Somehow, some way, Scott and I were able to get away alone together for about a week. This, in and of itself, is amazing. We were truly blessed to have the time together, especially in light of the events to follow.
First off, we got to spend a few days in the Fort Worth Stockyards. DFA has a Young Cooperators program and several months ago, we applied for membership. The application was actually very long and detailed and wanted to know all about our lives off of the dairy. Then we had to send in several pictures of ourselves doing things around the dairy. So we picked some cute pictures (Scott posed me feeding a calf, Scott baling hay, me at the clinic, etc) and sent them in. So we get to the meeting and Scott’s friends from Winthorst told us it’s no big deal, they just flash the pictures up on the screen, we explain them and go on. So we did. At the end of the day they announced the finalist- and our names were called. Then we were told we would have our interview in the morning. Finalists? Interviews? Then the next morning a panel of judges asks us a few questions in front of the whole group. We did okay. Then at the end of the day, we’re announced as the winners. And tell them what they’ve won: we now represent the DFA-YCs in the Southwest Council. That means we get to travel to the National Milk Producers Federation Annual Meeting, the DFA National meeting, some meeting in D.C., and get to plan next year’s YC meeting. WHAT?!?!
This is actually really great. Just the week before, we had decided that we needed to take more trips together to wind down and reconnect, and to do this more often than once every 5 months. DONE. This position will force us to follow through with that commitment. It gives us something to look forward to every few months- which is a BIG deal. And we get to take some great all-expenses-paid trips out of town.
Then, we got to go spend five wonderful days ALONE together (okay, Friday was spent driving there and Tuesday driving home, but we were still alone). Scott’s Grandpa owns (owned ) a condo in Angel Fire, New Mexico and he let us stay there for free as an anniversary present. The weather was great; the highest afternoon temp was 77°F and I think we had a thunderstorm every afternoon. Saturday we slept in, laid around being lazy, went to a little street fair in the ski resort, drove over to Eagle’s Nest to window shop and came home to take a nap. Sunday, our first anniversary, we celebrated by going to church. Some of Grandpa’s best friends for over 45 years attend that church when they are at their summer home in Angel Fire. He asked Scott to serve on the table with him and gave a very nice talk about having horizontal Christian relationships with our brothers and sisters (and their grandchildren) in Christ and a vertical relationship with the Father. We went down to Taos for lunch (authentic Mexican), then back to church, then grilled steaks and had our wedding cake , which was surprisingly delicious! Scott took my breath away with 3/8 Karat diamond earrings- he wanted to make our first anniversary special. All I got him was an iPod, which is what he wanted, but still not a “forever present.” Monday, we took a day trip over to Red River and did more window shopping.
Ahhhh…. The beauty of not having any commitments, not having to go DO anything, and most importantly, having time to fall in love with each other all over again- to have quality time together and to reconnect. Zero responsibility- so wonderful!!
And then all of that ended. On the way home we got word that Jesse, the dairy hand that has been with us for 16 years, was fired for mouthing off to Kenton in Spanish. *SIGH* Bye-bye, Scott. Nice knowing you. I think I’ve seen him (waking hours) for an average of 1 ½ hours a day since we’ve been back. However, this transition has somehow been easier because we were able to gain a new trust, respect, and somehow find some more patience for each other. Yet another struggle in our young marriage, but God is here in the middle of it with us. With Him, all things are possible.
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