Sunday Blessings

One of our giant sunflowers planted from seed!

We went to Sunday school and church as a family and then Pa took Justin to get a haircut on his way over to our house.  They pulled a few more things from our garden and then worked on our old cars most of the day.  Take a look at what my beautiful sunflowers did to Heath's potatoes!  It literally engulfed them in their roots.  WOW!

Sharing a bountiful garden meal with Pa.

Saturday with My Family

It was super fun today to have all my boys home.  They worked around the house and garden.  Heath and Andrew did alot of garden harvesting today!  Justin went to help Shayne in the afternoon.  I got to make homemade ice cream, chocolate custard, and fancy chocolate chip cookies.  It was really fun to relax and cook all day and not worry about anything else.

Beautiful, bountiful harvest!

Something is getting to our carrots before us!

 

After I finished up with my fun baking day to music, I followed through on my commitment to Andrew.  He had asked me earlier in the day when I could teach him to ride Penney.  So, we put on our jeans and boots and headed for the corrals. He did a very good job listening to me and I felt like it was a really good bonding moment as we were working together through Penney while a storm was approaching.  It was really fun and I think he enjoyed it too!

First Home Football Game

Justin is #56 on the right end of the black and orange team!

Both boys were involved with tonight's events in Mitchell.  Justin was playing varsity football at home against Bayard and Andrew was playing his saxophone in the high school pep band.  So proud of them both!  Justin did a great job with his tackles tonight.  He was really getting in there and taking them down.  Andrew played all night in the band!

Mitchell Tiger Football

Tonight, I got to be a Football Mom.  So exciting!  It was definitely a humbling experience.  My boss let me off a bit early when I got a late text saying that the football dinner had been moved up.  That was the first awesome thing, then when I arrived at the park in Mitchell, the shelter was absolutely beautiful.  They had put down black and orange table clothes and had two grills going under a tent.  It smelled and felt like fall tonight.  There were two kinds of drinks and beautiful hand decorated Mitchell Tiger paw print black and orange chocolate and vanilla cupcakes on the tables.

Source:
www,geringcitizen.com

The other moms there were so nice and accepting of me.  It was awesome!  Then, before supper we were all gathered together to pray and one of the student-athelete's stood up and asked to take the prayer.  Justin stood by me and held my hand, in front of everyone, as we prayed.  I was so humbled that he wanted to hang out with me as he was telling me story after story.

What a great evening for this wonderful meal.  I hope that I can help out more not only to get involved and meet people, but to be there for Justin to show him how much I love him.

GO TIGERS!

Denver Docs

Last time I went to Denver for my doctors' appointments, it was a disaster.  So, this time, I invited my friend Jennifer ( with BeeHaven Roadside Market).  I drove through some fog to get to her house this morning.  She is from Colorado so she drove which was awesome!  It is so nice to have someone who knows where they are going, especially when I have appointments to make.  We had a nice day chatting and driving.

My first appointment was with my doctor who is really happy with my progress and has released me now at 9 months post-op.  Praises!  The hard part of this appointment was that he told me it would be best if I stuck with the 5K race moving forward.  This struck me hard, really hard, but it is not the end of the world.  I am truly grateful that I found an excellent, caring surgeon.

My next appointment was my therapy with ProAxis.  I had a new therapist today who was awesome and I hope to continue my work with her.  She gave me a new set of exercises and said that I really need to continue my PT.  I need to hit it much harder than I have to strengthen back up my hip/core.  Since I have been swimming and biking, I have not hit the PT as hard.  Time to change that!  Excited to be getting stronger!

After my appointments, it worked out perfectly that we could meet up with Jennifer's daughter at her college in Denver.  We sat out at a table on her beautiful campus watching the clouds roll by.  I think we left at perfect timing because we just missed a huge downpour on our route home.  Everything was soaked, God's timing is perfect!  Thank you for protecting us and getting me home safely to my husband and children!

A New Beginning

The boys were gone all weekend so it was nice that Heath could get them off to school this morning since he no longer works on Monday's!  I went ahead and did my morning swim so that I could have a productive day.  Heath is going to start helping me prioritize my days because I am getting overwhelmed by taking on too much and then not finishing my projects.  I am so thankful for his dedication and patience with me.  This day we set out for me to solely focus on processing all photos:  senior photo shoot, Best of the West, and Eating the Garden.

