Living Life in High Def

This was the theme that Dale Price, a man who was like a father to me, had for his battle with cancer for almost three years. It is something that I NEVER want to forget. We take for granted those who we love most and hold dearly in our hearts and lives. I get so wrapped up in the every day events of life, grad school, and future 'planning' that I, at times, forget to be intentional with my relationships. I am removed from the rest of the world-LITERALLY. lol. In some ways it is a blessing to be secluded so that I can stay on track for studying, research, and writing. In others, it is a detriment to my social circles, fellowship and communication with the outside world. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I received a phone call that my grandma had been sent to the ER on Sunday morning. The running joke is that my grandma will outlive us ALL, she is that healthy. I panicked and feared the worse. I asked the Lord, REALLY? I can't handle this, two in two months! Cannot do it. Granted, I was thinking worse case scenario, but it was still so hard to see someone I love so dearly in pain and very ill and there was absolutely NOTHING I could do about it. I'm 1700 miles from home. BUT, I can pray. I can pray and trust that God's timing is best for my life.

Only HE knows the number of our days on this earth. Whether we live to be 30 or 90. So, what have I learned?

I have been reminded to not take my friendships and family for granted. I keep in fairly good contact with most of my family, but through these challenging times especially, I need to be vigilant.

My letter writing will continue to keep the post office in business as I send out my weekly stash of letters and the occasional care package to people across the US.

I can unfortunately get wrapped up in figuring out what is next when the rest of the world says I need to have 'plans' 12-18 months in advanced. One day at a time. Yes, be thinking about the future, but God has proven time after time that HIS timing is perfect and plan will be revealed...eventually. :)

PRAY. I do this regularly, daily, yet to be diligent throughout each day. People come to your mind for a reason. You may not know how to pray specifically for that person, but you can still have a great conversation with the Lord about them.

My heart truly is the size of Texas. In some areas I need to guard my heart. Yet in others, keep is open and share it freely with the world, showing and sharing the love of Christ and what He has done in my life.

So, How are you going to live each day? Are you just going through the motions to get by? Struggling to stay afloat? Living on cloud nine and not even aware of whats really going on around you? Know that you are not alone and you don't have to have all the answers figured out. I sure don't. BUT, I know that I am not going to waste the precious time given to me to spend on this earth. I am going to live my life in High Def and know that everything has a purpose and place in the grand scheme of things. Every encounter with a person, phone call, text message, facebook post has purpose and meaning. Don't waste it. Live your life in High Def.

Recap

I know, I know....its bee WAY too long. Crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun or maybe its just in grad school?

Well, here's the long and the short of it. I returned to Lincoln, NE mid last October and hit the lab hard. Our ruminant nutrition lab was scheduled to close during finals week in December, so I had two months to complete ALL of my first years worth of sample analysis. Thankfully I got it ALL done! :) I spent a wonderful two weeks at home during Christmas and was blessed to spend time with family and friends.

I started my second research project right after Thanksgiving conducting what we call an in vivo digestibility study. I used six of my research, fecal bag broke calves from summer 2010 to conduct this study. We were striving to measure forage intake and determine the in vivo or in the body digestibility of these feeds. By determining these values, we then can use these to regress values determined in our in vitro water bath analysis. We use the water bath method to determine the digestibilities of feed samples. There are standard samples run at the same time as the feeds being analyzed and compared to when calculating digestibility. The study that I did this winter, was to add more standards to the set the lab already had and make sure they were accurate.

Spring semester was a heavy load with three classes, the digestibility study, getting ready for this summer's second year trial and life. I had the opportunity to be an ACI, Assistant Clinic Instructor, at a CHA instructor certification clinic at Canyonview Camp in Oregon in April. It was my first one, but overall it was a blast with a great group of clinic participants and Clinic Instructor to work with. I unfortunately had to return to Oregon two weeks later for the funeral of man who was like my second father. He had been a part of my life since before my parents were married. He was the former executive director of Canyonview Ministries for over thirty years. His battle with cancer for almost three years is over and not hurting any more. He lived his life like no other, especially those last three years. His theme was 'living life in High Definition'. I shall never forget it and strive to do the same.

So, by the grace of God and my professors, I pushed through and finished spring semester at UNL. After a state wide Beef Committee meetings including all graduate students, extension, and faculty involved with beef research and extension, I headed west to the sandhills. Home sweet home...or what I thought it would be.

Granted, going into this summer/fall season I knew what I was getting myself into or so I thought. Yet, there has been an entire new set of challenges, trials, and struggles. So, here I go forward, one day at a time. I have approximately 6 months and six days to complete my Masters Degree in Animal Science. The beginning of the end (of this chapter) has commenced!