Most of you could guess that my favorite town in the world is Stockham, America... Nothing will ever compete with it in my heart. But friends, let me tell you about my second favorite city world, Waco, Texas.
I didn't expect to have such strong feelings for a place that I don't have ties to. But it swept me off my feet.
Nicole and I have talked about visiting Magnolia Market (HGTV's "Fixer Upper" stars, Chip and Joanna Gaines' business) in Waco, for quite some time. Seasons of life and always-changing responsibilities made this an unattainable dream for awhile. Until this summer, when both of our lives were shook by difficult circumstances. We both had to face the scariest days we've ever seen and our exhaustion levels grew more and more with each passing day. We were both in search of rest and closure. We longed for healing. We decided to clear our calendar and we took off on a road trip to Waco the very next week.
It was a hot July week in Texas, but our excitement seemed to mask the heat.
The actual market was smaller than I had imagined, but it was stunning. I couldn't help but smile while I walked through the gorgeous displays.
Nicole and I split up for a little bit while we shopped around. We got to the checkout and realized we both picked out the same two shirts. I guess we're friends.
Food:
Hitting up the Silos Baking Co. was a must. We both bought more cupcakes than what was considered necessary and tried to soak up every sight, smell, and taste of this beautiful place.
Every corner of Magnolia Market was planned to perfection. It was such fun to see someone's dream that has come to life in a big way.
We ate at the food trucks a couple of times, having crepes one morning for breakfast and pizza for a late lunch. Side note: Torchy's Tacos has the best queso in the world.
Waco Tour:
We planned ahead of time to take a tour of Waco. I think this was the highlight of my trip. It was amazing to hear the history of the town and to be given an insider's opinion to all the best places to eat, shop, visit, etc.
Above was a coffee shop called Common Grounds. It has an outdoor music venue that has recently hosted bands such as Needtobreathe, Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, and Shane & Shane.
We had two local Waco residents take us around to the "hot spots" and we even got to go by some of the houses that were remodeled on the show.
{The river that cuts through Waco}
One of the COOLEST parts of the trip was accidentally planning to go the EXACT same days as our friends... (We knew they were making the drive sometime in July, and I really wish we would have thought to plan it with them, but in reality we booked our trip and then realized that we had all planned to leave Monday and come home Thursday. It was hilarious and added a bunch of extra fun to our experience.) Nicole and I kind of hijacked their family vacation... My dear friends, Alyssa and Emily, are sisters and were traveling with their sister, mom and aunt. We ended up doing the tour with them and they were kind enough to invite us over to their rental house one night.
Now I need to mention, this wasn't just any old house that they rented... They stayed in a house from Fixer Upper. Some of you might remember the episode, with Max Lucado's daughter, the German Schmear House! It was fascinating to be in the home and see it up close. (I didn't take photos of the inside, but you can check out Emily B. Photography on Facebook for photos from the house.) Also, I want to German Schmear everything...
Nicole and I took a day to just stroll around downtown Waco. We stumbled upon this adorable boutique and.. well... you can guess what happened...
Did you know that Waco, TX is the home of Dr. Pepper? (This place is amazing, folks.) We took a peak at the Dr. Pepper museum and had a Dr. Pepper float. The Dr. Pepper didn't taste identical to what we're used to, but it did the trick! (They gave us Dr. Pepper on our Waco Tour, obviously.)
Waco was amazing for so many reasons, but a huge one was because God is moving big in that town. People are on fire for their faith. We had numerous conversations with people about what God was doing in Waco. Christians are stepping out and living a life of service and ministry. The Gaines' have created such a platform for the Christians in that community and they are taking full advantage! It was so encouraging to see and it made me fall in love with that place all over again.
I had such a special time making memories and creating experiences. I can't wait to go back. Who's coming with me? For real, let's go.
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Eclipse:
I'm not sure if you knew, but the Eclipse happened! I hope you didn't miss it. I'll be honest with you. I had about zero excitement for it. I was fully anticipating nothing cool to really take place. Maybe it was due to my low expectations, or maybe it was actually just amazing, but I thought it was incredible.
We went to my Uncle Tom and Aunt Arlys' house for the event. Trevin ran around all day with cousins and only stopped a couple times to check out the Eclipse. The adults celebrated with a cornhole tournament and ribs, and of course broke into Total Eclipse of the Heart an appropriate amount of times. 'Merica.
Myla enjoyed walking around with the glasses on so she couldn't see a thing. (You might remember that she loves walking blind. Towel over her head, blanket over her head, dirty clothes over her head...) She thought it was hilarious. But what she enjoyed most was having watermelon in one hand and a rib in the other. I can't blame her.
James celebrated birthday #27! He wanted to shoot guns with his buddies and eat pie. So that's what he did.
We also attended our annual church campout at CRC. James wanted us to tent with both kids for the first time. I was totally skeptical and fully expected to bring Myla home after many failed attempts at getting her to sleep. But, once again, she proved to be awesome and went down without a complaint. We ended up having both kids asleep in the tent, so we stayed up and played board games with some friends. Apparently we've got this camping thing down! Except for Day 2 when everyone is cranky, and by everyone, I mean the three youngest of the family... yes, that includes me.