After my swim, I met Heath at the tire store so that we could get two of our car's flat tires fixed.  All showered and exercised, I was ready for the day.  We did a few errands while we left one vehicle.  When we got back, they hadn't started on the truck, so we just sat on a random trailer and talked for a long time.  It was fun sitting with Heath waiting on our vehicles.  It was like were were dating again.  After waiting for over an hour, we decided that I needed to go ahead and go home to get the Jasper, the cat, since he had a vaccination appointment at 10 am.  Heath had originally planned on it, but I wouldn't have been able to work on photos at the tire shop, so this is how we proceeded.

Once I returned from an easy vet appointment, I worked on photos.  Heath did everything else around the house and in the garden so that I could focus.  He knows I would be totally overwhelmed trying to do all that and my photos.  He is amazing!

www.21stcenturyequipment.net

A big life change decision happened today.  After a weekend of alot of thought, prayer, and discussions with friends and family, I accepted the position at 21st Century Water Tech.  I am not going to lie, this was a very hard decision for me to make.  I had just given this part of my life to God and finally let go.  When I first took the job at TLC, it was a place to recover after surgery and it turned into many friendships, lots of laughs, and happiness.  I am excited to now become a part of the 21st Century family!  :)  Thank you God!

Eating the Garden 2014

We got asked to help Rutherford's with their Eating Through the Garden event at BeeHaven Roadside Market.  I took pictures and Heath came with me and we helped serve the meal together.  A beautiful evening!

Busy, Busy Weekend

Lots of photography this weekend.  For starters, we headed to the 18th Street Farmer's Market this morning around 7 am.  Heath is so wonderful as he helped me load the car.  We were both super excited about this market because we were both introducing new items to our collection.  I find pictures online or people send me ideas, and he makes them happen.  So, he introduced a union of two horseshoe hearts, a beautiful yellow and green flower stake, three small crosses, and a larger horseshoe heart!  Amazing!  I decided to offer some lower priced items at market so I picked out my favorite photographs and made blank greeting cards.  Our new collection did really well today!

Late last night, we stopped by Wayne and Linda's to borrow their awning for the market just in case of rain.  Heath helped me get set up, ran some errands, and then came back to be with me.  This was by far our very best market yet!  Praise our Good Lord!  I had just told Heath last night that we could get him a new bench grinder (to make his horseshoe cleaning easier) if we made enough money to pay for it at market.  Sure enough, we did!  Thank you LORD, to you be the GLORY!

After market, we had a few minutes to unwind and then head to our next even, Best of the West.  My boss, Krystal, is the president of NEXT Young Professionals.  They offer alot of social events to get people to network within our community.  She had asked me to take photos for this event again this year.  We were there for a few hours and then headed home.  It turned out to be a great evening with the rain holding off.

2nd Interview and Scrimmage

I got a returned phone call early this morning from 21st Century wanting me to come in for a second interview.  Not working at TLC until 10 am, I hurried up to get ready and headed to 21st.  The second interview cleared up a few questions they had and they proceeded to offer me the position!  Totally overwhelmed, I thanked them for the opportunity and asked for the weekend to talk it over with my husband and to make a decision.  They agreed with a handshake and a smile.

Tonight, we headed over to Mitchell for Justin's Gatorade Scrimmage.  This is where they play their own team for the kick off to their season.  Our admission to the game is bottled Gatorade for the team.  Oh fall, how great it is!  Football season is underway!

Voicemail

Photo courtesy of Mr. Larry Franke.

I got a voicemail today while I was at TLC from 21st Century.  Very curious all day what it was about, I called him as soon as I finished up work and was headed home.  I got his voicemail.  Monday, he said there were a couple of other people he wanted to interview this week and possibly into next week, so I was surprised to hear back so soon....hmmmm God....where are we headed?  :)

Hebrews 12:5-11

This morning is beautiful as I sit here and read my Bible, the dogs are playing and running around the house like crazy animals.  This is the verse that really it home with me today:

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."

