Family Farm Friday #33: No Escape from Cows or Ag Kids

"If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow." ~William Lyon Phelps

One of my co-workers forwarded me a picture last week that I thought was pretty interesting and perfect for this week's Family Farm Friday. Because the picture might be a little hard to read on the blog, here is the link to the full sized photo.

The point is that cattle produced on America's farms and ranches produce farm more than just beef. Everything from shampoo to fertilizer, plywood to anti-aging cream to antifreeze to medicines. And, of course, my favorite.....the filet mignon! The title of the email was "there is no escape from cows."

I realize this picture alone could be a whole blog.....but its discussion about vegans and the idea of "no escape" reminded me of the good ol' State Fair days. This spins me into a whole different topic.

I bet you every kid who showed at the New Mexico State Fair can remember going into the Commercial Building and arguing with the Animal Rights activists. Those people were not prepared for a bunch of farm and ranch kids, who were passionate about the agriculture industry and who were armed with loads of facts--not from books, but from their own lives--to contradict what the activists were telling people. More than once, the activists would call security to make us leave. And I remember a few of us making them cry. They would probably agree that there is no escaping ag kids either!

I'm certainly not a vegetarian.....I would have starved as a kid. In my house, if there was not meat, it was not a meal. But I don't guess that I am adamently against a person making that decision for themselves. What I am against is the crazy, inaccurate propoganda put forth by anti-agricultural groups that leads people to become vegetarians or vegans for all the wrong reasons.

Before you listen to what some activist, who has never even been on a farm or ranch and seen livestock production first hand, make an informed decision for yourself. Talk to producers, visit their operations, and make your own decision. You will see families who work hard, who take pride in what they do, and who take care of the land and the animals. That's American agriculture, plain and simple.

Here is a GREAT story about a vegan who visited a cattle feedlot in Colorado and was pretty surprised at what he found. It's definitely worth a read!

Anyway, the bottom line is that the email was right--there is no escaping products from cattle. And there's no escaping agriculture kids protecting their industry!

Throwback Thursday #37: Puking My Way Across Kentucky Part 2

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.” ~Unknown

Well, as most of you guessed after reading Part 1 of the story last week, my Dad won the battle of the parents. My mom always says she lives her life being outvoted 3-1 and at least in this case, it was true.

I convinced Mr. F not to haul me to the hospital. Instead, I curled up in like three jackets on the back row of the bleachers at the sale barn (between frequent runs to the bathroom) and tried to sleep it off. Realizing that the aformentioned green Mexican pill had failed, Mr. F and some other ag teacher decided that Alka seltzer would for sure do the trick. Yea....it didn't. It just made me feel worse. I've never had it since. I was traumatized.

So the grading workshop ended (with me maybe seeing one steer) and we went to the hospital to check on the boy who had been admitted. They were going to keep him overnight. So here we were, stranted in the hillbilly hills. Lucky for us, a caravan of ag teachers and 4-H agents from New Mexico stopped by and picked us up. I got put in a brand new Cadillac (because Dr. Wagley, who you've read about before on the blog, made the reservations and that guy had style) with a 4-H agent and a college judging coach. I prayed the whole way there that I could make it to the hotel before I got sick again.

And then we pull up to the hotel. I bail out of the car, run for the trash can (which turned out to be one of this cigarette thing with sand in it) and got sick again. Go figure, this was the ONLY time in life that Mr. F decided not to stay at some ghetto dive. No no, this place was super nice, on the river, rich people walking in and out, and here I am, puking at the front door. Great times. I was traumatized again.

I headed into the hotel and found the bathroom. About that time, in comes the college judging coach who had been riding in the car with me to be sure I was okay. The other women in the restroom didn't seem to appreciate his checking on me so much. He just looked at them, threw his hands up, and said, "What's your problem?" They left, traumatized as well. (Do you see a pattern here??)

At one point that night, Mr. F got off the phone with the doctor of the other boy at the hospital, looked at me and said, "The doctor says that if you are having stomach cramps we really need to get you to the hospital." My response (as I lay on the floor of his hotel room curled up into a ball because my stomach hurt so bad and I felt so terrible), "Oh no, I'm fine. No stomach ache."

