First Impressions

I apologize.


Untitled from Diane Meyer on Vimeo.









If I haven't scarred you for life, please head over to 2nd Cup of Coffee, where there had darn well be a whole lot of you participating.

Horse Tales Part Two

The accident that I wrote about in the last post, or actually didn't write about, served to remind Rod and me that God is in control, and all the things we think are ours, are HIS. We weren't physically hurt in the accident, neither was the horse we were hauling . But our new Dodge truck and horse trailer were considered totalled.

This doesn't mean that God is like the play ground bully, wanting to take all our toys away until we pay attention to Him. Not at all.

Rather it means that He will continue to persue us, for however long it takes for us to choose Him, serve Him, and love Him, as our one God. Because He loves us enough to want the best for us.

Because all these other things that we put up and worship as idols, by spending all our time and resources on them, putting them first, whether it is horses or other hobbies, are simply not the best for us. Not by a long shot.

He is the best for us and if we would only look away from our toys for a few minutes and look deep into the face of our Savior we would be lost. In a good way.

All that pontificating to say, that we were swept up in the horse world and the accident made us begin to ponder our choices.

Not to say we weren't having fun, too.

We bred our Tennessee Walking Horse mare to a rare McCurdy Plantation Horse stallion, which is an old and treasured branch of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
This is the sire we chose, McCurdy's New Tradition.
Oh, and is he gorgeous, or what?

WahHoo! We were gonna have us a baby!

Rod had studied for months

deciding who to breed Precious Kisses to.(Seriously. That was her registered name. Who would do that to their horse? But it is so fun to tease Rod about his Precious Kisses.) We had her bred and cared for her carefully for the 11 months it took for gestation.

(This is her about a week before delivery.)

Finally the big day arrived. I will take most of this from my blog at that time:

"This little fellow came along more than a week late and when he finally arrived he kinda sorta got stuck at the shoulders. I was the only one home at the time,although Rod was hurrying back. I had Kim, our vet, on the phone with me to talk me through the process. Sounds surreal, eh?

I had never seen a foal born before and I was attempting to take it in stride. But honestly, they are such large animals, and to see two hooves and a muzzle extruding from the mare was pretty outlandish. So extraordinarily freakish that the image is still in my head and can be recalled at the most inappropriate times, like funerals or while talking to disgruntled customers on the phone.

I had read all Jim Herriot's books(All Creatures Great and Small, etc.). So I told myself I was fully prepared. (muffled laughter)

The real thing is breathtaking...and I don't mean that in a good way necessarily.
One thing I'll never forget is Kim's calm voice on the phone telling me that I needed to pull the foal out NOW.

Is she kidding me??!!

Apparently not, as she instructed me on the correct pulling techniques and told me to put the phone down so I could use both hands. (Can't every mother multi-task without putting the phone down? I was almost offended.)

I seriously considered putting the phone down and making grunting, pulling noises like I was obeying her, but was actually in the far corner of the stall sipping some fortified French Roast. (Laughter is now maniacal in nature)

But Kisses was struggling, we had waited for this baby for 11 months and so I grabbed those fetlocks and pulled each time Kisses pushed.

I was praying like crazy for Rod to show up because this baby wasn't budging. Finally Rod's head popped over the stall door and we were saved.
It took both of us pulling to get the little (read EXTRA LARGE) fella out, but it finally happened.

Sadly, his Momma, Kisses, decided she would attack him each time he tried to stand up and basically wouldn't accept him as her own. It was so overwhelmingly sad to see him try to get to him only to be rejected or kicked.
After a weekend of bottle feeding and continually introducing the foal to his Mom, they finally bonded and now you would never know there was a problem.

Rod slept out in the barn a couple nights just to make sure Kisses wouldn't attack her foal again.

It was an amazing weekend, one I don't think I'd want to repeat. But extremely rewarding.

And Goldust Drifter is a doll. :-) "

So it made what happened next all the more difficult.

More later....

Horse Tales Part 0ne

Linda encouraged me to blog a little bit about our horse adventures. I haven't blogged a whole lot about them and they were a big part of our life for about 10-11 years, but we don't have them now.

I think I feel an actual bloggy series coming on.

Think "Black Beauty" without the talking horse.

Think "All Creatures Great and Small" without the excellent writing or moving stories.

To be on the safe side, just think of me telling you a horse story over the course of a few days.

I've included pictures from that wonderful time. Everything from a pretty palomino (the PRETTIEST horse), cute pony, trail rides, horse camping, Rod's cavalry debacle adventure,baby horses and baby riding horses.

(Notice Rod's brother Eric's wet jeans? We had just ridden through an intense hail storm and weren't dressed for the weather. No, the baby didn't come. We left her in the barn.)

Maybe you can get your Orygun cowboy fix on.

