Summer2026 Trip#2 Nashville TN

 

2nd summer trip - Keaton and Mom drove to Nashville for Keaton's new student orientation. It's a long drive, y'all!! Fortunately, we have friends we can overnight with in Dallas. It was so good to catch up with Steve and Lisa. Thanks guys for the beds, the meals, the laughs, the memories and the Dr. Pepper! 

When we finally got to Nashville we were ready to take on the day, excited to hear about what Keaton's first year at Lipscomb would be like. We found out who his roommate will be. Met his RA. Tried to orient ourselves with the student center vs. the dorm vs. the building where his computer lab is.

The campus is small, but beautiful brick buildings and trees line every walkway. People are super friendly. Reminds me a lot of the campus I lived on for 3 years in Arkansas. School colors are purple and gold. The mascot for Keaton's new school is the Bison. (My school in Arkansas was the Bison too.) So now he's part of the "herd". Odd though, the little hand signal they give each other when someone says "Go Bison!" looks a lot like the University of Texas at Austin "hook 'em horns" hand signal. I don't know where it originated, but for this life-long Texas Tech fan, it felt a little awkward for me to hold up my fist in the UT (TTU rival) gang sign.

I think the orientation is as much for the parents as it is for the student. Lots of talk about the university goals for the well being of the student, heart, soul and mind. I did get the sense the faculty and staff really do care about these kids. We even got to meet with the faculty in the animation department. And Keaton walked away from that meeting saying something along the lines of "I feel like I finally found my people." Not a direct quote, but pretty close. The head of animation spoke to the reality of how even though he wasn't always taking the jobs in animation for the exact type of work he loved, he could always find work. And that he has continually been able to support his wife and three children. That sat well with me as a parent. They are concerned that these kids don't just get a degree, but that they learn the transferrable skills to actually find a job and support themselves. Listening to this professor share his story also gave Keaton confidence that he can pursue his art as a career and still have a family someday. Hours and hours of sitting through Q&As and departmental resources and we were both pretty spent. I will be honest, it was a lot of information and not much food or drink. I was tired, dehydrated and getting a bit loopy by 3 or 4pm.

All in all, though, it was a worthwhile trip. And priceless time I got to spend with Keaton chatting in the car. We also listened to the audio book of "Project Hail Mary". Surprisingly, I liked it a lot. Okay, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but the audio production was pretty amazing. It was so interesting and engaging and more importantly, Keaton loved that I loved the book. (He is a huge fan.) One of my friends watched the movie and was not impressed, so maybe I won't like the movie as much....will let you know once it is released to streaming.

We are still praying for the remaining funds to come in to cover the 2nd semester. CLICK HERE TO DONATE. Today Keaton turned in a scholarship application from our church's foundation. Hopefully that will come through. If not this semester, he can apply again in the spring. He had to write an essay describing what he wants to do and why. Plus he also had to explain how he is active in church and what activities he has pursued. He is realizing (and said as much to me this past week) that serving others really gives him joy. Moreso than the accolades from graduation or the achievements or certificates. This really warms my heart. My friends and I often reminisce on this - - the natural lift we feel in our hearts when we take time to serve others on a mission trip or in small ways in our day-to-day. How we have learned to be deliberate about giving to others, lest we drift in our own spiritual walk. It's good to know that I've passed some of that along to my son(s).

At the end of our time in Nashville, the school's president recited the Aaronic blessing. So I'll leave you with this also. Peace.

Numbers 6:24-26 "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

It's a Secret, Shhh!

Buckle up. This may be a long post. Somehow I neglected to post about the 4th of July this year! We enjoyed uncle/cousin time in the pool around mid-day on the 4th. Plus, we also had a lovely time with family & friends in the evening (it poured rain right around dinner time!) But with rain, inevitably comes a beautiful promise. Actually, I hung out with my brothers and their families while the boys spent time with their friend a few blocks away. I know they blew up a lot of fireworks (and I observed many explosions at my brother's house.) 

We each got some new toys in July. I finally have a fitness watch, compatible with my phone, to count my steps and alert me if I'm getting a text/phone call. It's not an Apple watch, but only cost me a about $35 once I paired that with an Amazon gift card from my birthday. It comes with a variety of interesting watch face designs that I've played with. I love it! Keaton bought himself an electric guitar and is learning to play that. Cole bought an inflatable raft and some Star Wars collectibles. I think I was ruined as a child dusting every week around my mother's collectibles such that I did not want to collect anything as an adult. Thus, I think Cole is the opposite, and cherishes his collections: Legos, stuffed animals, Star Wars figurines, etc. 