Later, we gave a set of reasons. Mine were terrible. Mr. F lied and said they were fine and that I should go to bed. (Frequently in the years after this incident he would tell people that it was hands down the worst set of reasons I had ever given in my life, but that he smiled and sent me to bed. It must have killed him!)

Because I was the only girl, and the female sponsor was the mom of the boy in the hospital so she stayed with him, I was alone in the motel room that night. Mr. F, who was staying across the hall, called me LITERALLY every hour on the hour of the whole night to be sure I was still alive. It was a very restful evening for us both.

So, the next day was day one of the livestock judging contest. A couple of small issues.....I couldn't go an hour without being sick. And, if we were not all there for the the team picture...including the boy who was yet to be released from the hospital two hours way, we couldn't judge.

Stay tuned to find out what happens next week on Puking My Way Across Kentucky.

Not About You

“We are at Jesus’ disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that’s all right, everything is all right. We must say, ‘I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.’ And this is our strength. This is the joy of the Lord.” ~ Mother Teresa

I love reading about Mother Teresa. She was such an amazing woman of God. She dedicated her entire life to serving the poor, the forgotten, and the dying in the slums of Calcutta. Her work was not glamourous. Serving the poor, caring for their wounds, living beside them in the slums.....her life wasn't easy.

Many people would feel that this type of work was beneath them, or would simply not have the stomach or compassion to do it. So when I read a quote like the one above, coming from someone who was doing the kind of work that Mother Teresa was, well it just really makes me think about the plan that God has for me.

I think that a lot of us spend a great deal of our lives dreaming about what comes next, and waiting for something to happen that will fulfill us and make us be where we think we we want to be. I know lots of people in my life who are waiting on something for their lives to be the way they want.....waiting on the better job, or waiting to get pregnant, or waiting to get married, or waiting to retire...you get the idea.

But I'm starting to realize that while we are waiting for our life to be what we think it should be, maybe we are missing a really important point. God puts us exactly where we are meant to be right now. And maybe His situation would not be the situation that we would chose for ourselves.
The Rick Warren best seller, "The Purpose Driven Life" starts off with a simple, yet powerful sentence. "It's not about you." I think that's exactly Mother Teresa's point. We belong to Him, and we are right where He intends us to be in this moment. Maybe in a year we will have the new job or the new car or whatever it is we are waiting for. Maybe we won't. But while we are waiting to be where we want to be, we need to try and focus on doing what it is He wants us to do right now in the situation that we are in.

And it is my hope and my belief that by focusing on this, we can serve a purpose far greater than we can even imagine.

Happiness Project Month 5: Leisure

“Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.” ~Eileen Caddy

Well, I have to start this month's Happiness Project update out with a shout out to my friend, The Bride. She saved this month's project with a wonderful suggestion. Here's how it went down.

This month the focus was on leisure...or what the author referred to as being "serious about play." She set four goals: find more fun, take time to be silly, go off the path and start a collection.

This month was hard for me. I'll be honest.....I pretty much embrace fun all the time. In trying to figure out my project goals for the month, I made a list of things that are fun for me. I came up with: Kickboxing, hot yoga, running, the farmer's market, traveling, reading blogs, writing this blog, reading a good book, watching college football from my couch in my pjs, watching my favorite shows on tv and scrapbooking.

Well, with the exception of scrapbooking, I pretty much already did all of the other ones on a regular basis. So I couldn't add those to my life to increase my happiness. As for scrapbooking---it's something that brings happiness and stress both. I was complaining to The Bride about how I wanted to scrapbook, but it was time consuming and messy and it would take me forever to even print off all my pictures that need scrapooked, much less to actually do it. And then.....the answer came.

The Bride asked if I had ever thought of digital scrapbooking and sent me a link of her latest book. And right there we go--I had my project for the month! So, I decided to do a digital scrapbook for the first 9 months of 2010.

And I'll just tell you.....it made me happy and made me hooked! It's like the best of scrapbooking without the hassle---I don't have to print off pictures or pick up little pieces of paper off the floor when I'm done. But i still end up with a book that I can look back at in 20 years and remember what a great year I'm having. And I can still be creative and design the book how I want it. Total happiness boost right there.

If you want to check it out, there are lots of websites that allow for building your own book---I'm personally using Shutterfly because they seemed to have the most designs and options for lots of pictures on one page.

So, even though I just had one goal for the month, I think it all worked out because it was a good one and the project succeeded in its purpose!

