The Big Five

My Dad preaches 5 major Principles to our family that he learned from his parents and grandparents. My husband and I took these to heart and try to use them as a guide in how we raise our family and lead our careers. 2020 has been a strange year.... UNDERSTATEMENT of the century HA! Each of these rang a little clearer this year!      

1. Faith

2. Work Ethic

3. Communication

4. Fairness

5. Forgiveness

Faith- I don’t think you survive a year like 2020 without a little faith. We all need something to believe in, to trust in and provide us comfort. With Faith comes hope, and with hope comes optimism. I am so proud of our family for diving deeper into our faith, and making it more of a priority. When time slowed down it allowed us to not rush, and taught us the importance of having family meals together and implementing a proper bedtime routine. We now say our prayers with the girls before dinner and bed every night. There is something so beautiful about listening to your children pray at such a young age, and watch them start to gain an understanding. Corey’s Grandpa passed away during the Pandemic, we weren’t able to travel back to Kansas to be with his family, and without Faith I’m not sure he would have found peace and been able to move on. To this day Daisy talks about how Grandpa Bob is in heaven and what that means. 

Work Ethic- I couldn’t help but think about all the people who have busted their butts this year and charged on. I think about everyone involved in healthcare, bless their hearts for all that they do for us! I think about my husband, my dad, my brother, and everyone else involved in the Ag industry who have continued to work each day and step up for each other. I’m sure my kids will ask us one day what it was like in 2020? My answer will probably be long, but I will always tell them, “we survived because we worked hard and had faith!”

Communication- Currently, we are in the middle of the Fall Run. It’s the time of year most people bring their livestock into the Stockyards to sell. Early mornings of sorting cattle, long days of running cattle through the ring followed by late nights sum up Fall Run! It also happens to be “delivery” season when people who sold their cattle through the video auction are ready to ship them. Often Corey will leave before the girls get up and get home after they go to bed. Long story short it’s busy and doesn’t allow much time for chitchat. I am thankful for technology that we can keep in touch throughout the day with a text or a snap chat! I always wonder how my mom and Grandma survived the Fall run and I feel like a crazy woman for doing photography full time during it. Fall also happens to be my busy season. This year was crazier than usual at one point I had 18 sessions in about 20 days! Communicating our game plan for the day is KEY for us to survive. 

Fairness- 2020 hasn’t been fair for anyone. I was raised hearing the mantra, “Life Isn’t Fair”, which in hindsight is blunt, but very true. I think it says a lot about your character as to how you handle an unfair situation. For Corey and I, we try to teach our girls that you have to find a way to adapt if situations are unfair. We also want to teach them as my father has to ALWAYS handle business with fairness, honesty and love. From a business standpoint I had to take a step back and think about how I can run my business and make it fair to my family, my clients and me. Financial stress is real in 2020, but I also believe in the importance of what I do, so I juggled with my pricing, extended deadlines and tried to be as accommodating as possible for everyone.

Forgiveness- Forgiveness is a lot easier if you have faith. This year we have all had to forgive situations, events, and people due to some effect of the pandemic that has caused.. This election year, we all witnessed so much hate and negativity. If people had a little more forgiveness and grace the world would be a much better place.

My main goal in life is to raise faithful, kind hearted, hard-working, honest and loving humans. I think Corey and I have a good thing going if we continue to drill these concepts into our girls' everyday lives. I am so sorry if 2020 has been emotionally and financially exhausting on you! I hope that you have faith that this will get better, I hope you work hard and are rewarded with successes, I hope you hope you find peace in using honest and open communication, I hope your treated with fairness, and above all as Epshesians 4:32 says, “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as Christ forgave you.”

-Kayleen-