My parents were in McPerson for a John Deere reunion for the weekend so my kids and I drove to meet them. I dreamed about what it would be like to be living just 3 short hours away from them instead of 12!! I'm grateful we could have this time with them. They're happy in Fruita and we all know it's where they are supposed to be right now.
We met up at the Salina mall! We laughed that Austin is darker than my dad.
My mom jumped into our van and we stopped in Lindsborg, KS, a small Swedish community.
We climbed Coronade Heights. The farmland is stunning.
I've been dreaming about having my kids experience a wheat harvest. I grew up out in the country surrounded by farmland and I don't know if I appreciated the beauty and peacefulness of watching a harvest. I don't know who had the biggest smiles - my dad or my kids. I cried as I reflected on my Kansas upbringing. We met some incredible farmers who worked with all their heart. As we drove by our old country home, I cried again and thought back to all my personal experience of prayer in my basement bedroom that Angela and I shared. I remember kneeling to pray to ask if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and the Holy Ghost confirming that I've know it's true and to keep moving forward with faith. I remember praying to know where I should go to college and where I should head after I graduated college. I remember returning home from my mission and praying to know where I should move next and felt like Chicago was right for me. I remember friends coming to our home and all of us being so excited when family would drive to Kansas to see us. My testimony was solidified in that Kansas home. Even though a new family gets to call our old home their home, my testimony of prayer and the gospel of Jesus Christ remains in me.
We swim every day, but the first thing the kids beg to do when we get to a hotel is to SWIM!
Since Eli will be starting middle school this year, I wanted to show the kids where I started 7th grade. We had just moved to McPherson during the summer and here is where I went to school. I remember coming home from the first day of school and running downstairs to my room and crying on my bed. It was hard to be the new kid and I missed so many of my friends from Dodge City. I remember my mom saying it would take time and each day would provide new opportunities to meet new people. It was a hard transition and although I blamed my dad for making us move and life feeling hard as a 7th grade, as I graduated high school, I looked back and realize that middle school can be tough for everyone. I ended up loving McPherson and being blessed with incredible friends that helped shape my testimony. It's true! My friends asked me questions often about my faith. When I didn't know the answer, I'd run home and ask my parents how I should respond. Little did my friends know that their questions helped my testimony to grow.
We stopped by the John Deere reunion and gave hugs to the employees that worked at the dealership when I was a kid! As I scanned the pictures, I was taken back to my years of begging my mom to take us to the dealership so we could get free popcorn and say hi to my dad!
Thanks, McPherson, for being the perfect small town for my family and me. What a treat it was to take my kids back and enjoy two days with my parents. My kids have pulled out my older blog books. I'm always inspired to keep a better journal as I watch them read and re-read the books I've created. I guess it's time to create another book!!
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