~Hebrews 12:5-11~

Day 1 of Local Route

When I got home from TLC tonight, none of my boys were home yet.  Luckily, I had done a crockpot meal so it could be ready whenever.  As soon as Justin and Andrew rolled in, they asked me if one friend could come over to eat.  The story behind this invite was that this boy's girlfriend had dump him and he  was so upset that he hadn't eaten in days.  Reluctantly, I said yes.  I was so happy we had just finished a conversation about once school starts, friends would not be coming over during the week nights.  This summer was awful for that.  There was somehow always an emergency situation where the boys couldn't call to let us know a mob of kids were coming over...do not get me wrong, I like having kids over because we can provide them with something they do not have at home.  We like to use it as a ministry, listening to the kids and trying to be the positive in their lives.  However, the problem with this summer was that there was not any respect for our family nor theirs.  Honesty, I do not think that the kids' parents had a clue where they were, which is really sad.  There was even one night Heath did not get to eat supper with the rest of us because of our unexpected guest and I had not prepared enough food.  As newly weds, this is extremely hard to swallow.  I thought I was doing well to prepare the crockpot and set the table before heading off to work.  What do you do?  We just moved on with our family prayer and ate what was on the table without a making it into a scene.  I was very hurt for not providing properly, but Heath always humbles me.  He is such a good man!

Long story short, tonight, I gave permission for one friend to come over so we could help him out.  Before too long, I had six teenagers sitting in our living room.  What happened to the one friend?  Well, he was there, so was his ex-girlfriend and then one other boy and girl.  So random?!!!!!  Are you kidding me?  How did this happen?  Justin said that the one boy could come over and then he showed up with all those people AND his ex?!  The boy didn't even want to eat.  Heath was not home yet from his route yet and I was getting worried about him and stressed about all these kids that were in my house.  When he called again, he was ready for me to pick him up in Gering.  He had a flat tire on his semi and needed a ride home.

I left to pick Heath up with all these kids in the living room.  It was a horrible feeling knowing that my husband was coming home from a long day at work and he wasn't even going to be able to relax because I had (somehow) managed to have all these people over.  AHH!!!!

When we got home, I was warming Heath's supper up and one of the girls hollers from the other room, "Kinsey, are you cooking?!"  Really?!  I had already offered the boy with the broken heart food which he politely declined and now his ex-girlfriend had the audacity to ask?  I replied, "Yes, I am making food for my husband.  Do you need something?"  I was hoping that she would get the hint as she was sitting on the couch.  I think she did.

After Heath finished his supper up, way after 9 pm at this point, he was able to politely ask for Justin to ask his friends to leave, it was a school night.  Again, a very nice man.

Crazy Day Off

Handsome young man!  Look at those pretty teeth!

First thing this morning, I called the school to tell them the kids would be late due to a routine orthodontist appointment.  Then, we were off!  I went with the boys to the orthodontist at 8 am.  Andrew had his routine check-up and Justin got his braces off!  Although I 'go' with both of them, Andrew does not allow me to go into the back with him, but Justin does.  So, I just sit at the end of Justin's chair instead of Andrew's, even though Andrew is right next to him.  LOL!  Everybody wins, Andrew is happy I am not with him, Justin could care less, and I am happy to be with both of them, listening to the doctor's orders.  This time, I got to catch up with one of the techs who is also a photographer.  She is super nice and we exchanged information so that we could do a shoot together sometime!

After Andrew was finished, I took him to school and I was heading back to the orthodontist when Justin called and said he was done already!  He was having some aches and pains, so I gave him the information on the chiropractic appointment I had made, which he headed to next.  All in all, he was out of school way less than I thought with all that he got done!

Heath was able to meet Justin at the chiropractor's office because I had to get to an appointment. This was Heath's first Monday off with his new route! He now has the amazing blessing of running the local route for Pepsi instead of the Alliance route. This is so awesome in so many ways, one being a four day a week route! We are both pretty excited about it.

Since garden season ended at TLC, I have been casually looking for a full time job opportunity.  I am absolutely loving the transition at TLC from Garden Center to Marketing, however, I have just been keeping my eyes open for other full time opportunities back in agriculture.  I have applied to Monsanto, UNL Panhandle Research Station, 21st Century, looked into starting up my own chicken processing business, and probably some more I opportunities I cannot even think of right now.  After my last job rejection, I decided to finally let go of the whole 'job thing.'  I finally gave this area of my life over to God and decided I am completely happy doing what I am doing at TLC.  It is fun to work with the girls, we have a happy, upbeat, no drama office, lots of customers, and lots of funny stories of lessons learned from the Spa, Garden Center, and Home Decor parts of the store.

