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

1000 gifts: my daughter's baptism

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey. I write these down on my calendar, and when I get a chance I add them here to my blog. These are all blessings are from August, 2012.

501. My daughter getting baptized

Blaze got saved  when she was nine (March 2010), and since then we've been talking about baptism on and off, usually when she sees someone else get baptized at our church. We explained about how important it is to tell her story of how Jesus saved her and how God has been working in her life, what a blessing it is for other believers to hear that story, and to witness her "being buried in the likeness of Jesus' death, and raised in the likeness of his resurrection." For a long time she wasn't sure about how to tell her story, and she was  scared to stand up in front of a bunch of people and share it out loud. 

But when she found out that our Pastor was doing several other baptisms on August 5th, which is her birthday, she decided she really wanted to get baptized on her birthday. So for several days she practiced sharing her testimony with me, and then with our pastor, and finally in front of everyone! - before getting dunked in the Laramie River.

502. Books for her birthday

Blaze also made me so proud when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she asked for books! Not video games or an iPod or a phone or any of a dozen other "cool things" I'd think an eleven year old would ask for. She's fallen in love with the Horse Diaries series and wanted to add some more books to her collection.

503. Singing out of the Bible

One of my twins, Serious (5 years old) made me smile when I  saw her sitting with a children's bible in her lap, slowly turning the pages and making up a song to go with the pictures on each page.

504. Moose calls. In the car.

I signed Blaze and Dreamer up for a 4 week summer school session this summer because it was going to include lots of field trips up into the mountains with a special focus on learning about wild animals that live in Wyoming, especially antelope, elk and moose. They learned a lot, perhaps most memorably how to imitate a moose call. Which they then proceeded to practice almost every time we drove anywhere in the car - and they got the twins practicing moose calls too. 

505. And then seeing a real moose up close. 

Not sure if all the moose calls paid off, but the weekend we went camping up in the Snowy Range, we got to get a pretty up-close viewing of a big bull moose. B. thinks the moose was curious about our horses, because he hung around our trailer for quite a while. (More people are injured by moose than any other wild animal in Wyoming, including bears, so I was a little nervous about our visitor).

506. Riding the horses in the lake

Another highlight of our camping trip was all four girls taking turns riding Rebel and Spring into the lake. Our camping spot was right on the edge of Rob Roy reservoir, with practically our own private stretch of beach. Here's Dreamer riding Rebel, with Serious trying to "pull" him out further into the water. (He wasn't having any of that).

507. Fresh fish for dinner
We went camping with several other families, friends of ours from church, and one of the families brought along a fishing boat, so in exchange for pony rides, the girls got to go out on the boat and fish, too. Blaze caught two decent-sized trout and our friends cooked the fish for us on the campfire, yum. The girls all tried a bite but no one liked the fish except for me and Starlet.

508. The London Olympics
The girls were fascinated by the gymnastics portion of the Olympics, especially the artistic gymnastics with the ribbons. So then I had to find ribbons for all of them and tie them onto sticks so they could dance with the ribbons swirling around them. I loved it because I remember doing the exact same thing when I was a little girl watching the Olympics back in the 70's and 80's! (And now Dreamer has asked if she can take gymnastics when school starts).

509.  Baby blanket love
Of my four girls, Serious is the only one who got really attached to her baby blanket and even now at five years, she still makes a fuss about having her blankie at bedtime. This can be an  issue because she also likes to carry around with her, so it's often missing come bedtime. I finally told her that if she kept losing her blankie she was just going to have sleep without it. Her solution: to tie the blankie around her waist so she could have it with her all day and not lose it. She even put a belt around it to keep it securely around her waist.

510. Cats on the fence
I love to lean on the fence and see what horses come up to get their noses scratched and to beg for a treat; this is one of the wonderful things about having horses in our backyard. I also love how our barn cats will jump up on the fence and walk their way along the rails over to me to get some loving, too.

511. A wonderful milestone gift idea

I want to remember to do this for my girls: 

When our daughter turned 18 and moved away to attend school, my husband gave her a Bible. It wasn’t a new Bible. It was the Bible that had been given to him when he became a Christian at the age of 20.
This leather-bound volume was nearly 25 years old.
Pages highlighted.
Gold edges tattered.
Notes and thoughts scribbled in the margins.
Many who may glance at it will see an old book. My daughter instead sees a treasure.
Kenna carries this Bible with her to church on Sundays. She curls up and reads it during the week in her times alone with God, seeking Him on the pages of His word. And she now highlights and marks and makes notes herself.
Sometimes, she will snap a picture of a page and send it to me; something her dad wrote in the margin that also spoke to her. She loves seeing his insights jotted down in his very own handwriting.
If you don’t have a Bible to give your son or daughter that you have personally used and loved over the years, you can still give them a meaningful gift. Simply purchase a new Bible a year before their milestone event—perhaps their 16th birthday or high school graduation. Then, take a year to read through it with a Bible reading plan making notations in the margin written specifically to your child.
Make comments about the verse’s special significance. Mention how you’ve seen a truth of scripture lived out in their life. Warn them of pitfalls. Encourage them with favorite verses underlined.
Then, on their big day, wrap it up and give it to them as a gift. It will become a treasured heirloom they too can pass on one day.
The gift of God’s word. There is nothing better!
Blessings, Karen Ehman

1000 gifts: to fully appreciate beauty, share it

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

349. Seeing beauty, squared (or even quadrupled)
I discovered some beautiful new places - surprisingly near home - in September. But almost as wonderful as discovering these places, is being with my family while discovering them. Being able to gasp "Oh, look at that view!" and have someone else smile in return, and even better, having them point out something I might not have seen on my own.  

