Last weekend, my parents & Tyler & I went to North Newton, Kansas, where my grandparents currently live. They have lived in Inman, Kansas, a small town of 1000 people for most of their lives, but have had to move off of the farm to be closer to medical assistance.

It was a wonderful time, it was so fun to see Tyler playing baseball with my cousins, and to be back in the Kansas countryside, a place that always makes me feel truly at home and loved. My family also threw us a surprise wedding shower, which was right as Tyler got done playing baseball, leaving nice damp spots all over his shirt for the pictures.

My grandparents’ farm was built by my grandpa, and my mom grew up there. I spent almost everyday there while we lived there, and have gone back time after time since we moved away. The farm has always been very special to me, and the place that I sometimes imagine when I’m feeling overwhelmed with life. I remember watching the cows in the fields, swimming in the slimy cow tank (yes), being chased by angry geese, playing gray wolf until we had to go inside, sleeping in piles of cousins in the living room, and waking up to the sun rise as I heard the clock chime.

I also remember taking long walks down the dirt road as the sun set, and watching the breeze sweep through the wheat, dreaming about my future, dreaming about the day when God would bring a husband into my life, dreaming about where God would take me and what sort of adventure my life would hold.

It was an altogether sort of different day this weekend, bringing my fiance there, and yet not having my grandparents there to greet us, and not having my cousins playing football in the front yard. No strange inbred white cats running around the yard, either.

But, God is faithful, and Tyler was able to meet my grandpa. And that means a lot to me. And my grandpa seemed to really like him.

Some of my life has really changed since I was a little girl, walking around the farm. Some of my dreams have disappeared, some have changed dramatically, and some have been fulfilled. Some of the dreamer in me has gotten lost in the shuffle of reality and busy-ness. I want to find some of that again, the peace and the quietness.