The start of fall is here. You can't really tell by the weather yet, but you can by the activities! We have had some nice cool fall-like days and they've been great! I'm looking forward to when this is the case every day! To me, there is nothing better than a nice cool fall day. But there have been other things that tell us fall has arrived.
Austin has started school. This will be his third year teaching already! It's crazy how fast time flies! Austin was definitely ready for school to start this year. The week before school started he was at the high school or the middle school until 10pm or later getting things and his classroom ready! I admire his commitment and the focus he had those days, but at the same time I was ready for him to be home when I was getting ready for bed! :) This year, while the final numbers are still being determined as students finalize their schedules, it looks like Austin will have his biggest choir yet. It's amazing to see the choir grow under Austin's leadership. If you haven't done so already, head over to Facebook and "like" the Riverside Vocal Music page. That way you can keep up-to-date on everything that is happening at Riverside.
Another thing that tells me fall is just around the corner is my work schedule. It's quickly filling up with college fairs and before I know it, I'll be scheduling my high school visits as well. This will be my second year of fall travel season and I guess we'll see if it will be as busy as last year. My guess is yes. :)
A couple of things that we've been able to do to enjoy the last of summer... A couple weeks ago we were back in Macendonia for Donia Day, the town celebration. Austin was a judge for the parade. It was a fun day and we got to see a lot of people from "Annie" that we hadn't seen in a while, so that was really great. We also saw probably the coolest thing I've ever seen during a parade. The John Deere Implement just down the road had a pretty sweet surprise for all the kids. They had one of their tractors pulling a grain auger and the arm swung out over the streets and from it dropped hundreds of Tootsie Rolls! It was pretty amazing! And the kids loved it!
This past weekend we went up to Minnesota to spend some time with my family. Originally we had planned on going to the Minnesota State Fair. But then we found out that weekend was going to be the time to harvest grapes at my uncle's vineyard. Well that is just simply something we can't miss, so we ended up helping out with that instead. It always promises to be a good time.
We normally spend the morning picking grapes and then celebrate the end of the harvest with a big potluck and lots of drinks to go around! This year was no different! Now, as you may already know, this summer has been particularly dry with not a lot of rain. Well Saturday, this was not the case. The one day pretty much all summer it decides to rain is the day we're out harvesting grapes. Well it made things interesting at the very least. It was pretty cold and very wet, but we managed.
 |
| Harvesting in the rain! |
By the end of the day we were very tired, wet and muddy. But the harvest was a success! I also got second place in the "Perfect Bunch" contest! I was really aiming for first because that prize was a giant wine glass that fits an entire bottle of wine! But second place wasn't bad!
 |
| My second place bunch! |
Overall it was a great, but very tiring, weekend! Both Meg and Dan were home as well. It's always great to see them before the busy fall begins!
This next weekend we're heading to see the other side of the family in Tipton! We're having a big party and I think it's going to be a great way to wrap up the summer! It'll be really great to see this side of the family as well since it's been a while!
So we're currently hiring a new Director of Marketing here at the University of Nebraska Omaha. We're actually creating an entire Office of Marketing - something we've never had before, which really amazes me considering the size of our university. So I've recently been sitting in on these interviews and some of the discussions have made me think.
One of the bigger issues that we face here at UNO is a branding issue. We don't have a brand. We rolled out with some new logos within the past year and that's been a good start but it's not enough. We need to have a defining brand that when people hear or see it, they know - UNO. Like Nike or Pepsi. Or other universities like Texas or Nebraska Lincoln. They have well known brands. This is what we lack.
It also made me think about Wartburg. Now Wartburg is obviously is a little bit of a different class than UNO because of size and private versus public, but one thing that Wartburg does right is that it has a brand. Be Orange. There were some shirts that I saw recently that the Wartburg Ambassadors were wearing that said: "Be Orange. It's a Wartburg thing" And that's so true. (By the way, can I get one of those!?) Anyone who knows Wartburg knows 'Be Orange'. They've done a great job marketing that, using it everywhere and for an extended period of time.
Before I started working at UNO, I worked as a marketing coordinator for Kruger Seeds. I really enjoyed that work too. I loved the planning and the variety. And while I was there we even were able to do some re-branding. Kruger changed their logo and came up with a brand. And while I wasn't a part of the team that presented those ideas, I was involved in some of the process. And it was really great. With their old brand, you would ask dealers what is Kruger Seeds? And they wouldn't be able to get you a straight answer and everyone had a different answer. With the new logo and the new branding, we could ask any dealer what is Kruger Seeds? They would all answer 'First Class Seed. First Name Service.' Within a year, we could see this change. It was amazing!
Sitting in on these interviews and talking about what needs to be done here at UNO gets me excited. Talking about branding and what that means to UNO. I love it. I've forgotten how much I love that part of marketing. I will tell you that since I've been out of school for a while, I might not know as much as I would like about branding specifically and marketing, but I feel like this is something that I would maybe want to do in the future. These discussions make me want to go back and read and learn more. I want to be a part of these conversations.
I guess this post leads back to that 'age old question' of "What does Liz want to do with her life? What is her calling?" I love working in higher education. I love the work I do with students and getting them excited about going to college. But I also love marketing and branding. Am I better at one or the other? Who knows. I might say I'm more comfortable with higher education mostly because I'm doing that right now. Maybe I need to combine the two and start searching for work in higher education marketing.