350. The view from the other side of the mountain
So here's one of those beautiful places I discovered with B., my mom and my daughter Blaze on a trail ride. Sheep Mountain is about 40 minutes away and I've been there lots of times, but never on this particular path.The beautiful views made my heart vibrate with happiness. I am never happier than with my family and my horses (and my God) in a beautiful place.  (the photo is of Blaze showing off sitting backwards in the saddle).

351. My unstoppable mother
She wouldn't be happy about me sharing her age, but I'm still going to brag. In her mid 70's, my mother still rides horses, skis downhill, rollerblades, rides a bike almost everyday, and takes dancing and yoga classes! She is an inspiration to me. Here she is with my daughter Blaze on our trailride.


352. Picking up a very special delivery
My stepdaughter Stars decided to live with us this year, and that meant figuring out how to get her horse here from 1400 miles away in Moses Lake, Washington. There are companies that ship horses all around the states, and they were able to deliver Roy to Cheyenne, about 50 minutes away from us in Laramie. Stars was so excited it's all she could talk about! Actually, we were all pretty excited and waiting eagerly for that phone call from the company telling us that he'd arrived.  Everything went smoothly, even unloading the horse from the specially-oufitted semi-truck-trailer. 


353. Fancy photography with old props
Stars' friend Chesca is really good at photography - she took a bunch of photos of Stars to add to her portfolio. Stars looks stunning and I loved the props and settings they used. You can't see it in this picture, but the old wooden chair Stars is sitting in is in the shallow water of the Laramie River, swirling around her feet. 

354. Riding bareback
Blaze loves riding our horses bareback, and she's getting really good at it, too. Whenever I see her loping around on my old horse Rebel, it reminds me of when I first got Rebel and taught myself how to ride like an Indian. 

355. Riding in the dark
In addition to riding bareback, another thrill is riding in the dark, having to trust your horse (they have much better night vision). B. and I went a trail ride just the two of us, and he talked me into taking a new trail off the Happy Jack trail that we love to ride in the fall because of all the yellow aspens along the trail. The new trail (Devil's Crotch! - what a name!) had some amazing views - along with a beautiful sunset, but it was longer than we bargained for and meant we ended up racing to get back to the horse trailer before dark. Galloping through a twilight forest with low-hanging branches was a scary thrill! 


356. Organizing a community mapping party
Maps are a great love of mine, with my background as a geographer and the analysis work I do with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). So when my boss asked for someone in our office to volunteer to help organize our first annual Laramie Mapping Party, I raised my hand (not without some nervous "what am I getting myself into" thoughts.) It was a lot of work, but we ended up with about 50 volunteers and a great experience. Our event even made the local newspaper.

357. Jokes that writers like
An author and a brain surgeon went golfing one spring day and the brain surgeon said, "I'm taking a six weeks off this summer to write a book!"
The author stared at his friend and said, "That's a stunning coincidence. I'm taking six weeks off this summer to become a brain surgeon."

358. Opposing ideas
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
Nicole shared this quote with me, and it made me think about how the Bible sometimes seems to contradict itself. The concept of free will and predestination are two ideas very opposed to each other, yet both are supported by the Bible. Some will say it means the Bible is untrustworthy and contradictory, but I think it's an instance of how God's ways are above our ways, His understanding beyond our understanding. These opposing ideas are divine paradoxes to me, part of the mystery and beauty of God. 

Horses in our family over the years

My daughter Dreamer (her screen name) had to do a class project for 2nd grade about family traditions. She wanted to do horses since our family owns a lot of horses and we are always riding. But I told her that horses go way back in our family, too. So together we looked through photos and talked with her dad and grandparents to put together some details about our family's history with horses.

About 1937: a picture of her Grandma's (my mother's) horse, a paint pony called Bill. She grew up on a farm and Bill was a plow horse but also fun to ride (though he could be very tricky - would scrape you off under trees if you weren't paying attention).  My mother is the baby in this picture  (with her Grandma) and her cousin is riding Bill. Mom remembers riding Bill all her years growing up - he lived to be a very old horse.

Her grandpa (my father) grew up in a big city (Buffalo, NY), but lived near a city stable where rich people kept their horses. He used to make deliveries there and later when I got into my horse-crazy stage, he took me to see the Saddle and Bridle club. We found out I could get riding lessons there and I ended up riding there from age 10 to 17. This is a picture of my dad riding my cousin Donna's horse. 

Her other Grandpa (B's father) grew up in a small town in Nebraska. This is his horse Rip. 

Her other Grandma (B's mom)  grew up helping her father train horses on a ranch in Nebraska near Ogallala.  Grandpa saw her for the first time riding a horse through town and said “that’s the girl for me.”

Her Grandma's father supposedly won at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, and her grandfather (mother's father) supposedly once rode (or tried to ride) the famous bucking horse, Steamboat, who was popular at the Cheyenne and Laramie rodeos in the early 1900's. (Steamboat is often cited as the source of the bucking horse and rider that is the symbol of Wyoming).

B.'s family also had horses when he was growing up, he and his dad would take them hunting up in the mountains. Starting his senior year in high school, he rode bareback broncs in rodeos all around the west until he was about 24. Now he does team roping.  

 I took riding lessons for years but didn't get my own horse (Rebel) until I was 22. I loved to jump but I never got brave enough to jump over 3 1/2 feet (that's what I'm jumping here in this picture on Ginger, a horse I leased). Before I met B., I showed in jumping, dressage and eventing. Now my favorite thing is trail riding in the mountains and teaching my daughters the skills I learned.

Here are the five girls with our five horses:  Stars on Folly, Blaze on Spring, Dreamer on Ally, Serious on Rebel and Starlet on Jewel.