Summer Stuff
Rachel left for Guatemala last Monday morning on a mission trip with the youth group at Hosanna. This is her second time going to Guatemala having gone last year too. She'll be back Tuesday night.
She had been spending a lot of time with her boyfriend Josh in the weeks leading up to the trip. She went with his family for several days to South Dakota then Josh came with us for a few days to Babbitt. On the heels of those two trips was Sonshine Fest where they spent four days tenting it with the youth groups from Hosanna and Prince of Peace.
She was at Lake Geneva Christian Center last week for youth camp. It was easily the best camp she'd ever attended and she's been to many. She brought back a DVD of her week which looks very similar to this link from the same camp on YouTube. She didn't let on right away when she came home that she'd also made a difficult decision while at camp.
I was downstairs alone watching TV before going to bed late last Friday night when she got home from being out with Josh. She came into the basement and sat down on the couch next to me with tears streaming down her face. She looked over at me and said: "I just broke up with Josh". It surprised me as I had no idea that was coming and apparently neither did Josh. She said it was something that she decided she needed to do a couple days earlier at camp. She'd been with Josh for most of that afternoon and evening before finding the right time to tell him. He thought that she was kidding but her tears convinced him otherwise.
I was so sad for her as we sat on the couch together. We talked, I mostly listened for a half-hour as she sorted through her thoughts.
She said that Josh wants to still remain friends and hang out but I told her that would be difficult to do. I said, "us guys may say we just want to remain friends but in all likelihood, his real intentions will be to get back together with you, just know that". She understood.
Josh was by the house a couple times on Sunday; once to bring Rachel a DQ Blizzard and later in the day to drop off a pizza he'd made for her where he works at Nick-n-Willy's. He's not making it easy for either of them to move on.
She left early the next morning for Guatemala and left this comment on her Facebook: "I'm going to live for something bigger than myself." She also changed her status from "in a relationship" to "single".
My hope is that Josh will give her the space she needs to do what she needs to do. So far that's not happening. He wants to come with us when we pick her up at the airport on Tuesday night. I feel bad for him. He's a good kid and I don't want to see his heart broken but I don't see any way around it; for either of them.
Speaking of school—Tammy and I took a road trip 75 miles southeast to Rochester last Thursday, our 10th anniversary. The University of Minnesota has an extension campus in Rochester that she and Rachel toured a couple weeks earlier. They both liked it and wanted me to see
it. I too liked it, a lot. The curriculum is geared toward careers in the medical field which is where Rachel would like to focus but on specifically what she can't say just yet. All of the students take the same classes the first two years and branch out from there so it takes the pressure off her to have to decide on something so soon. Those first couple of years will give her exposure to career paths she may not have considered up to now.
The campus is only a few years old and is situated downtown among a bunch of shops; sort of an unlikely place for a college campus. The dorms are more like condominiums or apartments. Each unit is 1500 square feet, 2 bedrooms with 2.5 bathrooms shared between 4 students. The tall building in the background of the photo houses the dorms/apartments.
We don't know where she'll attend college in a year but of the few they've visited so far this is the one we're probably all leaning toward. Tammy and Rachel have a few more they're scheduled to visit in the next few weeks.
We spent a few hours cruising the sidewalks and skyways of Rochester checking out the shops and people watching. This lady with her three kids in tow caught my eye. I motioned for Tammy to have a closer look. No telling what shows when she sits down.
As I said, it was our 10th anniversary. We spent some time reminiscing about our wedding day (here are some photos from that day on the bottom half of this page), where we've been and our plans for the future. Without question, I can say that the past 10 years have been the most meaningful and enjoyable of all my years. I'm so blessed to have both Tammy and Rachel in my life. Thank you God and thank you Digital Cities. And to think, my hesitation to buy a computer a little over 11 years ago nearly kept our paths from crossing.
What will the next 10 years have for us?
She had been spending a lot of time with her boyfriend Josh in the weeks leading up to the trip. She went with his family for several days to South Dakota then Josh came with us for a few days to Babbitt. On the heels of those two trips was Sonshine Fest where they spent four days tenting it with the youth groups from Hosanna and Prince of Peace.
She was at Lake Geneva Christian Center last week for youth camp. It was easily the best camp she'd ever attended and she's been to many. She brought back a DVD of her week which looks very similar to this link from the same camp on YouTube. She didn't let on right away when she came home that she'd also made a difficult decision while at camp.I was downstairs alone watching TV before going to bed late last Friday night when she got home from being out with Josh. She came into the basement and sat down on the couch next to me with tears streaming down her face. She looked over at me and said: "I just broke up with Josh". It surprised me as I had no idea that was coming and apparently neither did Josh. She said it was something that she decided she needed to do a couple days earlier at camp. She'd been with Josh for most of that afternoon and evening before finding the right time to tell him. He thought that she was kidding but her tears convinced him otherwise.
I was so sad for her as we sat on the couch together. We talked, I mostly listened for a half-hour as she sorted through her thoughts.
She said that Josh wants to still remain friends and hang out but I told her that would be difficult to do. I said, "us guys may say we just want to remain friends but in all likelihood, his real intentions will be to get back together with you, just know that". She understood.
Josh was by the house a couple times on Sunday; once to bring Rachel a DQ Blizzard and later in the day to drop off a pizza he'd made for her where he works at Nick-n-Willy's. He's not making it easy for either of them to move on.
She left early the next morning for Guatemala and left this comment on her Facebook: "I'm going to live for something bigger than myself." She also changed her status from "in a relationship" to "single".
My hope is that Josh will give her the space she needs to do what she needs to do. So far that's not happening. He wants to come with us when we pick her up at the airport on Tuesday night. I feel bad for him. He's a good kid and I don't want to see his heart broken but I don't see any way around it; for either of them.
Speaking of school—Tammy and I took a road trip 75 miles southeast to Rochester last Thursday, our 10th anniversary. The University of Minnesota has an extension campus in Rochester that she and Rachel toured a couple weeks earlier. They both liked it and wanted me to see
it. I too liked it, a lot. The curriculum is geared toward careers in the medical field which is where Rachel would like to focus but on specifically what she can't say just yet. All of the students take the same classes the first two years and branch out from there so it takes the pressure off her to have to decide on something so soon. Those first couple of years will give her exposure to career paths she may not have considered up to now.The campus is only a few years old and is situated downtown among a bunch of shops; sort of an unlikely place for a college campus. The dorms are more like condominiums or apartments. Each unit is 1500 square feet, 2 bedrooms with 2.5 bathrooms shared between 4 students. The tall building in the background of the photo houses the dorms/apartments.
We don't know where she'll attend college in a year but of the few they've visited so far this is the one we're probably all leaning toward. Tammy and Rachel have a few more they're scheduled to visit in the next few weeks.
We spent a few hours cruising the sidewalks and skyways of Rochester checking out the shops and people watching. This lady with her three kids in tow caught my eye. I motioned for Tammy to have a closer look. No telling what shows when she sits down.As I said, it was our 10th anniversary. We spent some time reminiscing about our wedding day (here are some photos from that day on the bottom half of this page), where we've been and our plans for the future. Without question, I can say that the past 10 years have been the most meaningful and enjoyable of all my years. I'm so blessed to have both Tammy and Rachel in my life. Thank you God and thank you Digital Cities. And to think, my hesitation to buy a computer a little over 11 years ago nearly kept our paths from crossing.
What will the next 10 years have for us?
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