Last Friday, Krystal, my boss and friend, had called me to tell me that there might be a better job opportunity for me at 21st Century.  She told me that this might be a better fit for me than the other positions I had applied for previously.  I have, of course, been very open with them about my job searching.  Shocked, I listened to what she was about to tell me.  Somehow my resume must have come to the top again as a position at Water Technologies had opened up.  I profusely thanked her and told her that she did not have to do that.  What a great person to be able to recommend me for a job when she wants me to stay on with TLC.  I made a phone call and ended up getting a call back from the hiring manager Friday evening to set up an interview for Monday morning.

At 10 am, I went in for an interview at 21st Century Water Technologies.  It went very well as far as I could tell.  The one thing I stressed was that my family is my number one priority.  The position I interviewed for is an 8 am-5 pm, five day-a-week job which is perfect.  I will be home in the mornings to get the boys off and I will be gone the same hours they are gone with school and sports and other extracurricular activities.  How perfect to be in agriculture (40 hours/week is unheard of~usually nights, weekends, harvest, etc.) with an excellent company, right here and not having to relocate?!  We will see what the good Lord has in mind for me next!

After my 10 am, I decided that I might as well stay in town since Heath's doctor's appointment started at 1 pm.  So, I went over to the Splash pool to get my swim workout in.  Being my first day at the new pool (until my Y.M.C.A. pool has been renovated), I was very impressed.  Judy was there at the front desk to greet me and she was super nice!  I actually got to swim outside!  I threw on my suit and some sunscreen and got after it.  I was able to get my whole workout in, a shower, and to Heath's appointment on time!

He was scheduled for a nerve conduction study today.  They stuck him with bunches of needles and used electricity to test different nerves in his arms to confirm that he has carpal tunnel.  Sadly, they recommended surgery on both arms.  He does sleep in a brace that is supposed to help them not get so pinched, but long term fixing would require surgery.  We will have lots to think about and to consider.

I am so glad that I had today off with Heath and was also able to be there for the kids this morning!

Sunday!

We went to church together as a family and had a great rest of the day!

Family Day

Justin had an early football practice and Andrew had to help Gram with some corn this morning and since they were already over there late Friday night, so they just stayed out there.  When they got home on Saturday, we got to all work together around the house with my dad and Heath.  Praises!

*Our High Schoolers*

The boys made me so happy when they let me take this picture this morning!  I know that it is not cool to have your mom take a 'first day of school' picture when you are a teenager, but they agreed!  Thank you boys!  Now, I get to show you off!

Daddy and I got to spend the day together getting tons of stuff done around the house and he took me to pick up my Honda in Mitchell.  A great day all around!

Last Swim

This morning is my last morning before my pool closes down for their annual cleaning.  This year they are going all out and repainting and everything.  It is going to be really nice.  The pool will be closing tomorrow for 8 weeks.  What is really cool about this though is that they let us reciprocate with The Splash pool in Scottsbluff.  They have both an indoor and an outdoor pool.  I haven't had the opportunity to swim laps outdoors since 2012 in vet school.  Speaking of school...the boys have their first day tomorrow already!!!!!!  Wow, how summer flies by!

When I got home from work, my Daddy was already here!  It was such a blessing to be able to have a wonderful dinner with him, Heath, and a couple of girlfriends I graduated with from grad school.  Candice was back for a few days from her long term missions in Mexico and Alissa lives here and teaches Ag in Bridgeport.  Candice is so good at keeping in touch and arranging for all of us to get together.  It was all together a wonderful evening!

God Wink!

WOW God!  How amazing it can be when you are faithful!  This morning, after my early morning workout, I showered and then walked out of the Y.M.C.A. to the river to sit on my bench and read my Bible.  I am still plugging away at reading the Bible.  Our Bible study leader, Pastor Wayne, challenged us to read it in a year.  I am way behind, but I will not give up, so I sat down and finished the chapters I had been working on for quite some time.  It felt good.  I felt like I had really accomplished something.  A quick prayer of thanksgiving and off I go to the next thing in my day.

