1000 gifts: autumn in upstate New York

I'm finally catching up with my 1000 gifts list. I write these for myself and for my family. I don't expect anyone else to read all these details (this month's list is especially long!!!), but I decided to leave these posts "public" just in case they might inspire someone else someday to start keeping a gifts list. Keeping this list has changed my life.

These gifts are from October, and most are from my trip to Pittsburgh for a cartography conference for work, followed by my husband flying out to meet me and then the two of us taking our belated 15th anniversary treat, a visit to my hometown of Buffalo in western New York and beautiful Letchworth State Park.

902. Three days of beautiful maps and inspiration
I wish I'd taken pictures of some of the beautiful/useful/interesting/inspiring maps I saw at this conference (NACIS: North American Cartographic Information Society annual meeting)

903. Dramatic tunnels and bridges of Pittsburgh 
I've never been here before, and it really impressed me! The downtown area is on a small triangle of land at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, merging into the Ohio River. Driving into Pittsburgh is so dramatic: you plunge into a tunnel through the high river bluffs, then out immediately onto a bridge crossing the river. There are at least 5, maybe 6 bridges connecting downtown Pittsburgh. I walked across three of them.

904. The National Aviary
My last day in Pittsburgh I visited the National Aviary and got to see some amazing aerial displays and a huge range of exotic birds up close (even got "buzzed" twice by low swooping birds). Highly recommend.

905. Waiting for my love at the airport
B. flew out after the conference to meet me, and he was going to get the rental car and come pick me up at the hotel, but I was tired of waiting so I paid for a shuttle back to the airport so I could be there to meet him. It was wonderful after being alone all day to look up and see him coming down the escalator smiling at me.

906.  Maximus - our rental car upgrade
B. was really excited when we got a free upgrade for our rental car to a Maxima, which he nicknamed Maximus. It was definitely fun to drive and I really, really like the sunroof! Unfortunately, the motel I booked in Buffalo was a dive, but at least it was the only low point of the trip.

907.  Erie Basin Marina and Lighthouse
One of the first of many of my favorite places in Buffalo that we went to visit. Here I am up at the top of the lighthouse overlooking Lake Erie on one side and downtown Buffalo on the other. Must have climbed up here hundreds of times as a kid.

908. Living on the waterfront for two years
From 1982-1984 my parents and I lived in one of those white condos right on the edge of the marina where we kept our sailboat.

909. Delaware Park
This is the park where I spent so much of my childhood and teen years. I was on the cross-country team for my high school and ran many, many miles around Delaware Lake and also around the golf course part of the park.

909. Japanese Garden
Another favorite place in Buffalo. My high school senior pictures were taken here; here's one with a good friend of mine from high school, Maureen, whom I'm still in touch with. And my beloved golden retriever, Leia (named after Princess Leia, from Star Wars!)

910. My house during my high school years, "Haleigh"
This is where I dragged B. next. Actually, he's been here before, because our wedding pictures were also taken at this house on Morris Ave in north Buffalo. The top picture is of the house as it is today (unchanged!), and me and my dad on the staircase of the house in 1999 right before my wedding. Can't remember exactly where I came up withe name Haleigh, but I thought it was really cool to name a home.

911. my last home in New York, Windwood Farm
Next we traveled about 40 minutes south into the beginning of the hill country, to my favorite home, where my parents moved during my college years (I lived there just short of 2 years).  It hasn't been a real farm in many years, but it is still 40 acres, mostly forested (and a pond right next to the house). This is where I got my first horse, Rebel, and rode him all over the country side. I also visited my friend Sue who still lives on the road behind ours. We used to ride our horses together.

912. My old backyard forest and stream
We hiked back into the woods behind our old house and Sue's house. B. and I scrambled down the steep ravine so he could get this picture of me along the little stream I called "the Roamer." My mom and I loved to stream-walk along here.

913. Viddlers 5 & 10 store
This is my favorite store in East Aurora, one of the  little towns near Windwood Farm. It as a real ol' timey feel.

914. brick roads
I'd forgotten that part of Main St. East Aurora was paved in brick. I love brick roads!

915. Greek gyros at my old high school hangout
After dragging B. all over city and countryside, we met another old friend, Heidi, and her family at our old hang out, Kostas on Hertel Avenue - oh how I miss good Greek gyros! (they are hard to come by in Wyoming)

916. friends for forty years
Heidi and I have been friends for 40 years (almost, just shy a year) - we became friends in kindergarten, 5 years old. Here we are in 2014, and 21 years ago at a New Years Eve party.

917.  Not needing the umbrella I just bought
Our second day in Buffalo, I planned for us to drive to Letchworth State Park and hike around the beautiful waterfalls there... but when we woke up it was raining. We decided to go on the hike anyway, so we stopped and bought a big umbrella - but about 10 minutes later the skies cleared up and it turned into a perfect sunny day!

918. the falls at Letchworth State Park
There are at least 3 big waterfalls at Letchworth, about an hour from Buffalo. I remember when my mom first brought me there as a kid, I was stunned by the beauty of the gorge and the river and falls (this picture doesn't do them justice!), which I think are even more dramatic than nearby Niagara Falls. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist including a picture of B. and I at Niagara Falls right before we got married.

919. lizard road crossing 
While I'm generally known as being horse crazy, I also have this odd soft spot in my heart for lizards, so I simply had to take a picture of this snake and lizard wildlife crossing sign at Letchworth State Park!

920. sugar maples, hemlocks and giant old oaks
My three favorite trees that I don't get to see in Wyoming. I'd forgotten that it's the sugar maples that turn really bright red during eastern autumns.

