Yello!

Sometimes some of life’s most important lessons come to us in unexpected ways. Yesterday I picked up a free booklet and TV schedule in the local pharmacy. Thumbing through it, I found an inspirational saying about forgiveness that seems worthy of repeating. Here it is: When you forgive, you in no way change the past, but you sure do change the future. I think that makes a lot of sense. To me, forgiveness in no way means that what happened in the past was right or OK. Forgiveness does not mean that you forget what happened, either. Forgiveness just means that you are willing to let go of it and move on. You can release the anger, hurt or hatred that you may have been harboring in your heart and continue on without lugging all of the garbage of life along with you. Holding a grudge against someone and refusing to forgive them only hurts you in the long run… the person you refuse to forgive may not know or even care whether you have forgiven them or not! Forgiveness is for your own good, not theirs.

Tragic events this past week in the Amish community in Lancaster County, PA have shown us an incredible example of forgiveness. In high school, I had the opportunity to visit an Amish farm in Lancaster Co., PA most likely not far from the site of the unimaginable horror this week at that little country school. Maybe that visit is why I so admire the strength and compassion demonstrated by the Amish. That the Amish families and friends of those innocent girls who were killed could actually forgive the person who committed that horrific crime is the most powerful demonstration of forgiveness that I could imagine. Their forgiveness cannot change what happened, but it can release them from the bondage of hurt and hatred and let them get on with living.

OK…now forgive me for being so serious and somber! To leave you on a lighter note, here’s a picture of one of the many kittens that patrol our farmyard.

This past week was Homecoming Week at school. It was a busy week that was hectic but lots of fun for the kids. I’m the Student Council sponsor, so I helped the kids plan the week – but in all honesty, they did most of the work in getting everything organized. Everyday was a different dress-up day for the students and teachers alike – we had a toga day, ninja day, celebrity day, pair day and moroon and white spirit day. Friday was the high point of the entire week with a parade, downtown pep rally, football game, royalty coronation, and finally the homecoming dance. It was a fun week and everything went off as planned, but I was sort of glad to see Homecoming Week winding down!

Saturday brought a bit of down time for me…but not too much. Jesse and Shawn were both here on Friday night for the Homecoming game and both stayed over until Saturday. Shawn’s parents brought his sister up for us to take Senior pictures on Saturday afternoon. We got the pictures done and they turned out pretty well, even though there were about, oh, a hundred million hungry mosquitos outdoors on Saturday. We had a bit of a hard time taking pictures because we had to keep shooing the mosquitos off of Calyn’s face so we could snap the picture!

This morning Kalie and I set out for Omaha around 7am. A few weeks ago Kalie tried out for the NASC (Nebraska Association of Student Councils) state staff and was selected. So today was her first of many training sessions for the new staffers – this time held at the Creighton University campus in Omaha. Since I was missing church at home, I decided to make a quick call to our friends and former pastor, Mike and Kathy Jo, in Omaha to see what time their church started. Well, the timing was perfect and I was able to attend services at the Living Faith Methodist Church in Omaha where Mike is the current pastor. What a joy it was! Kathy Jo has such a warmth about her and Mike has the ability to speak to the congregation as if he were conversing with each and every person one-on-one. He speaks from the heart and relates his sermon to real-life experiences. I enjoyed his sermon and the contemporary music so much. Annie was away at college, but it was good to see Jill, David and Nate. Even though I had never been in their church before, I felt like I had come home!!! What a great ending to my “Homecoming Week!”

The scripture reading was pretty amazing too. At least it really spoke to me. For those of you who like to look things up in the Bible, it was Romans 12:1-2, 9-12. It was about forgiveness, turning the other cheek and repaying evil with kindness. “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.” A good reminder for all of us! Mike joked in his sermon that as a minister, people expect him to do good things because he actually gets paid for being good. The rest of us are good for nothing. (get it??) 🙂

We’ve had a couple of great family week-ends. On Sept. 17 we joined Bill, Edith, Jason, Tanya and girls for a brunch in Lincoln with Dr. Robert Hayes, his wife Helen and daughter Janet. Dr. Bob is my dad’s first cousin – my grandpa, Herbert, and his dad, Orin, were brothers. It had been too many years since we were last together and it was a wonderful reunion. We hope to do it again in the next year when, hopefully, more members of the Hayes family will be able to join us.