We had a special time with some of our favorite people at one of our favorite places.
Myla's 1st Stockham BBQ - She was found elbow-deep in chips all night long.
Somehow I missed these photos from 4th of July. Flashback!
Hamilton County Fair:
The kids loved the carnival!
We weren't sure how Myla would do on the rides, but she was thrilled and wanted right back on after each ride ended.
Trevin giggled through the entire bumper car ride.
Hickman Hay Days, Giltner-style:
My cousins, Caleb & Kelly, used to live in Hickman. They would invite my cousins and I to come stay with them and celebrate Hickman Hay Days each year. Now they're back in Giltner, but, naturally, we continue to celebrate Hay Days every year. The kids had a blast and I tasted some of the best wings of my life. Summer perfection.
Trevin:
Well, we knew this day would eventually come. We sent our firecracker-of-a-boy off to Kindergarten! He was mostly excited and a little bit nervous about his first day. I felt the same. James decided to make pancakes on the first day of school. We thought it was a great idea until we realized it was the first day of school and we hadn't been through the routine yet. Somehow we managed to get him to school on time.
Trevin's first day was a Wednesday and they dismissed at noon. Hampton Lutheran has a Chapel service every Wednesday morning to start off the school day. They invited parents to stay for the first day of school chapel. We were able to walk Trevin into his classroom and then met him over at the church a few minutes later. HLS sets up "family units" for the students. This means that each Kindergartener gets paired up with a 6th grader, in addition to another middle elementary aged student. We got to see a 6th grader take Trevin under his wing. Teaching him where to sit, when to stand up, how to put his hand over his heart for the pledges, and overall just looking out for him. It did this mama's heart good to see a big kid being so sweet to T. After chapel, the kids went back to their classrooms and the parents were invited to a fellowship breakfast. By the time we got done at the breakfast, we had less than 2 hours before it was time to pick Trevin up. He had so much fun; he couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. We took him out to McDonald's for lunch, because that's the most special thing I could think to do for him. (Real life, he thought it was the best.) So the first day felt like a breeze. No tears, not from Trev, not from me. The next day, I dropped Trevin off in front of the school and he ran as fast as he could to his class. He didn't even look back. I drove off and thought, "We made it. We did it. We sailed over that hurdle without even flinching." He's had so much fun, but he's having a hard time grasping how long he'll be in school. On the 3rd day, he asked me, "So is there just 5 days left and then school is done?" Not quite, kid.
It has been such a good transition for us. He's learning, engaging, playing, exploring, thriving. So far it has been the perfect fit for us.
Trevin's excitement for school has been pretty consistent. He talks my ear off the entire way home about all the awesome things he got to do that day. Somehow we've started the 5th week of school. (Tell me how this happened?!) He loves 90% of it. I bet you can't guess what part he hates... No really, don't even try to guess, because you'll be wrong. He HATES PE. You read that right. PE. He hates it. He wakes up every. single. morning. and asks if he has PE that day. One day he was so worried that he had PE that he faked sick. (He's 5. How does he know to do that??) He was perfectly fine until he remembered he had PE just before we were about to load into the car, when suddenly his stomach hurt. "Mom, it's so bad. I just shouldn't even go." I took his temp; it was fine. I threw a puke bucket in the car, just in case, and tried to convince him the whole way that he'd be alright. I was about to merge on to the interstate when he made a fake gagging noise. Hearing that noise could cause even the most experienced driver to get in a car accident. Yikes. As soon as we got to school, he skipped right into his classroom and was laughing with his friends. I couldn't believe he tried to fake sick within the first month of school.
The Reasons Trevin Hates PE:
1. "They make us run a lap at the beginning. Every time!" (Apparently this is a big deal, even though he runs every other second of his life.)
2. "I just want to go play. I don't want to do jumping jacks." Right now they have PE outside on the court. It's next to all the play equipment.
3. "I don't like being hot."
4. "I don't like when we have to do this. <insert him showing me how he does high-knees>"
5. "We have PE like every day. Why do we have PE so many days?!" (They don't have it every day; the kid is fluent in exaggerations."
*Please note he also comes home and tells me about the fun stuff they did in PE that day. Yeah.
Trevin is slowly adjusting to school life. Most days he comes home wired and is filled with energy until the second he hits his pillow. He's certainly exhausted, but he's handled the transition well.
+One day Trevin kept talking about "pig nails". I had no idea what he was meaning. He got frustrated and had to go get one to show me. It was a koozie. He was calling koozies, pig nails. That's a sentence that I didn't think would ever need to be formed, yet, here we are... Friends, when you're dealing with kids, sometimes there's just no explanation for things.