I needed to turn in my timesheet for the classes I taught up at the college and pay for my photography class coming up before heading to work.  Leave it up to me, as I headed up to the college, I somehow ended up taking the scenic route.  My plan was to be there right at 8 am when I assumed they opened and then head right over to TLC.  But, God had a different plan for me this morning.

I pulled up and decided to let my pickup idle while I quickly went inside.  As I was walking into the building, I stopped at the front desk to talk with Pat.  As we were talking, a lady came walking down the hall with a big load of trash.  She appeared to be on a mission, but got distracted by our conversation.  Pat was just telling me that the photography class was now on Thursday evenings instead of Wednesday evenings.  I told him how happy that made me because I would not have to miss my Bible study.  When she heard both of those topics:  God and photography, she stopped and we got to talking.  She was hungry for the Word and wanted to come to Bible study, so, being Wednesday evening, I invited her!  I do not know how that happened....it just sort of came out and I hadn't even talked with Wayne or Linda yet to invite her to their home.  With her interest, I had her come out to the pickup to exchange information.  It was perfect because my Bible was in my front seat and still easily accessible.  I was able to find her one of Pastor Wayne's business cards with his contact info.  I also gave her a tract that Wayne and Linda had challenged us to give out last week.  And last but not least, I gave her Heath and I's card with our number on it.  With all of this and a nice conversation about God and what he is doing in our lives, I hugged her and left the college on cloud nine!

Photo of our lovely Pastor, Wayne, and his wife, Linda, taken by Mr. Bill Senkel.
This is where all the encouragement began!

I immediately called Wayne and texted Linda to tell them what I had accidentally done without asking. first  We got it all worked out and I was hoping that since she got tied up tonight with classes starting that she would come on Sunday.  "Keep praying for her," said Wayne.  SUCH a God thing!  Thank you Lord for the encouragement!  :)

The rest of the day was just great considering such a great morning with a great w/o (workout), my lady at the college, working with Krystal at TLC, a lovely lunch on the Emporium patio with my good friend Kristin, and then Bible study at Wayne and Linda's house and getting to share about my day and see my husband!!

Freshman Orientation

Today, we dropped off my car in Mitchell to get the timing belt changed and a new water pump put in.  Randy, from Randy's Autobody, is a pretty serious biker and so is his wife.  It was awesome when we walked into his store, he had a small section of his front room full of biking gear and ready-to-eat meals for camping.  I could see his passion for the sport.  It was super fun talking with him about this as biking is now one of my recovery exercises.  It is good for building my leg muscles while staying easy on the hip.  I now have a great resource for information.  I would like for him to show me how to fill my skinny tires with air and help me see if my bikes fit me.

Tonight, we had Andrew's freshman orientation.  It was for both parents and students to introduce them to the expectations of the high school.  His last two years, both his 7th and 8th grade years, were in the high school building, but they were still part of the junior high for sports and activities.  This was an informational meeting and Andrew seems excited to be in high school now.

Big step for mama here, two boys in high school already.  Man, how time flies...LOL!~  :)

And so it begins....

2013 Football Season after a Home Game

The anxiety has been building as we approach the new school year.  We are both praying for an improvement over last year.  We are excited about the sports as tonight we attended an all fall sport meeting at Mitchell High School where they introduced the coaches and told us how to be good fans.  It was an interesting meeting, they talked alot about concussions and sportsmanship.  We have one son in football and one in cross country.  The head injury is more likely in football, but nonetheless, all the kids got the lecture.

2013 Cross Country Meet Father and Son

After Heath and I went to the meeting, I headed for groceries at Walmart and Heath took the boys home and got dinner going.  What a great team we have.  I am a lucky woman!

*S*u*n*F*l*o*W*e*R*S* and Scottish Festival

After the Farmer's Market yesterday, we got a wild hair yesterday and decided to go to the Scottish Festival in Denver with Heath's parents.  Before we left, we stopped in Stegall to see some sunflowers.  We had fun with it!

Happy Man!

Heath picked me a flower!

We stopped in Cheyenne and ate ate Olive Garden, then stayed the night in a hotel last night.  It was fun!  This morning we took a shuttle over to the festivities.  They had bag pipes, athletic Highland games, traditional food, clothing, and Scottish dog breeds.

Great shot of my MAN!