Sharon Yunker:  

Mel and I just celebrated our 43rd anniversary with supper at our favorite restaurant complete w/flowers...what a romantic! We have 3 sons & daughters-in-law, 8 grandchildren-6 girls and 2 boys ranging in age from 2 yrs. to 18 years...I am a professional photographer, specializing in high school sports photography, sr. picts., and extreme bull riding picts. We are currently trying to retire from farming, so that means only 14 hour days instead of 16 hour days...HA! To relax I take a walk...pray...get somewhere quiet and think about God's wonderful gift of creation and His awesome love for me. My hero is a lady who recently passed away from cancer and her unshakable faith that God was walking the walk with her and the awesome peace of God that she displayed, and her gentle caring for others. My other hero is my dad, who, after unsuccessful back surgery was completely paralyzed from the neck down. His total peace from God and his courage while facing certain death, his love for his family, and his last words to me, "I see Jesus", before he died will be forever burned into my mind. My passion is photographing sporting events, my grandchildren, and also extreme bull riding events. I follow the bull riding circuit close to home. I am challenged to become a better photographer because of the ever changing lighting conditions and the split second action occurring in these events. My biggest surprise has been the God-given ability to handle adversity...we have had a lot of things happen in our married lifetime, and with God's never unfailing grace which is so very sufficient, we have come through everything from fires, tornadoes, physical situations, family situations, health and accident issues and business stresses...stronger in our faith in God, and love for each other. We have had an interesting 43 years together to say the least. Updates: It is now 2012; 3 years since that last update. Our youngest son, Mike, his wife, Char and their two little ones moved back from Penn. last Sept and lived with us up until two weeks ago, 10 months. Char and I are complete opposites in personalities, but with God's grace we got along pretty well and remain good friends. It's been an interesting 3 years. I have had to have 3 major surgeries in the past 2 1/2 years. The last being knee replacement. It's not been an easy time, but, again, God's amazing grace, my wonderful husband who gave me excellent care and my daughter-in-law who did a lot during my recovery for me as well as friends who brought meals...A year ago May we found ourselves visiting England, Ireland, and Scotland along with good friends on a tour group. It was an amazing trip, I was able to track my family history in Scotland, and enjoyed touring London and of course, Herards by myself. The trek up the steep hills to see the castles in Scotland is what did my knee in, but thanks to a homeopathic pharmacy in London, I was able to keep up . What a fun trip. Our first out of the country. We will be taking another granddaughter on a trip next month, when the grandchildren turn 13 we take them on vacation. We horseback ride, white water raft, visit historic sites, and have a ball with our grandchildren building lifelong memories. September with find us in Denver...I have training for peacemakers (out of Billings Mont.) for three very long days, and then we have a wedding about an hour north of Denver in the mountains. We are looking forward to both trips. Hopefully my knee will keep up... We had two granddaughters graduate high school this past May, both are going on to be RN's. Our oldest granddaughter with be graduating in Dec from nursing school, and May from college, and she will be an RN hoping for a job at Mayo as a nurse on the surgical floor taking care of patients who come back from surgery. Hot, dry summer, could use several inches of rain for the crops. Take care..Sharon May 26th, 2013; We are finally having spring, (or the end of winter as several weeks ago we had 14 inches of heavy, wet snow, Someone turned the waterworks on and now our ground is all caught up and we are no longer in drought. Our oldest son, Mark only has 50 acres in the ground and is glad he took out the insurance which will pay for the unplanned corn acres as it is getting late and with the rain we are receiving it will be at least a week before he can get in on the tiled ground. Mel and I are in good health, enjoying his semi-retirement of only 12 hours a day...sometimes less. We will have Mike's two kids next weekend for 2 1/2 days of which we plan to visit Iowa & Spring Valley Little House museums. Their parents have been reading the series to them at bedtime. I still enjoy photography, but I limit it to senior pictures and newborn picts for Rachel's hope clients. Fun, fun, fun. Mel and I also enjoy target practice when it isn't raining. We are going to ...Expand for more