Life As A Farm Wife: April 2015

I've told a few birth stories on this little 'ol blog over the last few years, but this is one of a different sort. April 24th, 2015 marks ten years that I have been Mrs. Schultz and as I've reflected over this decade of marriage, the desire to write OUR birth story took root in my mind.

The gestation period (bad birth joke?) of this particular post has been a few months and many hours of searching pictures. I have truly enjoyed remembering and pondering. This is a post that I will personally revisit and read through many times and it's my pleasure to share it with you. ;)

This is the birth story of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Schultz.

Before we were Mr and Mrs, I was Wendy Sawatzky- student, basketball player, Starbucks barista, waitress, summer camp program director, pastor's daughter. He was Mitchell Schultz- 4th Gen. dairy farmer, basketball coach, youth leader (my baby brother Greg and sister Carrie were both in the youth group-- they try to take a little credit for Mitch and I getting together by putting a bug in his ear), hockey player, water sports enthusiast. We are both the oldest child and, if you've read any birth order books, you know that it's not the easiest combo to make a match of...

Believe it or not, I didn't always dream of being a farmer's wife ;) In fact, when I was in high school I remember saying, "I will NEVER date/marry a farmer." The funny thing is, I made one exception. Friends can vouch that I added to the above declaration, "EXCEPT Mitchell Schultz because I think he's hot." Oh, be careful what you say... ;)

To clarify, in those days I would have freely admitted that I found Mitch attractive, but I had no real crush. He was (is) four years older than me (which seemed like a lot at the time) and I never actually considered that I could/would possibly ever date Mitch.

We both dated a few other people, went to Bible college (He to Briercrest, me to NABC) and did a little travelling/mission type work before we found each other.

This pic was from a short missions trip to Mexico I made with a group from my College.
My debut as an actress... ;)

Obviously Mitch is on the far right ;) but, for those who don't know, my baby brother Greg is #9 in the back row.

To set the stage for this story, it begins in late Fall of 2003. Mitch was working on the farm, assisting in coaching basketball, and a youth leader at church. I lived with some girls in Saskatoon, was a Starbucks Barista during the day and a server at The Cave restaurant most evenings. For the life of me, I can't remember if I was also taking classes at the U of S that Fall. I had finished a 2-yr Associate of Arts and Religion from Taylor University College (formerly North American Baptist College) and I transferred most of my credits to U of S to enter their Bachelor of Education program, but had to pick up some classes to meet their requirements that differed from Alberta. So, maybe I was in school then, too???

ANYWAY, our paths didn't have many opportunities to cross at the time, but we both casually attended the College and Career night at Forest Grove Church on Mondays which gave destiny the jumpstart it needed. (too cheesy? ;)

I can remember the evening quite well. I hadn't planned on going to College and Career that Monday because I had to work, but business was slow at the old Cave and I must have left around 8. I walked into the church a little late to meet up with some friends. As I went to sit down, I noticed Mitch sitting with a friend just behind us and my heart did a little flip for some reason. After the worship and devotional challenge, everyone was mingling around the room. I didn't talk to Mitch at all in the sanctuary, but he sure was on my radar! All of a sudden though, I lost him. I couldn't see him in the room anymore and I remember feeling disappointed because I had been planning on somehow finding a way to casually strike up a conversation.

Unbeknownst to me, Mitch had a similar plan but had been getting worried that I would get away on him that evening. So, he went and planted himself by the exit doors in the foyer so that he wouldn't miss me. I was excited/surprised/relieved when I left the sanctuary and found that I hadn't completely botched an opportunity to talk to Mitchell Schultz.

I believe it was Mitch who initiated conversation with me, and we hit it off right from the start. Conversation flowed easily; likely because we were both eager and that evening it overflowed into the parking lot and on to Tim Horton's where my friends met up afterwards.

Our fate was sealed ;)

BUT he didn't ask for my phone number or a date,
so the continuation was a little tricky.

Knowing that I worked at Starbucks, Mitch stopped in for a hot beverage on 3 or 4 occasions hoping to see me there and pour some fuel on the fire of our initial connection. The funny thing is, my dear Mitch has never been a coffee drinker (which is odd considering the unholy hours he gets up to milk the cows), so he was in line with our regular coffee addicts, but ordering a hot chocolate or carmel steamer. Unfortunately, those efforts weren't very fruitful because I was never there when he came in!