Either way, this post mostly just serves as a place for me to write down some of the thoughts I've had. I guess if you have any suggestions or recommendations, I'm all ears. :)
This past weekend, Austin and I had the chance to attend and be a part of the wedding of some good friends of ours. This was actually the first wedding we've had (or could make) all summer. So it had been well over a year since we've attended a wedding. And this got me thinking...
The wedding this past weekend was simply beautiful - full of love and joy. You could see it on everyone that was present. Austin and I had a the amazing opportunity to be a part of this wedding by singing. It's always an honor when we get asked to sing and be a part of someone's special day. And this was no different.
Throughout the ceremony and even the whole day, I was reminded of our wedding day. We too got married at the Wartburg Chapel and that in itself holds a lot of memories. But the day brought back a lot of feelings. Those feelings of butterflies, of complete joy, of the unexpected. Your wedding day is going to be one of the most fun and joyous days of your life. And after three years of marriage, you forget what those feelings were like. You lose sight of them. You get caught up in the every day stuff. The normal. The boring. And I think it's good to be reminded about how you felt on your wedding day.
Your wedding day is more than just a big party. It's the day you commit yourself to another person. Fully. Completely. You make vows. You make promises. You agree to spend the rest of your lives with each other. And that's where it can get tough. Because marriage is not like the wedding day. It's not all fun, party and dancing. It's work. It's compromise. It's exhausting some days. But it's what you've agreed to.
Don't get me wrong. I love my husband. I love our marriage. I love our life. But it's still easy to lose sight of these things. Maybe that's why you're suppose to make a big deal out of your anniversary every year. To help remind you of those vows you made on your wedding day. To help remind you of that joy you have deep in your heart. Of that love. I'm sad to say that Austin and I haven't been the best at celebrating our actual anniversary. We're both busy that time of year and we haven't even really been together on that day. But I think we need to do better. I think we need to take the time each October 24th and watch our wedding video. To look at the pictures. To read through our guestbook and cards. I mean, why else do we have them?
So to my friends that just got married, to my friends who are currently planning their weddings and to my friends who have been married: Remember your wedding day. Remember that joy. That nervousness. That love. Remember those vows. Those promises. Remember the Bible verses you had read or the songs that you had sung. Remember the family and friends that were there to support you. Remember that God is there every step of the way. And remember your spouse. And why you love them. Why you married them.
Austin, I love you with all of who I am. I love every day we've spent together and I look forward to every day we will get to be together. I cherish all of the memories that we've made and try to wait patiently as we make new ones. I will love you every day of my life. You are my other half. And I would be lost without you.
"Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried."
Ruth 1:16-17
Do you ever make plans? You get this great idea of something you want or something you want to do. Sometimes these plans are just an idea that you have and some plans are set into motion by other events.
So you have these plans and you start thinking about your future. How it's all going to work out. What you're going to do once it happens. How you're going to react. How you're going to tell your family and friends. You start to get excited. You get your hopes up. You start dreaming and imaging how wonderful things are going to be. How amazing everything will work out because of your plans.
But then something changes. Your plans go awry. Your dreams and your hopes are gone.
Has this ever happened do you? Have you ever felt this disappointment? This frustration? This sadness? It's happened to me, too. More than once.
But then I realize something. I realize why my plans don't work.
My plans get changed because they weren't God's plans for me.
I've always strongly believed that everything happens for a reason and that God does indeed have a plan for me. I don't know what His plan is, I don't know what it entails or how it will work out. But I do believe it's there. I believe that I have to trust Him. To have faith in Him.
It's easy to say "trust in Him" or "have faith in God's plans for you". It's very easy to say those things - to yourself, to others. But it's a totally different thing to actually follow through on them. And this is where I've been struggling lately.
I know that God has a plan for me. But lately I've had my own plans in mind. I've had my own wants and dreams. I feel like what I have are good plans, good wants, good dreams. I feel like they're things God would approve of. That God would want for me in my life. So what I can't understand is why God isn't just giving me my plans, my wants, my dreams.
But that's not how God works.
And so I'm struggling. I'm struggling to let go and let God. I'm struggling to let go of my plans and surrender them to God. I'm holding them too close and I'm not sure how to let go of them. I don't know how to start that process. Sure I can say that I've let go of them, but deep down I know that's not true.
Some days while I'm thinking about our future plan - whether it be my plan or God's plan - I try to listen for an answer from God. I try to listen and hear if he'll tell me what the right plan is. You see, two years ago when Austin and I were trying to figure out if a move to Western Iowa was the right plan for us, I heard God. I heard God speak to my heart telling me that it was the right decision. And that whole week I was reassured by verses I heard on the radio or hymns that were sung in church. I heard God speak to me that week.
And so that's what I'm listening for again today. I'm waiting for God to speak to my heart. I'm waiting for that reassuring verse on the radio. I'm waiting to hear God. But I'm not hearing anything. So I wonder: am I listening too hard? Or am I not listening in all the right places? Maybe I'm expecting this time to be exactly like it was two years ago - a clear voice. And I wonder, will God speak to me the same way again? Or am I not opening up my heart enough to fully listen to what's around me?
And so here I sit. Waiting. Listening. Trying to let go.
God, give me the strength to let go. To let go of my own plans and wants. Help me to surrender them up to You. Give me the patience to wait for Your timing. Help me stay strong in my faith of You. Help me to open up my heart so that I will hear You when You speak to me. Amen.
