Celebrate…

I’ve missed the last several Wednesday’s due to traveling and a bout with the stomach flu, but wanted to share some thoughts this weekend. I guess we can pretend that it’s Wednesday 😉

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Inspiration this week comes from Jesus’ words found in the Gospel of Mark 10: 6-9

“But God made them male and female from the beginning of creation. This explains why a man leaves his father and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”

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I met my favorite farmer when I was 18. I’d been at Dartmouth College about six weeks when our paths crossed, and I knew when I saw him that he was the one that God intended for me to spend my life with. That was 29 years ago. We began our life together in New Hampshire, but moved to the farm in Nebraska about a year after we were married. The “city girl from Florida” didn’t really know what to expect from farm life, but God did and He placed me well 😊

I believe that Matt and I have tended to each other over the years. We’ve had our share of hard times and made mistakes that resulted in wrong turns. But, we’ve loved each other through all of those moments with the loyalty and perseverance that comes from our Heavenly Father. That has been the foundation of our family, our farm, and our ability to serve all those whom Jesus brings into our lives. For a long time, I simply lived. Today, I am better able to sit back and celebrate all of the Holy Moments that God has used us to create.

Celebrating isn’t something that comes naturally to me. Honestly, I’d rather put in the work than celebrate the results. I guess that’s just the way that God made me. But, Matt steadfastly continues to teach me that taking a moment to honor and commemorate is important. So, we started talking about taking a 25th anniversary trip. We were married in June of 1996, in the middle of hay season on the farm… So, like good farmers, we went back to work two days after our wedding and took our honeymoon over the coming winter 😊 It seemed fitting to place our trip 25 years after that instead of our actual wedding date.

I was raised on the beach, with sand in between my toes and the sound of the ocean waves calming my heart. I don’t get to experience that much on the farm in Nebraska, so we left the prairie to spend a view days in the tropics of the Virgin Islands. It was a wonderful trip and God blessed us as we celebrated ❤️

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The sunrise off Point Udall, Caribbean Sea.

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And, today I am thankful for the ability to celebrate and for the God that brings us together to do life.

Someone With Whom To Share…

Wednesday Wisdom 🙂

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Inspiration this week comes from Paul’s letter to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.”

My favorite farmer and I celebrated our 24^th wedding anniversary on Monday. I met Matt when I was eighteen and a freshman in college. My mom’s parting words when she put me on an airplane to go to school were, “Anne, stay away from the older boys.” It took about two months at Dartmouth College for our paths to cross on Halloween night, and we went on our first date the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I knew when I met Matt that he was the one. My friends teased me and my dad kept reminding me that I was too young to commit, but my heart had clear discernment and I have always been stubborn. We got engaged on my 20^th birthday and were married not long after I turned 21. I had no idea what life would bring, but I knew who I was meant to share it with.

24 years later, I better appreciate the blessing of our partnership. We’ve experienced the joy of family with our girls, the heartache of loss, and enough health challenges that we remember that each day is a gift. It’s not been easy, but it’s been a beautiful and honorable journey. One that would not be complete without the togetherness that we intentionally choose to share each day.

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I think that the Bible very clearly calls us to live in community. God did not create us to live in isolation, He created us to share. While we are asked to share with many, there is a special type of sharing that comes with being husband and wife. Sharing is not just a “perk”, rather it is a vital part of finding stability amidst the roller coaster of life. I’ve learned to appreciate many things in the 24 years that Matt and I have been married, but I think this is the gift that I treasure the most.

Having someone with whom to share life enables the joy to be greater and the challenges to be surmountable. It is one way that God comforts us no matter the circumstances that we must walk through.

Even though I am an introvert, being alone frightens me. The love that Matt and I share helps to fuel me. I know that no matter what happens, he will walk through it with me – holding my hand – and caring for my heart. Quite honestly, Matt is my little bit of Jesus on earth. God’s good like that. He places a bit of himself in everyone with the goal that He can be shared and become a reality for all.

One of my very favorite verses is Hebrews 11:1 – “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” I can’t literally see Jesus while I live on earth, but I can see Him through others and (as a result) know with certainty that He is there. Matt enables that for me. I believe that part of his mission – his calling – is to share God’s love, comfort, courage and grace with me. I know in my heart that God intentionally created Matt to love me and to share life with me, and through that connection I am able to better see the reality of God’s love for me 🙂

Today, I am thankful to have someone with whom to share…

 

Faithful in the little things…

Wednesday Wisdom 🙂

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Inspiration for this week’s Wednesday Wisdom comes from the Gospel of Luke:

“If you are faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones.”