So, Mitch changed his tactics. Like I stated earlier, Mitch was coaching the high school basketball team that my baby brother was playing on. One day after practice, he casually approached my brother Greg and asked him if he could have my phone number. Mitch thought that this would be a simple request but my little brother was not in the habit of calling me on a regular basis, so his response was, "Sure! I'll ask my mom and get back to you." There are no secrets in my family ;) By that evening, I was tipped off that a certain handsome dairy farmer had sought out my phone number. We could only assume that he meant to call ;)

Again though, I proved difficult to get a hold of. I suppose I must have been working too much because I was never home during the FIVE times he called to talk to me. (This was still in the day when we used landlines) When I missed his call for the 5th time, my dear roommate and BFF Sarah Jane called me at Starbucks to let me know. By that time, I thought that I had made Mitch work hard enough, so during one of my breaks, I called him back.

As a little side note, we had a funny moment a few months into our dating relationship when Mitch was hanging out with me at my Saskatoon townhouse. I answered the phone when a guy called to talk to Sarah Jane, but instead of handing her the phone (because she was sitting next to me) I said, "Let me just see if she's here..." She quietly shook her head and mouthed, "NO!" So, I politely informed this guy that, "I'm sorry, she's not here right now." Mitch watched this charade and was instantly suspicious that we had pulled a similar stunt when he had unsuccessfully tried five times to call and talk to me. ;)

Now that we were finally on the phone together, he promptly asked me out on a date and I happily agreed. We went out on our first date on Dec. 2nd, 2003 which was my dear Sarah Jane's birthday (the day she lost me ;)-- not really)

This was Dec. 2nd in Saskatchewan, so of course it wasn't warm. I think that Mitch was determined to see exactly what type of girl I was, so he planned an outdoor date and we went to a park to play a game of frisbee golf. I never once complained about the cold, (I was just thrilled to be there with him) so I think I passed his test. Afterwards, we went the Saskatoon Inn for dessert and we both ordered a Saskatoon Berry Cheesecake-- a match made in heaven. Again, conversation flowed freely and it was obvious that we both very much enjoyed each other's company. When he walked me up to my door at the end of the night, I remember wishing that he would kiss me (yes, I know- shame on me, this was our first date). Being the classic gentleman, he didn't kiss me, but I think I got a nice hug.

Hanging out at my townhouse we had creative hang out sessions.
This is the Big Red challenge and I think the paper in front of Mitch
might be the farming quiz he made me take. (I failed)

Some of the details from here on in are a little fuzzy, but I do know that after that first date we started to see each other regularly. A game of 21 at the gym, a walk along the river (we held mitten-covered hands), go out for Sushi... Did you guess that a farm boy would like sushi? Mitch actually took me out for my first ever sushi on one of our first few dates. At Christmas, his brother and girlfriend (my future sister-in-law) were out and I was invited to take part in a Schultz/Lepp/Shantz/Zacharias gathering, which was a fun time to get better acquainted with Mitch's world.

It was a few weeks in, when I did get that kiss. ;)

We spent a lot of time together at the farm, at my town house in Stoon, and by February, I remember feeling ready to slap a label on this relationship. Does that sound needy? I didn't think so at the time. We were definitely dating and there were sparks, but I wasn't sure if I could call him my boyfriend. I hadn't heard him refer to me as his girlfriend, but I wanted him to. So, as we found ourselves in Tim Horton's one evening, I decided to broach the topic. I'm sure my words weren't elegant as I tried to push him into defining our relationship. The only thing I can clearly remember him saying was, "If you need a label, you can call me your boyfriend."

I learned two things that evening.

1- Mitchell Schultz doesn't like to be coerced into anything.

2- I wasn't likely to ever receive poetry.

BUT, as frustrated as I felt with his poor declaration of "like," the evening ended well. Mitch showed me how much he liked me and how hopeful he felt for where our relationship was headed by inviting me to Texas with him. He even paid my whole way (flight/hotel etc) so that I could go with him to his best friend's wedding in March.

I had a great time in Texas with Mitch's friends. While I was nervous to meet all of these people whom I'm sure Mitch was looking for affirmation from (aren't we all on trial a little bit when we meet family and close friends?) they were very kind and welcoming to me. I was happy to be there as Mitch's girlfriend. I was introduced that way several times. ;)

This is a picture from Mark & Desi's wedding in March 2004.