Being Truly Grateful

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” ~Eric Hoffer

I like to think of myself as being a pretty grateful person. I've blogged before about how because of the amazing number of blessings I have in my life, I feel a great responsibility to give back. I thank God daily for blessing me with friends and family who love me, with the opportunity to have gotten an education and a job, and for other broad stroke things like that. I thought I was a pretty grateful person.....but last week changed that.

Without going into too much detail, I came across a woman who was on her way to court. She wore a dress, dangly earrings and simple dress shoes. As she was walking, her shoe accidentally came off. She explained that she didn't own any nice shoes, so she borrowed some to come to court. But she was a size 6 and the friend who she borrowed the shoes from was a size 9.
It almost brought me to tears. There are so many things that I take for granted in my life. While I am often grateful to have a good job, I never think about being grateful to have shoes to wear to work. While I am often grateful to have a house to live in, I never think about having a blanket to cover up with at night. The list goes on and on.

I am so blessed beyond belief, and I take so much of it for granted. It's funny that it took meeting a person with so much less than me to make me appreciate all of the little things that I have been blessed with. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways.

Family Farm Friday #32: Real Housewives

"The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it." ~Roseanne Barr

So my friend Crystal (you see me thanking her a lot...she has a great blog that I totally recommend following!) alerted me to an article written by Patrick Dorinson talked about REAL American Housewives....not those rich [non-blog friendly word] ladies on the reality tv shows, but real farm and ranch wives. He explained that these women are some of the hardest working in America. Having been raised by a grandma, a mom, and lots of other women who fit right into this category, I can't help but agree.

My Gran was the toughest lady I know. She grew up on her family's ranch where they operated a gas station near Caprock, New Mexico during the Great Depression. (This would be the same ranch we've had in the family for 100 years that you read about before). She learned to work hard and not to give up, and it was a lesson she never forgot.

She was as stubborn as the day is long. She was in college when WWII began and she decided to leave New Mexico State University and head for San Francisco to build airplanes. That's right, Gran was Rosie the Riveter. And her dad was NOT happy about this decision, but she went anyway. When she came home, she finished her degree, got a good job, and then met my grandpa. They were married when she was older....I think about 30 or so. (See, there is still hope for me.....I'm genetically a late bloomer!!) They bought the farm where I grew up and had two boys. Gran worked as a teacher by day and a farmer/mother by night. Talk about having multiple jobs.

Then, when she was in her late forties, tragedy struck. My grandpa died of a heart attack, leaving her with a farm to run and two teenage boys to raise. Lots of people told her she should sell the farm and move to town. She did exactly the opposite. She put her head down, went to work, and kept the farm going. She left not only a farm, but a legacy and an example of a woman who could make it through anything and accomplish whatever she put her mind to.

My mom didn't grow up on a farm, but when she married my dad, she became a farm wife right away. Like Gran, my mom worked as a teacher for 35 years and came home at night to help take care of chores and raise my brother and me. A lot of nights when I get home from work, I just plop on the couch and can't imagine moving. Not my mom. I hardly remember sitting down when I was a kid. She had too much to do.

From packing lunches to going to ball games to trudging through the field with irrigation tubes, to sitting in the kitchen floor blow drying a frozen baby calf, (and don't forget scanning pictures for my blog because I don't have them in digital version) my mom was always going. And maybe her life isn't flashy and glamorous like the ladies on tv, but you know what? She worked hard and made a difference in the lives of a lot of people and in the end, I sure think that's more important.

There are plenty of other examples I could list. When the article talks about how these women "treat each other's children as if they were their own" he's not lying. I have said repeatedly that it took much more than a village to raise me....and a big part of that village was made up of farm and ranch mama's that were like family to me.

So here's to America's Real Housewives, and to the hope that one day, I'll become just like all the ones who raised me!

Throwback Thursday #36: Puking My Way Across Kentucky (Part 1)

“You never know when you're making a memory.” ~Rickie Lee Jones

Well, it's National FFA Convention week. I knew exactly what my Throwback Thursday blog had to be......but I didn't realize I would have SO much to say about it. So, we're going to break this baby into several parts. (And we have a serious lack of pictures.....mind you it was before digital cameras and I was deathly ill.....so we'll have to work with what we have even if they realy don't fit the particular part of the story).