I read the most interesting book in July. Recently I'd read a fiction book where the main characters end up in Italy tracking down some stolen art. And that got me on an Italy kick. I started day-dreaming about traveling to Italy someday. So I went to the library and picked up several books on Italy. One was a travel guide, one was a geological guide to Rome, and the 3rd was Two Nuts in Italy by Sue Ellen Haning. 

This is a non-fiction travelogue of a 50-something mom who traveled to Italy with 2 of her adult children. Her daughter had just turned 21 and wanted to go to Italy, so the mom (Sue Ellen) said she would go too. Her 24 year old son also tagged along for awhile, then split off and went to Paris, and eventually came back to Italy. At one point, mom and daughter also split up as mom went to Switzerland and spent a couple of weeks there. Yeah, yeah, just a travel memoir, right? NOT AT ALL! This is the interesting part. Well, two things: 1) This lady Sue Ellen Haning happens to be from my hometown, where we are living now, and homeschooled her kids for a time. I did not know that when I grabbed the book from the library shelf. ha! and, 2) They went to Italy without cell phones, without credit cards and only a limited amount of cash. They did not have set places to stay. They would just end up at the house/apartment of generous locals who, obviously thought they were nutty, seemed impressed by their bravery enough to help them out. I think it also helped that her 21 year old daughter was an attractive, extroverted, red head. They each carried all of their belongings in giant backpacks for the 3 months they traveled the country. Nuts. For sure. Very zany read.

Here's one more thing I wanted to share about Sue Ellen Haning. No matter where they went, what predicament they ended up in, what joy or disappointment they experienced, she carried this quote on a 3x5 index card to remind her who was really in charge.

CTS (changing the subject, kinda, but not completely). This blog post is titled "It's a Secret, Shhh!" so I want to get on with that story. The last week of July I went to California to spend time with my in-laws. I planned to stay a week or two. My mother-in-law, broke her wrist really good (or really badly?) about a month prior, so I figured since I can really work from anywhere I would go and check on them and see if I could help with anything. The first day my sister-in-law picked me up from the airport and spent the day with us. A couple of days later, Mom/Carolyn and I boxed up unwanted books and games to give away. One day I drove Mom to a doctor's appointment. One day I drove Mom to the coast. Okay, yeah, mostly it was I who wanted to see the ocean because it's been awhile! But generally speaking, my in-laws and I just spent a lot of time together chatting, watching TV and sharing meals together. I took out the trash, fed the hummingbirds, walked the orchards, and (drum roll) shopped for a 2nd vehicle.

I tried to walk the orchards every morning BEFORE it got over 100 degrees!

some items for donation

at our favorite beach

Had to stop at In-N-Out

A Tesla Farm behind In-N-Out

Widely known to those on the Neufeld side of the family, my father-in-law Roger is a car hunting expert. According to him, he has made some mistakes over the years. But the way I see it, he's purchased and sold so many vehicles that his track record is really pretty solid. He had in mind a Ford Escape for the boys and had offered to let me drive it, check it out, and then take it back to Texas if it suited our needs. I never told the boys about this when I flew to California. I had only purchased one-way airfare, so I really hoped the car thing would work out. Turned out to be a little more complicated. There was some soul wrestling, prayer, and hard decision-making. I decided the Escape was not the car I needed to take back. I was so sad. I really wanted that car to be it! But I continued to pray something would work out. 

NO, not the one

If you ever doubt the Lord will provide, I hope this story encourages you...please re-read the above quote that Sue Ellen Haning carried around with her through Italy...!!

When I told him the Escape was not going to work, Roger offered his own pickup truck. And I drove that around a few times too. But lo and behold, he also had another car to choose from, a little Mazda CX7. After getting the seat set up so I didn't hit my head on the ceiling, the Mazda seemed the better choice. It had also driven to Oregon and back, so I felt safer taking it on a long trip. In my mind, if Keaton was too tall to drive this Mazda, he could use our other car for his weekly commute to work and school and I would drive the Mazda. We agreed on a price and Roger transferred the title to me. After he had the tires checked and added some gifts for the boys (golf clubs, binoculars, a portable air cooler, and various awards their dad had won over the years) I set out for home. After a minor hiccup in Albuquerque (the car was broken into that night at the hotel, binoculars and air cooler stolen-- though it is possible I did not lock the doors because no windows were broken??) I made it home and texted Keaton and Cole to come outside to help with my bags. They assumed I had someone else pick me up at the airport. HERE IS THE VIDEO LINK to see their genuine surprise. It is a HUGE blessing. And Keaton does fit. He loves the car. Drove it to work the next day. THANK you Jesus. THANK you Roger & Carolyn. THANK you boys for holding down the fort, feeding the pets, washing the dishes, keeping the house clean, and tending to the pool chemistry. 

