Is this thing on?

Hello World.

I have never really done anything like this before. I haven’t even journaled much. Sure, I have had the New Year’s resolution that I would journal/blog every week. I also have tried to create a structured nightly routine to help fight against my seemingly chronic sleep insomnia. It has just never stuck. Why is that? Mhmm. Is it due to my terrible self-discipline? (Most likely) Is it the anxiety of seeing everything that is in my brain now on paper, where then I can really see how chaotic I am? Is it the fact that I wanted to use ‘journaling’ to solve something? And that I wasn’t able to enjoy the process for what the process is? (Mhmm, now I’m getting somewhere.) It’s most likely a combination of all those things, yet at different times, it may be one specifically. This time feels different, though. I have a different vigor about me as of late. Is blogging the right medium for my inner voice? We shall see. Join me on this journey as we discover me. (And my terrible grammar.)

Let’s start this off by me telling ya’ll a little bit more about myself. Maybe in doing so I’ll spark some ideas for topics to elaborate more on.

The beginning of Luke.

I was born in 1993 in Des Moines, Iowa during the worst flood in recorded state history. Obviously I have zero memories of this, but I have heard countless stories of the chaos and damage that it caused. When hearing when I was born, many people launch into storytelling mode, remembering such great detail about things like: where the waterline was on the ‘Mile Long Bridge’, what favorite Knick-knack they lost in their flooded basement, etc.. The Great Flood of 1993 took the lives of 50 people, left 70,000 homeless and caused billions of dollars in damages. I encourage you to look up some of the facts about it, for it really is an interesting natural disaster (if you’re into that sort of thing). I personally like looking at the civil engineering aspect of flood mitigation, but I won’t dive into detail here today. (End flood talk)

Family. Marcia and Ernie is mom and dad. Three brothers, Thomas-1991, me-1993, Wesley-1998 and Samuel-2000(I think). Dad’s side is from Des Moines area and my mother is from western Wisconsin. I won’t get to detailed and specific right now for I am sure I will speak about them all often throughout my writings.

When I was 9, we moved from Polk City, IA to Knapp, WI, to help out on a farm owned by my Great Uncle Tim. It was a dairy farm that had been around for over a century at that point. I don’t know all the history of the farm (note to self to research this), but I do know that my great-grandfather Clifford had been farming the valley all his life and he passed away in his mid 90s. What a wonderful man he was. He was still driving tractor into his early 90s. What a story teller. (Blog post about him and his legacy to come).

My educational years were kind of a hybrid thing. I was homeschooled for most of my elementary years (bless my mothers heart) and then entered the fray of public school half way through my 6th grade year. I attended Menomonie High School and was involved in countless clubs, and sports. I tried to do it all. I think I joined so many things in hopes that I could get out of helping with milking cows haha.

I then journeyed down to Fayette, IA to attend Upper Iowa University, home of the Peacocks. What a ferocious bird. I didn’t adapt well to college life and didn’t balance playing football and school very well, so after my first year I dropped out. School just never really was my thing. I never really understood what school was for. (I for sure have multiple posts coming down the line discussing the education system and also my general thoughts on education, so stay tuned.)

I moved back to western Wisconsin, to Menomonie, where I worked all kinds of different jobs. I bartended, cooked, served, worked retail, manufacturing, and had some side entrepreneurial gigs. I loved many things about all of them, but also disliked many things. I never seemed to be fully satisfied with each job and was always looking for something new and fresh. I think my love of learning and thirst for change many have caused that. Looking back I don’t thing I job hopped due to trying to get better pay or hours, those weren’t really a huge priority to me at the time, but I hopped around looking for something that really challenged me in the complexity of the tasks.

I eventually found a place that really pushed me when I worked at a plastic manufacturing factory that made everything from insulin pens to Juul pods. Here I was able to work from the factory floor as a temp employee all the way to maintenance and engineering departments. I worked on all types of cool automation machinery and dealt with some very complex problems that really challenged me in a way that would keep my brain satiated. I miss that job some days. I miss the hum of the machines.

What caused me to leave? Many reasons, that I don’t think I can explain all at once right now, but I will leave one bread crumb. I don’t really know hahaha. I am kidding. I was struggling in my personal life outside of work and was desperate to get myself together so I changed my scenery. I moved to Iowa.

I moved to Ames in the fall of 2020. The week after the Derecho and if you don’t know what that is then I encourage you to look it up. (Clue: it’s another natural disaster in Iowa!) I started working for an extended families property management company that just experienced a ton of damage due to the Derecho. During this time I was really challenged on how well I knew how to swing a hammer. Man, there was a lot of work to be done. While working in property management I also started classes to get my real estate license which I then did get. Yay Luke, you found a career!!! Wrong. I hated it. (Another post)

Let’s step away from work stuff for a moment. (The following cannot be summed up quickly, but I will try)
During the time doing property management, which was about a year’s time, the Lord saved me. Man did he get a hold of me. He humbled me, He took so many of my bad habits from me, and he rescued me. He used a few people to get to me, and one of those people happens to now be my wife. She is so gracious, kind, compassionate, loving, and beautiful. I am so undeserving of her. She is my Sarah. I will speak of her often in this journey. The Lord blessed and continues to bless me through her.

Sarah and I were married on New Year’s Eve of 2021 in Des Moines and we now currently reside in Polk City (My old hometown!). We love it here and starting to dig our roots in. Additionally, I work with Sarah at Mg Biologics. It’s a veterinary biologics manufacturing company that her parents started back in 1999. Sarah is the boss lady CEO, which, upon meeting her you would not be shocked by that. She leads the company with such grace, care, and wisdom. She understands me so well that she has given me the perfect role at the company, Special Projects Director. It is perfect for me. I am able take lead on any new large projects we have in place and there is a great flexibility we have built into the role so I am able to help out in various departments. This stretches me and challenges me in so many different ways that I can’t imagine doing anything else. I have tried to think of anything more fitting for me but I have come up with nothing.

We are wanting to start a family as we both would love to be parents. It seems that the Lord currently has other plans for us, so we are learning to trust in Him more and place faith in His perfect plan. For now though we have Sully, our mini Berniedoodle, who does keep our hands quite full some nights. Sarah loves him dearly whereas I am still learning to love him haha.

I could go on and on but I really should sleep. These snowstorms are kicking my butt and it looks like we have more snow on the way for the end of this week. Ugh.
What in the world is a snow squall???