When Rod, the kids and I moved up here to our place in the mountains we had a barn. Amy really wanted a horse. We loved the idea and bought a couple. After a few years, Amy gave up on the riding thing.

But Rod and I were hooked. We love this animal that the Lord created and are just amazed and thankful that he lets us care for them and ride them.

And smell them. Standing in the warm dry stall when it dark and sleeting outside, hearing the horses shuffle around as they munch their hay and smelling the rich horse smell....the pleasure of the memory almost makes me forget the pain of getting kicked in the shin. Full on. By an angry, hormonal mare.

(This is Rod and one of his fellow union officers. Boy, are there stories with this. Rod had to stay in character the entire weekend. Rarely have I laughed so hard.

Eli is Rod's horse. Believe me when I tell you that Eli did not like the cannon fire during the civil war re-enactments. No, he did not.)


Rod was hooked on things like training baby horses, loving on them, falling off them, riding like the wind, collecting their various accouterments and paying their exorbitant costs. Okay, maybe he didn't love paying for all their stuff so much.

I was addicted to taking their pictures, cleaning their poopy stalls brushing their manes and tails until they gleamed and taking their pictures again. Basically, I was fine having what we fondly call a "pasture ornament." I don't need to ride to enjoy a horse. Remember, I think they smell good.

But we did both enjoy riding the specific breed of horse we bought called a Tennessee Walking Horse. This is because they do what is called a "four beat gait" rather than a trot.




That's right people. NO BOUNCING

Can I get an AMEN?

The first time I rode a Walker, I laughed out loud from the sheer, giggly feeling that filled me as the horse glided smoothly and quickly across the field. It was an exquisite and glorious feeling unlike anything I had experienced before. It was as though this horse moving under me was not tethered to the earth with heavy, trotting hooves, but his feet moved lightly, floating almost, as we flew. I was in love.

I am convinced Jesus will come back on a white Tennessee Walker. And Heaven will be filled with them. Because we will not TROT in HEAVEN. Amen.

Anyway.

Because of our love of this animal, we may have evangelized and a few family members may have bought a some for themselves. We have had quite a number of fun times together.

Camping.

Having horse babies.

Annual "Soup and Ride".

Emergency room visits with good quality pain relievers.

Good times.

There were so many good memories, but horses, like anything, can take up a huge chunk of time and money, if you let them. Rod had injured his back and I also think that our priorities weren't that

healthy. We kind of revolved, at times, around the horses.

Although we loved almost everything about our lovely animals, it just became bigger and bigger with time and expense, until we couldn't justify it anymore.We felt out of control.

(Our niece, Chantry, with her darling pony Blitzen. Nothing could be cuter.)

There was one incident in particular, when we felt the Lord was trying to get our attention during that time. The accident:

More tomorrow....

Where to begin

The end, I think. This is our last blog together for the Beth Moore Believing God bible study with Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee. I could get all choked up about that, but I suspect we'll all stay friends.



Gosh, anyone else want to burst into song? "Friends are friends forever, if the Lord's the Lord of them... and a friend will not say never..."



or were you singing "Sad eyes....turn the other way. I don't want to see you cry-yyyy."



Either way.



On to the bible study.



Well.



I don't have all my thoughts organized into articulate thoughts, but I do want to say that God slapped me upside the head with the day four lesson this week.



I pray for Him to bless me with wisdom and to grow me in every spiritual truth as only He can.
He responds by body slamming me. In love.
He confronted me head-on. He kindly pointed out where I was lacking and selfish. Where I needed to depend on Him. Follow Him. Believe Him.



He has been gently showing me for a while now that I have not been loving people the way He wants me to. The way that is best. That I have been holding myself back. Selfish and aloof, even. Basically, I have been letting myself go.

Kind of like when you neglect exercising and eat too much for too long. Eventually your body becomes out of shape and possibly even pre-diabetic.

I have been allowing myself to put my wants first, becoming lazy and unfit, telling myself that I am not really needed, or it doesn't really matter, or I don't fit in with that group of people. Telling myself whatever I need to so I don't need to get involved. So I can walk away.
Ouch.


Who? Me? NO!



I DO stuff, God. I help out in all kinds of ways.



How can I not have this lesson down already? Did you not show me what love was by Randy's and Nanci's unselfish example when you had them rescue me? Have you not shown me by Rod's daily unconditional love? Did you not show me by your ultimate sacrificial love and forgiveness as you bled and died on the cross for my heinous crimes?



And yet I still find myself unwilling to follow you there. Unwilling to believe that you mean for me to love people like Randy and Nanci do, like Rod does. Like you do.
Unwilling to believe.



"Imitate God, therefore,in everything you do, because you are His dear children. Live a life filled with love,following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." Ephesians 5:1-2

Those words burn me like fire tonight. Lord, forgive me. Help me to follow the example of Christ and not give in to numbness and selfishness.



