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.

June gifts: summer camp

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 June.

845. New 4H friends
This spring and summer we've  been going regularly to 4H horse nights and both the girls and I have made some new friends there! So thankful for Tage and his granddaughter Raine who have taught us so much (especially in Western pleasure/equitation, which B. and I knew almost nothing about) and always had sincere compliments for the girls and their horses.

846. 4H horse camp in Douglas, Wyoming
I wrote about this earlier, but mostly about the horse parts; also wanted to mention the other "non-horse parts": so much of this camp (even the horrible cafeteria food!) brought back fond memories of my years of Girl Scouts summer camp including climbing trees and silly camp songs and water balloon fights and tie dye shirts.

Dreamer with her horse Tuffy at 4H horse camp

What I loved most was being able to participate in all the camp activities with my girls. We brought our camper along which added to the camp fun and made some great friends (April and her daughter Jaedyn were already friends, but not they are REALLY friends). Had great fun with them at the Douglas swimming pool after camp, too where there was giant water slide.

Starlet climbing the tree at our campsite

847. Spanish bar cake
Every year I've been working on perfecting this recipe for my Dad for Father's Day. He used to buy Spanish Bar cake in the summer for us to eat on the deck behind our house on Morris Ave, it was our favorite. You can't buy it anymore (at least not out here in the West) so I've been trying to get as a close as possible to our memories of this yummy treat.


848. Imaginative dragons
Blaze and Dreamer have had so much fun playing the Dragonvale app on their tablets and I've had fun seeing their proud dragon acquistions - they are so imaginative! A glacier dragon! A flying tree dragon!

849. More horse show friends
Took the girls to a little horse show in Cheyenne and was really pleased by how small and friendly the "competition" was. One family whose daughter was Blaze's age and in all the same classes even helped us by lending Blaze an English show coat, because she'd out grown  her coat from last year.

Blaze (on Spring) starting her trail class at the Cheyenne show

849. First real barrel race
Blaze placed second in her first real barrel race - she didn't win any money because she was in the junior event, not the open event, but she did win a blinged-out Western saddle accessory. She rode Strike for this race.  


850. Getting to see Ally again

Also at the barrel race, we ran into the lady who bought our horse Ally last year. Dreamer was especially excited to see Ally again (Dreamer loved to ride Ally, who was kind of nervous horse with everyone else, but for some reason very mellow and gentle with Dreamer). It was also lovely to hear Ally's owner praise her and say she would always have a "forever home" with her.

851. Chubby bunny
I taught my girls how to make a chubby bunny face, which brought us endless peals of laughter

852. "Don't you go writing this on your calendar"
B. knows that I like to write all my blessings and fun things to remember on my calendar (which I later transfer to my 1000 gifts list on this blog). One day he did something (I can't even remember what it was!!!) that made me laugh and he said "don't you go writing this on your calendar or telling your friends you've got me trained!" (so of course I went ahead and wrote it... but lucky him I can't remember what prompted the comment!)

853. S.O.A.P bible study
At an OA meeting, C. told me about SOAPstudy.com, a tool for using the SOAP acronym for daily devotions: Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. Here is an example of my entries from June:

Scripture: "you accepted the Word not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe."  1 Thessalonians 2:13

Observation: I read this in my Thomas Chain Reference bible, and I looked up the "chain" that went with this verse, dozens of amazing verses about the Word. How it is indestructible, food for soul, divinely inspired, written on our hearts, is a light in the darkness, loved by the saints, powerful in its influence, a blessing to those who reverence it, written with a purpose, its study commanded, is seed for the sower, absolutely trustworthy, profitable for teaching, and ignorance of it perilous.

Application: Would love to cover all these categories with my girls, maybe one category a day. Really struck by the section on powerful in its influence... how it works within us... and how it is a light in the darkness. Jer 23:29 "is not my Word like fire?" says the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, let your Word do its work in me. Let it grow and spill over into all that I say I do, especially to witness to others. I need to witness to Nick at work before he leaves later this summer. So convicted by Sam's message at church this Sunday and also reminded of I Thess 2:19-20. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? [our brothers and sisters in Christ, esp. those whom we have discipled]  Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

1000 gifts: twenty two years of memories

I'm really late with this gifts list from May, just as I was with March and April, because these months were filled with loss (though also filled with many blessings). These gifts  are part of my 1000 gifts list.

833. Birthday broom races
Twins birthday party (6 months late!) but at least we could have it outside, beautiful weather, the horses behaved for pony rides. We also did broom races which was just adorable!