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On Friday, my favorite farmer and I will celebrate 22 years of marriage. I was twenty one years old when we said “I do”. My parents considered that to be too young an age to marry, but Matt and I held firm in our devotion to each other. We officially began our life journey together on June 15, 1996. On the day of our wedding, I looked up at him with all of my love shining in my eyes.

22 years later, my eyes shine even brighter.

Our family has grown to include three beautiful daughters and recently God called us to welcome a young man into our family as a son. The journey has not always been easy, but our love grounds us in faithfulness.

Matt and I still hold hands. Despite his mother’s concern, my forehead has not developed a callous from the multitude of kisses that he has placed there over the past two decades 😉 We often “embarrass” our children with our affection. I’ve learned a lot of things over the past 22 years, but perhaps the most important is how much joy there is to be found in sharing a life together.

If you are faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones.

I often think about the most important “life lessons” that I want my children to learn. Most of them can be found wrapped up in this short bible verse.

1. Devotion is fueled by faithfulness.
2. Love requires both discipline and commitment.
3. Hope and hard work create meaningful relationships.
4. Partnerships thrive in an unselfish environment.
5. Integrity brings honor.
6. Purpose gives life meaning.
7. Passion flows from a faithful heart.
8. Companionship brings peace.
9. Trust allows for a leap of faith.
10. Grace holds it all together.

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Matt is my greatest blessing. I honor that precious gift from God as I honor the love that we share. Together we bring purpose to God’s mission as we reach out to share our love with others on the journey.

My grandparents celebrated more than 70 years of marriage together before God called them home. When I think of one word to describe them, it is devoted – to God, to each other, and to their family. Matt and I laugh that “when we grow up, we want to be like my beloved Grannie and Dedaw”. We have a few more years to go, but I know in my heart that we are on the right track 🙂

Good Idea! Poor Execution…

My favorite farmer and I played racquetball on Saturday morning. Temperatures were hovering around zero outside, so we headed for the indoor court after I got farm chores finished.  We both enjoy athletics as well as doing things together, so it’s a good fit on a cold day.

I’ve loved Matt since I was eighteen and we’ve been married more than half of my life. One of our strengths as a couple is our dedication to the concept of team. We both place a priority on the realization that together we are stronger, just as we also acknowledge that the key to this is using our blend of strengths and weaknesses to continuously work to make the team better.

Matt is, hands down, a better racquetball player than I am. He’s bigger – He’s stronger –He’s faster. In fact, he’s also ambidextrous so he doesn’t have a “weak side”. Playing the game could be frustrating for me with him acing the serve and never giving me the ability to participate; but that isn’t the case because of our unwritten rule of always working to build the team.

As we play racquetball, I have lots of good ideas with poor execution. I’d never played the sport before I met Matt, and our games are pretty infrequent with the responsibilities of family and farm chores. I know enough that I can envision what I need to do, but my body doesn’t always move with the precision needed to make the play. However, each time that we play, I get better. This happens for two reasons:

1. I bring a positive and passionate attitude to the games.
2. Matt holds strong to the goal of helping the team to get stronger.

There is a reason that there is no “I” in TEAM. The lack of “I” keeps the team going with universal hope for the future.

Life is full of times when we work to build different skills. It is also full of moments when a fresh set of eyes allows for the development of good ideas. I believe that the secret to success is in the team mentality.  It creates a culture which nurtures the teammates. New ideas are created and embraced, and a level of support exists to inspire the work needed to improve execution.

• It takes good ideas to inspire continuous improvement.
• It takes practice to develop good execution.

Common acceptance of the goal, good communication, an underlying level of respect, and a dedication to finding group success makes each individual teammate stronger just as it builds the team. The score board said that I lost all three racquetball games, but I had moments of success and lots of improvement over the two hour period. Matt broke a sweat and I only lost the last game by two points. We finished with smiles on our faces – looking forward to the next time.

Sometimes, that’s the biggest victory of all 🙂

How do you build the concept of “team” in your life?

Celebrating 21 years…

Today my favorite farmer and I celebrate 21 years of marriage. I’d like to deny that I am old enough to celebrate such a milestone, but when I look at my daughters it’s pretty difficult to dispute the facts 😉

Matt and I met at Dartmouth College the fall of 1993 and said “I do” in June of 1996. We spent a year on the East Coast before making the decision to move back to the family farm in Nebraska the summer of 1997. I often claim that the three girls in the above picture are my greatest blessing, but likely a better statement is that the family that we all make together is our greatest blessing.