921. autumn scent of fallen leaves
I could have lumped this in with gift #920, but I think it deserves a spot of its own

922. Mood rings
We stopped at the Letchworth gift shop and bought a souvenir ball cap (for B) and mug (for me) and I bought mood rings for the four girls; I remember loving the changing colors of these rings when I was a kid and sure enough, my kids loved them too when we got back home. (Many thanks to my parents for watching the kids while we were gone)

923. Route 20A
I think this is one of the most beautiful roads in western New York, between East Aurora and Letchworth.  Even the giant wind turbines that have been built on the hilltops couldn't detract from its beauty.

923. Names of places where I grew up
Meadowview Place, Medaille, St Josephs, Depew Avenue, Harbor Pointe, Erie Basin Marina, Morris Ave, Buffalo Saddle & Bridle Club, Delaware Park, Nottingham Ct, Amherst St, Buffalo Zoo, Parkside Lutheran, Voorhees Ave, Starin Ave, Hertel Ave, Bob & Johns, BQuick (now Dash's), East Aurora, Colden, Mill Rd, Falls Rd, Bleistein Rd, Hayes Hollow Rd, Maple Rd, Center Rd, Blanchard Rd.

924. Buffalo wings
Our last night in Buffalo we stayed with my college friend, Dianna, and her family, and feasted on Buffalo wings... couldn't miss out on this most famous food from Buffalo!

925. Perfect weather for visitors and Indian summer riding
Then we flew home again, but we brought Dianna's two daughters, Corally (15) and Kalyn (11) with us to hang out with us for a week. We had perfect weather and took our visitors horse back riding almost every day. After a rainy, cold August/early September, all of October was warm and sunny, a perfect Indian summer.

926. wood hauling team (with ice cream afterwards)
Our two visitors were so helpful! They even helped us load firewood and I dare say hauled a lot more logs than my four girls combined.

927. Riding in the back of the pickup
Of course the pickup was full of wood on our way out of the forest, though at one point some of us chose to get out of the pickup and walk (there was one stretch where the road was so steep and narrow, I was too scared to be in that heavily loaded truck with its equally loaded trailer, esp. when another vehicle came the opposite direction and B. had to squeeze pass them. But the road had stunning views of the Centennial valley, so I didn't mind walking for a little bit).

928. Playing dominos
The girls must have played a dozen games of dominos together (Mexican train dominos is one of our family favorites!)

 929. Doing home school with friends
Kalyn and Corally are also home schooled, and it was interesting to see what they do for school (I got some good ideas). They were a pleasure to have, very polite and helpful, and I was amazed at how they tackled their school assignments on their own, without any prodding from me. Much more motivated than my girls! They were bookworms too, and such strong Christians - great examples of faith to the girls. They were even keen to come to church with us.

930. Sketchbooks
Last but not least I loved that our visitors both brought sketch books with them; whenever they weren't reading they were usually sketching, and they were both extremely talented. It got Blaze and Dreamer motivated to draw more  (wish our friends' reading habits had also spread to my girls too)

931. Starlet crying when Kalyn and Corally left 
Too sweet not to include. We all hope the girls can come back again!

932. Wanting to keep awful uncle Andrew as a pet
Finished reading the Magician's Nephew to the girls, and we completely cracked up over the part where the Narnian Talking Animals are trying to figure out if Digory's uncle is alive or not, and what sort of animal he might be, and then they decide they want to keep him as a pet!

933. October tomatos
My mom grew some tomato plants in her backyard, but we had such a cold summer (and such an oddly warm October) that she didn't harvest them until mid-October. Only in Wyoming! (but oh my, they were good!)

934. "But Tuffy and I are one!"
Again, October was so nice that we got to ride out on the cross-country course for practice. This was Dreamer's first time jumping the beginner jumps on this course, and she and Tuffy did great, all except for one moment when Tuffy spooked at a stray grocery bag  that was caught in a bush. Dreamer handled it just fine, until she saw B. and I laughing, which upset her. We told her we were laughing at the horse spooking at an empty plastic bag, not her, she exclaimed, "But Tuffy and I are one!"

935.  Halloween horse show (riding in costumes)
There was a costume class where the girls all got to ride in their costumes, even the twins. Dreamer also got to jump Tuffy at her first real horse show. Tuffy gave her some trouble at one of the fences but she didn't give up and kept bringing back around to the jump until she got him over it. So proud of her. Also proud of Blaze as she and Spring competed over the biggest jumps they've yet jumped (3 footers!) - and their first timed jump-off.

936. Sailor girls, flapper girls, ninjas and pilgrims
I loved this year's set of costumes, even though Blaze opted to wear the same costume as last year. Next year I'm going to try to get her to dress up either in a viking girl costume (like Astrid, from How To Train Your Dragon) or a Maleficent costume.

937. Blaze asked me to read the Bible to her before bed
Blaze confessed she'd watched a scary Halloween video on YouTube, and she was so scared she couldn't sleep in her own room but back in her old room that she shared with Dreamer until this summer when she turned 13 and moved down into the basement room. (I wouldn't want to sleep alone in a basement room after a scary movie either!) But even sharing the room with her sister couldn't get her settled. So she asked me to come up with her and read the Bible with her before bed. We took turns reading the first three chapters of John.

Simply sitting in a beautiful place

This post isn't a book review, it's really how a book helped me discover something about myself I'd almost forgotten. And it also provided refreshment for a time when I've been struggling with doubt. I was warned that there would be seasons of doubt with home schooling, and this fall has certainly been one.  I'm struggling to balance my part time job and school (feel like I'm always rushing from one thing to the next!); struggling with finances as the cost of everything continues to increase (and our wages decrease!); struggling with a teenage daughter that argues with me about everything I ask her to do (at least, it feels that way). 

But there are good times along the way, too. Some days we have great discussions about books we've read or about science we're learning; some days I get surprise hugs;  some days I'm blown away by the connections the girls make with things they're learning presently and what they've learned in the past. Some days, I discover a wonderful treasure like Pocketful of Pinecones, by Karen Andreola. This book was a wonderful reminder that you don't have to travel far or attempt great things in order to find delight and wonder in the world, or to help our children see it either. 