This past week-end we drove to Burke, South Dakota for the 100th birthday party for Francis’ dads first cousin, Earl Whidden of Bonesteel, SD. It was great! Since we are the only Whidden family in the entire state of Nebraska, it was good to get together with a few other Whidden’s from Texas, Connecticut and South Dakota. The conversation was lively and Earl’s smile just kept getting bigger – he enjoyed it immensely, as did everyone else.

Both our Hayes and Whidden families have been in this country for a long time. The Hayes family came (probably from Scotland or Ireland) to this country around 1620 to the Virginia area. Icabod Whidden and his sons left the Portsmouth, England area and arrived at Portsmouth, ME in the 1640’s.

All in all, the experiences of our past two weeks help us to realize that our families are definitely a link to our past that help to define who we are and also a supportive bridge to our future as well. Alex Haley must have known what he was talking about! The pictures that follow are of our recent Hayes (first) and Whidden (second) family reunions.

Yesterday I went to a Tech Prep Coordinator’s meeting at the community college in Grand Island. Although it takes a lot of time to get plans ready for a substitute, it’s always fun to get away from school for a day and do something different. The meeting was interesting and I saw some teacher friends that I hadn’t seen for several years. While there I found a little book in the campus bookstore called A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen who also writes a column in Newsweek. It’s a great little book that does give you some things to ponder concerning what we do with the time we are given on this earth. To paraphrase from the book… “Every person has only one thing that no one else has. When you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you have; when you get a job, there are thousands of people doing what you do for a living. But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul. It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. Learn to love the journey, not the destination. Get a life, a real life. Get a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over a pond and a stand of pines. Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby as she scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and forefinger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. This life is not a dress rehersal; today is the only guarantee you get. Remember to look at the view.” Think about it … and check out the view of a sunset I saw near O’Neill nearly a year ago as I was driving up to South Dakota. I’m glad I stopped the car to capture that view in a photograph so I could share it with you!

Just had to mention our love affair with the Nebraska State Fair.  This year marked the thirty-sixth anniversary of the day Francis and I met at the State Fair 4-H Friendship Dance in Lincoln.  The story goes like this…I was just starting my junior year in high school and my 4-H club was at the fair for the Song Contest.  We  talked my mom (our 4-H leader) into letting us go to the Friendship Dance at the old east campus union.  As I walked into the dance, I saw a guy from St. Edward that I had met on a youth trip to Washington, DC a month earlier.  I went over to say hello to him and a really tall guy with the St. Edward FFA group asked me to dance.  I said sure and walked out to the middle of the dance floor.  When I turned around, there was a shorter guy standing next to me!  Apparently, the taller guy nudged Francis and told him to go dance with me – and the rest of the story is history!  I asked Francis if he was a high school senior  – he said no.  I thought maybe a junior then???  Again the answer was no.  Surely not a sophomore or (horrors) a freshman??   Francis said – yes – he was a freshman , but at the University of Nebraska – not high school.  Wow – was I impressed!   We have attended the state fair every year since then, usually attending two or three times during the ten-day fair.  We even took Jesse as a newborn when he was less than a week old!  It’s always been special  to us and our kids.  Last Saturday, August 26, we were all there again.  Over the years some of my favorite moments at the fair have been checking out our photography exhibits; the model trains; cattle, pigs, horses, and llamas; concerts, Kid’s Day FCCLA booths; and the Peruvian music.  We love it all! Here’s a picture of the kids – yep, you guessed it – at the fair!

