Blogs
When I "signed up" to be a parent, I'm pretty certain there were visions of star athletes, Nobel Peace Prize winning intellectual children and the ever-present "be yourself and do your best." I don't recall visions of defiant 2-year-olds, cleaning vomit, restless nights/waking in a panic, daycare bills or other illnesses.
When I’m not wearing heels, teaching Thoreau, and educating tomorrow’s
voters, you can find me wearing my favorite cowboy boots, crawling through
prairie grass, picking sand burrs out of my knees, playing peek-a-boo with
little ones, and showing teens how to “be fierce”.
My name is Katrina, and I am a teacher who moonlights at as photographer.
I am a 1998 graduate of Broken Bow high school. My parents, Kevin and
Shannon, ranch east of Broken Bow on land that has been part of my
family for 132 years. After earning a degree in Anthropology and History
Guest Blogger Nate is the creator of the Nebraska Beer Blog, www.nebraskabeerblog.com which keeps people all over the state current on craft beer news. Nate also is part owner in Brew Bums, a homebrew supply store in Ansley, NE.
We are bio parents, step parents, grandparents, foster parents & soon to be adoptive parents. Between the 2 of us we have 5 bio children ages 27, 18, 12, 8 & 4. We're grandparents to a 6 & a 5 year old, foster parents to 6 children (1 aged out of the Child Welfare System, 3 reunified with bio parents, 2 in process of adopting).
Guest blogger, Brad, is from Broken Bow and is a National Guard sergeant currently deployed in Iraq. He is nearing the end of his tour and reflects on his time there:
Ever feel so stressed you don't know where to begin de-stressing? I'm pretty certain that's the story of my life. In fact, I was so involved in things during my childhood/high school/college years that I've barely volunteered for anything since then! And, then, along came children! I can't even remember what I did with my spare time...in fact, I don't think I can remember what "spare time" means.
Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, work and play - and the things I volunteer for now are very meaningful to me. However, it's also important to have time to relax and de-stress.
When I look back on my family of origin, it's interesting to see how our relationships change and then come back around. I'm POSITIVE I was always the loving, caring older sister who looked out for my younger siblings. Ok, ok, so there were a FEW times I got mad and mean.
Ever feel like life is running away from you or pulling you every which way? I think that's what constitutes a "normal" day for me. Which raises many questions, primarily, what am I to do with my life?
Have you ever met that person who knows everything there is to know about a subject - and yet, they've never actually experienced it? Ya, that's me. I've learned that through becoming a parent, but that's not what I'm going to focus on.
Growing up, I wanted a horse. I tried Shel Silverstein's idea, threatening my parents with "I'll die if you don't get me a horse." (It didn't work) I ended up riding and showing other peoples' horses. In retrospect, it wasn't a bad gig. However, I didn't give up on my dream to own a horse.