YES, this is it!

One final photo. My new favorite screen saver from my friend Steve. The verse speaks for itself.

One more graduate

Cole - May 2024

Well, my days as a homeschooling mom are coming to an end. Mr. C is super close to finishing his senior year. We recently had the Senior Sunday celebration at our church. So it definitely feels like we are winding down on the high school era. Keaton will be attending college in the fall. Cole is still unsure of his future plans. He will take the next year to work and try to hone in on something. 

Cole's pretty much dead center on stage

I really feel like we are in a sweet spot in our parent/child relationship(s). I know I often complain when they come in my room late at night and want to talk when I'm totally ready to go to sleep. But it's that sweet space where we can all discuss things as adults. We talk about faith. Politics. Culture. And I'm watching them mature into a place where it's not so much me telling them what to do, but me asking if they'll help me accomplish this or that. Weird. It's changing. But overall, in a good way.

Here's some other things we did in the last month....

Keaton and I did a quick explore at the "2nd largest canyon in the country". Palo Duro Canyon is about 2 hours from us. Lots of hiking trails there, which we did not partake of this time, but at least Keaton can say he's been there. (Cole stayed home.) Hiking here, is, well, hot. There is literally no shade. We basically drove through the canyon on a loop trail for cars (with the A/C on) and got out occasionally to take a few pictures. Then we drove to Amarillo to see their zoo. Took us less than an hour to walk through. Not much of a zoo, but we can officially check this off our list. 

We also reorganized the garage. Not exciting for you, maybe, but for us, it's so much better! It all started when Cole and I were looking for a box (from the move 2 years ago) that had my wedding dress, Eric's suit from the wedding, and Eric's leather jacket. It wasn't in the house. And we had looked through the garage more than once and still couldn't find it! But after we started clearing things away, there.it.was. And Cole REALLY loves the suit. Aldan wore that suit too for some occasion at church when he was in high school. It has seen better days for sure.

When we moved in, the shelves were quickly set up in the garage and things were kinda dumped on them just so we could unload quickly. Within a few weeks, after moving some things around, I was able to get my car in the garage, but the other half of the garage was never really organized. Cole was determined to get this done! And every day he walks through the garage now, he says, "I love our garage now." Me too, Buddy. Me too.

you gotta make a mess to get organized!

click here for a VIDEO of our special find

DONE!

A couple of other tidbits: 

Keaton got all 4 of his wisdom teeth removed. OUCH. 

It hailed. But no tornados here.

 

It's warm enough to swim!

Oh, and I've got a praise report!  - -  through a lady I met in Bible study, Cole made a new friend, Chris. He likes Star Wars and all things movies, just like Cole and Keaton do. He's also creative in that he likes to make costumes for cosplay. Cole had started making a Stormtrooper costume a few years ago, and Chris has given him lots of tips and ideas to help finish this out. Chris is also originally from the PacNW, so the 3 of them have really hit it off. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. He came over to swim last weekend. Great kid. Thank you Lord, for one friend.

In general, you'll find me complaining about the scenery here, mostly due to lack of trees. And yeah, for sure I miss the ocean. But there ARE lots of what they call "playa lakes". Kind of an ironic term (if you speak Spanish) but that is what they call them. I recently found this one and it seemed so serene. I did see several pretty large turtles and some ducks. We don't swim in these lakes, but the wildlife seem to find refuge there.

So all in all, this last month we have basically been living life. A milestone is coming in that Cole is almost done with high school. My work is going fine. We are trying to serve others. We are learning to maintain our pool. I recently wrapped up a Bible study "Me, Myself, and Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild. The theme is just how to get a handle on our thoughts and how to remake and relabel them in positive ways. It's really amazing how we can trip ourselves up with "stinkin' thinkin". If you have this issue at times, and I do, here's a tip I shared with a friend today from that Bible study: 

When you have that icky feeling of despair or depression, ask yourself WHY am I feeling this way? Check the 4 legs of your "table" and assess each for ways you can improve that mood. Ultimately, we have HOPE in Jesus. We just need to remind ourselves of this.

1) Mental Leg - are you stimulating your brain with worthwhile things?

2) Physical Leg - are you moving and resting in equal balance?

3) Emotional Leg - every "feeling" is not a fact!