"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6

Lord, I believe. Help me to believe.

(Special thanks to my friend who listened to me weep unashamedly, at her kitchen counter this week as I wrestled with God over this.)

Things I've been doing

Working.

Running. ( a step up from wogging.)

Meeting my brand new niece, Elliana Wolf. Yes, she is a dumpling.

Helping out at our church's oil change carnival for single women/widows.

Meeting my brand new nephew, Malachi Meyer. Yes, he is a dumpling.

Horse shopping.

Good times.

Believing God week 7

Here I am, staring at this vast, blank post for going on 15 minutes. Wishing really hard that it was Lid's week. Go visit her to read her take on this week's study. I have no doubt it will be worth your while and maybe even make up for what I have(or haven't) done here.

I have a couple of choices. First I can ask you how you found this week to be. Was it easy for you? What truths did you learn about God and yourself? I can't tell you how eager I am to hear from you this week.

I could write a cheery, uplifting and completely false post about our Believing God bible study, week seven. I could say things like "Someone wants to say glory." or "Can I get a hallelujah?" But I want to mean it when I say it. Maybe next week.

Or, I can say I forgot that today is Thursday and post more zoo pictures. Sounds fun to me!

Perhaps I could nudge somebody else to write this post because frankly I'm not feeling it.

What I am feeling is a little upset with our friend, Beth Moore.

There I said it.

She brought up things this week that I think are better left buried.

Not remembered and certainly not focused on. If I talk about when I was a young child, I say the words, but they don't penetrate. That way it won't hurt. I am good at this.

Yes, I have a tendency to pack unpleasant memories away like old garbage and hardly ever ponder them for any significant amount of time. Works for me.

Until the dam bursts, anyway. Or until the lovely aroma from the rotting garbage becomes stench that I just can't live with any longer.

Is this one of those times? I'm not sure. I do know that spending time looking at my early childhood brings up feelings of shame, loneliness, fear and anger. That doesn't sound good and it makes me feel like I should have thrown that garbage out a long time ago.

That would involve forgiveness.Letting go. And believing God. I thought I already did those things.

Maybe I can't really forgive and let go of something that I don't fully acknowledge.

Just as I can't be thankful to God for things I haven't before fully acknowledged.

This week, instead of just being grateful for the rescuing work that was done in my life at age 18, and all the blessings that followed, I began to work at being thankful for the beginning of my life and searching for the ways He was working, even then.

I am believing God for this.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.

You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! Psalm 139 1-18

Mere Christianity

Just for the record, this post isn't about the C.S.Lewis classic, "Mere Christianity."
Nor is it is not about any of his books or about Christianity.

It is about finding appropriate titles for posts on my blog.

SURPRISE!!

See, I figure it's a win-win situation.
I can't come up with good titles for my posts. It becomes a painful frustration trying to figure about what to title a post about, say "The Zoo." Or, "New Stories About My Dogs." Or like Scott has written here.
I agree, Scott. It is troublesome and can become quite time consuming. I usually end up banging my head on my keyboard as I struggle to create a clever title.
So I have decided to just use previous titles from books, blogs, magazines, TV shows, receipts and what-have-you. "Completely random" is the key phrase here.

This is clearly a brilliant plan. Here are just a few of it's many obvious benefits:

**This is a great idea in that, it is a GREEN PLAN. I am recycling.

**People will get a pleasant surprise when they Google or click on my post entitled "The Fellowship of the Ring" and get to read about my diet and exercise plans. It will keep people on their toes by offering the unexpected.
This is a thing of beauty, my dear community of imaginary friends.

**I can indulge my overwhelmingly slightly rebellious nature, in a safe and gentle way(that sounds like a laxative advertisement) by not following the "rules" that say your title MUST PERTAIN TO YOUR POST.
I think not.

**There will be no need to bang my head on the keyboard any more. I can simply glance at the bookcase. Or clean out my purse.


Tune in tomorrow for "Brit and K-Fed Back in Court" which will be all about our yard and garden plans for next year. And maybe a great roasted garlic bruchetta recipe.

Embrace your inner rebel! Viva la revolution!

Next I'll be working on a plan for incorrect spelling. Is it really so wrong? Who are THEY to be correcting YOU?
Or is this your way of being unique and creative, showing off your individuality and giving a poke in the eye to the status quo?
I thought so.

Dear Mr. Obama

My blogger friend Jenn, who is my sister in Christ as well as prison ministry, put this vid up on her blog today. Being despicable, I stole it from her the moment I had the chance.
(Please forgive me Jenn.)

Simple and to the point.

The Beach Trip....Uncut

Yes, we enjoyed our few days away.

All you get are these videos.

Sorry.