The book is "a teacher's guide to nature study, cleverly disguised as a heartwarming story written in the form of a mother's diary" (set in 1935-36). I didn't feel like I was being taught about different home school techniques; I was simply reading a story... and learning along the way.

Before the great busyness of marriage and motherhood took over my life, I used to constantly be out hiking and camping, looking things up in my nature guides as I went, or just simply sitting in a beautiful wild place. I didn't sketch anything, as this book recommends, but I was always journaling, writing about everything beautiful that caught my eye, or my heart (I called such inspiration "Skya" - and when it fired up my imagination to write stories, I called that inspiration "Akina," a "keen urge to write"). The book reminded me of my own great love of learning about nature through simply being outside in the midst of it, soaking it up, and taking time to observe all the details. 

I have missed that stage of my life so much, but immediately after beginning this book I took the morning off from homeschooling, picked up two sketch books and a pack of colored pencils, and drove my girls and I up to the nearby Medicine Bow National Forest. How often have I appreciated that we can be from the city into the wilderness in just a 15 minute drive? Into beautiful places like the beaver ponds off of Happy Jack road, or the amazing rock formations of Vedauwoo. The girls sketched trees, stumps, acorns, birds, and squirrels. I sat on a rock in the center of a tiny creek and watched golden leaves float past me, listened to hawk calls and felt moss under my fingertips and smelled sun-warmed pines. My ten year old asked me to carry some pinecones she’d found in my pocket, as her pockets were already full. That made me smile – a Pocketful of Pinecones, indeed. 

We go to Happy Jack and Vedauwoo quite frequently, but it's been a long time since I've slowed down to really soak it in. To take time to notice all the details. For some reason this also reminded me how at the beginning of the school year I taped up a pretty piece of note paper on my cupboard door where I keep my tea cups, so I would remember to look at it every day: it's a simple list of things I want to remember to do. Like remembering to sing a song to my girls when I tuck them in at night. Remembering to share my favorite verses with them. Remembering to be a help-meet to B. Every morning I open that cupboard and get a mug and a teabag, and stand there waiting for the electric kettle to boil. I just stand there... but how often do I remember to look at my note? It's right here in front of me! How easy it is to miss what is right in front of you! 

A bit more about the book: the fictional diary of Carol begins in 1935 in New England, as she begins to teach her two children about nature study in city backyards and parks, and transitions to the countryside later in the book. She writes a little about Charlotte Mason and her philosophy and methods of home school, which seem simple and yet wonderfully wise. The diary includes good days and bad days, happy days and sad ones, wash days and canning days, snowshoeing days and sleigh ride days, shopping days and simple stay at home days. Carol writes of many things that would worry a mom in the 1930's and that continue to worry moms in the present.

Some of my favorite parts: 

My students have a lifetime ahead of them in which to observe and discover – to become self-educated in their leisure, so to speak. My job is to allow their feet to walk the paths of wonder, to see that they form relations with various things, so that when the habit is formed, they will carry an appreciation for nature with them throughout their lives.

When asked about why she’d taken her children out of school: 

I don’t know how to fully explain my desire to teach my children at home myself. The classes in the school are so large and Emily was labeled as “slow” in reading and arithmetic, but it’s more than that. Don was losing his sense of wonder. He was bored. It seemed that his lights were going out, for lack of a better expression. Emily and Dan were losing a spark of curiousity and a love of knowledge that they had when they first started school. I wanted to get it back. And I think I am getting it back by homeschooling....

Another quote: 

I wrapped my shawl around my shoulders more tightly and stood in the doorway of the children’s bedroom, brooding over them while they slept. I sometimes do this at home when Michael works late. It gives me comfort and it’s easier to pray for them this way.

 Ah, thank you Lord for a good book to remind me to simply sit and soak up the beauty you put everywhere: whether in a golden autumn forest, by kitchen cupboard, or outside my children's bedrooms late at night. 

1000 gifts: favorite verses and the Magician's Nephew

I'm finally catching up with my 1000 gifts list. These gifts are from September.

888. Mutton busting
Dreamer, Serious and Starlet got to try riding a sheep (mutton busting) for the first time at a Labor Day ranch rodeo - discovered it's a lot harder staying on a sheep than on a horse!

889. Baby lizard
Also at the ranch rodeo the girls found a baby horned lizard, barely an inch long

890. B. reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
In one day, no less! I've only known B. to read one other book (one of C.J. Box's Wyoming mysteries) since we've been married, and I've never known him to read anything so fast. We both absolutely loved this book, it is so funny and a little sad, too... about a 14 year old Native boy who leaves the Spokane reservation to go to high school in a neighboring white community where he can get more opportunities - but at the cost of being rejected by his friends on the Rez

891. A bright sunny morning after the rain. Glistening streets and sidewalks

892. Keeping track of triumphs
This is something I learned at an OA meeting: looking for little (or big) triumphs during the day: resisting temptation

893. Sharing my favorite verses for home school
 We've been studying each book of the Bible, the major themes and events, and also my own favorite verse from each book (based on my highlights over the years). Here's my list so far

Genesis 50:19,20 Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Exodus 14:14  The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Leviticus 9:23,24  The glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering...when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell face down.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Deuteronomy 6:4-7: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Joshua 1:8,9  Do not let this Book depart from your mouth; meditate upon it day and night so that you may be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord Your God will be with you where ever you go.

Ruth 2:12  May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. (love the imagery of the Lord having wings!)

