You Capture~I Ate That

We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving this year. Stayed home and cooked a small turkey. The boys, all of them, played legos all day. Very relaxing day!







Legos!!






Even the bug kid got into it!

Unconditional

So today I had to make one of the hardest decisions in my life...to decide whether or not I want to continue my relationship with my mom. It should be an easy and simple decision but it is not. It should be a no brainer but it is not. It should be unconditional...it is, on one side. I love my mom deeply but cannot continue to live and interact with her the way that we do. It's not healthy for anyone.

There are so many stories I could tell about my childhood that would make you squirm but I chose not to tell them because they are in the past. I cannot change what happened but I can move forward in my life and make a choice to move past all of the bad that happened. there was good in those years but more bad than good. I am not one for rehashing the bad.

I had a couple of options, I could bring up all of the bad and confront her and watch her deny everything that happened and watch her walk out of my life forever or I could say nothing and chose to walk away on my own without causing her pain. I am not a confrontational person and so I chose the leaser of two evils. I chose to walk away...for now. Who knows what the future will hold for us. It's not the first time but it is the first time I feel peace with walking away.

Choices

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I know so many people that are going trough different things in their lives right now, some good and some bad. I think all the time about the choices made to get to those places. If we chose one way, X will happen, if we chose the other, Y will happen. Sometimes the choices made are not even ones that we made ourselves but once that was made by another and it too does effect us.

I stress the importance of choice to my children daily. If they are having a bad day we talk about having the choice to continue to have a bad day or chose to turn it around and move on. This works well for children so why not adults? I have seen so many people in my life that have made choices that I never imagined they would make. I see what it has cost them. I have also seen the up side to this and am privy to the up side of choice.

A few years ago if you told me I would be where I am today I would have laughed at you. I never would have believed that someone could love me enough and the way I needed to be loved. I have found a love that for a long time never knew existed in life. It has taken a long time to get to where I am today but I am where I am today because of a choice. I chose for God to be in my life and to serve Him with all that I am. I chose to be there for a friend when they needed someone. I chose to be a part of something bigger. What choice will you make today in your life?

South Campus Project

Where did the year go? Seems like winter was just hear and we couldn't wait for spring!

Exciting things have been happening are are about to happen. last July we broke ground on our new church building. Here are some shots from the beginning to where we are today.

Digging the hole


Back wall going up


Trusses up


Outer shell done


Framing






Up with the insulation


Drywalling




Painting






There has been more done since the last photo was taken I just haven't had a chance to upload new pictures yet. Stay tuned!!!

You Capture Challenge:Flowers

Corrina's Wedding


Pioneer Park Sunflowers

My Farmers

The boys have been gone now for almost 2 weeks. Do I miss them, yes. Would I do this again, in a heartbeat! They are having so much fun! They have been fixing fence, training animals, and tomorrow night they get to go the county fair and ride all the rides they want! Christopher has even gotten to drive! omgosh! He says, "mom it's soooo easy!" Uh oh!!!

Here is Elliott, Kenna, and Lily taking a break before they cleaned out the truck!


Here is Christopher and Peyton...Peyton was holding the barb wire while Christoper dug!




All in all I think it has been a great experience for them and I think we will be doing it again next summer!

Summer Update

So we are now 4 weeks out from the start of the next school year...four weeeks people!! Man that went fast.

The boys have stayed pretty busy this summer. 4 weeks of sports camp will do taht to them. Christopher sprained his ankle in the 3rd week of camp and got this ohmygoshcanapersonreallyvomitthatmuch flu that lasted for 5 solid days. he is still recovering form that whole experience.

I am getting ready to send them off to my good friends out in western Nebraska for the next couple week, 17 days to be precise. 17 days!!! They are going to spend their days learning about what life on a farm is like. The last week they are there is the county fair and they are going to get to help show the animals and whatnot. I cannot begin to tell you how excited they are to be going out there. i am pretty sure that I will miss them but am also looking forward to spending some much needed quality "Mommy and Daddy" time as well. We are heading to Kansas City for 2 days of fun!



I got tickets to a Royals game, thank you bank rewards points, and a free hotel, again thank you bank rewards points. The next day we will get up and head to Worlds of Fun for the day. It's not Disney but it's close and I can afford it! Don't judge!!

Summer

Wow...the summer is off and running! Boys are into their second week of sports camp. 3 more weeks to go. Then they head out west for two weeks to visit some good friends out in Western Nebraska. They will get a great feel for farm life there and the last week they are there is fair week. So they will get to learn what it takes to get animals ready for showing.

What am I going to do with 2 weeks without kids?? Hmmmm.

Had a great weekend last week at our annual family BBQ/Reunion. Saw lots of family I don't get to see but maybe once a year. Was great to see them all.



Had a great time with my hubby



Sunday night it rained like no tomorrow. We got at least 4.5" of rain out of that particular storm.



This was our backyard.



The boys had a good time in the water!

Update!

Wow...I really should update this thing more. often.

Lots of interesting things happening these days. School is out in a few short weeks. Next weekend we are heading to N. Dakota for Benita and Ken's wedding! Can't wait!!!

We are in the midst of building a new church here in town. Pix to follow once I figure out how to upload them on here.

Lots of stuff to post on but no time to do so....stay tuned!!!