For those of you wondering why Texas is a part of our world, Mitch went with his friends to work at Camp Ozark (a summer sports and adventure camp in Arkansas) for a few summers in his early 20's. All of Mitch's best friends, including his brother, met and married American women from there. I'm sure thankful that Mitch didn't join their ranks, although from what I've heard there were some willing females. (back off ladies)

These Canadian boys (who had grown up spending summers on Sask lakes) made up most of the camp's lake crew. They were famous on the warm waters of Lake Ouachita for putting on a ski show each camp session. Below, is a pic of the 6-man pyramid they perfected. They also did a 9-man.

My hottie is the hulk in the bottom middle holding it all together. ;)

Anyway, I had a great time in Texas with Mitch and his friends. I think we both came away from that trip feeling even more confident in the direction our relationship was headed.

Sometime at the beginning of that 2004 year, Sarah Jane and I together took on the position of Co-Associate Directors of Redberry Bible Camp. I had previously held the positions of cabin leader and program director (8 summers in a row at Redberry) and camp held (holds) a big place in my heart. I moved out to camp at the end of April and although I was busy there, one of my favourite things was to see Mitch's red hotrod (There's a pic of Mitch and his Mustang above) pull into camp to come see me.

We took many walks around camp and had many great conversations. It was sometime late spring or early summer that I realized I loved this man. It was a great feeling :) I remember wanting him to know how I felt and wanting to hear that he reciprocated my amorous feelings. However, I wanted him to be the first to say the words "I love you," so I held my tongue.

I can remember going for a walk on a beautiful path at camp and feeling like he must love me. Being the patient woman that I am, (*ahem, right...) I tried to steer the conversation in a direction where he could naturally share his intimate feelings with me. Apparently I hadn't learned from our Tim Horton's conversation because I think Mitch smelled coercion all over me and I went away from that date feeling rather frustrated.

It wasn't long after that, we were hanging out at my parents' house and at the end of the evening, we shared a very nice long kiss before he left. As we pulled away at the end, he pensively uttered the words, "I love you." Of course I was thrilled to hear it, and thrilled that I could let him know that I felt the same way.

This pic is from a little surprise birthday party I threw for Mitch at camp.

We didn't get to spend as much time together in the summer as we would have liked seeing as summer camp runs at a busy pace and farming also requires some work in the summer ;) (I was incredibly naive about farm life and the work entailed while we were dating). We saw each other on the weekends and snuck in the odd evening walk at camp.

We also attended some weddings on weekends.
I think this pic is from my friends Rob & Andrianne's wedding?

When the camp summer ended, I resigned from the position of Associate Director (my dear Sarah Jane stayed on) to go to University and date Mitchell Schultz full time. I moved back in with mom & dad to save on costs as I went to school and therefore, worked less. It didn't hurt that I was also moving closer to the farm... ;)

That Fall, Mitch and I encountered our first major disagreement or misunderstanding. A couple of my cousins were getting married in Alberta and of course I wanted my handsome boyfriend to come with me. As I made plans to go to the weddings with my family, Mitch was hesitant to commit to coming because of how it could affect the harvest season. Not coming from a farming background, I really couldn't understand how missing a day or two on the field could really affect the harvest as a big picture. I knew that I loved Mitch and I wanted him to meet more of my extended family (and show him off a little, too).

As it turned out, he wasn't able to make it to either wedding and I guess I took it personally. It's funny how time can change you perspective on things, but I remember feeling incredibly frustrated and like he was choosing the farm over me. (As if anything is ever that simple) I'm sure on his end he was frustrated at my lack of understanding about the farming life. I wrote Mitch a long letter, airing my grievances/concerns, and dropped it off to him before heading off to the last wedding.

I felt just awful the entire time I was in Alberta for the wedding, wondering what Mitch had thought of my letter and wondering if I had made a big mistake in writing it. I couldn't wait to get home and talk things over with Mitch who, I later discovered, wasn't sure if I was contemplating breaking things off or what.

When I got home, we did talk things over but the funny thing is, I really have no memory of what that conversation was! (Kiss and make up, perhaps?) The main thing was, we were okay ;) I was beginning to realize what a high learning curve I was entering in choosing to be with a farmer.