894. The stars singing in the Magician's Nephew
One day during home school I shared a verse that had recently stirred my heart during my daily reading (Deut. 32:10-13:  how the Lord carried Israel like an eagle that stirs up its nest [stirs up our lives] and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them, and carries them on its pinions" - and told them my hope was that someday God would show them special verses that would become their favorites, too. Dreamer asked me to share the verses God gave me when I got saved, so I read Job 38:1-8 to them.

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

And Blaze said, "Oh that's like the part in the Magician's Nephew when Aslan sang the stars into existence and the stars joined in his song!"  When we had read this part a few weeks earlier, I had mentioned how this part of the story meant so much to me, but it was especially wonderful to have Blaze remember it, too!

 Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling, silvery voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars. They didn’t come out gently one by one, as they do on a summer evening. One moment there had been nothing but darkness; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leaped out – single stars, constellations, and planets, brighter and bigger than any in our world. There were no clouds. The new stars and the new voices began at exactly the same time. If you had seen and heard it , as Digory did, you would have felt quite certain that it was the stars themselves who were singing, and that it was the First Voice, the deep one, which had made them appear and made them sing

895. Trail ride in the fall colors of Happy Jack, just B. and I

896. B. fixing my car's brakes and saving us so much money

897. Pop up camper
B. bought me a used pop up camper last year, and we finally got to use it this September when we visited his sister Melissa's home in Kansas. We all loved it!!! It fit our  family just perfectly and was surprisingly roomy and comfy to sleep in, but it still has that "tent" feeling to it that I love, closer to nature than a regular hard sided camper (those feel too enclosed for me).

898. the Mommy tax
On the long drive back from Kansas, whenever we would stop for snacks, I'd ask the girls to share just a little of their treats with me - we call it the "mommy tax"

899. Blaze's first "three phase event"
We missed the Laramie three-phase event earlier in September because we were in Kansas, but we able to make it to the one in Cheyenne at the end of September for Blaze to compete in. Eventing involves three phases: dressage, cross-country jumping and show jumping. Blaze loves the cross-country phase, which is where the jumps are spread out over a large (several mile long) course and include obstacles like water jumps, ditches, jumping off banks, and jumping uphill and downhill.

Blaze and Spring practicing at the warm-up jump at the Cheyenne event

900. the darklight
One of my favorite part of autumn are glimpses of "the darklight" you get in a forest when the sunlight shines down through changing autumn leaves and evergreen trees. I got a glimpse of this magical light on one of our trail rides and then again when I took the girls up to Happy Jack with their nature notebooks. I snuck off on my own, while the girls were on their assignment to sketch, to enjoy the peace and quiet and lose myself in the beauty. I first remember doing this when I was in 6th grade and my class spent an over night at a lodge in the woods. On a nature walk I purposefully fell behind everyone else so I could on a little footbridge over a stream and just soak up the beautiful autumn. Later in high school on another school trip to Allegheny State Park, I went off on my own again in the forest to have some time alone in my autumn revelry, lying on the ground and looking up through the trees, watching the play of golden and darklight.

901. finally understanding a confusing Bible verse
from Sarah Young's Jesus Lives: I have new insight into the parable of the three servants the Master gave talents to, a parable I've always struggled with understanding. "I was afraid, so I hid your talent in the ground." The harder the circumstances, the more treasure there is to be found if we don't shrink back but go out and invest what God has given us. It is He that multiplies it.

September struggles

What I'm thankful for - all the leaves turning, the beautiful fall colors. This is my favorite time of year. A couple weekends ago the whole family went up to Vedauwoo to ride and we saw a moose and had fun discovering a whole chain of beaver ponds (that also somewhat confounded us, as we had to figure out a way to get across them to get back to the road!)  Here's a picture of my four girls with the wild jumble of rocks called Devil's Playground behind them.

This weekend my husband and I went for a trail ride, just the two of us, on my favorite fall trail (Happy Jack). The trees were peak color, and I was in complete bliss. I'm already trying to work out my schedule this week to get back up again here before the leaves are gone. I want to take the girls up here again and have them start a nature notebook.

What I'm struggling with - my teenage daughter (just turned 13). Some days we have a wonderful time going through the different books and materials for homeschool; other days it's a constant battle with either her sullen attitude or inability to focus. B. and I have talked it over, the two of us, and with her, and we've set guidelines for her to meet, and if she doesn't, she loses her privileges and computer/tablet time. It has really helped a lot. But I've had to learn to let keep my mouth shut and let the consequences teach her when she argues with me, instead of opening my mouth and arguing back.


What God is teaching me - I know He is teaching me to have faith and trust in Him through financial difficulties and these difficulties with my teenage daughter.  I NEED TO PRAY more! Need extra patience and grace so when she's full of attitude, I don't get puffed with attitude in response, too.

Where I am in the Word - our bible study group is studying Galatians this fall. I've been reading Galations 1 & 2 in several different translations, and find it especially interesting to read in the Message (MSG), a translation that I didn't used to like, but now like to read in parallel with NASB or NIV. Here's Gal 2:15,16 in MSG:

 We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

What I'm reading - Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola.  My neighbor lent me this book (and gave me lots of other books from her homeschool collection) and I'm loving it so much. This book gave me the idea to have the girls try a nature notebook. To hopefully be start of a love of nature and appreciation for God's creation.


What I'm watching - we recently watched God's Not Dead, and a couple of the scenes from that movie keep replaying in my head.  Here's a quote from it that I looked up: "Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want people turning to God. Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door's wide open. Till one day time runs out and the door slams shut and suddenly it's too late to get out."

What I'm anticipating - a trip to Buffalo, NY: my hometown, in October. Since I don't have any family there, I haven't visited in almost 13 years!

What's inspiring me - help I've been getting from a published author on polishing the first ten pages of the book that I'm submitting to agents (she said she loved my story!). She also helped me revise my query letter too. I had an encouraging comment from one agent I submitted to over the summer, but form rejections from seven others. After help revising, I've just submitted to three more agents and I need to research some more to send to, also.  I've also been playing with ideas for a new writing project (since NaNoWriMo is coming up in just a little over a month.)

