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

A smack to the back of the head

On the whole, I would say that I do not encourage violence.  (My little sister, Annie, may disagree.  When we were young, I used to tell her that if she hit me, I would hit her back twice as hard) :)  However, sometimes I feel there are certain people who need to have some sense knocked into them.
Today was one of those times...

This weekend in Garden City there was a home and garden show, so Taylor and I decided to go over and look around and then run a few errands and catch a matinee movie. With today being kind of snowy and cold, it was a perfect way to spend the day.

After going through the home and garden show, Taylor and I stopped to eat some lunch.  Not long after we sat down, a mom and her daughter came in to the restaurant. The girl was probably around 14.  The mom sat with her back to me but I could see the girl, and I noticed that she was constantly texting/checking her phone. A few minutes later the dad came in and joined them.  If someone were to only steal a single, quick glance at all three of them sitting together, they would see a family at a table with their heads bowed.  It would be easy to assume they were praying. But a one extra glance would prove that assumption to be false.  Every single one of them, from the time each sat down, was looking at their phones...THE WHOLE TIME.  During the entire time Taylor and I ate, I bet they didn't say five words to each other.  Heck, I wouldn't even have to use all the fingers on one hand to count the number of times they looked at each other. It was the worst display of family-togetherness I have ever seen.  I was appalled.  Part of me wanted to walk up to their table and smack them all across the back of the head and point out the valuable, precious moments they were squandering.
I told Taylor that it is amazing to me how we claim technology and social medias allow us to stay connected - but connected to whom?  To a random person we barely know who took time to "like" our status/picture rather than to the people sitting across from us - the people who should be the most important part of our lives?
Don't get me wrong, I think Facebook and technology are great, but only when they are used responsibly. Even I need to work on that occasionally.  But as a nation and a culture, I find it remarkably sad how messed up our priorities have become.

I will say at least their idiocy provided Taylor and I a great opportunity to talk about how we want to interact as a family and stipulations we want to have on phone usage during family time.  There's always a positive side. :)  I guess since hitting complete strangers would be frowned upon, I'll say a prayer for them.

All in all it was a wonderful, relaxing day, and I was glad to get to spend it with my best friend. :)

Western Kansas Fact:  During winter storms, the power lines out here jump around like four-year-olds on a trampoline.  Maybe I've just never paid attention before moving out here, but anytime we've had snowy/icy/windy weather, the power lines get to swinging and bouncing dramatically.  This morning, as the mist froze to the lines, they were really moving.

You should be a light for other people.  Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
This scripture stuck out for me while I was writing this blog because I as I thought about the family at the restaurant, I was reminded that others constantly see our actions.  I need to make sure I'm not just living my life to please myself, but to please God.  As long as I am living for Him, no matter what I do and no matter who sees my life, I'll be able to be proud of my actions.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend, and be sure to enjoy your loved ones!
Lyndee

Assumptions and Adoptions

As humans, I'm not sure why we assume things.  Normally it just leads us to make fools of ourselves, and yet we continue to do it.  This weekend some small assumptions got the better of Taylor and me, and it reminded me that communication, even about the little, mundane things, helps build better relationships.
On Saturday morning Taylor asked me what I had planned for the day.  I listed off some of the things I wanted to get accomplished - cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the calf pens, sweeping floors, etc.
 - I should interject here that, normally, I think Taylor knows me better than I know myself.  One thing he understands about me is, sometimes, if I don't feel like I've accomplished very much in a day, my attitude can suffer a little (this is something I need to work on). Anyway -
Taylor assumed that accomplishing these tasks would be my first priority. However my assumptions were that I would help Taylor check our cows and go with him when he went through them to decide the best ways to sort them for the sale next weekend.  Then, in any down time I planned to work on my list of cleaning.
Long story, short, Taylor went to check the cows without me while I was cleaning the bathroom.  He assumed I didn't want to go, and I assumed he'd stop by the house before he went so I could go with him. In the end we both just ended up missing an opportunity to spend time together. So my newest personal-improvement goal is to quit making assumptions.

We got some exciting news on Friday.  After interviewing several people for the past couple weeks, the feedyard finally filled the accounting assistant job. Roshel has been doing this job while they were looking for the right person to hire, and I've been going in every morning to help her as well.  So I'm pretty sure out of anybody, Roshel and I are the most excited.

In between working at the feedyard, writing and taking care of cattle, I've started training again for the half marathon in Nashville at the end of April.  Roshel and I and several friends are all going together.  So far the training is going well, but I definitely had to talk myself into running 6 miles today.  It has been really windy.  I hate the wind, but I told myself that it would just make all the other runs seem a lot easier. It also helps to know that my friend Sarah is on the same training schedule and that she would be running today as well.  It helps keep me accountable.  By the time I got halfway done, I was feeling pretty good and enjoying myself.  I'm glad I didn't allow my negative thoughts to limit me and keep me from accomplishing something I could be proud of.

