will have to travel farther and stay overnight. Recently Taylor went down to Oklahoma City and planned to stay for the first part of the week to go to a few different sales. It's a trip Taylor has made many times during the four years we've been married, but it's the first time since we've been pregnant.

Until that moment, I hadn't been aware of our relationship changing. But as he got ready to leave, we both found the idea of being separated harder to deal with than usual.
I think just the knowledge that we are going to be parents together has already made our marriage grow in new ways and become even stronger.

The week ended well, though, because Taylor and I traveled to a bull sale in South Dakota as a kind of mini-vacation, and we got to spend a lot of quality time together.  We took an extra day to visit Mount Rushmore and drive through Custer National Park.

We spent several hours driving through the park hoping to spot some buffalo. As we got ready to leave the park, this guy was standing right beside the road.

Pregnancy Update: We are now 26 weeks along. And my new favorite outfit is my overalls. :) I signed up for Stitch Fix the other day because I don't like shopping, but my wardrobe is getting very limited. Now once a month I'll just have maternity clothes sent to me instead.

By the end of the day it's already becoming a chore to bend over and pick things up. Getting out of the shower last night, I experienced a moment of disappointment because I was able to see that I'd missed getting an article of clothing into the hamper and I'd have to go pick it up off the floor… And I know this struggle will become a lot more real over the next few months.

As I think to the coming summer months I feel like there's a real possibility I may start wearing cowboy boots with my shorts simply because I can pull them on without having to bend over and tie any shoe laces. ;) I'll try to abstain, but just in case you see me making such an awesome fashion statement, I'll ask for leniency in judgement.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. 1 Corinthians 6:19

The lesson that went with this Scripture tells us that when we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in us. We will fight Spiritual battles all our lives, but we won't fight them alone. God will help us and give us the strength to do what we cannot in our own power.

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

Lyndee

Playing "Dress Up"

Playing "dress up" - it's basically a right of passage for any kid whether it's tying a cape (blanket) around your neck to be superman or tromping around in your mom's high heels.

I know there is at least one extremely flattering childhood picture (insert heavy sarcasm) where I wore an old flannel shirt that was much too large for me. It was an old shirt of my dad's that I found in the back room of our farmhouse. Even from a young age, I admired my dad. He was a strong, hard-working man, and he could fix nearly anything - I wanted to be like him, so I decided to dress like him.

I realize now that it takes more than simply wearing the same style of clothes to be like someone. If there is someone we admire and respect and want to be like, it is what's on the inside that matters. It is our actions that matter. It is our character that matters.

On March 4, 2016 my friend Joey Feek left this world to go to her heavenly home. I wept knowing we would no longer get to have her presence here on earth with us, but I thank God that I was blessed to have the chance to know her.
She was someone who truly exemplified living a life for Christ and for her family. I especially loved to see the way both she and Rory sought to follow Christ's example of being a servant to one another in their marriage.  There have been many occasions where I have looked to their relationship as I sought to be a godly wife to Taylor.
Getting to attend Joey's memorial service just reminded me all the more that I want to follow her example in life. Every single person there had been touched by Joey and each person felt that he/she had been made a better person simply by knowing her.

What a way to live. So while I don't intend to go out and buy the same clothes Joey wore so I can play "dress up" to be like her, I will continue to allow her life to be an example to me. And I will think of her often as I seek to, first and foremost, love and serve the Lord my God, my husband, my family, and each person I come into contact with.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, so I am really looking forward to next weekend. For quite a few years now, I have given up something for Lent as a way to honor the sacrifice Christ made for me. This year I tried something a little different. One of the things I gave up, or at least tried to, was complaining. I don't feel like I'm someone who gripes or whines a lot, but I'll admit this was harder for me than I thought.
Several times in the past I have given up sweets for Lent, and I guess I just put more conscious thought into what I eat as compared to what I say. I remember one time when I nearly forgot about not eating sweets during Lent. I stuck some bite of dessert in my mouth before I remembered, so I quickly went to the trash can and spit it out.