834. Reading by flashlight
Blaze stayed up late reading Bambi, until we made her turn off the light, but the next morning she confessed she finished it by flashlight. I love that she fell in love with this book that was a childhood favorite of mine. It's not the easiest book  to read, either, as it's very pensive, contains quite a bit of death, and much is not fully explained... but that is also what makes it a powerful story.

835. Fur trader rendezvous
I took Blaze and Dreamer to our school district's re-enactment of the famous fur trader rendezvous which occurred annually from 1825-1840, many times in Wyoming. I loved for this chance for them to learn about this part of our Western history and I learned a lot to! It was very hands on, with the kids getting to see how hides are tanned, touch all the different kinds of furs, play actual Indian games and see what the inside of a teepee looked like, how the Plains Indians decorated their clothes (porcupine quills and elk ivories) and horses, throwing tomahawks, the meaning of different patterns for face painting.

836. Unicorn pinata
Dreamer's birthday was the same weekend as her cousin Taryn's graduation, so we were in Kansas, and B.'s sister Monica planned a birthday party for her, with cake and a unicorn pinata. Her other two aunts also got her special presents: Aunt Melissa gave her a backpack and Aunt Crystal gave her a girl's Bible devotional (which Dreamer loves). I love B.'s family like my own family, these women are truly my sisters.

837. Cat hanging out on top of the kitchen cabinets watching us.
Monica's black cat, Bear. He is full of personality.

838. Starlet charms everyone on her school evaluation
Met with the district child psychologist who evaluated Grace to see if she needed any special education/assistant. He said there is nothing wrong with her cognitively, in fact she's one of the most charming children he's ever met! He says she processes instructions a little slower than some kids, but they may be because the right and left sides of her brains might be "cross wired" - but he assured me she's very smart

839. Buried socks in the potted plants
Tried to get the kids to confess one of them buried their sock in the pot on the back porch. Only later when I found more buried socks in our garden did I realize it might have been our dog, or a neighbor's dog. Still, the girls can be blamed for leaving their socks outside!

840. Memorial  day mountain drive
We went for a drive along the Cache La Poudre, which was so full of snow runoff that the picnic ground we stopped at for lunch had become an island! Then we hiked a half mile up the Big South Trail of the river, which was spectacular.

We continued up highway14 to Chambers Lake (still partially frozen), which is the source of the Laramie River, and then followed the river along 103, Laramie River Rd, which cuts north to Wyoming, passing through Glendevy, which used to be a small town (part of the story of the Green Grass of Wyoming is set there in the 1940s). B. used to stay at the old lodge there with a snowmobiling friend until it burned down. Then we passed all the big ranches along the Laramie River - B. has done work on most of them, esp. the Diamond Tail Ranch and Hohnholz Ranch. I've never been in this valley when the river was so high, flooding all the meadows.

841. Last day of school! we have officially done a whole year of homeschool!

842. Free gift of God
Thinking on my walk this evening about how every religion is about what people need to do, or need to give God, but ours is the only one about what God freely gives.

843. Twenty two years of memories
My beloved old horse Rebel died on May 24, at the good old age of 32 years. I am trying to focus on all the wonderful 22 years of memories I have of him, and how he was the horse all 5 of my girls (even my stepdaughter Stars) learned to ride on. A couple of my favorite memories: how Rebel used to come right up to our back door and stick his head in the house, asking for his grain! (oh his beautiful whinny!) And a much older memory, from when we lived on Windwood Farm in New York: riding him through the woods along a familiar path when he suddenly stopped and I couldn't get him to take another step forward. Then I realized a tiny speckled fawn was laying motionless in a patch of tall grass, right at his feet!

844. Multiplied, by NeedToBreath
This song has brought me much joy this month, that and the Word (I've found many Wonderful Things in the Word this month). 

Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot contain
Your love will surely come find us
Like blazing wildfires singing your name
God of mercy, sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to your design
May this offering stretch across the sky
These hallelujahs be multiplied

False teachings, or not?

On my blog I have often made references and quotes to several authors and their books and Bible studies that I have read and gained insight from.

At least three of them, I have recently learned, have been seriously questioned by some who are concerned about false teachings, contrary to the Word of God, being presented.

1) Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts: concern as to some of her wording implying panentheism or the oneness of God and nature, that is contrary to the Biblical truth that God created nature and is separate from it.

2) Sarah Young, in her book Jesus Calling: her statement "I knew that God communicated with me in the Bible, but I yearned for more" and sharing what God has supposedly communicated with her in direct revelation. She later  wrote in her book Dear Jesus: "I've continued to write with the help of Christ's Spirit, who guides my thinking while I listen in His Presence. I believe the Bible is the only infallible Word of God. My writings are based on that absolute standard, and I try to ensure they are consistent with Scripture." 

