natalie’s blog

After another 2,000+ miles of traveling I am overjoyed to be home for a while! My friend Alisa and I left last Sunday for Wisconsin, stopping over in St. Louis and Milwaukee along the way to visit and stay with friends. We arrived at Camp Nicolet Tuesday afternoon where we enjoyed a refreshing week of [...]

After I finished my teaching year with a couple of piano camps in July, I took some time off. Here’s a recap of some of what I’ve been up to… INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS I spent four days with Andy and Nicole in Independence. The first night they took me to the local miniature golf course to [...]

Just had to share… (Click to see the full-size image.)

The idea was borne last December, on the eve of a meeting of staff members for Adventures In Character 2007. I had been praying persistently for some guidance from the Lord on what our theme for the year should be. As I read the second chapter of Proverbs that night, I was particularly inspired by [...]

Extra points if you can name the mountain.

Last Friday afternoon Alisa and I made our way to Topeka for the annual Kansas Days gathering of the Kansas Republican Party. It was an eventful weekend, and I thought I’d share some of the highlights here. (You can read about Kansas Days 2006 here.) We spent Friday afternoon visiting the receptions of various office [...]

The month of December proved to be festive and full for our family. Below are some highlights from the month: This was actually from November, but our whole family enjoyed traveling to Topeka and attending a rally with President Bush to support Jim Ryun. Another November one that I just couldn’t forego: One of my [...]

…play in the snow!

So, I found out that last Friday was officially “Change Your Oil” day. Rats. I always find out about these things too late. I didn’t get around to my yearly oil change until Saturday morning. The weather was certainly not ideal, but Naomi and Joey braved the chilly rain to help me get the job [...]

My dear friends Julia and Daniel have welcomed their second daughter into the world. Even more exciting – for me anyway – they named her after me! (Well, her middle name anyway. Apparently Julia wanted to name her first name after me, but that was just a little too scary for Daniel. Seems he was [...]

Sadly, my plans for a pool-dwelling-lemonade-sipping summer never came to fruition. I found my month off (August) consumed with work on a website project that is now [mostly] done. Praise the Lord! You can visit the new Teaching Parents Association website here: The site was developed using the Open Source Joomla CMS, some embedded html [...]

Monday evening, Naomi and I attended a special Candidate Forum hosted by the Harvey County Republican Party. Six of the seven gubernatorial candidates were present. Each candidate was asked a total of four questions, one at a time, and given a limited amount of time to respond. For me, the decision to be made was [...]

What better way to greet the official first day of summer than with a day off? This morning I was thrilled when I looked at my calendar and realized I had absolutely nothing officially scheduled! It occurred to me that it had been a while since I experienced such a treat, so I checked my [...]

“One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts; They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.“ Psalm 145:4 & 7 “The most important thing one generation can do is to equip the next generation to lead.“ Jeff Myers From this challenging statement [...]

Texas is definitely obsessed with her star! Every direction you turn, you will find it engraved, plastered, embossed, embroidered, stuck or painted onto something. I have traveled through Texas several times before, but this is the first time I really observed the extensive use of the star. In addition to this observation, throughout my recent [...]

This has long been one of my favorite poems. It never ceases to inspire me whenever I reread its timeless message: The Bridge Builder An old man, going a lone highway, Came, at the evening, cold and gray, To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old [...]

What must a Republican candidate do if he/she hopes to be elected in the state of Kansas? He/she must attend the annual Kansas Days festivities in Topeka. Throughout my participation in the festivities of the weekend, this is something that I began to realize. Whichever candidate garners the support of those in attendance at this [...]

Packed up and ready to embark on the drive to Colorado. Naomi peers out from behind a packed seat – the amount of luggage and other paraphernalia seemed to increase proportionately to the additional space we acquired due to the absence of two sisters. I’m not sure how that happened… We spent a little bit [...]

On December 31, 2005, individuals and groups of characters began to arrive at the much-anticipated Masquerade that Kendra and I, along with a number of our family members and friends, had been planning and preparing for for months. The specified theme was “Fairy Tales and Love Stories” and everyone was instructed to come as any [...]

40 hours on a bus. 2,000+ miles of travel. Excellent preaching from the Word of God. Singing some incredible music with hundreds of others. Hiking to a waterfall. Swinging across the creek on a rope swing. Swimming in the creek. Sharing a cabin with six other girls. Drinking smoothies in the Coffee shop. Being released [...]