4) Spiritual Leg - most important leg, needs daily attention

I had several people contact me after April's blogpost and let me know they are praying for us. THANK you SO much. I may stress and struggle over the day-to-day stuff at times, but I know that God hears those prayers! The thing I need to tackle next is finding a decent 2nd vehicle. Keaton is working 4-5 days/week and will be driving back/forth to school in the Fall. I WANT one of those 4-door Jeep Wranglers. haha! But what we NEED is something reliable (other than my car that has 186K miles on it.) Keep that in your prayers.

Psalm 42:5 "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."

Ready or Not - Fall is Here

Imagine my surprise on this morning's walk to find a flock of Canadian geese on the track. I know they migrate south in the fall. But I just don't remember seeing them in my neighborhood last year. Hmm.

Speaking of things in our neighborhood, the park down the street from us proudly displayed a flock of flags this month. A BIG thank you to all veterans; you make our public freedom possible.

This last month has been very different for our family of three. For the last 6 weeks, we've actually been a family of 2 here in TX as Keaton took a solo trip up to Washington. He's had a fantastic time, visiting friends. We've been using text, Marco Polo, FaceTime, and Find Your Friends (on the iPhone) to keep up with him.

with church friends in Washington

on a boat with Riley in the Bay headed to Goat Island

Helping with construction projects and milling logs up in the mountains, with friends who are building a log cabin.

At the same time back in Texas, Cole has been busy earning his training and observation hours with drivers ed. We had burgers at BJs one night. Thought we'd try some new restaurants while Keaton was gone, but we really haven't done that. Instead, we did have dinner with family a couple of times as I was called on for pre-Algebra tutoring sessions with my nephew. Cole and I have also spent a lot of time talking about every subject under the sun (I'm sure he's desperately missing Keaton in this). We have discussed heady subjects like the Rapture of the Church, the book of Revelation, abortion, Israel. But occasionally we also wade into the mundane and ridiculous. One night, Cole hilariously & accurately described our weather here in a short video.

for COLE'S VIDEO ABOUT THE SEASONS - CLICK HERE

As for me, I was called for jury duty. It was a long, interesting day. As juror #61, the odds were slim I would be chosen (and in fact, I was not chosen), but this turned out to be a 10-hr voir dire on this high profile criminal case involving an aggravated assault (gunfire) between biker gangs at a local restaurant! Back in WA, I sat through voir dire once, but it was not nearly this involved. Plus one other thing I noticed (a difference in TX and WA) people here love their guns and their God. Sooooooooo many potential jurors quoted scripture and talked about God's mercy as reasons they might struggle to be unbiased in applying the law as a juror. Plus the defense attorney even talked about Jesus Christ as being the only perfect human ever. While true, I'm sorry to say(!), it surprised me he would say so. At 5:15pm we were sent into the hallway to wait for the attorneys to discuss and debate which jurors they wanted. We couldn't go outside the courthouse because the doors are locked upon exit after 5. Even the judge was hanging out in the hallway at one point. Fortunately I brought a book and made it through about 100 pages during the multiple sidebars and breaks during the day.

I really like this author as well as Lynn Austin for historical Christian fiction. 

A blog post wouldn't be complete without a couple of pet pics. Truly - they are the sweetest when they're sleeping. haha! The youngest kitty we have is, well, a fighter. Super territorial, apparently. Ended up taking him to the vet this month when one of his war wounds just would not heal. The battle scar will be with him forever - - we are trying to make him an inside-only kitty now - - not without much protest from Hobbes.

With the coolness of Fall, we are no longer spending time in the pool. Instead, I've been reading a lot...I'm up to 76 books for the year. Cole and I made it through Season 3 of "The Chosen" and have started back at the beginning to see what scripture and nuance we missed the first time. And I recently started watching a TV series called "Nashville". I'm not advocating this as a spectacular show full of upright, moral characters. And definitely if you are not a fan of country music, this is not the drama for you. That said, it has given me inspiration to sit down at the keyboard again and sing. I really miss singing with my good buddy John at church, collaborating with him, deciding on a good set list. It's not something I've found an outlet for here yet. But I do love watching these singer/songwriters on "Nashville" finding their voices.

Next month, I'm looking forward to my own solo trip up the Northwest. Mostly a work trip, as I have some training to do for a client. But I do plan to reconnect with friends as much as I can. Also, we can't wait to reunite with our Keaton this next week!

Psalm 122:6-8 "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! 'May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!' For my brothers and companions' sake I will say, 'Peace be within you!'"

Psalm 123:1 "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!"