1000 gifts: thirteenth birthday and church reunion

 Now that I finally have some space from March and April and May - those months were filled with loss (though also filled with many blessings), I'm catching up with my 1000 gifts list. These gifts are from August.

868.  Four wheeling fun
Set up camp near Rob Roy Reservoir with some friends of ours; we brought the horses, and they brought the four wheelers, and all kinds of fun was had (much of it muddy!) The highlight for me was a drive on the 4 wheeler track up to the top of Centennial Ridge (just B. and I - our idea of romantic time together!), which had a spectacular 360 view of the valley below and mountains in all directions. But another highlight was also Blaze and I letting our horses run full speed across Cinnabar Park. What a thrill!

Blaze and Tara getting muddy!

869. Blaze's 13th party and trip to Park City
My friend Melissa had a conference in Salt Lake City, and we met for a couple days in nearby Park City. I brought Blaze along for an extra treat for her 13th birthday and spoiled her with a fun day of riding the alpine slides, alpine roller coaster, and mountain zip line. We had so much fun! Great time hanging out with Melissa too (finally she got to meet one of my kids). Had some great talks with Blaze on the long drive there and back, too. Her faith in God is surfacing again a little.
 

Blaze at the Alpine Slide in Park City, Utah

870. Bible conference and ancient history
Our pastor and his wife celebrated 30 years in ministry at our church this summer (I've been there for almost 20 years!) - and, very appropriately, they included a Bible conference as part of their celebration. The focus was on the book of Daniel, with Doug Bookman preaching. Bookman shared a story recorded by the historian Josephus about when Alexander the Great reached the gate of Jerusalem. Instead of destroying the city as he had destroyed many others, he expressed his respect for Daniel, who had foretold Alexander's triumph in his visions (the Greek Empire being one of the empires symbolized a couple times in the book of Daniel).  Alexander is quoted as saying "The prophets of my own country haven't even foretold of my conquests, yet the prophets of this country have foretold me." Alexander was so impressed  he didn't impose the Greek gods on the Jews but allowed them to continue to worship the true God.

871. No seats in the tabernacle
Also loved learning from Bookman's preaching that there were nto seats or benches in the temple because that would have implied, if the priests sat down, that their work (sacrifice for atonement) was complete. But in the heavenly temple, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, showing that he had completed the work of atonement for us!

872. Old church friends reunited
Many of our old friends from church that have moved away over the years came for the Bible conference and 30 year celebration - what a reunion!! So good to see many old beloved faces and share stories.

873. Unconventional uses of church air-conditioning
Nicole and I ran into our old friend "Hutch" from church at Shari's restaurant and joined him and Billy for more talk. Hutch is a preacher now in Indiana. He cracked me up with his comment about hwo useful church air-conditioning is: he turned up the air conditioning so that certain female members of his church would dress scantily; "they had less cotton on than an aspirin bottle". If only I could capture his voice on paper, what a famous writer I could be! But seriously, I wish I could have taken notes and remembered more, but I was laughing too hard.

874. The best babysitters ever
This is the second year I've had Erin sit the girls for a couple days a week over summer break. She's the rare kind of sitter that does more than keep an eye on the kids; not only does she play with them, she actively plans activities for them! Everyday she would bring a new game or idea for them to try. They had fashion shows, they built forts, played leap frog, did puzzles, played sardines, had wheelbarrow races, made up dance movies, chalked the sidewalks, jumped rope, built obstacle courses, and jumped endlessly on the trampoline. Our year round babysitter Heather, who also helps me home school, is amazing too. Both girls are so serious for the Lord, too.

875. My daughters' lemonade stand
Erin helped Dreamer paint a "Lemonade: 25 cents" sign and the girls did a lemonade stand at the playground across from Grandma's. Sounds like it was a lot of work for them (and some donated goods from Grandma's when they ran out of their supplies) but they loved doing it. I remember getting such a three from making 10 cents a cup when I did a lemonade stand as a kid.

876. The twins teach themselves to ride their bikes
With flat tires, no less! This was all accomplished without my help, or B's, though we offered, of course.

877. More fun swimming the horses
At church camp Blaze got to swim her horse again, like last year (she missed state fair earlier in August because Spring had a minor injury, but she's all healed up now). We took all our church friends on trail rides with the horses, too. My favorite memories were sitting around the campfire, sharing how God has answered prayers.

Blaze and Spring "almost" swimming

878. Bald eagle flying overhead
As we were driving away from camp, I was thrilled to see a bald eagle fly right over us. They're fairly common but still a rare sighting for me!

879. lots of compliments on the Wyoming Student Atlas
For the past year I've been working on creating the maps and text for a 56 page, full color Wyoming Student Atlas for 4th through 8th graders and we're getting really close to publication. I did a presentation on the Atlas at our state GIS meeting and showed draft copies and got lots of interest and compliments on the project. (my kids, however, are less than thrilled about the Atlas since I've been pushing it on them during home school, since we developed the early first draft in March!)

880.  Blaze's bunny
Blaze got a belated birthday present: she finally saved up enough money for the cage and all the equipment, and Grandma bought her a bunny. Blaze picked her out and named her Estelza. She is a tiny "mini Rex" - pure black and soft as velvet! She is a huge hit with the girls. I wasn't crazy about her getting another animal (don't we have enough already!) but so far she has been very responsible about caring for it.