Last week my little sister, Annie, turned 21, so Annie, me, Katie, and our friend Julie decided to have a girls' night.  I went up and met them all in Manhattan for a night on the town. We spent the rest of the weekend at Mom and Dad's and had friends over for a card party on Saturday night. Love spending time with my family.

Found myself giving horsey rides while at Mom and Dad's.  Mom's floor is really hard  -  or my knees are old already. :)

I like getting mail, especially cards, notes, coupons from Victoria Secret, etc. If only I could get more of that mail and less bills... :) Anyway, I was really excited about one letter I got in the mail the other day.  It was from Albania!  At Christmas, on my wish list I asked for money to "adopt" a World Vision child.  Basically you pay a small amount every month to help give a child a better life.  I adopted a four-year-old boy named Gerald from Albania.  (There are so many kids to choose from, I had no idea how I could pick one.  I remember staring at the computer, asking God to help me.  Then I saw a picture of this little boy who reminded me of my nephew...God hears even the smallest prayers.)  :)  I got my first letter from him and his family. I learned about their family and that Gerald is in Kindergarten and loves to play with toy cars.  It was a great reminder that we should worry less about having things, and more about helping others.

Western Kansas Fact: Fog seems to have a weird effect on sparrows out here. One night after getting some snow, tons of little sparrows lined the road.  Then when we drove by, instead of flying away or up over vehicles like they normally do, the birds flew low to the ground right in front of oncoming traffic.  Many met an untimely end.  I don't know if they get confused about which way is up, or if they're just depressed by the fog and decide to commit suicide.

This scripture and lesson meant a lot to me, especially as Easter draws near.
Who is more important: the one sitting at the table or the one serving?  You think the one at the table is more important, but I am like a servant among you. Luke 22:27
The lesson that went with this scripture told me that hours before Christ was to die, He wasn't concerned about Himself.  He was concerned with proving His love to His disciples - to us.  The Lord, Almighty, got down on His knees and washed the dirt off their feet to show that His love serves us, even despite our sins.

Have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Guns 'n Roses

Although it may be safe to say that I most likely was not Annie Oakley in a former life, maybe I could have been her second cousin or something.  Today after church Taylor and I drove to Garden City and met up with a couple of our friends, Jeremy and Carole, before driving out to a shooting range.  I've only shot a gun a few times (although as a 10 year old I could take out a pyramid of pop cans with our BB gun like no other), but I think I did fairly well.  We started off shooting pistols.  I pretty much hit where I aimed.  Mostly I was just glad to see that if I needed to defend myself, I should at least be able to do so.
At one point while I was shooting, I asked Taylor what I should aim for that time - the target's head or chest.  Carole chimed in and said I should aim for a more... sensitive area.  We'll just say by the time I was done, the target was thoroughly de-manned. :)
It was a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Yesterday I spent the morning cleaning the house, but right after lunch we had to take a heifer that was calving into the vet.  She was having problems, and the vet ended up doing a C-section. That was the first time I'd ever seen one done, and it was pretty interesting to watch. Thankfully he saved both the heifer and the calf, and they are doing well.  That same day we had three other heifers calve, but they were able to get the job done on their own.

On Wednesday our Lenten period of no TV began.  I'll admit the first night seemed a little weird.  A lot of times I turn the TV on just because I like the background noise while I'm cooking, so it was pretty quiet around the house.  At first I questioned the wise-ness of our decision to give up TV.  Without any other distractions Taylor thought picking on his wife might be a good alternative form of entertainment. :)  Admittedly we do like to tease each other, so it wasn't so far out of the ordinary. :) I am a little interested to see what types of conversations we end up having before Easter.  The first night during/after supper we had a fairly long discussion about the brussel sprouts I had fixed.  Taylor was afraid they might cause undesired effects on a person's digestive system. :)  I think we're going to have to find some better conversation topics, but at least there's never a dull moment!

For the rest of the week, not having TV was pretty easy.  Thursday was busy with Valentine's Day. Taylor and I decided we would stay home and cook a nice meal together.  And I'm pretty sure the meal we made would have easily beaten any we could have got at a restaurant nearby.  We had ribeyes that had marinated all afternoon with bernaise sauce, lobster bisque, bacon wrapped asparagus, puffs, chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne. It was pretty amazing!

Our beautiful center arrangement was the roses my sweet husband had delivered to me at the feedyard while I was working earlier that day.

 We went out to eat with Taylor's parents, Carole and Jeremy, and some other friends on Friday.  Saturday evening we relaxed around the house, and today we were gone to the shooting range.  I think it will only get easier from here, but I am excited for Daylight Savings in March.  It will be nice when we can spend more time outside during the evening. I can't wait to get into my garden!

Western Kansas Fact: Water will probably be the biggest issue for this area within the next 20 years. It doesn't rain enough out here to truly support all the farming (especially the corn crops), feedyards, people, etc.  The only way it works is because of the huge water reserve underground, the Ogallala Aquifer, that supports the crop irrigation and other water uses.  However a lot of the aquifer has been used up, so preserving the water base and allocating water use will someday soon have a great effect on every person in the area.