In case you might have missed my prior FFA posts, I was super involved in the organization when I was in high school. I was on a team competing in a different judging contest at National FFA Convention 4 different years. (I know I'm mentioned this before, but Mr. F was the best ag teacher ever in life.....clearly!) We won the State FFA livestock contest my freshman year, so my first National FFA Conventon was back in the good ol' days circa 1999.

Little did I know that this trip would lead to a story that would follow me for the rest of my life.

The week started when we loaded up in the school station wagon to head to the airport. We're talking old school 1970 model with the bench seat and then one seat in the very back that faced the rear of the car (this would be a time I wished I had a digital camera). Now, mind you, we leave the brand new Excursion and the two year old Suburban behind because Mr. F had some insane love for driving the oldest, crappiest vehicle possible. It was some sort of badge of ag teacher honor apparently. Anyway, we flew to Kentucky and worked out at tons of different ranches. It was great to see so many great operations and see some really great livestock.

Then, the fateful night happened. We were in a flea bag motel (also an ag teacher badge of honor apparently) in the middle of nowhere Kentucky. We were studying for the test and it was NOT going well. We went through lots of punishments for being stupid.....standing up until we got a question right, listening position until we got a question right (think doing a pilates plank), dead coakroach until we got a question right, etc. Finally, at like 10:00 at night Mr. F decided enough was enough and we could eat. He drives us to Arbys. And we order (trying not to gag as I type the words) an Arby's Roast Beef sandwich. We wake up in the morning, and several of us feel pretty queezy. But we had a grading practice up in the hillbilly hills. We load up in the car and hit the windey roads up to the sale barn where the practice was. Now, mind you, I get car sick on windey roads when I feel perfectly fine otherwise. And Mr. F usually thought it was funny to drive too fast or do some extra weaving. This trip, as I was trying not to puke all over the rental car, I knew I must have looked bad, because he was driving slow and calm.

Well, we get there and one of the boys on the team goes to the hospital. The rest of us went to the sale barn. When we got there, Mr. F decided to give me some huge green Mexican pill (literally, from Mexico) because this thing apparently was supposed to cure anything. Well, it didn't. Before long, I was puking my guts out. Mr. F and I head to the sale barn office to call my parents. He tells them that I am really sick and probably have food poisoning. Then he puts me on the phone.....first with my mom, then with my dad. And let me explain how the conversations went.
Mom: OMG, you get to the hospital now. You're going to die. I should fly out there. This is bad. Drink more water.

Dad: You'll be fine. Be tough. You only get to judge livestock here once. Don't ruin it. No one dies from food poisoning.

So what happened next? Who won the advice battle?

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of "Puking My Way Across Kentucky!"

Responsibility to Vote

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.” ~William E. Simon

Well, as everyone probably knows, it's just about mid-term election time. If you're like me, you are probably ready for it to be over.....the stupid commercials on tv are just about to drive me crazy.

But, despite my complaining, I will certainly be voting in November. I can remember learning at a really early age--I'm thinking maybe 6 or 7-- about the importance of voting in elections. This came about when my Gran took my brother and me to the County Clerk's office to vote. Now, wat that time, we had a good family friend who worked in the Clerk's office, and she always gave us candy. So, needless to say, we were perfectly happy to go visit Glenda!

Once we chatted with Glenda and got our candy, Gran took us into the voting booth with her. I don't know if voting is like this everywhere, but back home, we had the old school little booths with the little red, white and blue curtain that you closed behind yourself when you went in. So Gran showed us the ballot, explained how to fill in the arrow, discussed party line voting (which she was adament that we never do) and then filled in her ballot. After she was done, my brother and I fed it to the machine.

Well, because Gran helped teach me how important voting is, I am careful to make sure and participate every election. Because I live in a different county now, I vote absentee. My ballot came in the mail last week.

So I sat down with my absentee ballot and pencil in hand. Then I looked at several names and realized that I knew nothing about them. I debated filling them in based on whose signs I had seen or whose name I recognized. And that's when it hit me.....voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility. A big part of that responsibility is to do our homework and vote for the candidates who we believe will do the best job. If we do no research and just randomly pick names, we might as well not vote at all.

