Sunshine and Summertime

Today will be my first official day of the last harvest I will work in Ada! I'm really excited for harvest to start, and I know all of the farmers are too. It is always a race to see who can start cutting first, and once one person does, all the farmers get real ancy to see if their wheat is ready so they too can begin to cut.

My job is to stand in the a/c and weigh the wheat trucks and test the grain. It is a pretty easy job since I don't have to sit in the sticky Kansas sun and can read a book when I'm not busy. Although its not all glitz and glamour, (ha! as if anything about harvest is) if I need to use the lady's room, I have to walk across the street and over to the city park while holding a stick to fight off all the mean dogs that come over and bark and chase me. Than when I reach my destination, I have to sit my fanny down on a dirty toilet that is essentially just covering a huge hole in the ground. When I am done, I have to use hand sanitizer to clean my hands, since there is no sink! Plus, I have to think in the timing of my potty breaks because farmers do not like to be kept waiting, so I have to make sure no trucks are coming during my little outing.

Other than that, it is a pretty easy job that I look forward to every year! When I first started working at the elevator, after my sister had left, I was really excited because I figured it would be a great way to meet all the cute farmers' grandsons, but oh no was I wrong! All of the farmers are too old and have let their grandsons take over the combines and tractors, so who do I get to see all day, you guessed it, the old farmers! But they are always entertaining to say the least, and that way it keeps me out of trouble ; )

Also harvests means home for me. It is really nice just to be able to hang out with my family and see them each day, plus I am now only 10 minutes away from Paden instead of an hour and a half, so I can't really complain about that!!

Hopefully this summer will be a good harvest and with God's help, everything will go on without a hitch!

Chicago - Part Duece

On Sunday, the second day we were there, my friend Jene and I decided to walk down to Navy Pier and check it all out. It was the last day of Marine week, so we knew the scenery had to be good (wink wink)!

The first glimpse of it as we were walking.

Tugboats on Lake Michigan.

The famous ferris wheel, it is actually in the place where a man named Ferris built the first wheel : ) No but seriously, true story!

As we walked down the pier, there were several small food shops where you could buy gyros, cotton candy, etc and also places to buy tickets to shows for that evening. Along with the ferris wheel, there was a miniture golf course, a mary-go-round, and other fun things you could do.

The best part though was when I stumbled upon where my two boyfriends live:

That's right, every moment I can, I snuggle up with Ben & Jerry! Chunky Monkey all the way!

As we kept walking I saw this huge yacht, which I thought had to belong to someone extremely rich, I got super excited to see it up close! As we were walking closer to it, I see people on board cleaning it and so on, and than all of a sudden one of them approached us to see if we could buy tickets....yes, it was just some touristy-huge-yacht ment to trick those of us who never see huge yachts into thinking its super fancy, when really you can pay $30 to get a ride at night and maybe even a meal. I was so disappointed, BUT I still took a picture!

After the sweet yacht, we just walked around some more and took pictures of the lake and different sites in Chicago:

One More Sad Song

The other day, I was listening to the radio, and the DJ was interviewing a musician. They were talking about the importance of sad songs, and how they help people get through tough times. No one likes to listen to upbeat songs when their heart is crying out in pain.

On Sunday, one of Dad's best friends, was murdered. He was a great family friend, and my dad and him got really close when they both were single fathers, raising their kids. It was and is really hard to swallow. These things don't happen to people you know, especially not in small town Kansas, where you always feel safe. This is something that happens only in the movies, right?

When I got off of work on Monday I drove to McPherson, to see my dad. I did it more for selfish reasons, wanting to see him for my own good. After I heard what happened, it really put things in perspective to me and how important my family is to me, and I need to see him. I wanted to make sure that he knew I loved him. When I got there, I realized I needed to be there, not for myself, but for him. The man I always looked up to, who was always strong, was visibly shaken. I got out of the car and gave him the biggest hug I could, and we just cried. I held my father, not knowing what to say, just knowing that I was glad I was there, to help him through this time.

I know that if my dad didn't have God in his life, it would be so much harder to go through this moment. All I knew to do was to pray. I prayed for Mark's family, his kids and grand kids, that they would look to God through this, I prayed for my family, to be there as support, but to also make us realize how short life is, and how we tend to take each other for granted, I prayed all day, talking to God about some of the silliest things, just because I need him, needed to talk to him, needed God to hold me.

As I drove to McPherson, I began to realize how right that DJ and that musician were. I could only listen to sad songs, only those songs knew what I felt, how much it hurt. I know that this week, will define tally be a sad song week, but hopefully, next week, we will be able to rejoice in God's love, and slowly start to listen to the happy songs again.

To Mark, you were a great friend and an awesome father, you will be missed!