At age 21, I had no idea what the future would bring the day that Matt slipped the ring on my finger; but I recognized that honoring the gift of our love would provide the basis of the life that we would build together. I tell my girls that the road to excellence isn’t meant to be comfortable. Rather, excellence is about reaching above and beyond your capabilities in order to accomplish far more than your dreams. That statement provides a perfect description of our marriage.

• The road is often bumpy.
• The bumps can make it uncomfortable at times; but there is joy to be found in the journey of togetherness.

Matt has taught me that no matter what you can accomplish alone, accomplishing things together is what makes life meaningful. Being a team creates the needed strength to turn uncomfortable into joyful success. We are devoted to each other — finding strength in the togetherness that transforms the wedding day into a life-long partnership. We work hard for each other, always striving to honor the gift of our love.

Today I count my blessings as I look back with pride on the last 21 years, while also looking forward to next 21 🙂

 

 

 

 

15 Years and Counting..It just felt right.

As I look back at my life, I am always amazed at how the pieces came together and unfolded…  It is almost as if my life has been a series of well timed building blocks that stacked one upon the other.

If I had not had scoliosis, would I have become a nationally ranked swimmer?

If I had not become a nationally ranked swimmer, would I have been accepted to matriculate at Dartmouth College?

If I had not attended Dartmouth, would I have ever met my “farm boy” from Nebraska?

If I had not ever met my farm both from Nebraska, what path would my life have taken?

He's been my soul mate for more than half of my life...

Without him, I most certainly would NOT have had the opportunity to manage a cattle feed yard in Central Nebraska!

I am nostalgic today because last week I wrote an essay on how Matt and I met and our subsequent love story.  Matt’s and my story will be included in a book entitled So… How Did You Meet Anyway? by Susan Amestoy.  Susan found me via “Feed Yard Foodie”, and asked me to contribute Matt’s and my story to her collection.  My essay is featuring on her blog site this week, and can be found at:

http://wwwsohowdidyoumeet.blogspot.com/2011/09/it-just-feels-right.html

The essay is entitled “It Just Felt Right” and it is the September 10th post on her blog site.  It warmed my heart to write the essay and hopefully it will warm yours to read it!  Happy Monday!

Fifteen years and counting…an unusual anniversary gift.

June 15, 1996

On June 15, 1996 I awoke in my bed in South Florida and headed to the beach for a run.  It was my wedding day, and since I never had been one to spend a lot of time with hair and makeup it seemed like a good way to start the day.  I was young, I was in love, and I was excited to build a life with my soon to be husband.

On June 15, 2011 I awoke in my bed in Cozad Nebraska and made the short drive to the feedyard to “read bunks” at 6:00am.  The day came in the middle of a very challenging week for me as my cowboy was on vacation and my foreman was away from work due to back problems.  With only four of us at the feedyard, it is pretty tough when half of the crew is gone.

A "horseback" view while riding pens...

It had rained the night before, so I needed to scoop some excess water out of a few of the feedbunks that did not drain properly.  I also needed to get the feedtruck running, ride pens checking cattle, and rush back to town to coach swim team over the noon hour.  My afternoon was packed full as well because we were shipping cattle to harvest.  It was pretty obvious to me that I needed a little bit of extra help.  So what did I do?

An unusual, but much needed anniversary gift...

I called my husband, Matt.  He knew that I was exhausted and had told me the night before that he would do anything that he could to help me out.  Ten minutes later, armed with a scoop shovel, Matt showed up at the feedyard (by the way, its only 6:20am).  It took him about 45 minutes of scooping to get my feedbunks cleared out. As soon as he was finished he headed off to the fields to begin his “regular” day as a farmer.

I had checked about 10 pens of cattle before I remembered that it was our anniversary…

Well, at least he had not remembered either!

As I finished riding pens and checking cattle, I thought about how blessed I was to have Matt.  I thought about how proud I was of the life and the family that we had built together over the last 15 years.  I thought about how appropriate it was that Matt’s 15 year wedding anniversary gift to me had been rolling up his sleeves and running a scoop shovel.

Matt is my partner in every sense of the word—he is my rock that I can always count on—he is my sunshine—he is my best friend.  The last fifteen years have been an incredibly journey for me, and Matt is at the center of that journey.  We have been enormously blessed, and we have also been incredibly challenged.  Through it all, we have always been together, moving forward as a team, and giving our best.

I got home to find that our three daughters had made us a chocolate cake to celebrate our anniversary as well as gotten us flowers to decorate our dinner table.  With tears in my eyes, I

My thoughtful daughters who make me so proud.

knew that life didn’t get any better than that.

The flowers that the girls got for us...