I'll admit, when I sat down to vote, I had spent more time researching my fantasy football team than I had the people who would be running our state for the next 4 years. Not okay. Needless to say, I put my ballot away and decided that I would be doing some research before I fill it out and mail it in.
So, with that said, I would encourage everyone to vote. It is a right that we are fortunate to have in this country, and one that many people fought long and hard to ensure we are able to exercise. But more than that, I encourage you to take some time and do some research on the candiates and the issues that are important to you. It's our right and responsibility. If you are in New Mexico and interested in a bi-partisan website with candidate information, click here.

Oh, and sidenote: I surely hope that my research of candidates works out better than my fantasy football research seems to be!

Sweet Home Alabama Disease

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." ~Douglas Adams

I'm sure most of you watched the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon (sidenote: love her!). Well, remember the part of the movie where she is sitting in the Coon Dog cemetery with Jake? She tells him, "I love my life in New York, Jake. But I come down here, and this fits too."
She's speaking my language. I feel exactly that same way---there are so many different paths that I could take, all of which are very different, and all of which I could be happy going down. I refer to this as the Sweet Home Alabama disease. And I'm a chronic sufferer.

I tend to blame this on the fact that I'm genuinely a happy person. (We all have our crosses to bear...) Really though, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I'm going to make the best of it, enjoy it, and find a way to be happy about it. But that trait, I think, is the main cause of the Sweet Home Alabama disease. When you can see yourself happy in any circumstance, choosing the circumstance you want is difficult.

So.....in looking at my life, I feel sometimes like I'm stuck chosing between New York and Alabama (figuratively speaking) a lot of the time.

If you have read the blog for any amount of time, you know of my love for San Francisco. I lived there for a summer and had the time of my life. I worked with and became friends with great people. The city is amazing and beautiful and so full of energy. I loved my apartment with a view of the bay. I loved watching the fog roll in in the afternoons. I loved the food at the tiny mom and pop places on every corner (even if I did continually order grilled chicken). I loved the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I loved my life in the city.

From the blog, you also know about my passion for agriculture and how much I love my family's farm and ranch. I love the wide open spaces, the animals, riding horses, being around people who I have known my whole life. It's a complete 180 from San Francisco. High heels to cowboy boots and trolleys to horses. It's peaceful and quiet and you can see the stars in the sky. And my family has owned it for over 50 years. I love working with my family to make decisions about what to plant and what to breed to and guessing what lambs are going to bring the most at the sale. I love my life in the country.

My current city is great too. I have lots of friends here, my legal connections are here, the weather is amazing, my job is great and I love my condo. It's been a wonderful decision for me to start my career here! It's great being close to home, but living somewhere big enough where I can do things like going to Hot Yoga or concerts on the weekends or being able to go shopping without driving an hour and a half.

And, for our final example, anyone who knows me whatsoever knows that I refer to Stillwater, Oklahoma as the Happiest Place on Earth. That town will always be home to me. I love the college town feel and how everything is always covered in orange, game days, the beautiful campus, my wonderful church, close to the Oklahoma Girls and my SoulMate Friend and her adorable baby, Little Linebacker. I could completely see myself living there....small town America at its finest.

And these are just a few examples......there are lots of other paths or places or things I could chose to do, that I truly think could "fit." Last week I went to Omaha for the first time...great city...and I loved the Swiss countryside two summers ago!

Maybe Jake answered the question in the movie. He said, "Who says you can't have both? You can have roots and wings." I hope that's true, and that somehow I can figure out how to have the best parts of all the different paths my life could take. Because those best parts would make a pretty amazing life!

Perfect Ending

“We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness.” ~ Unknown

I hate watching the news. I really do. It's depressing and negative and I get sick of seeing tragedy day and night. Well, last Wednesday night, I sat on my couch and watched a perfect ending. If you missed the watching the rescue, check it out this video of some snipits. It's quite moving. (And sort of funny when you see the one guy handing our souvineer rocks!)



33 miners, who had been trapped in the mine for 69 days, over 2000 feet under the ground after a mine collapse. For 17 days, the world thought they were dead. So many people gave up hope. Then, a note was sent up on a scope that said that the miners were well and were hoping to be rescued.

While trapped underground, the miners went through hell. They rationed food, allowing themselves 2 spoons of tuna, half a biscuit, and half a cup of milk every 48 hours. They made rules, and used the lights on their helmets to create day and night. It was 90 degrees all the time. They somehow managed to keep their sanity, to keep their hope, and to keep their faith.