As spring gets closer, one scripture that spoke to me has been:  People harvest only what they plant.  Galatians 6:7

This scripture lesson reminded me that if I want a life of joy and happiness, peace and contentment, then every day I need to be planting seeds of hope, optimism, and patience.  But if I allow myself to be negative, irritable and impatient, my life will reflect it.  Planting is something that is done consciously, so even if I don't have the best attitude or outlook one particular day, I can still make an effort to plant good seeds in my life and the life of others, and one day I will reap the benefits from it.

Have a great week!
Lyndee

Joy Even in Sadness

Plans change. I don't always accept it well, but that's the fact of the matter. I'm not an impulsive person, and frequently I need time just to think over those changes so I can adjust.  More than once I've had to remind myself that I can still have a great day even if I'm not able to do everything on my "to-do" list because we had to change our plans for the day.
But there are occasions when it's pretty easy to accept change.  When Mom called me earlier this weekend and told me Grandpa wasn't doing very well, I made plans to come back early next weekend.  I figured I would drive up Thursday and spend the day with her and Grandpa and stay for the rest of the weekend.  But when she called me to say that she didn't think Grandpa would last til next weekend, I quickly and easily changed my plans.  So I left early yesterday morning and drove back to Holton.  My mom and her sisters were all already there as well as my sisters. I walked into Grandpa's room at the nursing home at 2:00 p.m. and around 2:20 p.m., he left this world. I was glad I got to tell him goodbye.

You know, I can't even be sad that Grandpa is gone because ever since Grandma died 6 years ago, he didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to be with her, and now he is. I know he's happy now. Mom and her sisters said they could just imagine him and Grandma dancing together in heaven - they loved to dance together. I'm a little jealous, too because Grandpa is getting to eat some of Grandma's amazing cooking again.  She was a fabulous cook.

So that all the family can make it in, we're waiting until Saturday for the funeral.  I went ahead and drove back home today and Taylor and I will go back together next Friday.

Donald Whitesell - Feb. 3, 2013.  We will miss you.

During hard times, it becomes so very clear how blessed our family is.  Before the night was over we already had three families come by to bring food, offer their condolences and tell us that if we needed anything, all we needed to do was ask.

Not to mention the four little kids in our family can help bring joy to any situation. Kolden is ornery, but he cracks me up all the time.  After coming back from the nursing home, Mom, Katie, Annie and I were going to take a short walk up in the pasture.  Kolden was going to stay and help Dad feed the bucket calf.  We had just started walking up the path, when I heard some very heavy breathing behind us.  We turned around to see Kolden running as hard as his little four-year-old legs could carry him, sounding like a winded rhinoceros. As soon as we stop, he said, "I was trying to catch up to you, but you were going so fast!"  When we asked Kolden if he told Grandpa where he was going, he paused to think as if the thought had never occurred to him.  We called Dad to let him know he didn't have to worry in case he was wondering where his grandson went.  Then for half the walk Kolden rode piggy back on me, hollering "giddy-up" and telling me that horses don't talk, whenever I started to say something.
Just seeing Rowan can melt your heart.  That night she had these adorable little pig tails in, and later that evening when I put in "Brave" for them to watch, she wanted me to hold her because she was scared of "that mean bear."  We ended up snuggling on the couch as we watched it.  Kallan joined us, too, and we all curled up under a blanket together.  Dawson is growing so quickly, but having a little, warm baby curl up by your neck can make any day better.

I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure you'd be hard pressed to find a cuter little girl with pigtails.

At home, I now have three little babies of my own - baby calves.  Cookie, Milo and Sweet (If you've seen the Disney movie Atlantis, you'll know where I got my names.)  These some of the nicest little calves I've had in a while.  I keep telling Taylor we need to build a small barn with pens so when they get bigger I can move them to larger pens and continue to keep them and wean them. :)

Western Kansas Fact: Even if it's different than where you grew up, Western Kansas can easily become your home. (Although as long as I am with Taylor, I could probably feel at home anywhere.)

A scripture that spoke to me recently was:
The Lord is close to everyone who prays to him, to all who truly pray to him. Psalm 145:18

God reminded me several days ago that He doesn't expect us to be perfect before He'll answer our prayers.  We had a heifer that had trouble calving not too long ago, so we had to rope her and load her onto a trailer to take her to the vet.  It took a while to get her, and the whole time I was praying that God would somehow help the calf survive until we could get it out.  But at the same time, I kept thinking that we should have come out sooner to check on the heifers then maybe we could have caught her more quickly and had  a better chance of saving the calf.  Honestly by the time we got the heifer to the vet, I was all but certain the calf would be dead.  But God doesn't expect us to be perfect.  He just wants us to come to Him earnestly and pray to Him, inviting Him into our lives.  He answered our prayers, and we pulled a live calf.  Now they are both back out in the pasture and doing well.



Find joy in everything.
Lyndee