Over Fourth of July weekend, we went down to my in-law’s house in Southwest Missouri. There was a family who wanted a Sweet Nectar Network session in that area and I planned to do their session that weekend, too. They suggested a very interesting location– Red Oak II.

Apparently, this man went off to World War II and when he returned home, his town, Red Oak, had become a ghost town. He ended up purchasing and moving what was left to his personal property, and also purchasing other interesting buildings.

I like to scope out session sites ahead of time, so Aaron and I took the kids over to Red Oak II the day before and checked it out.

It’s a really interesting location with lots to see.  My kids enjoyed the child care center. 

An old-fashioned gas station.

Playing in the stables. Reed and Lena were cows.

Ping-pong in the rec center.

Petting this big, friendly cat.

Geocaching.

And, it was the Fourth of July, so this photo was mandatory.

Red Oak II is definitely an awesome little slice of Americana (right along Route 66!). 

Last year, when we took Big L to the dentist, the ones that saw all of my kids at the time, we got a very reluctant donated exam and an large estimated cost for how much it would be to get her four fillings.

This year, I took Gus to a different pediatric dentist to check them out and worked up the nerve to ask them to donate an appointment to N. Without any hesitation, they agreed. And last week, we had that appointment. Her teeth are a huge mess. She will need a few pulled, and crowns on several others. The dentist explained the plan and the receptionist was ready to book us for the first appointment to get the work done. I asked “how much will this all cost?” The receptionist and the dentist exchanged a knowing look and the dentist firmly said, “This is pro bono. We just want to give her the best future possible.”

That’s part of a Facebook post from my personal page I wrote last week after our first appointment. The dentist and her team squeezed us into their packed schedule, giving up their lunch hour to make sure that N returns with her teeth cleaned up.

Today was the first “surgery” appointment, where she had a tooth pulled and a root canal. My sweet friend watched R, L & G, so I was able to sit in with N and hold her hand for the whole procedure. It went well. N was great and I was in awe of the compassion that they showed N. She has a team of talented people going above and beyond for her… because they care about HER and HER future.

As we were leaving, the dentist said to me, “thank you for helping her.” Me?!? YOU’RE THANKING ME?!

A lesser person would have handed me that estimate for all of her dental work last week and sent us on our way. Or, perhaps, they may have agreed begrundingly to help N, seeing the state of her teeth. Instead, this wonderful dentist promised to do her very best work by N… and thanked me for bringing her in.

That’s what love looks like. As Glennon Melton says, “we belong to each other”. And when we live like we mean it? When we use our talents selflessly to help those in need? N’s smile will be healed, but there’s some healing of her heart too. She is seeing that yes, there are people on her side. Yes, people care about it.

Now, she’s just a young kid… and you might be wondering if that message really sinks in with her. I might not have taken the time to share this, except for a conversation I had with N later in the day.

N was in obvious pain from her teeth and the dentist had instructed me to give her soft foods to eat. Well, food is a bit of a challenge, as I’m still learning what N likes. Together, N and I sat down in front of Pinterest and looked up soft foods. I took copious notes. Yes to mashed potatoes. No to mac and cheese. Yes to pudding. No to borscht. Fun fact: one of her requests was spaghetti with ketchup and… mayo!

N asked for my phone and I expected another food request that I wouldn’t quite understand. But, when she handed the phone back, her message had been translated simply…

“You will take care of me?”

I’m sure shock registered across my face. Of course, I thought. That’s what moms do. Except that her mom may have never been able to offer that to her.

“Yes! Да! Так!” I said.

And she threw her arms around me and kissed my face countless times.

That IS what we moms do. Stay by their side, hold their hand through the hard moments, remember the Tylenol every 4 hours and make an extra trip to the store for those comfort foods. But, to N, each meal prepared with her in mind, each squeeze of her hand in the dentist’s chair, each goodnight kiss, that’s a bandaid on her heart. It means I see her. I care about her needs. She has worth.