You'll notice the note said that they "hoped" to be rescued, rather than "expected" to be rescued. Such a rescue was going to be difficult, if not impossible. No mine rescue of this sort had ever occurred. The endings to these stores are usually far more tragic, as I have written about before.

But the world pulled together. The Chilean President was actively and vocally optimistic, despite advice from his cabinet to lay low. Many say that he put his presidency on the line in the way he handled himself during the rescue, because of his expectations and faith. Drillers, medical personnel, engineers, laborers, psychologists from across the world went to Chile to help try and create a miracle. And they succeeded in doing just that. After drilling a hole and a capsule, just wider than a man's shoulders, they began the rescue process.

No one knew what would happen--the Chilean government prepared to allow a 10 second delay on the television feed, in case there was a tragic sight. They never needed it. Each of the 33 men were pulled from the earth. Each wearing sunglasses to protect their eyes from the light that they hadn't seen in over 2 months, and smiles on their faces. Each were greated by their family members, the President and First Lady of Chile, and hundreds of rescuers and will wishers.


Sometimes, the perfect ending comes. Sometimes, miracles occur. Thank God for that.

Family Farm Friday #31: Agriculture Around the World

"Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization." ~Daniel Webster

I've sort of had a bombardment this week of agriculture around the world in my email inbox. I figured this was a sign I needed a blog on the issue.

First, there was two great post on my friend Crystal's blog about cattle feedlots in Australia. Check them out here and here. They do things pretty differently with regard to feed (very little corn and much more wheat or barley) when compared to America. Why you might wonder? They don't grow corn in Australia. That means that to feed it, they have to import it in, which makes it much more expensive. I think that Americans take for granted our domestic agriculture industry sometimes.....remember to think of a corn farmer the next time you bite into a juicy steak!

Also, one of the most interesting things that she talked about (at least to me) was how they feed the cattle differently depending on what country they are marketing the beef too. So, for example, cattle staying in Australia are much leaner than beef that will go to Japan because the Australian consumer likes a leaner product. Such an interesting concept, and one that I am sort of embarassed to admit that I had never considered before. (BTW...that lucky duck Crystal has been touring the country for the last month...jealous!)

Then, my Teacher Friend sent me an email with an awesome story from Japan. Urban agriculture is a pretty popular concept all over the world, but I had read before that Japan was leading the way. They have several rooftop fields that grow crops right in the middle of the city. Well, the video that Teacher Friend sent did it one better--one office building planted a rice paddy.....on the first floor. Check out the video. After working at their desk, the workers would head down to farm the paddy in their suits. Now, as I've said before, I'm a farm girl at heart and sometimes I just have to get out of the city and back to God's country. But I never thought about doing that by harvesting a field on the first floor of my building!

Lastly, while hunting pictures for this blog, I came across a wonderful website of pictures from farming around the globe. It's called An Ode to Farming. Trust me...it's worth taking a look at!

It's great to be able to look at how other countries do things and to appreciate the fact that through agriculture, we are connected to people across the world!

(Photos courtesy of cdycattle.blogspot.com and foreignpolicy.com)

Throwback Thursday #35: Small Group Family

“Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.” ~Unknown

Several years ago, while I was going to school at OSU, I attended a great non-denominational church, Sunnybrook Christian Church. Shortly after I started going there, the church began a study of Rick Warren's book, 40 Days of Purpose. As part of this study, the church set up several small groups. College Roomie and I were assigned to a hodge-podge group of sorts. Conventional wisdom in chruches probably tries to assign people to these groups by age, place in life, marital status, etc. Well, our group broke any type of definition. The members were: three senior citizens---one man and his wife....he operated their ranch and she worked at the extension office, and one widowed friend of theirs who was the principal of the church school; a young married couple in their twenties with no children; a second young couple with a baby on the way; college roomie, and me. Probably had the church been paying attention, they would not have gone with this grouping. But I'm glad they weren't, because I couldn't have hoped for one better!
Our 40 days quickly ended, but the group stayed in tact, meeting once a month, every month, to this day. And we've seen a lot of changes in the last 6 years. We've added a total of four new babies, a new great grand child, celebrated one couple's 60th wedding anniversary, celebrated two graduations, seen two retirements, watched countless moves, and our fair share of hard times including deaths and divorces of people in our families and lives. Through it all, the group remained in tact.
To this day, this group of people still cares about and inspires each other. I know that these people are always there for me, whether I need prayers or advice or just some encouragement as I try to live a life of faith. I think being able to see what faith looks like not just in my peers, but in people at all different stages in their lives has been invaluable to me. My small group family gave me that. Although I am no longer attending the meeting once a month, I stay in touch by email and I always try to see everyone when I am back in Stillwater. Last weekend, the young couple who had no children when we began happened to be here in town. As you can see, they added to the baby total! Our small group family may not look like most others, but we bonded unlike many others as well. I could not be happier to have these people in my life, and I am grateful every day that God worked his magic to bring us together. I truly believe they have helped make me a better person.

