Today we did our interview for the “Way We Live” award and I must say, interviews on camera, not our strong point!

I do first want to say that they knew nothing about my disease and indicated what a big group of applicants they had this year meaning, we were chosen to earn this award solely on our hard work, strong family values and dedication with agriculture. We did tell them that we were extremely surprised to be chosen with our small operation as we know so many families that deserve this award as well. But, Tim has also worked very hard to get that nursery up and running, and continues his hard work to try and expand our operation. I am extremely proud of him and we are truly honored that our friends thought of us and took the time to nominate us.

With that being said, again I am happy that we were chosen for this award without them knowing about my disease, but we did take the opportunity to bring awareness. We wore our shirts and I shared that I would be having a book out in August regarding the struggles of living with a rare disease that has no cure and limited treatment. I will admit I was not going to say anything about my book, or my disease but over the last few days I definitely felt I was being convicted to do so. And then the encouragement from our small group last night sealed the deal for me to talk about it 😉

I don’t know what God is up to but being chosen for this award and then having my book come out around the same time, we just know God is definitely working something here! And while I want to bring awareness to Fibrosing Mediastinitis, I also want my book to show how faithful our God is as we would not be where we are today without God’s hand in every aspect of our life! 

This July will be two years since my health drastically declined, yet the number of blessings it has led to, is amazing! 

So, if you want to laugh at us on video…I mean, if you want to watch us on video, it will be played on Monday and Tuesday August 17th and 18th at the Iowa State fair in the animal learning center. In the middle of Tim talking about our operation, he says “cut” and swipes his finger across his neck indicating for them to stop filming because he was fumbling so bad for words. Haha! Everyone got a kick out of it and Skyler is convinced that they will keep this part in the video. Definitely a lot of fun for the family, minus the awkward rambling! Oh, and Asher refused to smile at all!

We will also be aired on IPTV during the fair, as well as an article will be printed in the local newspapers, which he said a lot of towns do choose to run the article, meaning…all of us in our Fibrosing Mediastinitis shirts will be plastered across Iowa!!

Again, I do not want my disease to take away from how important this award is but the way it has all been playing out, we just felt this was an opportunity for us to also raise awareness to my disease, which is ultimately honoring God! We are so thankful and excited to see what God has in store for us!