Maybe it was our skirmish that kicked Mitch into high gear ;) because it was only a few weeks later that he was in a jewellery store (without my knowledge, of course) purchasing a ring. Actually, he was in that store on a few occasions because his debit card had a low daily allowance on it ;) (I know he loves me because his time is precious!!)

Mitch chose an evening when he knew I was working and wouldn't be home to go and talk to my parents about asking for my hand. Normally, my parents were not early to bed but on that particular night they had turned in early. My sister Carrie opened the door (Mitch knew that his chances of flying under the radar were lessening) and she went and woke dad up to come talk to Mitch. The experience didn't quite play out as smoothly as Mitch had envisioned it (I think dad did get somewhat dressed to talk to Mitch), but all was well ;) My dad was happy to give Mitch his blessing in asking me to be his wife.

I really am surprised that no one in my family spilled the beans about Mitch's visit that evening because it was at least 2 weeks before he carried out the rest of this pre-marital endeavour. I had no idea that he had taken these steps in preparation to "pop the question." We had talked about wanting to be apart of each other's future, and we had become more generous with the "I love you's," but we never directly talked about marriage.

On November 20th, 2004, we went to a steak night fundraiser that we had bought tickets for in support of some friends. We sat at a table with a few other couples who were friends of ours and enjoyed an evening visiting with them. Throughout the evening, I felt myself becoming increasingly frustrated with Mitch because I felt like he was giving me somewhat of a cold shoulder. I now know that he had a ring burning a hole in his pocket and his nerves were driving him crazy.

After dinner, we went for a walk (just the two of us) along the Meewasin trail and ended up sitting in the little gazebo near the University bridge. I remember still wrestling with my attitude towards Mitch and contemplating bringing up my frustrations from the Steak night (yep, I'm a talker-- poor Mitch). Mitch had another plan in mind though and that's when he looked at me beside him and said those words I'll never forget...

"How would you feel about not dating anymore?"

Say what??? The evening hadn't gone that bad! For a second I was really thrown by Mitch's choice of words for this moment, but he was referring to upping the status of our relationship, not a break up. Not a poet, remember? ;) He didn't give me much time to puzzle over his wording because he was quickly down on one knee and instantly my frustration vanished. He said the words, "Will you marry me?" while he held out a beautiful diamond ring and I don't think I said yes right away. He had certainly caught me by surprise and I think I said, "Really?" a couple of times before answering with a resounding YES!

The rest of that evening is a blur in my mind as we savoured the moment and then excitedly made a million phone calls to share our news.

We went out to The Station Place with both of our parents to celebrate our engagement.

We had our wedding pictures done by Gina's Portraits and she did a fun engagement shoot for us, too.

Engaged on November 20th, we planned to get married on April 24th (a date strategically selected before farm seeding), which gave us five months to plan a wedding. We quickly found our photographer (I have several friends who are photographers now, but ten years ago a good photographer was more difficult to come by!) I found my dress and we booked the church/caterers, etc. Then, we waited. I know five months doesn't sound long, but I remember it feeling incredibly long!

Mitch and I actually made all of our own wedding invitations! For two non-crafty individuals, this was quite an endeavour and they turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. You'll have to take my word for it though, because I can't find any that I kept!!!

I have sweet memories of Mitch and I cutting, punching holes and tying ribbons in the living room of our old farm house. I'm risking embarrassment with this next little story, but I must have been really comfortable, because it was the first time I ever tooted (passed gas) in front of Mitch; accidentally, of course. I remember surprising myself and then quickly looking to see if Mitch's radar had picked it up. He had been cutting some paper when it squeaked out and he instantly froze, turned and looked at me wide-eyed. I don't remember if he actually spoke the words but his eyes said it all, "What was that???!!" Certainly his sweet soon-to-be wife was not capable of such sounds/smells! Haha... if he'd only known then what he was in for...

During the months of our engagement, I was in school and working at Starbucks while Mitch was milking cows and we were both youth sponsors at our church.

Some of you may wonder how we chose to go to Dalmeny Bible Church when my dad is the pastor at Dalmeny Community Church (at least for a few more months-- he is retiring after 19 yrs at DCC). We really like both church communities, but when Mitch and I got together he was very involved at DBC and I had been away and not involved at DCC for a few years. It was natural to join Mitch where he was already involved and serving and thankfully, we never received any flack from family or friends for our decision. For a community where there are only 2 churches and they are both evangelical, I am thankful for the amicable sentiment between the churches. We joked about being Romeo and Juliet, but our union was not nearly so tragic. We felt nothing but love and support from both church families.