Unfortunately, words don't quite work the same way. Once they are out of your mouth there is no taking them back (or spitting them in the trash). There have been several occasions during this Lenten season when I have said something negative and only realized it after it was too late. It has made me a lot more aware of how often I say things without really thinking about them beforehand. This is something I want to continue to work on even after Easter.

I have been very blessed the past two weekends. First Annie and Abe came out to visit us, and then this weekend Mom and Dad came out to be with me on my birthday weekend. It was wonderful to get to spend time with my family.

Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. 1 Peter 3:15

I loved this Scripture because the lesson reminded me that we should be ready at any time to share our testimony of God's work in our lives. He has done so much for me, and I am so grateful. I want to be bold in sharing my story with others.

I hope you all have had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!

Lyndee

Savoring Surprises and the Things I Didn't Know About Pregnancy

I love surprises, always have. Even when we were little, I remember us four kids waking up on Christmas morning and, as the oldest, Katie would lead us down the stairs, then we all would cover our eyes with our hands to go by the Christmas tree on our way to Mom and Dad's room. Even seconds before
we were going to open our presents, I didn't want to risk seeing or even guessing at what my presents might be…Although now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad made us crawl into bed with them and wait a half hour because apparently we'd gotten up really early that Christmas morning. I doubt that half hour earned them any extra rest though with four kids and two adults in a queen-size bed. :)

With a baby on the way, there is one surprise neither Taylor nor I want to spoil. We don't want to know whether we're having a boy or girl. We want to savor that surprise on the day of our baby's birth.

As far as pregnancies go, I can't complain at all. After watching my older sister puke constantly during her pregnancies, I am very glad to say that I have not had the same problem. Mostly I just had some nausea, but I was able to keep that pretty well under control by keeping a little food in my stomach. Now that we're into the second trimester, even the nausea seems to be lessening.

Our first picture of our baby. It will be fun to see it once it looks a little more like a baby. :)

Speaking of food controlling nausea…I can already tell this baby takes after Taylor in at least one area - Taylor LOVES bread. And since I've been pregnant, bread and carbs were the things that helped the most to keep the nausea down. Pre-pregnant Lyndee only ate very limited amounts of bread in an effort to be healthy and watch her figure. Pregnant Lyndee has relaxed that rule considerably. ;) Although now that I'm feeling better, I'm going to have to start putting those rules back in place.
But at this point this baby also takes after me at least a little because it is definitely not a night owl. Most nights by the time I finish making supper and doing dishes, I'm usually ready to shower and go to sleep. The other night we went out to dinner with some friends and didn't go to bed until after 11 p.m. The next day I had to have an hour nap and it felt like it took me two days to recover.
Simply writing this blog post has taken me over a week because any evening I would sit down to work on it, after about 10 minutes I'd pass out. :)

One thing I didn't know about pregnancy was how much you dream (or at least remember your dreams). Nearly every night I have woken up from at least one crazy dream. One that stuck with me more than any of the others was a dream where me and my little sister were young again, but in my dream, instead of being best friends like we always have been, I truly disliked her and was mean to her. The next day I talked to her on the phone and had to apologize because of how much I disliked the feelings I'd had for her in the dream.

Western Kansas Fact: (actually this is more of just a cattleman's wife fact) Any experience you have while pregnant will be compared to that of a pregnant cow. Taylor and I both frequently refer to me as a "heifer" (a young, first-time-pregnant cow). We just laugh about it - it's the thing we are most familiar with that we can compare our pregnancy to, and I'm sure as time goes on and I get bigger, the comparisons will only increase. :)

A Scripture lesson I liked that I had read recently was Isaiah 38:17.  You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 
This Scripture reminded me that I will never have to stand before God in judgement. My sins have already been judged and the punishment for those sins was taken by Christ. I am free of sin in God's eyes because I have accepted Christ as my Savior. I pray I can live well for Him to honor His sacrifice and bring Him glory.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Roshel's Dream Come True

Sorry for the long delay between posts…milo harvest drug on forever and the holidays had me pretty busy; then we were getting ready to take a family vacation to Hawaii so I figured I might as well wait until after that to do a blog.

