Janet's Blog

On Friday, Bill and I, along with our middle daughter, Meagan, and her husband, Andy, made a whirlwind, overnight trip to Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, where Meagan was honored by her induction into the Sports Hall of Fame. (The kids stayed with Grandma Deb and Grandpa Stan, which was an adventure in itself.) When Meagan was first notified of her selection a couple of months ago, she didn't want to go. I wasn't surprised that she was being honored in this way, nor was I shocked when she said she would rather stay home.  Meagan was a member of eight GPAC championship teams, and a seven-time NAIA All American, winning six individual Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) pole vault titles. In 2008, she won the NAIA national outdoor championship. She was also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and NAIA Scholar-Athlete. Until February of this year, Meagan held the school record for indoor pole vault (3.96 meters/12 feet 11.75 inches) and is still tied for the top spot ...

It was a warm, sunny morning, 38 years ago. After a good night's sleep, I rolled out of bed at 7:00, and immediately had a contraction. That was nothing new; I'd been having contractions off and on for a month. But since we had already waited for five days beyond my due date, I was hopeful that this contraction was signaling the start of real labor. I was really hoping that this baby wouldn't make me wait as long as big sister, Erin, who had been born 10 days late. I got dressed quickly, and helped three-year-old Erin get dressed, as well, before we all sat down for breakfast. I doubt if I ate much. I don't remember where Bill was working that day--perhaps he was doing a repair at one of the apartments he managed, or he might have been working at a construction job somewhere. Either way, in that time before cell phones, he promised to call me every hour throughout the morning to check on me. Mom had flown into the Scottsbluff airport a few days earlier to help after the...