That’s the seed I want to plant for her this summer… you have worth.

P.S. Please pray for N, as we go back more dental work tomorrow. And, twice in August.

P.P.S. I’d love more soft food suggestions, especially from my Eastern European readers. 🙂

We were picking up N in Denver on a Monday, so Aaron and I would need to take Monday and Tuesday off of work. Plus, we’d have to make it out to Denver to pick her up… so naturally, we decided to come to Colorado a couple of days early. It took a bit of extra planning, but it was an awesome pre-hosting family trip.

We decided to spend our time at Rocky Mountain National Park. Aaron and I really enjoy the national parks and we’d only been to RMNP once before, a day trip with friends. It was the perfect spot for our little trip– a great mix of amenities and the great outdoors.

We gave the kids a gift– a shockproof, waterproof camera. They’ve been begging for a real camera for awhile now. I need to share some of their photos with you, as there are gems!

We went to one of the ranger programs on Bighorn Sheep. A herd of elk walked by.

We saw some Bighorn Sheep at a distance.

The weather was perfect for hiking, warm enough to not need layers, but cool enough that we didn’t get hot. But, it rained on our first day. So in the afternoon, we set up our camp site. The campground office had two hummingbird feeders and they were covered with these little guys. I’ve never seen so many before!

We did more hiking once the rain let up. We heard Bear Lake was a must, but difficult to get parking at. However, after the rain, we had no trouble. We realized when we pulled into the Bear Lake trailhead parking lot that we’d done a hike starting at Bear Lake with our friends 7.5 years ago. Hiking with 3 young kids is pretty different than hiking with two twenty-something friends.

One of the rangers tipped us off that we could save ourselves a bit of hiking and elevation gain by hiking to a different trailhead than the one we’d started at and taking the bus. That was a hit.

More hiking! We did about 5-6 miles each day.

We saw this guy right along the side of the road, having his dinner.

And we went back to our campsite and had our own dinner, over a fire, of course.

That night was cloudy and there were thunderstorms in the distance. But, I took this shot anyways and it’s a favorite of mine. Estes Park, nestled below the mountains, and layers of clouds and stars.

Day 2, we drove on Trail Ridge Road, over to the West side of the park. Reed tried out hiking poles for the first time. And we played in some snow.

An adult woman next to the snow for scale.

I had enjoyed the east side of the park, but I quickly fell in love with the west side, when a photographer pointed out a mama and her baby MOOSE to us, hiding behind some trees. I ended up seeing 7 moose total on this side of the park.

We did the short hike out to Holzwarth Ranch. Totally worth it for a fun look into the past.

Not wanting to rush back to our campsite, we decided to grab dinner in the nearest town. We’d found Estes Park to be packed with people the previous day. Nearly impossible to even find a parking space. Grand Lake was the opposite– fun and touristy with live music, but had a much more relaxing vibe. Oh, and there was a rainbow.

The drive back across the park was gorgeous as the sun set behind us.

And we stopped for some quick star-gazing. I was hoping the kids might be up for it, but they had all crashed by this point.

Back to the campsite and to bed.

Day 3 was the much awaited day of N’s arrival!!! We had to drive down to Denver. We had booked a yurt for that night, which turned out to be a bit further out of drive from Denver than expected. But, otherwise, it was a pretty awesome spot. The yurt had heating/air-conditioning, beds, a table inside and a table outside, a small playhouse close-by, and the bathrooms were a short distance with no roads to cross. The closest thing to glamping we’ve ever done and I would not hesitate to do it again. It has the camping feel, but a lot less work!

N’s flight ended up getting several hours delayed, so we just hung out. I gave the kids these toys I had made them.

Our trip was awesome. I adore Colorado and after a couple of days in the cool, dry mountain air, surrounded by gorgeous views, I was pretty bummed to come home. Until next time!

If you’d like to see more nature photos, take a look at my photography Facebook page.