Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sunshine in the form of flowers...
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Once in a blue moon....
Every so often in life, you meet someone who stirs your heart and makes an impact how you see the world. I would say this has happened to me maybe three times in my life. Once when I was a young girl, around junior high age. There was a girl in my class, whom I really didn't know, but who struck me as such a kind hearted, soft-spoken, gentle person. I never really got to know her... but I remember her first name was Mary. In later years, after I came to know the Lord, I have often wondered if she was a Christ-follower. Her heart attitude certainly portrayed Him.
The second time that I can recall was more of a slow-awakening realization of the beauty of a person's heart. Any of my current friends who read this will know I'm talking about Missy. I've never seen anyone embrace life with such joy and hope as she did. She loved EVERYONE. And as time went on, and she grew closer to the Lord, I was amazed at her transformation and how peaceful and joy-filled she was. Heaven forbid one should say anything negative in front of Missy... she would always find the bright side of things. I was one of the worst pessimists when I first got to know her. She would giggle at me all the time...even wanted to get a shirt for me that said, "I can't"... LOL Sadly, we all lost her suddenly several years ago, at the age of 42. But the impact she made on me, and on everyone who's lives she touched, I know lives on today.
Now, I don't know this third person that well. Not yet anyway. But I'm so excited and wait in anticipation to see what the Lord is going to do in her life. She's only 18. But she reminds me of Missy... the joy that she spreads around, the way she embraces life, her enthusiasm and love for all, and yet the strength that she exudes.... Wow! I can only imagine where God will take her. She gives me hope for the future of our country... if there are even a few like her out there, the world is a much better place. Cassidy is the senior girl that I had the blessing of photographing this past week. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know her this year, and I know God has great plans for her life...
In saying all that.. I guess I just wanted to give Kudos for all the positive people out there and to share these lovely images of the beautiful Cassidy, in hopes that maybe, just maybe, we would all try to be a little more like these three ladies.
Blessings!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Wowsa! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted about my horse adventure... For those few who actually follow this blog and want to read it...my apologies. Life certainly has gotten in the way of my journaling.
Since March, my last blog date, so many things have occurred within my family... quite a few traumatic things, actually, but we have all come through okay, though maybe not unscathed. Some of us are still licking our wounds, and some of us are still just plugging away trying to get through our trials. But the most awesome thing is that my family is intact and we are all unified. Thank you, Lord, for that blessing.
The one constant that I can say I have in my life, besides the love of my husband, children, extended family and friends (lol... that's quite a few more than ONE)... is the joy I feel each time I venture outside to muck, visit, brush or just sit and stare at Solomon, my dream horse. You have to understand, I did not know I had a dream horse up until I owned him. I never aspired to be a horsewoman... I was perfectly happy to sit on the sidelines, cheering my husband and daughters on in their escapades. Apparently, God had/has a different plan for my life than what I have in mind. THANK GOODNESS! I think, wait, I know, my plan is much smaller and less adventuresome than His. God brought Solomon into my life at just the right time. Even now, after 5 months or so, I still feel utter peace every time I am with him... It has to be from God.
So...on to my latest "adventure"... Last weekend, for the first time, my friend, Sylvia, and I trailered out to my property in McKenna to "play" with our mutual dear friend, Jeanie, and her horses. Sylvia showed up with her mammoth trailer, and the first thing we noticed was that...ummm... Mike parked my little trailer right by the gate that we usually use to circle around with the trailers. Being the brave soul that she is, Sylvia managed to pull the trailer onto our lot, circle around, back through two posts with only a few inches on each side to spare, and turn the trailer around so we could go on our adventure. We were all pretty tickled that we accomplished this with not a man in sight~! LOL.
So we loaded up Solomon and Double, Sylvia's horse, and off we went. Once we were at Jeanie's, we unloaded without incident, and Jeanie went to get her hubby's horse, Indy, to walk... Indy is a little more high strung than Solomon... well.... maybe a lot. As she was walking Indy over, I was just playing a little with Solomon on the line, and I noticed the closer Indy got, the taller Solomon got. Now Solomon is no small horse. At 5'3, a 15.2 hand horse is big for me... but when they get "tall"... whew! His head was WAAAAAY over mine.. I admit I felt a bit intimidated, and stopped all my activity. I don't think that was the RIGHT thing to do, but I didn't know what else to do. (I talked to Mike later and he counseled me... so next time.... ) Anyhoo.... Eventually we went on a little walk and that was fun, so we decided to play in the round pen.... THIS is where the adventure happened... and the lesson was learned.
I was feeling pretty brave I think... Maybe stupidly brave. We didn't have a bareback pad, as Annalise forgot to load it for me. My fault, really, as I should have checked. Did that stop me from getting on my horse? Noooooo...... (what?!) So I cleverly got him to the rail quietly (I was feeling pretty clever), and climbed up and got on...
Well.... the first thing that I realized, was that I forgot to tie the lead rope to the halter, so I had the rope only on one side. Mistake Number One.
Then I accidentally bumped him with my legs so he started walking before I was ready. Mistake Number Two.