OK, it’s been awhile since I posted anything here – but, ya know, school started and that’s when my life gets busy! But a three-day week-end gave Francis and me a chance to slip off to Kansas City for the KC Irish Fest at the Crown Center. Our favorite Irish band, Gaelic Storm, was one of many Irish bands featured at the festival along with many booths of Irish crafts, food, drink and “stuff” for sale. Seeing Gaelic Storm (http://gaelicstorm.musiccitynetworks.com/index.htm) was a highlight of the week-end as we love their easy-going, story-telling type of folksy Irish rockin’ music. If they ever are near your area, we heartily recommend them! Pictures below show the band and three of the five members autographing a photo for us. Saturday evening, my college roommate Cindy and her husband Dave met us for dinner at Milanos and we had a great time catching up on traveling adventures and the kids. Sunday, on the way home, we stopped to enjoy the apples and tree farms near Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City. Later, we joined Kalie and her boyfriend Shawn at the Nebraska State Fair and enjoyed listening to Risky Business (www.riskybusiness-band.com) in the beer garden. Shawn’s dad is the bass player in the band (pictured in the middle). We’ve heard them before and always enjoy their music!!! We were exhausted when we arrived home after midnight last night, but it was a great week-end!

I’ve had a request for some news on baby Bandit, the little llama born in early June. As you can see in the pictures that we took today, she is doing well. Evidently the third time really IS a charm and her mama llama finally got the hang of the whole motherhood thing. Mother and child (along with our other two llamas) have enjoyed the summer running in the pasture eating lots of tender, green grass as well as hay bales. We recently ordered a small llama halter so that in a few weeks we can start getting her used to being haltered and worked with.

Francis and I have just returned from three days at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Fun, fun, fun! Even though we are far from being real bikers, we love watching all the bikes, bikers, and excitement that goes along with one of the largest motorcycle rallies anywhere. We camped at the Buffalo Chip and took the bike on a short drive yesterday down to Deadwood to take in the sights. Thursday night we enjoyed hearing Joe Walsh & the James Gang and Ted Nugent in concert. Friday night we spent most of our time at the Full Throttle Saloon which is billed as the largest biker bar. It lived up to it’s reputation with good music, shopping, great food, and lots of varied entertainment. For the third year in a row, we had a great time at the rally. The pictures that follow show Francis and I at our campsite, Francis in front of the flags in tribute to those who have fallen in Iraq, mainstreet Sturgis and one of my favorite bikes at Thunder Road.

Kalie just started her new job last week when the new Runza place opened in Albion. She will work both at the drive-through window and at the counter. Of course Francis, Jenna and I couldn’t resist surprising her on opening day by going through the drive-through. We ordered just one chocolate chip cookie and then snapped her picture when we pulled around the corner and up to the window. After all that, we parked the car and went in and ordered our real meal. The Runza’s were great and it was fun to see Kalie at work on her first day in the fast-food business. She worked every day this week and with her senior year of school starting next week, she’s going to be a busy girl! If there is anyone out there reading this from outside of Nebraska, I may need to explain that a runza sandwich is ground beef and cabbage baked inside of a yeast bread roll. Runza is a Nebraska-based food chain that puts out some good food.

Francis and I recently returned from a week of visiting my brother and sister-in-law, Glenn and Pat and seeing the majestic sights of Alaska. Friends Denny and Shelley went along and we all had a great time. We flew into Anchorage and spent a day seeing the city before boarding the train for Denali National Park. At the park, we took a daylong tour into the heart of the park where we saw moose, caribou, a wolf pack, grizzly and black bears, Dall sheep and red fox. The one thing we were looking forward to seeing, but actually saw very little of, was Denali itself – Mt. McKinley. Evidently the massive moutain is only visible 20% of the time due to the usual cloudy conditions. We saw just a glimpse of it through a small gap in the cloud cover, but even that is more than most of the visitors to the park get to see. Later in the week, we all rode in Glenn’s truck from Anchorage down to Homer where Glenn and Pat live. They built a beautiful log home there a couple of years ago upon their move from Honolulu to Homer. A highlight of the trip was our two days of fishing. Glenn has an awesome boat and the fishing skills to go along with it that made our experience with deep-sea fishing so rewarding. I caught a 32-inch halibut and trolled with the boat while the others caught pink, silver and king salmon. We also caught shark, but released them back as we did with the smaller halibut. Glenn let me drive the boat, which was really fun – especially the second day with 4 foot waves. Pat grilled our catch and it was superb!!! We brought a big box of our frozen fish home, so I hope I can prepare it as well. If any of you ever get the chance to visit Alaska, I heartily recommend it. It was truly amazing to see the tundra, permafrost, glaciers, volcanos, mountains and the ocean all right there together. I can hardly wait to go back!