881. Free Christian home school curriculum
One of the home school moms I met this summer gave us a complete math and language arts curriculum for 5th grade (Dreamer's grade) and I found Blaze's 7th grade curriculum materials for under $100 on eBay. I'm so excited to be using Christian curriculum this year. We are using the Mystery of History book for ancient history, Apologia's "Discovering Creation through General Science" for science, and Alpha Omega materials and Writing With Skill for English, and I have a plan for regular Bible study for home school to: sharing my favorite verses from each of the books of the Bible (I have found that teaching the Bible to my kids from my own personal experience makes it much more  interesting and  meaningful; other materials I've tried were too dry). Our first week of home school was tough as far as getting back into the routine, but very encouraged by the materials (see next gift)

882. Studying creation versus evolution: creation provides meaning
One thing that really struck me in our home school this week was this argument for creation (versus evolution): creation provides a purpose and meaning to life. With evolution, if life began by accident and evolves by time, chance and natural selection, then what prupsoe is there in our "accidental lives"? Why do we crave to understand the meaning of life, why do we long to know what our purpose is, why we are here?

883. Getting stopped by an unusual road block: a marching band
On my way to work one day I was delayed by the University of Wyoming's marching band as they were out in the street practicing! I didn't mind the delay (fortunately I wasn't running late to a meeting, as is sometimes the case!) and I especially enjoyed the color guard and their beautiful brown and gold flag work. (For one summer I was part of the color guard in my high school's marching band)

884. Summer's whinny
I'm still missing my old horse Rebel, and his sweet whinny that he used to greet us with every morning when we came out to feed him. But this summer I discovered that our horse Summer has a whinny that sounds almost identical to Rebel's whinny. Hopefully we can get her to "talk" to us every morning like we did with him, too.

Dreamer riding Summer

885.  Two new visitors to OA
For most of the summer it's been just C. and I at our Laramie OA meetings, but now we have two new regulars coming! (J. and E.)

886. Rolling around in the back of the van laughing
B. helped me take all the seats out the back of my Chevy Uplander van, so I could help C. get the rest of her stuff moved over from storage in Cheyenne to her new place in Laramie. I was impressed with how much stuff I could cram in! The kids, though, were impressed with how much fun it was riding in the back of the van without seats. We forgot to put the seats back in before church, so we told them to "keep low" so no cops would see them in there without seat belts. "Keep low" apparently meant lying on the floor and giggling every time I made a turn and they rolled around over each other back there!

887.  Realizing just how amazing your life is
My stepdaughter Stars (who just moved to Seattle) posted this on her Facebook page, and I copied it here so I could remember it always:

Today I somehow managed to wreck my car in the parking garage of my apartment. I spent the better half of my day getting quotes from auto repairs, having to make various phone calls and overall feeling really sorry for myself. To top off my incredibly horrible day I had to go grocery shopping, which at the time sounded like the biggest chore. As I was walking out of Safeway a homeless man was trying to sell me a newspaper, and I of course ignored him, as did everyone else.Loading up my car full of groceries I couldnt help but stare at my poor, damaged Jetta and while wanting to feel sorry for myself again, the homeless mans attempts to even be noticed caught my attention. I walked over and handed one of my bags of groceries to the man, he then started crying and thanking me profusely, and I guess it just made me think how good my life actually is, my "problems" are so minor compared to so many. Through trials and triumph, wrecked cars and such, life is really awesome. I guess all I am trying to say is be happy, be positive, have a little compassion now and again, and on your absolute worst days when you manage to wreck your car or do something stupid and you think your day couldn't possibly get worse, remember to remind yourself about how amazing your life actually is.

July gifts: ranch rodeos and county fair

Now that I finally have some space from March and April and May - those months were filled with loss (though also filled with many blessings), I'm catching up with my 1000 gifts list. These gifts are from July.

854.  Horses for the twins
One of our neighbors with horses introduced to the lady who runs the equine program for the kids at  Cathedral Home for Children here in Laramie (it's an amazing program). With the loss of our old trusty horse Rebel in May, we no longer had a horse safe enough for the 7 year old twins to ride, but this lady had two lovely older horses (Chuck and Trina) that she said they could ride any time they wanted. Serious and Starlet fell in love with them immediately and did a great job riding them at their first show

Starlet barrel racing Trina at the Laramie Kids Horse Show

Serious riding Chuck at the Laramie Kids Horse Show

855. Personal "best times" for Blaze and Dreamer
Also at the Laramie Kids Horse Show, Blaze and Dreamer got their personal best times for the barrel race! Blaze got second place in her division (18.3 seconds) and Dreamer got fifth place in her division (23.4 seconds).

Blaze barrel racing Spring at Laramie Kids Horse Show

Dreamer barrel racing Tuffy at Laramie Kids Horse Show

856. Ranch rodeo fun and trail ride for our 15th anniversary
We had more barrel racing and pole bending fun at the 4th of July ranch rodeo at the beautiful Moen Ranch in norther Colorado. B. also got to do lots of team roping. The girls had so much fun taking the horses in and out of the streams and watering hole. At one point Spring laid down righ tin th ehole and Blaze had to hop off! It was right across from the roping arena and the announcer "announced" what her horse had just done to her and everyone had a big laugh over her muddy horse! After the roping we went for a trail

B. and his four beautiful girls at the Moen ranch

ride - this ranch is breathtakingly beautiful. Stopped and bought fireworks on the way back into town and set them off in the backyard, then went to see the city's big fireworks (the girls all sat on top of the van to watch). I was perfectly happy having a "family" anniversary and couldnt' have planned a better day.

857. my "big" hiking partners
One of our neighbors invited me to join their hiking group, and I have really enjoyed getting back into hiking (I used to hike all the time when I first moved to Wyoming... but have gotten out of the regular habit after having kids). We hiked the Headquarters and Turtle Rock trail, and one lady in particular is really good at pointing out things I probably would have missed on my own: like a bird's nest with a hatchling and two tiny eggs in a shrub right next to the trail, and a patch of wood violets (my favorite flower!!!) She also gave me a some of her patch of lavender from her garden to plant in my garden.