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| Trevin selfie - If he finds your phone, you will have 165 just like this. And then he'll go through and "favorite" every single photo in your camera roll. |
+We got our first school blunder out of the way. I lay out Trevin's clothes for him every morning and he gets himself dressed before school. He's done a great job so far, but he's 5, so it was bound to happen. He wore his shirt backwards all day yesterday. It was a plain red t-shirt, so it wouldn't have been that big of deal... except it had a pocket on the front... Well technically it was on his back.. I tried not to make a scene of it when I finally noticed on the way home from school. When I nonchalantly suggested we change his shirt around, his eyebrows furrowed and he said, "I know that it's on backwards. The kids were laughing at me." My heart went out to the poor kid but we both decided it was kind of silly to wear a shirt backwards. All is well, but I can't help but feel partially responsible for this one.
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| He was "butchering the cow". |
+Trevin's farming hours have drastically decreased since starting school. I think it's been harder on James than it has been on T. Nonetheless, it's still in his blood and he finds time to get dirty and stay busy on the farm in between school days.
+T helped out with sweet corn processing and cutting sunflowers.
+I wanted to celebrate big with Trevin before he started school. So I took him on a date day to do all of his school shopping, we ate a ton of junk, and caught a movie at the theatre. Special memories with my boy. Of course, even a big Kindergartener needs a nap every once in a while, especially after a long day of fun.
These two have been the best of buds. They make each other giggle more than anyone else can. In case the pictures make things look too perfect... Trevin hides his toys from her. Myla headbutts him. So just normal brother-sister stuff..
Myla:
+She is parroting everything we say. Her favorite word is "pappy" (paci). We've tried to limit the pacifier to only in her crib and carseat, so she's constantly asking for her pappy. She also walks around looking for her baby all the time. "Baby? Baby? Baby?" And she's started to tell me when she's going to the bathroom. She'll probably end up potty training herself. It's unreal.
+My favorite thing right now is when she gets something on her hand she means to say "ewie" but says "owie" instead.
+We had our first food battle with her. She refused to eat a bite of potatoes. I fought her long past bed time and eventually folded and let her go to bed. The next day she ate Desitin. And she continues to try and eat it. I'm not above mashing potatoes and putting them in a Desitin tube. I would do it.
+Many of you have asked about how she's been doing lately. Honestly, she's doing so well. She had 2 breath-holding spells (passing out) the day after her seizure on the 4th of July. Since then she has only had ONE breath-holding spell! (That's 1 in over 2 months!) It happened in the church nursery. She was upset when I left her, so I watched through the nursery window to make sure she'd calm down. The nursery worker was holding her and I could tell she wasn't settling. She passed out in his arms but woke right back up, like normal. She settled for him after that and I was able to leave without having to get involved.
Her first seizure in May seemed to have started these breath-holding spells. She was having them once or twice a week. But her second seizure seems to have brought them to a halt. We are so encouraged by this. The less often she has a breath-holding spell, the less likely she will seize again. She is just a darling little thing; it's still hard to believe that we actually went through such trauma with her.
Nebraska State Fair was a little different this year. Trevin went with his school, so James and I took a day to go, with just Myla. She just goes along for the ride without complaint. Trevin went a couple days before we did so he loved being able to give us suggestions on what we should see and comparing stories afterward.
I have to put this next picture in for James. We saw a motor-stunt show at the fair. This was their finale and we were impressed. They had two motorcycles in there going around on opposite sides, with a girl standing in their with them. It was pretty cool and James still hasn't stopped talking about it.
The farm has kept James really busy even as we're going into the final lap of the crop year. We're officially done irrigating; I helped pick up pipe last week, so I can attest to that. He's finishing up the last of the projects before we start bean harvest in a couple weeks. I try to help out on the farm when I can, especially when it comes to my great ideas. I tell James that he's not the only creative one in the family. I'm trying to get him on board with my latest idea a "Bred & Breakfast" for the cows. This practice is very common in the cattle industry, but they really need to do us all a favor and start calling it a Bred & Breakfast. Anybody with me?
We received some bad news this week as we found out we lost some of our previously harvested crop. It's heartbreaking and frustrating, but that's just life. We've given our family, our land, our income back to God, because it's always been His. We realize that we are to live as stewards; the crop and the profit were never ours to begin with, so we have the freedom to release it to God and not let the loss weigh us down.
God closes some doors, but other doors, he opens... James has already received a few orders for flamers to make this winter. We're excited about this opportunity and look forward to seeing how God uses it.
My life these days includes numerous hours behind the wheel. I spend about 1.5 hours in the car every day chauffeuring Trevin to and from school. (20 min each way, 4 times, +loading, unloading, fueling, and waiting) The good news is I've been flying through my audio books and podcasts!
I've also been staying busy with church work and trying hard to keep up at home. I've been in a fog this summer; I can feel heaviness start to lift, but gloomy days often overwhelm and overtake me. I'm deliberately speaking truth into pain and slowly seeing the positive effects take hold. Fighting to mend what's been broken and secure what's been unstable. It takes time, and time is passing faithfully.
Here's to brighter tomorrows, even if it rains.
Learning how to be a school mom, growing on the farm...
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