Our trip was amazing - we spent 5 days in Maui and 5 in Kauai. We did a bike ride down a mountain, went whale watching, snorkeling, drove the Road to Hana, did a dune buggy trail trip, took a helicopter tour, not to mention ate a hefty amount of amazing food and spent time relaxing on the beach in the sun. 

But out of all those awesome things, my favorite day/experience was the very first night we got to Hawaii. 

The day had had a few glitches - our flight was delayed for several hours because of a problem with the plane. They ended up having to change planes before we could leave. Then we found out the new plane was 12 seats short, and we were worried for a while that we wouldn't even get seats to make it to Hawaii when we were supposed to. Thankfully we did get seats, but then there was such a strong headwind that it took over an hour longer than it was supposed to to make the flight. 

Sadly this meant we weren't able to make our dinner reservations we had planned for Stewart and Roshel's anniversary (their 31st wedding anniversary was that day).

Nevertheless, we eventually made it to Maui, but by the time we landed, got our rental vehicles and drove to the resort, we were all feeling pretty tired and hangry :), so we went straight to the restaurant at the hotel. Sitting in paradise with some good food in our bellies made us all feel a lot better.

While we were getting ready to enjoy a nice dessert, Taylor and I pulled out the anniversary card we had brought along to give to Stewart & Roshel.

Inside we had stuck this picture:

I have to say it was pretty awesome to watch them open the card and then just stare for a few seconds trying to comprehend what we were telling them. :)

Even though we were only 7 weeks pregnant at the time, we knew that with more than 10 days of constant family togetherness, there would be no way we could keep the surprise. They would easily figure out I wasn't drinking any alcohol or coffee, and then our chance to surprise them would be gone. So we decided to tell them a little earlier than we otherwise would have. (I'd already had to do a lot of faking over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, and poor Taylor had to drink my share of champagne and wine on top of his. Luckily, for his sake, I'm not a big drinker).

A little bit of history - since about…oh…the day Taylor and I got married, Roshel has constantly joked with us about when we would give her some grandkids. Actually the first year we were married, at the gym Roshel and I go to, our class was supposed to dress up for Halloween. I simply stuck a pillow under my shirt and said I was "Roshel's Dream Come True" (hence the title of this blog - although I'm pretty certain Stewart was just as excited as Roshel).  ;) We were able to video tape their reactions when they opened their card. It was fabulous, but sadly the video file is too big for me to upload.

God willing, if everything goes smoothly, we should have a new little one sometime in the middle of August! Taylor and I are really excited, but I'm pretty sure until we are holding a baby in our arms, it will continue to feel kind of surreal.

For now we would greatly appreciate any prayers for strong and healthy baby growth as well as for God to prepare Taylor and I so we can be good parents and raise our child to know and love the Lord.

Here's some pictures from out trip:

Sunrise bike ride down Mount Haleakala in Maui. Taylor and I first did this on our honeymoon 4 years ago.

Luau in Maui

Helicopter Tour in Kauai 

Whale watching in Maui

Be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18

In the Greek language this particular Scripture meant to be filled continually - not to be filled and then stop. I am guilty of this. I may have an especially meaningful experience where I feel filled with God's Spirit and my faith is renewed, but then I allow life, activities, obligations, etc. to get in the way and keep me from focusing on Him. Each day I want to work harder to make sure I am allowing my Heavenly Father the time and space in my life to fill me continually with His Spirit.

So I guess I could have written a blog sooner, but once we found out we were pregnant, that was all I wanted to write about so I figured I better just wait. :) I'll try to update a little more often from now on.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Lyndee