We flew out to Texas at the beginning of March 2005 to attend the wedding of Mitch's brother Carson to my now sister-in-law, Hilary. It was a beautiful wedding at a ranch in Austin Texas and I remember enjoying it immensely. It only made me more excited for Mitch and my own wedding 7 weeks later.

As our wedding date drew near, we were very excited. Both Mitch and I have truly great friends and we enjoyed spending time with them in the days approaching our big day. I felt very special as there were a few wedding showers thrown in our honour, and I even had the experience of being kidnapped and thrown in the back of a vehicle, than paraded around the city in ridiculous garb. Mitch's groomsmen all travelled north from Texas to celebrate with Mitch the week leading up to our wedding.

While I was in Jenny's Bridal Boutique for my final dress fitting, I was given an interesting reminder of the world I was about to marry into. Mitch called to tell me about a massive calf that one of his cows gave birth to. It's actually a cool story and a fun memory of our wedding week. When the mama cow was calving, Mitch could tell that the calf was bigger than usual when the feet came out. He quickly hauled her in to the University large animal clinic where they performed a cesarian on the cow. They had to re-cut the incision 3 times before they could get the calf out! Poor Bessie was cut from her spine all the way under her belly! (Don't worry, she was stitched up and healed well, even milking a full lactation after this) The bull calf they delivered was twice as big as what's usually expected. The average holstein calf is around 85-90 lbs at birth but this big guy (Who we named Andre-- the giant) was a whopping 187 lbs!! The biggest calf the University has seen on record. Mitch brought cow and calf home to the farm and Andre became like a pet as he was shown off to our many visitors at the farm that week.

I had to write a University final exam the day before our wedding (I forget which class). When the exam schedule came out, I tried to see if I could write that exam early, but a wedding is not a good enough reason for changing an exam, apparently. So, I wrote a nearly 3 hour exam that Saturday morning, then went to the church to help with the decorating that was, thankfully, already started. Nothing like adding a little extra stress to the day! ;)

All the details seemed to fall into place (with the help of many friends and family). We opted for a bit of a different style of wedding. We had our wedding rehearsal during the afternoon on the Saturday, then our rehearsal dinner was actually a larger sit down, catered event where we had toasts, speeches and our slide show, etc. We knew that our actual wedding would be quite large, so for all of our guests who travelled to come, as well as close friends and family, we invited them to our rehearsal dinner (approx 150 people) catered by the delicious Oven Scents Catering. It was a very fun evening. I remember feeling overwhelmed and humbled as I looked around the room. Having all the people you care about most in one room is an amazing experience.

Sunday April 24th, 2005 was our wedding day and I woke up early that day (hardly slept, if I can recall). The sun was shining, the sky was blue and I felt great. I didn't go to church that morning, but I do remember reading a little from my bible which seemed to set a beautifully reverent tone for the day. My bridesmaids had all slept over with me and I don't think they woke up with the sun as I did ;) One of my dear friends, Andrianne came over early to my parent's house to transform my hair. She is a superb hairdresser and I think we even did highlights and a cut before she styled my hair for the wedding. All of my primping for the wedding happened there at the house, and it was so fun and relaxing with my favourite girls all around to share that time with me. I don't recall there being any stress to that morning; just lots of laughs and love.

I know that there are many people who are firm believers that the groom should not see his bride until she's walking down the aisle, but we broke that rule. (We also like to know the gender of our babies before they're born-- Rebels, I know) Our wedding day events went like this: Prep, Pictures, Wedding Ceremony then stand-up reception immediately following. (The program had been the night before at the rehearsal dinner, remember?)

Mitch came to pick me up to go for pictures at 1pm. He waited in the backyard of my parent's house and we had our own special moment where we could look at each other, embrace and take in the greatness of this commitment we were about to make to each other. It was really special.

We went on our own to meet our photographer and take pictures of just the two of us in a few different locations. Our wedding party and then our families met up with us later on. The following are a few of my favourites.

We had a very fun wedding party which added to a great day.
All of these wonderful people are still treasured in our lives today!

