Kent is busier this time, so I’ll be the writer and he’ll be the editor…a little role reversal. I just looked through some photographs for the year and was reminded of the many fun things we did, memories we made, and wonderful things we saw and experienced. I’m so thankful for photos because I would have forgotten many of those memories if we hadn’t photographed them. I’ll be sharing more personal/people photographs this year since our nature photography can be viewed on our website my challenge is to weed through and pick only a few!
We started the year jobless, but hopeful. Kent was in the winter “layoff portion with his job and I had resigned from my secretarial position with American Family Insurance because we thought Kent’s company was going to temporarily transfer him to Arizona for a few months and I wasn’t about to let him go without me. Since that didn’t occur, I worked for a couple of weeks organizing a friend’s office and basement. After that, we spent a week providing in-home respite for this same family while they took a week off. These friends provide foster care in their home for four, severely handicapped girls. During that time, Kent’s supervisor asked him to set up training for fellow employees in MN and ND so they’d know how to use and care for their brand new laptop computers. I helped him by editing, photographing, and designing the trainings using Microsoft Publisher. It was fun to work together on the project, but his supervisor became more and more flakey and we were only able to do one training before the busy season of locating telephone wires began to take up Kent’s time. In May, my (Laurie’s) grandfather passed away at age 92 in Minneapolis, MN. The good that came of that was a visit from my parents and one of my sisters. We were pleased to have them stay with us overnight and enjoyed visiting with aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of the family.
During the summer, locating became increasingly slower for reasons no one was able to understand, so Kent used the extra home time to start his own blog called, Saints & Children; to join a theological group blog called, <Boar’s Head Tavern; and to design a website for our photographic work, which is called, Together by Design. He also supported me by running the spot light for a local musical I was in called, Songs from the Tall Grass. It’s a historical play/musical about pioneer life on the prairie. The rehearsals began in late June (4 days and nights per week) and ended with 20 performances (5 per weekend in August and September). It was a wonderful experience, but it also wore me out and I got sick with a head cold that lasted through nearly all performances. Bummer! I learned that the adrenaline that performers “live on just made me tired and sick; performer I am not.
Because our summer was so busy with the musical, we didn’t get out in our canoe as much as we would have liked, but we did get some incredible photos which you can view on our website. In addition, we found time to have a few sleepover parties with my sister and her girls and to go to a couple of barn dances. We both absolutely love these old time “called (square, contra, and reel) dances. The atmosphere is family oriented, everyone has a great time, and the exercise is without soreness (at least not for Laurie – KR) the next day! We also joined friends for a Don Moen concert in the spring, a Bill Gaither concert late summer, and the von Trapp children in the fall; we love music of all kinds. This fall we put these same friends to work in clearing trails and cutting up our beloved, 200 year old, grand daddy, maple tree that toppled in the summer from weakened heart wood. We’re so glad we got pictures of it last fall in all its glory because now it has only one big branch left.
In late September and October we had a visit from Kent’s parents who moved this year from CA to AR and then we moved Kent’s grandma (who has been in our care for five and a half years now) from assisted living to adult foster care at the request of the Mill Street Residence where she had her own apartment. We had a couple of very difficult weeks with grandma being angry with us for moving her, but she has settled in a little and actually seems to be doing better now, than when she had her own apartment. She has her own room, but shares a house with 3 other lady residents and one resident manager who brings in personal care assistants (PCA’s) to help with the daily needs of each resident. We’ve been very grateful for the increased personal care and homey atmosphere which has made our weekly visits to grandma much more pleasant. Every other week or so, I bring a home-made dessert which all the ladies enjoy and are beginning to look forward to. We even joined grandma, the other ladies, and the resident manager and her fiancé for Thanksgiving day and enjoyed food, conversation, and a bit of singing since Kent brought along his guitar.