858. my "Little" hiking partners
After dropping Blaze and Dreamer off at Bible camp at the beautiful Table in the Wilderness camp in Centennial, I took the twins with me a little further up into the mountains to hike along the Little Laramie River (need to get my girls to love hiking like I do!) We had so much fun jumping from rock to rock, climbing over fallen trees, and scrambling alongside the stream.

859.  Favorite camp memories
Five days later went to pick up Blaze and Dreamer from camp and they were full of stories. Asked them what their favorite parts were: they said their skit teams. Their team each had to come up with a name (Blaze's team: the Wolves; Dreamer's team, the Praying Mantises) and they had to make up a song. Blaze's team made up a song about bacon and Dreamer's team made up one about body odor - hilarious! Blaze also said that five kids got saved; that they would get to go a peaceful, beautiful place someday. "What place is that?" I asked her. "Heaven!" she answered.

860.  Caught B. riding English!
Posted on Facebook: Caught B. violating three Cowboy rules... real cowboys do not wear shorts! Especially on horseback! Real Cowboys do not wear hightops (cowboy boots, duh!) and Real Cowboys certainly don't ride English... unless they're trying to help their daughter get her horse ready for county fair.  

861. Learning patience with horses
Seriously though, we've made some wonderful progress training the girls and their horses this summer. The girls are learning to be patient and kind with their horses (gets better results than impatience and jerking the reins!) Spring finally has her head down and relaxed at the canter (I thought we'd never get there!) and Dreamer's horse Tuffy has learned how to do a nice quiet trail pattern.

862. Saving a bundle of money on show outfits
All summer (even going back to spring) I've been hunting for show outfits on eBay for the girls... with no luck. The outfits are so expensive, I just can't justify spending over $50 on fancy shirts... and they can easily go over $500! But a couple weeks before fair I was at our local clothing consignment store, and asked about western outfits without really expecting to find anything. But they had a large selection and I  was able to get beautiful shirts for both Blaze and Dreamer - $18 for both of them! I even found them pants, fancy belts, and boots - for under $50 total!!! Blaze was able to wear her dad's cowboy hat and Dreamer used Stars' cowboy hat and I was ecstatic how it all turned out. (And after fair, an older girl gave Dreamer one of her show shirts that she'd outgrown; the same shirt brand new I had priced at $80!)

863.  Tuffy trained to kick a ball
After camp we got into full-time preparation for county fair horse events! The girls' favorite event is the ride to music, where they can pick their own music and costumes and design their own riding pattern. Dreamer picked her favorite song, "Where I Belong" by Building 429 and wore an angel costume and we worked on training her horse, Tuffy, to kick a big exercise ball around the arena for her pattern. So much fun! But I forgot to take pictures! (I heard a few exclamations of delight from the audience when he started kicking the ball).

864. Tiger stripes on her horse
Blaze did her ride-to-music program to Katy Perry's song "ROAR" and painted Spring with tiger stripes, which were all covered up by a sheet. She rode Spring around the arena with her sheet for the beginning part of the song, but when the "roar!" part started she ripped the sheet off - it was very dramatic!

865. Learning sportmanship at fair
I knew the tough competition at fair would try all of our attitudes (mine included) but I put a lot of prayer into our preparation, too. Blaze and Dreamer didn't place in most of the classes because of heavy competition, but they kept their spirits up and learned how to congratulate the other girls with good sportmanship. Blaze had never even practiced the Western Riding pattern but she'd been doing so much pole bending on Spring that she got almost all of the lead changes correct and placed a surprise 4th! She also got 4th place in the Trail class, another surprise! The biggest surprise was that Dreamer was the only rider in her junior division to complete all the trail obstacles, though she ended up being disqualified for opening the gate the wrong direction; if she'd opened it the correct direction, she would have won!) I was so proud of her because her trail obstacles were extremely complicated; the same level of difficulty as Blaze's intermediate level.  The very last events the girls competed in were barrel racing and pole bending. Blaze got a second in pole bending, qualifying for state fair, and then first place in the barrel race!

866. Dreamer's "cure for fear"
Dreamer made this awesome list of ways to fight fear that I just had to share!!!
1. love God and think of God's Word
2. Hug your mom and dad
3. think of good things that have happened in your life
4. read Psalm 23
5. say your happy word, Dreamer's is "sparkles"
6. sing a song

867. Daniel 12:3
"Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."  Shared at OA with C. last night how I much I want to be brave to share my faith; how I am afraid of being ashamed when I get to heaven of not sharing about Jesus and the Word more, when they are the very most important thing to me.

Things on my heart this summer

Five things on my heart this June and July:

Dreamer riding Tuffy at a show in June

1. Scripture study
2. Horse showing
3. Bible game
4. Surrendering
5. My dad, care center, sharing my faith at work

1. Scripture study
Earlier this spring I was convicted to study the Bible on my own, instead of doing a Beth Moore Bible study or some other person's Bible study. It's been a while since I've done this (a couple years). I have done this in the past with Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Peter.  In May I started studying 1 Thessalonians. My method study is usually to read the same chapter in full every day for a week. At the end of the week on a day when I have plenty of time, I take two or three verses and really dig into them. Look for key words, themes, repeated words, and work through the who, what, why, when, where, how questions. Some verses I will look up in the Blue Letter Bible to see the original Greek meanings of words.  My favorite part is looking up reference verses, to see where similar words and themes are found through out the Bible.

The first references I looked up were for 1 Thess 1:9, "you turned from idols to serve the living and true God." I looked up all the references of "living God". I found eleven verses that each gave a different view of God, and taken altogether completely awed me.