We are so thankful to have family that is loving and supportive! Both the Schultz's and the Sawatzky's are solid families that are generous and kind. Our wedding day could not have been as wonderful as it was without all of these people!

I may have lost our wedding invitations, but I did find a program from our wedding. We had a beautiful wedding with lots of music and worship.

When I think about our wedding, there's almost nothing I would change. The day was nearly perfect, but there are two things that I might do differently. In the above pic, you can see me holding a mic at the back of the sanctuary before walking in. I love to sing and I came up with this totally romantic idea that I should surprise Mitch and start singing the song I would walk in to from the back of the church. I was in love with an album by Sarah Kelly at the time and I chose the song, More than Anyone. What I failed to take into consideration was how overcome by emotion I would be. My emotions are my achilles heel when it comes to singing or speaking in public. I lose control of my voice and often come away feeling embarrassed. When I started singing, I took one look at Mitch (who is great at remaining composed, but his tell-tale sign of emotion is his jaw sticking out a little further--- which it was) and I was a goner. I fumbled through the first few lines, but was relieved when I could let my little brother and sister finish the song and I could ditch the mic.

The second thing I would change is minor, but I'm reminded of it every time I look at pictures of our ceremony. The church had recently celebrated it's 100th anniversary and made a banner to commemorate it that hung on the wall at the front of the sanctuary. Why did I not think to cover it up?? Our pictures would have been nicer with a more neutral background. (see below)

After the ceremony, we had a stand-up reception with desserts and a mashed potato bar in the gymnasium of the church. We had a receiving line in the hallway in between the sanctuary and gym. It took us nearly two hours to greet/hug our 350-ish guests, and I'm glad we let our wedding party off the hook for that. It was just Mitch and I with our parents in the receiving line and we enjoyed getting a small window to connect with all of the people who came to support us at our wedding.

Once we made it into the gym with everyone, we had a short time to mingle, do the bouquet and garter toss, made a few public thank-you's and then it was time to take off! I fully loved our wedding day, but the feeling of driving away from such a momentous event in our lives with my new husband was amazing. We stopped to get changed and then we hit a drive through as we went to a hotel for the night. There had been a tonne of food at our reception, but there's no time to stop and eat when you have so many great people to visit with!! We were famished!

Checking in to a hotel as Mr and Mrs felt super weird but fun, and I'll suspend the telling of the rest of this day. It's classified.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and swung by the Govt. of Canada building to pick up my renewed passport. (Nothing like cutting it close, eh?) Then, we drove to Calgary. We had booked flights out of Calgary to go to a resort in Cancun. I can't remember what our rational was for flying out of Calgary instead of Saskatoon but it was likely cheaper? These days, we're willing to fork over a little extra cash for convenience, but I remember loving the drive to Calgary. It gave Mitch and I time to debrief and share stories of people we'd talked to at our wedding. I remember the drive not feeling long at all!

In Calgary, we stayed at a hotel near the airport so we could leave our vehicle there for a week and be shuttled to and from the airport. Going to Cancun was an excellent decision for us as it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. If you've read earlier posts I've written, you know that we love Cancun. Returning there in January in honour of our 10th Anniversary confirmed and rekindled our love for that place.

Our honeymoon in Cancun was perfect. (I'll just leave it at that)

On our way home, we stayed in the same hotel in Calgary and Mitch left a large tip for the cleaning lady... by way of his wedding band on the bedside table. He almost kept his ring for our whole honeymoon. We did find him a replacement band, and Mitch would want you to know that he has kept it in his possession all these years ;)

We returned home in time for putting the crop in and I hit the ground running in my role as a new farm wife. Those were some crazy weeks of adjustment.

This post is entitled the BIRTH of us, which would imply that it's about beginnings, so I suppose that now is when I should wrap this chapter of our story up. It's been a crazy, wonderful, challenging and incredibly rewarding 10 years that we have spent together. Maybe I will have to write a continuation to this tale, because it is really only the preface to our forever.

I love being a Mrs to my Mister and the mother of our beautiful babies. I have been on a high learning curve when it comes to taking on the role of farm wife. (I could write a book about my mishaps, mistakes etc. --hitting the ditch 5 times in one year, nearly causing a grain truck to catch fire, and much much more!) I know that I am far from perfecting it, but I can't imagine our lives anywhere else.

Consider the following pics to be like a teaser of an upcoming sequel... (it may take awhile to write...)