Then I got nervous and squeezed even tighter, so Solomon thought I wanted a trot, which he did nicely and quietly. Problem is... I don't know how to trot. Mistake Number Three.
Then I freaked out inside my head and said out loud, "I don't know how to trot!"... and my inside voice said... GET OFF! So I put my legs over the side and slid off. Did I stop my horse first? Oh no.... Remember I said I was feeling clever? Well, this wasn't cleverness... this was pure "out of body experience, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just going to get off, I think I'm athletic enough-ness".... So yeah. I got off my horse, WHILE he was trotting.. Remember how I said he is my dream horse though? Even though he's a baby, at 3, has barely been ridden, never been trotted with a rider, and had someone get off while in motion... he stopped and stepped away from me immediately, protecting me from being stepped on.... Oh my gosh..... I love him so much! Still, I fell on my bum and got a pretty good bruise.... Was sore for three days. Mistake Number Four.
But he is so amazing. I still feel lucky every single day.
Have a great weekend everyone... I'm attaching a new photo of him , after a great bath (He rolled in the mud immediately after the photos)
Since March, my last blog date, so many things have occurred within my family... quite a few traumatic things, actually, but we have all come through okay, though maybe not unscathed. Some of us are still licking our wounds, and some of us are still just plugging away trying to get through our trials. But the most awesome thing is that my family is intact and we are all unified. Thank you, Lord, for that blessing.
The one constant that I can say I have in my life, besides the love of my husband, children, extended family and friends (lol... that's quite a few more than ONE)... is the joy I feel each time I venture outside to muck, visit, brush or just sit and stare at Solomon, my dream horse. You have to understand, I did not know I had a dream horse up until I owned him. I never aspired to be a horsewoman... I was perfectly happy to sit on the sidelines, cheering my husband and daughters on in their escapades. Apparently, God had/has a different plan for my life than what I have in mind. THANK GOODNESS! I think, wait, I know, my plan is much smaller and less adventuresome than His. God brought Solomon into my life at just the right time. Even now, after 5 months or so, I still feel utter peace every time I am with him... It has to be from God.
So...on to my latest "adventure"... Last weekend, for the first time, my friend, Sylvia, and I trailered out to my property in McKenna to "play" with our mutual dear friend, Jeanie, and her horses. Sylvia showed up with her mammoth trailer, and the first thing we noticed was that...ummm... Mike parked my little trailer right by the gate that we usually use to circle around with the trailers. Being the brave soul that she is, Sylvia managed to pull the trailer onto our lot, circle around, back through two posts with only a few inches on each side to spare, and turn the trailer around so we could go on our adventure. We were all pretty tickled that we accomplished this with not a man in sight~! LOL.
So we loaded up Solomon and Double, Sylvia's horse, and off we went. Once we were at Jeanie's, we unloaded without incident, and Jeanie went to get her hubby's horse, Indy, to walk... Indy is a little more high strung than Solomon... well.... maybe a lot. As she was walking Indy over, I was just playing a little with Solomon on the line, and I noticed the closer Indy got, the taller Solomon got. Now Solomon is no small horse. At 5'3, a 15.2 hand horse is big for me... but when they get "tall"... whew! His head was WAAAAAY over mine.. I admit I felt a bit intimidated, and stopped all my activity. I don't think that was the RIGHT thing to do, but I didn't know what else to do. (I talked to Mike later and he counseled me... so next time.... ) Anyhoo.... Eventually we went on a little walk and that was fun, so we decided to play in the round pen.... THIS is where the adventure happened... and the lesson was learned.
I was feeling pretty brave I think... Maybe stupidly brave. We didn't have a bareback pad, as Annalise forgot to load it for me. My fault, really, as I should have checked. Did that stop me from getting on my horse? Noooooo...... (what?!) So I cleverly got him to the rail quietly (I was feeling pretty clever), and climbed up and got on...
Well.... the first thing that I realized, was that I forgot to tie the lead rope to the halter, so I had the rope only on one side. Mistake Number One.
Then I accidentally bumped him with my legs so he started walking before I was ready. Mistake Number Two.
Then I got nervous and squeezed even tighter, so Solomon thought I wanted a trot, which he did nicely and quietly. Problem is... I don't know how to trot. Mistake Number Three.
Then I freaked out inside my head and said out loud, "I don't know how to trot!"... and my inside voice said... GET OFF! So I put my legs over the side and slid off. Did I stop my horse first? Oh no.... Remember I said I was feeling clever? Well, this wasn't cleverness... this was pure "out of body experience, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just going to get off, I think I'm athletic enough-ness".... So yeah. I got off my horse, WHILE he was trotting.. Remember how I said he is my dream horse though? Even though he's a baby, at 3, has barely been ridden, never been trotted with a rider, and had someone get off while in motion... he stopped and stepped away from me immediately, protecting me from being stepped on.... Oh my gosh..... I love him so much! Still, I fell on my bum and got a pretty good bruise.... Was sore for three days. Mistake Number Four.
But he is so amazing. I still feel lucky every single day.
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