 3) Beth Moore, concern that some of her Bible studies exhibit legalism; that some of her statements indicate that she believes she receives direct revelation from God ("I received a word from God"); that she teaches men (in my experience, she always makes the disclaimer that her teaching is to the women, however men may be present); and that she condones mystic practices such as contemplative prayer (a dvd called "Be Still")

Anything that contradicts or is in addition to the Word of God, or taken out of context, is false teaching. So I do not ignore any claims of false teaching, but take the time to research them. We should ALWAYS test the teachings of men and women to see if they are in agreement with the Bible.

For the past month, I have done some research into these claims, and will continue to do so. I think some of the claims are taken out of context, and some maybe unfortunate choices of words; however some of the concerns may be valid.

I haven't come to a conclusion about these claims of false teachings yet. I'm praying about them and consulting other Godly men and women about them.  I am still using Sarah Young's "Jesus Lives" as a daily devotional and I am certainly continuing my 1000 gifts list (which I started long before I ever read Ann Voskamp's book). But I am also really digging into the Word more on my own, rather than relying a guided Bible study, such as I've done with a lot of Beth Moore's studies in the past.

Right now my method for studying 1 Thessalonians on my own is to go verse by verse asking the who, what, why, when, where, how questions, looking at key words that are repeated, looking up reference verses, using different translations, and using the Blue Letter Bible website to study the original Greek and Hebrew for some verses or parts of verses.

Bible study takes time (I don't get it done everyday; some days I just read a Psalm or a few verses) but it is so rewarding.

Though I was very upset initially hearing about these claims about false teachings, whether they end up being proven true or not, I am so thankful for how it has drawn me back into deeper study of the Word.

Sharing testimonies

Our church had another Saturday ladies conference and luncheon, and the topic was on our expectations... versus reality (our pastor's wife found some funny photos to share on that one: what we wished our house looked like - neat and clean - versus the mess it usually is!

But my favorite part of the morning was where we were asked to share when was the first time you heard God call your name? I love sharing my testimony and hearing others! Someday we will begin the Great Story which goes on forever and every chapter is better than the one before (C.S. Lewis), but until then, the greatest stories we can tell our own stories of how God has worked in our lives.

I sat at a table with Heather and Susan and Susan's mother (my mom did come with me to the first conference, but hasn't wanted to since). 

Susan got saved when she was five years old, after her mother made her apologize to a store owner for stealing a peanut (yes, just one peanut!) from an open barrel of peanuts at a store! ... and she wanted Jesus to save her so she wouldn't make such a mistake again! She shared another big milestone moment in her life: right after she moved out of her parents' home, and realized her newfound freedom: there were so many different paths to take... she could become anyone she wished. But then she felt the Holy Spirit strongly reminding her that God's way was the best path to take.

Susan's mother said she got saved while she was living in a boardinghouse and sharing a room; she had no private place. One day she felt under so much conviction to surrender to God and ask for his forgiveness that she locked herself the ladies' bathroom and got on her knees to pray right next to the toilet!

Heather got saved a few weeks after her daughter, Natalie, was stillborn. You'd think this would be hard for her to share, but it isn't - she loves to tell this story.

I shared the "short" version of my testimony (a longer version is here).

We also had some great discussion questions during the conference:

1) What is a godly woman?
We shared various answers: such as the Proverbs 31 woman, "a woman who loves God", "a woman who makes His priorities her priorities"

2) Have you ever experienced Biblical discipleship?
I shared how after I got saved, I pretty much thought I was "good to go" - I had figured out the point of all. Didn't even think I needed to keep reading the Bible, since I had got the main point of it! But I was disatisfied with the churches I tried - always hungering for something "more" though I didn't quite know what I wanted... until I found the church I currently go to, which really digs into the Word. Within my second or third month at that church, another young woman, Sarah (actually two years younger than me, but very wise), asked if I wanted to do a Bible study with her. We went through John MacArthur's Fundamentals of the Faith over several months, and I loved every minute of it. I have been blessed with so many strong spiritual leaders and teachers in my church, but none that helped me on such a personal as Sarah did with her discipleship. (someday hope to do likewise for other young women... and my daughters of course)

3) What is your most challenging issue in pleasing the Lord?
My moodiness! I hate those days where I'm too listless to get into the Word or in prayer, and even worse those days when I'm snappy and short tempered.

4) How has God blessed you this week?
I shared how we had just come back from my mother-in-law's funeral, how hard it was seeing her die and her family grieving, many of them without the hope of heaven and eternity with God in their hearts; what a blessing it was to be back home and surrounded by believers during this wonderful conference.