And the Winner Is.....

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.” ~Mark Twain

Thank you all for participating in my first blog giveaway! We had 15 entries. And the winner of Live An Amazing Life is.....

Bethe Terry-Cunningham!

Congratulations, Bethe! Shoot me an email or facebook message with your mailing address and I will make sure you get your book (and I'll even make sure the Crazy Canadian signs it for you....we didn't discuss this, but I think I have some pull) in the mail!

Quick update on the book....it is currently at the publisher and will be mailed out to buyers October 26! And, my friend is such a rockstar.....she went to a real recording studio and made an audio version of the book as well! You can read all about that here. Just because you didn't win the giveaway, I would still encourage you to buy a copy of Living An Amazing Life...either the hard copy or the audio version. If I know my friend, the audio version will be hilarious! To purchase either, click here!

Thank you all so much for sharing your goals with me! In case you missed everyone sharing their goals, check out the comments! From writing books to getting graduate and doctorate degrees, to teaching yoga classes, to being happy to getting professional certifications, to getting healthy (and putting an adorable dog on a diet).....I have no doubt that all of you will achieve these goals and so many great things that you haven't even thought to dream yet!

I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life who are talented, driven and successful! Having people like you in my life help inspire me to set goals and dream big myself. Thank you all!

And.....because the giveaway was so fun....and because I've been inspired by an AMAZING giveaway of these GORGEOUS shoes by Heidi at The Shoeologist....

I'm going to start doing one every month! (Kristin---this means you still have a chance to win one!!)
But, I need your help with giveaway ideas! COMMENT NOW!

Never Before. Never Again.

“Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.” ~Horace

Last Sunday was 10/10/10. I heard lots of different people talk about this date...radio dj's, random people in the airport, stuff on other blogs I read. The consensus of these people seemed to be that the day 10/10/10 will come only once in our lifetime. The next time it happens will be in 3010, and we'll all be long gone. One slogan describes it: "10/10/10 Never Before. Never Again."

When I heard this, I couldn't help but think.....EVERY day only happens once in our lifetime. Every day has never happened before and will never happen again. Why don't we think about that and try to live accordingly on random Tuesdays instead of just when numbers on a calendar are all the same?

Don't get me wrong, I know it's hard. It's usually easy when we are on vacation or something like that, but "regular life days" are different. I get totally caught up in the mundane of every day life, just like everyone else. Wake up (too early!), go to work, eat breakfast, do some work, eat lunch, do some more work, leave work (too late!), go running or to the gym, eat dinner, watch a little tv or talk on the phone, go to bed. Wake up again and repeat. It can be hard to make that exciting, I know! But the bottom line is we will never have that day again.
So whether it means wearing cute shoes, or buying yourself flowers, calling your friends, writing a blog, listening to good music while you get ready, or whatever.....we all need to find something fun and exciting in every single day.

Our time here is short, and we never know when it is coming to an end. Every day is one that we will never get back, one that only happens once. It's up to us to make each one count. Remember, every day is never before, never again.

By the way: Today is your LAST CHANCE to get into the drawing for my first giveaway....click here!

Perspective

"For some moments in life there are no words." ~David Seltzer, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Last Thursday, I flew to Nebraska for the American Agricultural Law Association conference. I hate flying. It makes me extremely car sick, food in airports is expensive, I don't like lugging my bags around, I always seem to get delayed, the bags I check always seem to end up dirty......I could go on. But, as you'll see, that's not the point of the blog. Back to the flight.