In October, we put our house and land on the market because we can’t afford to make up the difference between Grandma’s income and the rising costs of her care. We purchased the home knowing this could happen, but we are thankful for the return on the investment and for the four years we’ve been able to live in this beautiful spot. We’ve had 6 showings and most everyone liked the place, but no offers yet. We’re settled into the idea that it likely won’t sell until spring, which is fine with us, since we’re not in a hurry to move anyway.
Also in October, Kent started a new job as the Services Coordinator for Synstelien Community Services in Fergus Falls, MN, which provides in-home and residential care for developmentally disabled and sometimes severely handicapped children and adults. He supervises their in-home services program, does trainings for all staff members, writes reports on each client, and develops programs for each client to help staff to know how best to relate, teach, and care for their clients. This job is a wonderful fit…finally! It gives him variety; allows him to work with people which holds eternal value; allows him to be creative; provides a wonderful, supportive team to work with; and if that weren’t enough…an increase in pay! His employers and many staff members are fellow believers who all have huge hearts for their clients and Kent is enjoying his job like no other. He told me the other day that he’s found his “career”. Aside from being slightly jealous of his time away and envious of his “eternal value”, purposeful work, I am daily grateful to God for providing this job! The neat thing is how we can see the ways that all those other jobs Kent has had through the years, gave him the experience necessary to be so good at this job. At the time, you feel like you’re muddling through, when really, God is preparing you. If only we would learn to trust as little children; I guess it’s a life long process.
Early December found us both busy with Kent’s new job because the Sysnstelien’s (a local family consisting of 9 siblings, with six of them involved in the business) lost their mother during the very week they were preparing for both staff and client Christmas parties. It was a stressful and tiring time for them, so everyone pitched in. I got to help shop and wrap presents one day, help set up another day, make jingle bell bracelets for the clients, and we both got to lead everyone in singing Christmas carols. What fun and what a wonderful blessing to be able to give in that way! Kent was asked to be Santa…who knows why they thought he’d be a good choice… but we couldn’t find a Santa suit that would fit a “real sized Santa, go figure. Anyway, he did the job of Master-of-Ceremonies and handed out the presents anyway.
One of the projects I’ll be working on in the new year is printing, matting, and framing some of Kent’s best nature photos in hopes of selling them. My plan is to pack them up in a suitcase and go to local coffee shops, gift shops, and other artsy places around town to see if they will display some of them in their businesses. We’ll hang them up with price tags and information about the photos attached to each picture. I love matching the photos with the right frames and mats, but the selling part isn’t exactly my forte’, so we’ll see. Kent wants to sell enough photography to allow him to buy a Nikon D70 and it wouldn’t hurt to have something going on the side that I can take part in. Anyway, he can barely wait for that camera; I often find him drooling over magazines and websites with Nikon cameras and equipment (in fact, it was his idea to put in the link to the Nikon D70). Silly guy.
A funny/cool story that I wanted to add (Kent speaking) is related a problem we had with our car. Essie (which is what we call our ‘93 Ford Escort wagon with nearly 250,000 miles) is getting as we say “a little long in the tooth”, and we are trying to squeeze as many miles out of her as we can. This Fall I had a bit of a repair challenge regarding an electrical system problem. Somewhere in her (Essie’s) starting circuit there’s some sort of fault that kept her from starting up when you turned the key to the “Start” position. Rather than spend hundreds of hours trying to trace the problem and fix it I decided to run a couple of wires and hook up a switch under the dash that we could use to start her up. It was about a $6 fix. I asked Laurie if that would work for her, thinking “oh my, this is going to sound really ‘Micky Mouse’ to her”, she said; “Wow, I get a button? That’s great. On some of the cars Dad had for us to drive we had to rub bare wires together and jam a screwdriver into the starter switch to get ‘em going.” I knew I married the right person…(back to Laurie…)
Well, I guess that sums up our year pretty well, hope you enjoyed the photos! Can’t wait to hear from you this season…we like to get photos too! We wish you all eternal joy and peace and wonderful “memory moments with your loved ones.
Kent & Laurie Anne Runge
