34

I turned 34 back in April.


Had you asked me in high school I think I had a bit of the sheltered American dream at the forefront of my head. I would be happily married (which I am), with 2 kids, both my husband and I working an 8:00 to 5:00 job with our weekends free, and a white picket fence around our house.

The reality is I was clueless to the world around me.
Unaware of the realities that some people live within.

34 brings me to a world I never imagined.

In any given week I am responsible to keep 100 finger and toe nails trimmed (plus my own 20).
I change more diapers than I ever imagined, 3 kids in diapers full time and 1 while while she sleeps.
5 kids call me various forms of the name "mom." Our county calls me weekly asking if there is any way we could take any more.

3 of those kids grew in another woman's womb.
2 transformed my body in ways I never imagined. My body is not what I fathomed, growing humans is an experience like I never imagined.
We drive a 12 passenger van, which is both the most obnoxious and marvelous thing ever.
My high school dreams never even began to fathom my life now.

My dream of an 8:00-5:00 job is everything but that. God has an ironic sense of humor in calling me a pastor. The call to Pastor takes me places I never imagined. I stand on the edge of heaven while people take their last breath, I am amongst the first people call when a new baby is born. In the middle of tragedy and moments of great hope I am called to walk alongside people, to remind them of the deep truths that God promises to us all. In general I have more questions than I do answers. This year along I have walked the sacred halls of our high school as our youth have been forced to wrestle with five suicide deaths, two students, and three parents. It is sacred ground. My summers are spent gallivanting from mission trips to summer camp to vacation bible serve for work.

I continue to love to travel and traveling and with my family is even better. We have a dear set of friends the Carmacks, who used to live near us, who have become our constant travel companions. We've just returned from Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. If your interested in our travel adventures follow along on instagram on thevillagetravels. If given the option I'd be at Walt Disney World monthly. Aside from WDW, I enjoy traveling to our National Parks, and pretty much anywhere we can go. Traveling with tiny humans is a whole new ball of wax, I remember back the summer I spent in Europe with just a backpack. Now packing is a small science and ensuring we have the right blankets, sleeping buddies, and pacifiers is vital, not to forget the snacks, the right clothes, the movies for the van, the extra clothes just in case, the sound machines, the diapers, wipes, the list goes on and on.

If I manage to have time where I am not: folding the never ending mountain of laundry, cleaning the house, paying bills, packing bags for the next day, cooking, or doing other obnoxious adult type things I like to fill my time: crocheting, taking pictures, shutterflying, watching movies, hiking, reading, pintresting, baking, or talking on the phone (my friends all live way too far away) and miscellaneous projects around the house. This space, I miss it, I think I am going to attempt to come back here from time to time, we will see how often that happens, but I am going to make an effort to come here and write.

My life calls me all sorts of things: wife, daughter, sister, mother, foster mother, pastor, crocheter, Minnesotan (despite my desire to be a South Dakotan), and neighbor to name a few. This is my 34.