On the first leg of the flight, I sat next to a woman named Judy. I noticed that she was periodically crying. I soon learned that Judy was flying across the country to Florida. The reason she was crying, is that she had received a call that morning that her husband had just been put in the hospital after a fall, he was in the ICU, on a ventilator, and would not live. She was trying to get home in time to say goodbye. And just like that....perspective. I was heartbroken for Judy. Although I've never lost a husband, I understand what it is like to lose someone you love and never get the chance to say goodbye. I understood why she wanted to keep talking about the situation--to tell me how it happened and to ask me medical questions--not because I had any answers, but because maybe somehow talking would help her to process the situation. I understood how she could be in the middle of a sentence about her grandson playing fooball, and suddenly have to stop because she was snapped back in to the reality of the situation she was in. I understood how she kept analyzing the last words she spoke to him, and the last words she wished she would have said. I understood and I listened. She said that she could tell, and she thanked me. Suddenly my queasy stomach and heavy bad and half-hour delay didn't matter anymore.

Sometimes God smacks you right upside the head with a little perspective. I don't know if Judy made it in time or not. I just know that I listened, I understood, I prayed. And that was all I could do. Well, that and I used my lawyer voice to be sure that the flight attendants were going to take care of her and get her to her connecting flight and give her some tylenol. (Law degree is useful for something!)

Life is a fragile thing, and we will all, at some point, lose someone to whom we will not have the chance to say goodbye. So be sure that you appreciate the people who you have in your life today; we're not guaranteed tomorrow....

Family Farm Friday #30: Country Therapy

"When the gravel hits the tires, it can right the wrong of too much city and too much concrete." ~"End of a Dirt Road", Josh Abbott Band

Well, this country girl had about enough of the city for now, so I headed home for a weekend of horses, cows, sheep and some wide open spaces. One of my facebook friends called this "Country Therapy" and that's exactly what it was!

As much as I enjoy my job, and like the convenience and exciting things that are always going on in the city, I'm never going to be a city girl. Give me some dirt and animals and clear skies full of stars any day over being able to run down the street to Target or having a concert going on most weekends.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so today, I'll just leave you with a few thousand words to ponder.

By the way.....you can still sign up to win my first giveaway prize! Click here!

Throwback Thursday # 34: Oldest Guy at the Fair

“Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.” ~ Anthony Robbins

A couple of weeks ago at the State Fair, I made fun of my dad. He was having a "meeting" at the horse barn with a whole table full of guys. They were talking sheep and shows and judges and showing and were loving every minute of it. At some point, they realized that my dad was the oldest guy at the table. So, for the rest of the week, everyone referred to him as the oldest guy at the fair. It was reallly funny to me. Until I went to the Eli Young Band concert and karma bit me.
(DISCLAIMER: By having my mom's picture in this post I am NOT calling her old. I want nothing to do with that can of worms!)Now, in order to understand this, we have to go back to State Fair back in the glory days---circa 1999 ish. Back then, EVERYONE stayed in the dorms and there were concerts and/or street dances every night. I remember being 14 or 15 and getting all 14 of the lambs and 4 of the pigs fed and heading in to get ready for the dances. (The thought of this now completely exhausts me!) I promise you that the people my age tried our hardest to dance a hole in the floor of Tingley and in the street outside. It is amazing that our parents trusted us enough to let us go off running around the fairgrounds at all hours of the night--maybe times were different then or something.

Anyway, at the Eli Young concert, there were lots of kids dancing on the floor of Tingley. They were laughing an screaming and flirting and having a blast. And I was the old lady sitting up in the stands. BAM! Just like that, I knew how my dad felt!

I'm telling you---it feels like yesterday when I was one of those kids on the floor, screaming and dancing and loving life. I don't know where the time went. Somehow, it's been 7 years since I showed at State Fair. And it's been even longer than that since I was running around at the street dances. A lot has happened during those interim years---I've graduated (three times), lived in 4 different states, and blown out LOTS of candles on birthday cakes.
So....apparently it's pretty easy to go from the young guy to the old guy at the horse barn, and from the fun loving teenager to the old lady in the stands. And I hear that life only goes faster and faster. I think the only thing for me to do is to really live up the stage of life I'm in. That way, when I'm sitting in the bleachers somewhere reminessing about this time in my life, I have really, really fun memories to look back on!

REMEMBER: Sign up for a chance to win LIVE AN AMAZING LIFE! Click here!