The Real Me

I know it's not great. But it used to be REALLY bad. This week we went to Emily's Jr. High Orchestra concert. I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the quality of the music. It wasn't without error, but it seems like only yesterday when it didn't even really sound like music. But now there is melody, harmony, rhythm and order. In a funny sort of way it gave me hope that some day all the other disciplines, instructions, prayers, hopes, and experiences we invest in these children will produce something beautiful.

Allow me to wander a bit . . . Today ends a week off with virtually no work to be had. I suspect I was getting grumpy, stressed, mean, forgetful, irritable, tired, overwhelmed, scattered, frantic or all of the above because last week Kyle insisted I take this week O-F-F. Hmmm . . . is that self-preservation on his part? Whatever it is I approve. I completely enjoyed not doing anything other than the bare minimum household things. I scrapbooked, played with my camera, made an attempt at starting Taryn's quilt. (All 3 other children have quilts hand made by me. Taryn seems to have fallen through the proverbial "last baby" crack. I am trying to remedy the situation) I started listening to "The Shack" and then gave up because in the amount of time it took the reader to read through 5 chapters I could have had the entire book done. So, I bought the book and finished it. The only productive thing I did was clean out the laundry room which got buried again in the season clothing change-over from the kid's rooms and balanced my checkbook. Isn't that LOVELY. I am thinking I am going to do it all again next week! YEAH!

Here are a few highlights from my last few very very busy weeks:


I facilitated a meeting with our AG District leaders early this month. This was a great meeting, lovely location and very productive. However, the stakes felt really high for me in this meeting. I wanted so badly for it to go well because I respect these men very much, I need to work with them in the future so I wanted it to go PERFECT, and this was the first meeting I had done with the group. So, God was good, the work was good and it went as it should have.

Funny thing. On the way to the meeting, 5 men in my car and a van load of men following us, I hit a pheasant in my windshield. WHAM! They made more fun of me for that! THEN, I ran over a (previously smooshed skunk) which made the car smell. So, they teased about all that and then were worried about the family dog on the way into the drive way!


A friend and I threw a baby shower for a mutual friend from church. It was a lot of fun. Sheesh, I think I'M tired. I think I forget what I felt like when I had infants in the house.

Senior pictures . . .I took a couple of sets of senior pictures. I was quite pleased with them. Practice makes perfect, which is a good thing since I think it takes me about 500 pictures to get 10 good ones!



More pictures . . . I took pictures this week of some good friends of ours, and their tribe. In just over an hour we got some good pictures, which is nothing short of a miracle since there were SIX kids (and mike) to juggle.



Kids and Cowboys is an annual event put on by one family for the local families affected by childhood cancer. There are horse rides, clowns, prizes, dinner and free rodeo tickets. The kids look forward to it every year. When I look at the pictures of our lovely healthy children and contrast it with the bald, weary, sick looking children in the same room I am reminded of God's faithfulness to us through the health of Brittany and all of us. God is good. All the time. How can I possibly tell a family that who's child died recently? How can I tell that to a grandparent who is terrified they will have to comfort their child through the death of their grandbaby? How can I tell a caregiver who suffers through the horrific journey of childhood cancer? I can only hope I live and represent it well. A banquet room filled with families affected by childhood cancer. It hardly seems fair.




Something I will never understand. Yes. That is a child strapped to a charging farm animal (sheep) to see how far they can go. It's called "mutton busting". This is a competition that happens every year at the rodeo. I don't understand the parent who thinks it's a good idea. I also don't understand the child who thinks it looks like fun! Oh. Wait. Taryn said she wants to do it next year. Shocker.

On the list of things I never thought I would see . . .or care to. TRAINED BUFFALO. This one-armed cowboy/entertainer brought out two HUGE buffalo and called to them until they VOLUNTARILY jumped up on the bed of this truck and climbed onto the top of the horse trailer. SERIOUSLY! And then he followed them. What an odd thing.

But once again, as I do every year, I sat back in awe as I watched and listened to unabashed speaking and singing about Patriotism and about God. In a society that is laced with people who think others should never have conservative views and values I am always shocked to see this at the rodeo. It's my favorite part.


There's more details about what I've been up to, but for tonight I'll stop there and go to bed. With visions of mutton dancing in my head.

Ok - I know I am a pitiful blogger but I have been dreadfully busy. I am looking forward to time off next week! YEAH! In the meantime, I just had to share this video from our friend Mike. Good for a laugh or two or three.

There was this really cute guy in government class in high school named Rob. Other than that I remember very little. This would explain why I found this video both fascinating AND helpful. In the spirit of our upcoming election you might enjoy this also.

Michael, Darryl and I went out shooting tonight and here are my favorites!

And they're off!

7th Grade, 5th Grade, 3rd Grade and 1st Grade




Did I say SEVENTH grade?