These are just a few:

•  1 Sam 17:36 (story of David and Goliath) "who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
• Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 
• Jeremiah 23:36 Every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the word of the living God 
• Hebrews 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God
• Rev 7:2 Then I saw another angel coming from the East, having the seal of the living God

I did the same exercise with 1 Thess 2:13 "you accepted the Word as it actually is: the Word of God which is indeed at work in you" - my Thompson Chain Reference bible linked this to a chain of verses under the heading of the "power of the Word" and it was fantastic reading through dozens of verses about the power of God's Word.

2. Horse showing
We've taken the girls to several horse shows this summer, and to the intense 3 day 4H Horse Camp in Douglas, Wyoming, which was an incredible learning opportunity. Blaze rode Spring, and Dreamer rode Tuffy, and there were four classes in the morning and four in the afternoon: showmanship, trail, equitation, patterns, barrel racing, pole bending, English, ground work (lunging), saddle fitting, first aid for horses, conformation, shoeing and hoof care, knot tying, even sorting cattle!! B. and I took turns going to the classes with Blaze and Dreamer, and the twins climbed over and under every fence, grand stand, pen, etc across the entire facility and actually managed to not get hurt or hurt anyone else (phew!) The third and last day was  a little practice show in the morning, and both Dreamer and Blaze placed about in the middle of the pack (Dreamer is in the Junior division, ages 8-10; there were about 25 kids) and Blaze is in the intermediate division, ages 11-13, about 35 kids).

Of course there were tears and frustration because they wanted to win something, and it wasn't much encouragement to tell them that they were competing from kids from all around the the state of Wyoming, and probably some of the best riders, too, because it takes some serious dedication to get to and through horse camp.

B. and I struggled, too. B's very competitive and I claim I'm not that competitive, but turns out that events like this make me really itch to push the kids. But both B. and I know that pushing the kids is only half of the equation. They also have to really want it and be willing to do the daily practice to get to a competitive level.   I struggle with knowing how to balance it all: how much to push them, how much to let them take their own initiative. And I struggle with my own attitude. It's so hard not to get bitter with the rich families that can afford to buy expensive, well trained horses, and keep them well trained with expensive trainers, and have their kids take $50 an hour lessons. When you are up against those odds, it's so frustrating. It IS possible to compete with people like that, but you have to work twice as hard, and make due with second hand equipment that isn't as flashy and pretty as the rich kids' stuff (at least English equipment is standardized; but Western show clothes and saddles can range from plain jane to all decked out with silver and sparkles; easily costing thousands of dollars). 

When faced with what sometimes feels like a sport dominated by the rich and requires so much money that maybe ought to go more important things like missions and the poor and orphanages and such, I also question what values this is teaching my kids. But on the other hand, learning how to work as a partner with a horse is also an incredible opportunity. It teaches patience, kindness, self control, responsibility, consistency, sensitivity, to name a few... (also physical benefits like balance, coordination, flexibility and quick reaction).

After all the hard work with horses this summer, and seeing my own emotions and my girls' run so high, it was good to go for a walk this morning and talk to God about it.

3. Bible game
Blaze is not as negative as she was at the beginning of the year about church and the Bible, but she still struggles with it - "why can't it be more fun?" She likes to help me in the 3 year old children's church rather than sit through the main service, even though the lessons are way simplified for 3 year olds. Recently I came up with an idea to teach Blaze and my other girls some Bible lessons and important verses through a board game that we all love: "SORRY!" In the regular game, the cards have numbers and instructions on them, like move ahead 7, or move backwards 4, or switch places with an opponent. So I made an identical set of cards but with Bible questions on them like "What is the Gospel?" and verse fill-in-the-blanks like "The ___________ declare the glory of God". This was such a fun project to work on and I can easily add or change out the cards with new ones to expand their Bible learning. The girls like playing it and even B. played it with us, though with him playing the game really slowed down as we got into more discussion (but that's a good thing too!)

4. Surrendering
My theme this year has been Surrender  (NOT surrendering to temptation, but surrendering to God's will). Though I continue to go to Overeaters Anonymous at least 3 times a month and get great encouragement from my accountability team, I haven't lost any weight in over a year. The first 20 pounds was a big step, but more needs to go! Lately I have really been trying to remember surrender DAILY. Faced with a less than healthy food choice - a few times this past week I have remembered to surrender to God and not to the temptation.  My OA buddy C. has also had some success with this in the last week, too, and we are trying to text/email/call daily to keep each other going, and track everything we eat to share with each other for accountability too. I feel like every little effort I put in, even remembering to write down what I ate, or murmuring "surrender" as a reminder, or thanking God for blessings several times a day, gets me a little further away from bad habits and closer to good habits.

5.  My dad, care center, sharing my faith at work
This I almost don't want to mention because I have been a failure in these three things. I had a long weekend taking care of my dad while my mom went to visit her sisters and brothers, and I hoped to talk to him more and share the Word with him. I also can't get it out of my head that I need to volunteer at our local senior care center, even just one hour a week, visiting folks there - but I keep putting it off.  I want to share the Word at work, and that hasn't happened, either, because I'm too afraid, or lazy, or both. But I want to be someone that people would say first of all: "she loves the Lord" rather than just "she's nice" or "she's positive." But even more important, I want to not even think about me and how people perceive me, but be thinking about God first, and others next, before myself.

Late addition: how could I forget to mention writing? I've have my query and sample pages out to seven agents. So far one rejection but rejection is part of the game. I have seven more agents I'm getting ready to query, too, but then I read this amazing book, Writing Twenty First Century Fiction, by Donald Maass, and it gave a whole list of ideas for how to make my story stronger. So am I working on these "enrichments" and will query more agents after the edits. The thing that I loved especially about Maass' writing advice is that he really pushes you to work timeless questions or mysteries of life into your stories; to use your writing to impact readers with significance and meaning.  This is  my main motivation in writing (besides the great sense of adventure and fulfillment it brings me): to convey the glory of God and the mysterious ways he works in our lives... but this books shows you practical ways to accomplish this: to be high impact without overbearing.